Gang signal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Most gangs have a way of identifying itself to both its members and its rivals. Traditionally, these signals or signs have manifested themselves in gang-related attire, tattoos, graffiti, and hand signs. Although some signals and signs are fairly standard among larger gangs, many change from neighborhood to neighborhood or subgroup (set) to subgroup.
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[edit] Tattoos
Tattoos have long been associated with gang membership, and connote the toughness desired by gang members as well as the permanence of gang affiliation. The designs used are frequently symbolic and often occur again and again in the symbolism of a particular gang, with some variation from area to area or to represent particular deeds (murder being one example).
The gang symbols used in tattoos and graffiti (below) are sometimes fairly involved, and often refer to the mythology and meaning that a gang may invent for itself. For example, the Star of David represents the Folk Nation once led by a man known as King David. In addition, each point of the star represents a "value" of the "nation." Norteños, commonly associated with Nuestra Familia, use the numbers 14 and 4 to refer to themselves, referencing the fact that "N" is the 14th letter of the English alphabet.
[edit] Graffiti
Graffiti also long been seen as a gang activity and is most related to the fact that many gangs have particular areas that they try to control. As above, the graffiti is often very symbolic and may contain more information, such as what activities the gang participates in and with whom they are at war. However, while gangs may bring graffiti, it is not the result or an indicator of significant gang activity.
Most often, gangs spray graffiti to mark territory or send a threat to a rival gang. When at war with another gang, they may visit locations the rival gang has already made their mark upon, crossing out the names of enemies they have killed, or simply covering up the rival graffiti.[1]
With this being said, most graffiti is non-gang related and is purely street art. Gangland "tagging," however, was recently popularized in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a sort of side quest that the player can do to unlock special weapons.
[edit] Hand signs
Many hand signs are used by gangs to be recognized
[edit] Verbalizations
In addition, some gangs have oral calls which they use to denote their affiliation, or provoke members of other gangs. For example, in New York City (specifically Brooklyn and Queens) members of the Bloods make a trilled sound mimicking a machine gun using the letter 'B,' 'Blat,' and, likewise, the Crips do the same using the letter 'C,' 'Clat,' usually to antagonize others or to assert dominance. Fellow Crips will refer to each other as Cuzz and Cuh and likewise fellow bloods will refer to each other as Blood and Ike. (eg. Wuz CraCCin Cuzz, Wuz Poppin Bluh). Crips refer to Bloods as slobs (spelled Slobks because of the blackcronym of BK, meaning Blood Killa) and Bloods refer to Crips as crabs or dribs.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.streetgangs.com/maps/aggdefine.html
- ^ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=48889
[edit] External links
Gang Sign Image Resource - http://www.gangsigns.org
