Asian Youth Gangs

Basic Issues for Educators
By Donald W. Kodluboy

The problems presented to schools by Asian gang-involved youth are neither overwhelming nor insurmountable. Facing the problem of any type of gang activity requires administrative foresight and commitment to peaceful problem prevention and resolution.

Vigilance, close supervision, respect for students, high expectations of respect from students to adults and to each other, cultural sensitivity and commitment to building a strong sense of community can help prevent problems, strengthen positive student behavior, and mediate against the culture of gang violence.

Before 1975, Asian gangs were largely limited to disaffected Chinese youth living in the Chinatown of larger cities. Such youth, alienated from the greater community, were also largely marginalizes within the Chinese community itself due to a variety of social and economic conditions.

Prior to the departure of American forces from Viet Nam in 1975, the stereotypical American concept of Asian gangs derived largely from the image of San Francisco tongs or triads of an earlier era. Since that time, the image of Asian gangs has changed to include new immigrant groups, such as Vietnamese, Vietnamese-Chinese, Laotian, Cambodian and Hmong gangs, which can now be found in communities across the nation where recent Southeast Asian immigrants have settled.

Triads are enduring, secret societies born of the political turmoil in China during the 1600s. Modern-day triads are generally viewed by law enforcement as criminal organizations. Conversely, tongs or family associations are primarily legitimate organizations, which formed in America during the 1800s to provide social and financial support systems to Chinese immigrant communities.

The path toward development and evolution of youth gangs within Hmong, Laotian and Cambodian culturesand to a lesser extent, some current Vietnamese and Chinese independent youth gangsclosely parallels the development of ethnic gangs of an earlier era. Early Italian, Jewish and Irish ethnic gangs in America, to cite a few, were born of the same isolating forces now experienced by this latest immigrant group.

Racial and language isolation are common for recent immigrant groups, both for reasons of self-selection and rejection by the community in which they settle. Some adults dream of a return to their homeland, and intentionally limit their acculturation. Language-isolated immigrant adults who do not learn the predominant language and customs of their new homeland often find themselves estranged from their own English-speaking children and separated from the greater community. Thus, a generation gap often expands within a single family and between the immigrant and the greater community as well.

Other immigrant adults develop a true bicultural orientation. A few totally adopt the language and mores of their new country. In any case, although their elders may not quickly assimilate, most youthful immigrants do. They learn English, adapt to the common youth culture, and generally respond to their parents cultural orientation in positive and productive ways. Relatively few such youth develop such maladaptive social responses, which may include joining a youth gang. Nonetheless, it is imperative to recognize the negative influence of the racial and linguistic isolation that many Asian youth face in school.

PREVALENCE OF GANG INVOLVEMENT
It is critical to remember that gang membership for school-age youth is usually limited to only a small percentage of age-eligible youth, regardless of prevailing social conditions. While in some highly isolated neighborhoods or in particular schools gang membership may be high, it is estimated that typically less than 1 percent and rarely more than 3 percent of age-eligible Asian youth in a given community are involved in gangs. Gang-involved youth tend to be those who feel only marginally related to their own community and to the greater community. Some gang-involved youth come from reasonably stable homes, are good students, and are generally respectful and well-behaved in supervised settings. Such youth often hide gang membership from their parents. More commonly, however, gang-involved youth are often poorly supervised, frequently truant or tardy students who are in conflict at home, at school, and in the community. Younger gang members may be only marginally gang-affiliated, and thus are highly amenable to retrieval from gang life. Others may participate in delinquent gang activity and move inexorably into a life of crime and participation in organized, gang-directed criminal activity.

Asian youth can be influenced to engage in criminal and gang activity if gang-generating and maintaining forces exist in the communities where the youth live. Despite the historically low levels of Asian youths criminal involvement, recent trends in several American cities suggest dramatically rising arrest levels for some youth, primarily due to gang-related criminal activity. The presence of divisive forces, such as social, economic and racial sequestration in a context of misunderstanding and intolerance of other cultures is as sure to support gang presence in gang communities as it is in other communities.

