A panel of current and former gang members came together at Charity Apostolic Church in National City
When Alvin Hayes was a kid in San Diego, his mom would tell him to go outside and play.That’s the consequence of gun violence in many neighborhoods, especially in underserved communities where gangs are a way of life, as Hayes and other men on a panel recently noted.
“We have to teach these kids that violence is not the way,” said Michael Singletary, a former gang member in southeastern San Diego who later worked in case management and customer service for the city of San Diego and now is retired. Violence, he added, solves nothing. Five years ago, Whyte said, he completed a 10-year prison sentence for a shooting. Whyte, 44, now thinks about all the time he missed with his mother while he was behind bars.
The panelists highlighted various problems of gang life that consume young people, including drugs. Some of the panelists said they sold and used drugs when they were part of their gangs; others didn’t touch drugs. “We used to physically fight,” Hayes said, adding that guns became more prevalent among gangs in the late ‘80s. “Now it seems like everybody got them now.”“Let’s glorify no murders,” Patrick said.
The panelists said youth need to realize they too can change their lives. But there are barriers. Hayes acknowledged that when he was young he ignored any talk of changing his ways.
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