In response to a bonehead statement by Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell about Hispanic immigrant procreation habits, Orange Progressives declare that anyone questioning the role of criminal gangs in Hispanic culture is a racist.
Former Carrboro Alderman, former head of the local ACLU, “Hell” bar owner, and non-profit UNC Center for Civil Rights lawyer Marc Dorosin charges that the characterization of Hispanic immigrants as prone to crime is reminiscent of the marginalization of African Americans during segregation. “That image of the Latino community as being dangerous criminals really foments a backlash. That fear is even more powerful when it's fomented by law enforcement.” UNC law professor Deborah Weissman says, ”Much of the immigration controversy is driven by fear and prejudice.” Irene Godinez, advocacy director for the statewide Hispanic group El Pueblo, places the color card saying, ”Suddenly, if you're brown, you're dehumanized. North Carolina was one of the states that led in the civil rights movement. … It's really shocking and saddening to me to see that now, we're not taking to the streets.”
While raising the thoughtful level of public discourse with cries of racism and prejudice, none of the speakers at a Chapel Hill conference on 19 September 2008 offered the possibility that perception is based on reality. That perception is not the rhetorical exaggeration that all Hispanic immigrants are criminals or dangerous, but the perception that Hispanic immigrant culture contains dangerous seeds of a propensity for including a criminal gang culture.
Noticeably absent from the intellectual discussions at UNC is any reference to the work done in 2005 by the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission and the North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center. There's no mention of a thoughtful published report on Hispanic gang activity in the state. The local media provides no context in their reporting as well. (See the N&O Hispanic backlash story.)
Growth in Hispanic gangs
Between 1999 and 2004, gangs in North Carolina grew 68% in size (up to 387 groups with 8517 members). The greatest rate of growth in North Carolina’s youth gang population has occurred within the Hispanic communities, which now have 22.5% of the recognized youth gangs.
Despite the statements of local Orange politicians, gangs are present in southern Orange, as they are in 29.4% of the municipal jurisdictions in North Carolina. Over half of those jurisdictions having Hispanic gangs acknowledge that they have a “significant problem”. On average, Hispanic gangs accounted for about 10% of reported crimes, but in some areas it was up to 50%.
Part of gang activity relates to turf battles and drug market control disputes among gangs. Territoriality or disputes arising from turf related issues accounted for 24.5% of the gang conflicts. Drug related disputes account for 29.6% of gang disputes. Consistent with existing gang literature, these gang related disputes remain typically within the Hispanic community and almost exclusively involve Hispanic gang members.
Source of Gang Member Influx
On average, 73.7% of their gang members migrated into their jurisdictions from either another city in the state, another state or another country. California and Texas were cited as
the largest feeder states, followed by Virginia, Georgia, New York and Florida. Mexico and El Salvador were cited as the largest feeder countries, followed by Honduras and Nicaragua.
Gangs in School
Orange County school systems have been noticeably silent about gang activity in schools, despite student acknowledgement of the presence of such gangs even at the elementary school level. Eighty percent of the gang reporting jurisdictions found gangs and gang members in their public school systems.
National Gang Affiliation
Of the 118 Hispanic gangs in North Carolina, 91 were reputed to be nationally affiliated. Some even have connection outside the country. At least 3,420 Hispanic gangmembers were identified of which 276 were female members (8.1%). Surenos, or Sur-13, was the most prevalent gang. Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs were reported to exist in at least 18 counties with a
minimum number of 430 members being recognized. Vatos Locos gangs also indicates known national ties for 16 of these gangs. Each of the reported Mexican Mafia gangs and five of the 18th Street sets were described as national in scope.
Nationally affiliated Hispanic gangs were described as “somewhat visible, mobile, violent, profit-oriented and involved in drug-related activities.”
Most Dangerous Threat
Gangs residing in the central, or Piedmont, region of the state “may be the most problematic, or have the greatest potential, for becoming more of a threat. These gangs were consistently rated as being more visible, slightly more violent, more profit-oriented and more organized than either the local gangs in the eastern or western portions of the state.”
See Governor’s Hispanic Gang Report.