The social group to which the gang belongs may determine gang structure and significance. Gangs may arise and form their structure either as an accepted or as an unofficial subset of established community groups. For example, youth who join soccer teams, community associations or church groups may form gangs within such groups with or without the knowledge of supervising adults. In some instances, criminally involved adults affiliated with a generally legitimate social organization may influence and provide support for youth gang development within the structure of the organization. Though generally not sanctioned by the community elders, such gangs may nonetheless derive some support from acceptance or tolerance within the sponsoring group. Therefore, legitimate social structures may provide the converging and cohesive forces necessary to allow a gang to form.

For other Asian gangs, formations may be independent of any recognized social structure in the community, and may even be formally rejected by the community. Gang members may be viewed as outcasts or lost boys within both the immediate and the greater communities. As with other ethnic gangs that are an illicit part of their larger community, so are some gangs within the greater Chinese American community. The number of these illicit gangs escalated in the 1960s. While some Chinese youth gangs are largely independent street gangs, others are associated with influential members of criminally involved tongs, especially those involved with illegal gambling enterprises. The role of tongs or of individual members of the tongs in maintaining youth gangs varies. (Most tongs are legitimate business and social enterprises, long established in Chinese communities across North America). Some Chinese gangs are involved with Hong Kong-based criminal triads. It is estimated that several thousand high school youth are recruited into the triad youth contingents each year in Hong Kong. In some cities, youth gangs maintain a formal but variable relationship with criminally influenced tongs or Hong Kong-based triads. These gangs may engage in both tong-related and independent criminal activity, especially extortion and robbery. Responding to stepped-up law enforcement pressure, Chinese youth gangs in other cities are increasingly separate and independent of tong influence or shelter.

Ethnic Vietnamese or ethnic Chinese-Vietnamese gangs are also a known, recent illicit subculture within their greater communities. Vietnamese youth gangs may develop independently of adult influence, or may arise when adults within the community develop influence over youth gang members, introducing them to more organized criminal activity. For example, within Vietnamese communities, a new form of gang is becoming well-known. It is called the hasty ganga loose, quickly formed, mobile, nomadic gang that forms and disbands following a brief crime spree such as home invasions or burglaries of occupied dwellings. These gangs commonly lack adult leadership or organization.

Conversely, ethnic Hmong, Laotian and Cambodian gangs were largely unknown in their homelands prior to such ethnic groups relocation in the United States following the Vietnam War. No history of development or maintenance of modern youth gangs in these cultures has yet been documented.

Many Asian gangs originally formed in American cities as protection or fighting gangs. The reasons for their formation in the absence of any historical or cultural basis include racial, geographic, economic and linguistic isolation as well as direct rejection by established community groups where the recent immigrants settled. Simple imitation of gang behavior present in other ethnic communities is the most likely explanation for the visible identifiers of gang life which have been adopted by Southeast Asian youth. For example, Cambodian and Hmong gang members in several American cities have adopted the dress, slang, nicknames, hand signs and names of Black and Hispanic gangs of the West Coast and Midwest. Many Hmong, Laotian and Cambodian gang members tell of forming self-defense groups following assaults or intimidation by other ethnic gang members. Groups have clashed when competing for space and status in public housing complexes in several American cities.

Other Southeast Asian gang youth report joining protective gangs to allow safe travel to community areas where they might be victimized. Still others who live in locations remote from urban centers elect to join ethnic affinity groups or form gangs or "proto-gangs." They then may choose common identifiers initially for no other reason than to be together with friends having similar backgrounds and experience.

