Gangs in Geneva?

Over the last couple of weeks some graffiti was found in a two block section of alley off Richards street. Here is a quick article I wrote regarding that graffiti and some information on why it might be there.


What is it about the suburban graffiti sprawled on some alley fence or wall that seems a bit out of place? Well, to put it bluntly, it just simply is. Like grass in the city or potholes in the burbs. These are things that are not normally associated with one another. So imagine my surprise when walking my dog down the few alleys that do exist in the suburb of Geneva as I came across some graffiti scrawled across the length of a brick garage. It is not something that you are accustomed to seeing here, and not something I have seen since my days living in Chicago.

I grew up in the city and spent most of my so-called formative years there. So when I saw the writing on the wall I could actually read it. It is not a skill that you put on a resume but one that has occasionally come in handy. Now traditionally one would assume that it takes a certain element to commit such an act, and hey would be right. I can guarantee you that it is not the football player at Geneva High School who is running around with spray paint writing in a language very few out here can speak. So you really would not have to look very far to determine who the culprits would be.

Now this is the portion of the essay that might tend to rub a few readers the wrong way. But before that happens I want to assure you that the following statements are not made blindly, nor are they made out of ignorance and bigotry. I grew up in the city and was friends with everyone I had the pleasure of knowing. This same experience also gives me the knowledge to read people a certain way and in some cases to ascertain whether or not they belong to a certain "club" of sorts. It is a skill most people living in the city of Chicago learn fast.

So what does that have to do with our discussion here about Geneva? Well, we will be putting a couple things together. We are going to make a couple of assumptions, but they will be based on facts. First of all it should come as no shock to anybody living in the tri-city area that over the past decade there have been more and more minorities moving west from the city of Chicago. Now like I said earlier, some of this might come off as a bit ignorant or racist but keep in mind, you don't get stereotypes without the acts you are associated with never taking place. Stereotypes are born because somebody somewhere does something. In this case we are referring to gang-related activities. I would also like to point out that it does not always have to be a seedy element from Chicago. Aurora and Elgin also have a measurable amount of gang activity and it could be emanating from those areas as well.

Back to the point. Let's put a spotlight on the issue shall we? Over the last year I have noticed a few people walking around town. In an effort to describe these individuals without being accused racist I will just say they looked a bit "thugish". What exactly does that mean? I will leave that to your imagination but we can safely assume that it would not conjure up an image of a mother walking down the street with a baby stroller. So these "thugish" individuals have been in town for some time. Whether they actually live here or were just visiting I have no idea. But I know a gangbanger or a gangbanger-wannabe when I see one. It is not too hard to stand out in this area when you are walking around with a hat tilted way to the left or the right, wearing a certain color hoodies. There are various ways that a gangbanger will dress to associate himself with the gang. Certain shoes, certain ways the shoes are worn, the hats, and the hooded sweatshirts, they all have significances if you know what you are looking for.

So if we are putting two and two together, I think it would be safe to say that the couple of individuals that I had seen, who by the way they were dressed are practically wearing a sign, are the ones who have something to do with the graffiti. Why would I say that? That is easy, because the image that they portrayed matches with the gang identified in the graffiti. For someone who has seen it all before it is pretty simple to spot. I have noticed this same thing about a year ago as well. A year ago there was another incident of graffiti and at the same time more people walking around wearing the same "sign". This time however it was clear to me that the person who was doing it was just a kid. Just a suburban kid who thought it would be cool to associate with a gang. Someone who maybe felt they would get a popularity boost in school by showing off his city roots. I have not seen the kid since then and I assume he moved away. Regardless, none of this is an isolated incident.

So what do we or what can we do about any of this? That is hard to say. There are a lot of people who are smarter than I who have dealt with this issue over the years in various places and I don't think they have found any solutions. For me to think that there is some solution for Geneva, and yet one that I can develop would be naive. There are however a few things that I can say for sure. The first is that we have a continued presence in the area of a gang called the Gangster Disciples. This is a rather large Chicago gang and they also have a couple of sub-gangs that have branched off from them as well. They are present in both Elgin and Aurora, and maybe in Batavia as well. It is pretty easy to spot anybody claiming to be in a gang out here simply because we do not have a lot of it. I suppose the biggest thing  that we should concern ourselves with is our kids.

For some reason kids tend to gravitate towards this sort of thing. Chances are however that if there is someone in the middle school or high school boasting about some affiliation with this or any other gang they are full of it. Especially if they are a white kid born and raised in Geneva. This is just not something that kids from the 'burbs are that familiar with unless they have relatives in the city. Either way I think they are pretty safe for the most part. What we have to do is just keep a watchful eye on them and our neighborhoods. If you see anything suspicious or find new incidents of graffiti tell the cops. If you happen to spot someone walking around with their hat tilted far to the right keep then in your peripheral vision cause you never know. I don't claim to have all the answers, I just know what I see. I just hope that by giving some information to people about what is happening others can possibly be made aware. If you don't think this sort of thing happens here, you might be right. But that does not mean it won't forever.. it is coming.