Teens at Risk and Gangs
Teens at risk for gang indoctrination and recruitment aren’t limited to America. New Zealand fights the same problems as American parents and communities.
“A South Auckland community torn by gang violence is battling to win the souls of troubled teens.
A group of Otara born and bred ex gang members and youth workers, Crosspower Ministries and 274 Youthcore, says it is a tug of war with local gangs for the hearts and minds of the kids.
“The gang escalation has gone to a point where it’s very alarming,” says Crosspower Ministries 274 spokesperson Sully Paea.
Gangs are luring youth by giving them kickboxing lessons, winning them over with a gangster rap lifestyle and promises of the high life.”
An associate who has taught martial arts and weight lifting at schools for troubled teens talked about how powerful it was for a teen to extrapolate the discipline of physical sport to govern their own lives. The key is when the teen discovers their own power to affect the course of their life through good decisions. Graduates applied that wisdom in confronting all of their challenges.
But gangs teach the opposite. They may use kick boxing to teach, but in doing so they demand loyalty to the gang. And there is the difference. Power can be harnessed for good or bad. Where my friend used martial arts and sports discipline to inculcate independence and self-reliance, the gang confers token power in exchange for the teens identity and independence.
Relevant Tags:gang members, gang violence, martial arts, rap lifestyle, schools for troubled teens, self reliance, teens at risk“They’re filling a need where there’s an emptiness in our children growing up today,” says Paea.”
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