ASIAN GANG STEREOTYPES
Even in 1996, it is common for educators to assume that all gangs, including Asian gangs, are basically the same. However, Asian gang structure, activities, status in the ethnic community and greater community, relationships with other ethnic gangs and roles in the schools vary according to several factors. These variables include the following:

  • degree of social isolation, such as living in public housing, in "Chinatowns" or in newly formed "Asia Towns";
  • rejection and mistreatment of Asians by proximate populations;
  • acceptance or rejection in schools;
  • exposure to gang-organizing forces;
  • lack of access to culturally appropriate social and recreational opportunities;
  • employment policies discriminatory against Asians; and
  • the presence of other gangs in the neighborhoods surrounding Asian enclaves.

The term Asian gang itself may be so overly broad that it inhibits learning about gang-participating youth and developing culturally appropriate responses to gang formation and evolution within a community. The term Asian includes East and Southeast Asian populations. The latter two broad categories include as many cultural dissimilarities as similarities between populations.

A general American stereotype is that all Asian youth and communities are the same. Unfortunately, this invalid assumption is widely held and is extremely detrimental to understanding and interacting with Asian youth and their families. Other common stereotypes of Asian gangs are that their gang members are more "vicious" than other ethnic gang members, or that Asians are "all the same" and that they "do not have the respect for life" which Westerners have. These concepts are inaccurate and demeaning. Such beliefs communicate an extremely pejorative view of Asians in general. The fact that Asian family roles, values and religious beliefs often differ from some Western archetype of acceptability does not justify making such generalizations and judgments. In addition, available information suggests that an extremely small number of gang members commit most of the conspicuous violent acts attributed to Asian gangs.

The perception that frequent, extreme violence among Asian gang members is the norm may be due to the publicizing of some of the more violent episodes. These highly publicized violent crimes committed by some Asian gang members present a marked contrast to another public perception, that of Asian youth as quiet, respectful, academically high-achieving students. It is perceived that the strong family bonds within the Asian community provide a protective factor which largely inhibits marginal gang affiliation among Asian youth. Thus, age-eligible youth are seen as either avoiding gangs completely or as characteristically making a break with the traditional family structure and establishing a primary affiliation with a gang.

Many influences, including positive and negative stereotypes, have contributed to the rise of Asian youth gangs in the United States, not the least of which is the numbing of emotional responsiveness which can be seen in many recent immigrant youth. This dulling of personal affect may result in part from childhoods spent in border camps in Thailand or from horrific experiences in escaping Laos, Cambodia, China or Viet Nam. Such trauma can have significant and long-lasting effects for the youth and their families. Even children born of immigrants in America who have not personally experienced the effects of war or life in relocation and refugee camps nonetheless may suffer indirectly from the effects of such events upon their parents, older siblings, and other relatives. The experiential and cultural complexities underlying the observable behavior of ethnic youth within a given school district must be discovered and understood in order to respond effectively to the needs of such youth.

BASIC CULTURAL ISSUES
Showing respect for individuals, their families and their cultural backgrounds should be the basis for communication with all people. It is especially important when dealing with Asian immigrant families to show respect for traditional roles and values, including a high regard for honesty and the sanctity of one's promise, appreciation for education and work, and esteem for one's elders and teachers. Most youthful Asian gang members are at least familiar with, if not accomplished practitioners of, basic aspects of both their own ethnic culture and their newly adopted Western culture. However, despite a given family's or even individual gang member's outward expressions of casualness and Westernization, it is imperative to be aware of and respect traditional roles within the family structure of the ethnic group to which each youth belongs.

APPROACHES TO USE WITH ASIAN YOUTH
The following approaches are suggested to assist educators who work with Asian youth and their families.

