Media finally realizes suburbs have gangs

Gee, ya think?

I knew this in 1984, and it took the pop-up media this long to figure it out?

An interesting article in the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis reports that gangs are no longer limited to just central cities but have now expanded into well-to-do suburbs.

But I've got news for the Star-Tribune: Gangs have long been just as out of control in some suburbs as they are in the inner city - if not more so. I attended a suburban Catholic high school 20 years ago that had far more gang activity than the inner-city public school I graduated from.

(This factoid doesn't exactly prove the effectiveness of dress codes either, as this was years before the urban school instituted its right-wing uniform policy. If there was any school that was zealous about dress codes back then, it was the suburban private school.)

Some have speculated that the suburban gangs aren't even real gangs, and are just coddled brats who act tough until they push their luck too far and face the threat of jail. But gangs took my county to its very knees. They started fights just for its own sake, and innocent people were terrorized.

That doesn't mean gang activity hasn't increased nationwide. A Justice Department report says gang membership in all American communities soared by more than one-third between 2002 and 2007. (Doesn't exactly say a lot for the Bush years' alleged glory, does it?)

Maybe if we had all stopped pretending years ago that the suburbs are perfect, this wouldn't be an issue now.

(Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/west/44332242.html)