How liberals see gang members...

Everyday Struggle
Hip-hop organizes the way that we view the world--everything from what kinds of shoes we buy and how we lace them up to how we look at political candidates and whether we vote or not...
Hip hop shapes the way we view our world? Hmmm. Smoke weed, sell crack, slap ho's... it's a wonderful life.

...You have gangs coming back to the Bronx at that particular time as a defensive thing to deal with the larger social conditions that they're up against, but also to deal literally with being able to get from one block to the next. These protective, enclosed types of social structures replace the ones that are being removed wholesale by the authorities...
I've never heard a criminal "organization" (I use the term loosely as gangs are really just a bunch of drunk and high morons with violent tendencies) described in such a favorable way. Most gang members probably can't understand the big words in that statement but for the ones that do, the left sure gives them aid and comfort. "Yeah, I sold that crack to school kids cause I was dealing with larger social conditions."

Traditionally, we don't think of gangs as being part of social movements. We think of them as outcasts or even the opposition to social movements
But to liberals, gangs are less evil than the Boy Scouts because gangs don't have written policies that "discriminate" against gays. (No written policies only because most gang members can't write)

During the late '80s, major labels were like, "Damn, we know we have to be on this train, but we don't know what to do--so, oh, there's Ice T, let's sign him up.
Imagine the board meetings at the "major record labels"
CEO: Damn fool, wuzzup?
CFO: We rollin' in bling bling, thatz wuzzup!
I can picture that.

We'd established ourselves with a certain amount of cultural power--I say a certain amount because it's not necessarily all good. We still don't have control of the images that are out there, but at the same time, compared to two decades ago when I was a teenager, you can see people of color all the time on TV. Hip-hop had a lot to do with that. Converting that into political power has been difficult.
Having a hard time converting the black guys on BET who are drinking malt liquor and slapping their bitches into "political power?" I just don't understand.

You had, at that time, folks who had fought for civil rights and for black power turning on their own youth and saying, "We need to increase incarceration of these folks, we need to establish curfews, sweep ordinances, gang injunctions, a whole battery of laws that make juvenile justice more punitive."
Those punitive gang injunctions. Such social injustice.

In summary, the left sees gangs as positive social constructs and is willing to give criminals aid and comfort. I just can't figure out why the Democrats aren't in charge any more...