  • If an interpreter is needed, do not have the student provide interpretation except in a true emergency. Find an adult interpreter or wait until one can be found. For clan-based communities (i.e., Hmong clans), attempt to find a trained interpreter from the same clan, especially when disciplinary action is impending. Conversely, be cautious regarding unqualified interpreters when severe disciplinary consequences are being contemplated. Age-old rivalries can become entangled in what you may assume is a simple interpretation issue.
  • When addressing adults, look directly at the adults, even if they do not speak English. When communicating with the family of the student, first address the elder and then the primary person with whom you need to communicate.
  • Do not speak to the interpreter or young person unless s/he is the person being addressed.
    Accept any courtesy offered by the student or family and respond to any requests to honor a family or to observe a household practice when conducting home visits (i.e., offers of food or drink).
  • Remember to speak in a calm voice; do not show anger even when angry. Such behavior can cause you to lose the respect of the person with whom you are speaking.
  • Do not make a promise you cannot keep. Clearly qualify any limitation of your offers of assistance when you are uncertain that you will be able to fulfill your promise to help.
  • Respect the concept of "loss of face." This term refers to causing the student or family unnecessary public embarrassment or humiliation. To cause an Asian student or family to lose face unnecessarily is a major mistake and is very counterproductive. When loss of face is inevitable, avoid exacerbating the situation as much as possible. Rather, do what is necessary and move on. Communicate your concerns; specify any consequences or contingencies which are necessary; accept apologies or offers of conciliation. Allow both the student and family, if at all possible, to salvage some self-respect (i.e., face). Correcting or punishing inappropriate behavior without damaging the family name is difficult and sometimes impossible. Students have been ejected from their homes for dishonoring their families. Your efforts to show respect, even in severe circumstances, are necessary and will allow you to be more effective within the community in the future.
  • Learn basic cultural imperatives for the ethnic groups with which you deal most often. For example, do not pat the heads of small children from Buddhist families; learn to distinguish between child abuse and marks on students who have received "coin rubbings" from shamans as part of healing rituals; dress professionally and modestly on a home visit; avoid casual posture; avoid crossing your legs except at the ankles. Seek out and provide staff in-service training from community elders on basic norms and practices, particularly child-rearing practices. Community leaders and elders may or may not be the same persons within the ethnic group. Listen carefully and ask questions. Asian community members do not expect Westerners to be well-versed in their cultural imperatives, but do greatly appreciate any deference you may learn and express.
  • Study hard and learn the names of any Asian students with whom you deal most often. Despite the fact that many names are indeed difficult for Westerners to learn and pronounce, to both give and gain respect, it is imperative to take the time and make the effort to learn complex names. For example, do not exchange Yang and Vang in Hmong communities, they are different clans. Do not give English nicknames to Thai, Laotian or Cambodian children simply because you have difficulty pronouncing their names. Learn names, no matter how difficult it is to do so. It is not uncommon for young immigrant youth to change their names to Westernized nicknames or even to change their first names legally to stop the discomfort of listening to peers and teaching staff chronically mispronounce their names.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
Programs aimed at reducing gang presence in Asian communities must do several things. First, all prevention and intervention programs must be made acceptable both to the traditional and elder members of the communities and to the primary target of the programs, Asian youth. Such programs must be planned and presented to the community elders and established leaders, mediators, educators, and law enforcement officials. Imposing programs from the outside is at best unwise and will almost certainly lead to program failure or rejection. Planning should be interactive and participatory for members of the community being approached. Program developers should learn as much as possible of the community's history, both from literature and from community leaders.

Second, program developers must remain aware of the cultural dualism common to most gang-involved Asian youth. Gang-involved youth are constantly moving between cultures--that of their parents and that of the modern West. Asian-American youth are commonly fluent in both cultures and often in both languages. Recently arrived immigrant youth may have been born in Laos, may have moved among Thailand refugee camps, then settled in one American city and moved to still another to join family.

Cultural dualism has a second critical application. Educators should remember that gang members may behave one way in the gang subculture outside of school and behave in a totally different manner while in school. Some gang-involved youngsters who appear reasonably well-behaved in school may be engaging in extreme criminal acts while associating with their gang outside of school. Both aspects of their behavioral repertoire are real and must be reconciled to effect any reasonable chance of intervention.

A significant issue for foreign-born as well as first-generation Asian American youth is the gap between their American-influenced expectations of their parents, compared to their parents' traditional manner of interaction. For example, Hmong youth may want their parents to praise their school efforts in the manner of parents of American youth. However, many Hmong parents have yet to develop or accept the expectation to praise their children in such a manner, and school officials often notice reluctance of parents to accept and express such praise. Meetings between school personnel and community members are a crucial means of discovering common ground for parents and their children and bridging such cultural gaps.

