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Activists attack gang database
by Tuyet Nguyen
The Metropolitan
 (Photo
by William Moore - The Metropolitan)
CU-Boulder Ph.D. candidate Robert Duran talks with students about alleged
overstatements made by the Denver PD regarding gang violence in Denver,
March 4 in the Multicultural Lounge.
Local activists are criticizing the Denver police department’s
use of a “gang database,” saying discriminatory practices
and exaggerated statistics are making the problem of gangs appear much
worse than it actually is.
In an effort to raise awareness, Creative Resistance organized a forum
with community speakers March 4 at the Tivoli Multicultural Lounge.
Along with the database, the speakers touched on media exploitation and
the prejudiced manner in which gang members are treated.
“I don’t advocate for gangs and I don’t advocate for
gang violence. And I’m not a bleeding heart liberal,” said
Ernesto Vigil, a community activist, “At the same time, let me be
clear that there is a tremendous amount of racist hysteria focused on
gangs.”
Vigil has done extensive research on gang history and claims that in
1980, when the first prevention squad was created, there were no gangs
in Denver.
One of the things he attributed to the sudden rise was when social funding
was cut for inner city areas.
“Gangs are a result of urban poverty,” he explained.
It was under this climate, Vigil reasons, that discrimination toward
gang members first appeared, “That poverty is often directly linked
to racism and discrimination against particular ethnic groups.”
Another speaker Shareef Aleem believes that other factors affected the
proliferation of gangs, including the movie “Colors,” an urban
drama that glamorized the lifestyle.
Aleem said in 1984, when he was still a teenager, there were no sizable
amounts of Crips or Bloods, two gangs that later came to prominence.
After the movie came out, however, he remembered that suddenly there
were all sorts of youngsters posing as gang members.
Aleem feels that local law enforcement is also to blame.
“(The police) are inflating the statistics and creating a problem
so that they can keep on getting money,” he said.
This opinion of doctored numbers and unfair practice was echoed by nearly
all of the speakers—many referred to the statistic impossibilities
of the gang database.
In 1993, the database included nearly 7,000 names of gang members between
the ages of 12 and 24 and their affiliates .
More than half of the list was made up of African-Americans and Latinos.
Comparing city census with the list, the numbers implied that 2 out of
every 3 African-American male in Denver was a gang member. For Latinos
it was 1 out of 4.
Creative Resistance is hoping to organize a series of community meetings
to bring this issue to light.
They are also working with Cop Watch and talking with city council members.
For many, it feels like a long battle that is far from over.
“The way I see it, the Denver Police department and nationwide
are declaring a war on Latinos and blacks,” said Robert Duran, an
ex-gang member who is currently a doctoral student in sociology at CU-Boulder,
“Me and the rest of us here, we’re not going to sit back and
let that happen.”
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