Third, program developers must support appropriate interconnections between school, community agencies and juvenile justice agencies. Such planners must work with community-based crime prevention, community-oriented policing and community-based corrections providers in the ethnic community. Legally mandated or permitted communication between agencies can prevent problems and greatly mitigate those which appear unavoidable. A program such as the Asian Community Outreach Program in St. Paul, Minnesota, is an example of a highly effective and respected connection among social service agencies, public housing, and the St. Paul Police Department. ACOP, now called A Community Outreach Program, links providers by co-locating police, community agency and public housing personnel physically within the public housing complexes that serve a high percentage of southeast Asian families.

Fourth, program developers must study currently available programs and texts on street gangs and locate and utilize multiple, legitimate and established gang resources in the community. Planners should utilize agencies and programs that emphasize cultural sensitivity, conventional role models, and social expectations, and that also provide high quality supervision of at-risk and adjudicated youth.

Finally, planners should carefully establish the credentials of any person offering expert or experiential advice, being wary of instant experts or consultants who quickly arise to offer their services to communities in crisis or conflict.

SCHOOL SAFETY AND GANGS
Providing a safe school environment, regardless of community gang activity, is a basic necessity. Educators must develop written school safety plans and have them approved by the appropriate administrators and legal authorities employed by the school district. A basic school safety plan includes such components as dress and behavior codes; crisis response procedures; perimeter and within school security measures and procedures; telephone and radio communication procedures; a format for communicating with parents regarding emergencies and gang prevention information related to community gang activities, dress and behavior; and a format for exchange of information among appropriate agencies. It is also necessary to provide training for school staff, increasing their safety awareness and involving them in developing the safe school plan. Formulating a plan to deal with rumor control is also essential.

When planning for after-school events such as dances, for example, administrators should base the safety measures taken upon the severity of the gang problem in the area. A proportionate response to the gang problem is desired, with neither over- nor under-reaction as the goal.

It is important to control access to the facility where the function is to be held, especially the parking lot and all entries. Other measures include: prohibiting gang clothing and other types of gang representation; providing highly visible supervision by adults known to students; and limiting site access to students only or to pre-approved others, requiring all non-students to present a photo I.D. There must also be sufficient lighting; immediate access to high intensity lighting should problems occur; adequate support staff for conducting searches as necessary; uniformed security on the perimeter as necessary; the visible presence of a marked police cruiser near the main entrance as necessary; a high ratio of adult supervisors to students; and agreement ahead of time with a representative student committee as to the types of dancing and music that will be acceptable. Solicit support of local police to increase patrols in the area before, during and especially after the dance.

When schools develop a close relationship with parents and community leaders and with local law enforcement and their gang units, it is possible to inquire about current gang relationships and the probability of encountering problems at school functions. Participation of parents and community leaders is highly desirable to provide both community sanction and supervision.

While gang-related behavior should be discouraged, each student, especially the gang-involved student, must be valued, guided, supervised as necessary and always welcomed into the school community. The vast majority of Asian students have the same aspirations, strengths and assets as students from all other ethnic groups. The positive contributions from members of the Asian community to the greater society far outweigh the problems caused by a few.

This article was reprinted with the permission of the National School Safety Center. For more information on related topics, check out NSSC's website at http://www.nssc1.org/.


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Kodluboy, D.W., Evenrud, L. (1993). "School-Based Interventions: Best Practice and Critical Issues." In Arnold P. Goldstein and C.R. Huff (Eds.), The Gang Intervention Handbook. Champaign, Ill.: Research Press.

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Donald W. Kodluboy, Ph.D., is a school psychologist with the Minneapolis Public Schools. He is an author and trainer in the field of gang prevention and intervention.


Copyright © 1996 Donald W. Kodluboy. All rights reserved.