The gangs of Decatur

Divided by schools, they come from good faimiles and play sports. They’re not a major threat now, but police and others are watching, hoping to head off trouble.

By Kristen Bishop

Gone are the days when gang members could be characterized by a particular socioeconomic status, race, educational background or family history.

These days, two emerging Decatur gangs are appealing to a larger crowd — the star basketball player, the honor roll student, possibly the teen living down the street — according to Decatur Youth Services Director Bruce Jones.

“Years ago, people involved in gangs were guys we’d call ‘hardcore,’ people who had dropped out of school or were dealing drugs,” he said. “Now we’ve got a lot of guys claiming they’re in a gang who come from good families, are playing sports, making decent grades. You’ve got your average kid, which makes it even more dangerous because it could be anyone.”

The newest gangs to hit the streets of Decatur in the last two years have one defining characteristic: school affiliation. The Austin High gang calls itself the Cash Money Boyz, and the Decatur High gang goes by the Homeboyz.

There does not appear to be any particular clothing style or hand sign to identify their members, but police have confirmed their existence and are monitoring their activities.

The Cash Money Boyz’ Web site on myspace.com, a social-networking site with more than a million members, shows how mainstream gang involvement has become. The site lists the group as C.M.B. Block Boyz and has more than 70 “friends.”

The site’s maintainer does not refer to the group as a gang, but rather the “hardest click in the valley.” In the “about me” section, it bashes the Homeboyz and says that anyone who messes with the group will “end up on tha (sic) street bleedin (sic) beggin (sic) 4 (sic) ya (sic) moms.”

A search on myspace.com did not turn up a site for the Homeboyz.

According to Kim Saafiyah, owner of All Occasions on 12th Avenue Southwest and a concerned parent, the two rival gangs are “jumping” each others’ members in an effort to prove which gang is “bigger and badder.”

“It’s just a bunch of kids playing gangs,” she said. “It probably started out as cliques at school, and they decided to call themselves a gang to see who’s the baddest.”

Saafiyah said she’s worried that the latest case of teen violence may be an indication of a greater threat.

Teen shooting

Though Decatur police haven’t confirmed or denied that the shooting of Austin High junior Clay Durell on Nov. 4 was gang-related, Saafiyah said she believes Durell is afraid to identify his shooter because of possible retribution from one of the gangs.

Durell was shot at the West Moulton Mini Mart parking lot across from All Occasions, a meeting and banquet facility, after the Austin-Decatur football game. Police have not made an arrest.

“That boy knows who shot him, but he’s too scared to speak out,” said Saafiyah. “They had a gun that time. Why couldn’t they use it again?”

Durell has declined to talk, but his mother, Teresa Clay, has denied that the shooting was either gang- or drug-related.

Decatur police spokesman Lt. Chris Mathews said the gangs have affiliated themselves with the schools, but have kept the violence off campus and aimed only at other gang members.

“We’ve had some reports where there have been confrontations within the gangs, but nothing aimed at the general public,” he said.

Mathews said gang affiliation is not illegal, but police are monitoring known members and activity to try and squelch any criminal acts associated with gangs.

“We’re coordinating with teachers, parents and schools and using our intelligence sources so if we see a particular trend, we can make adjustments,” he said.

He said the Cash Money Boyz and the Homeboyz can be classified as gangs, but are not well-organized or clearly defined.

Jones agreed that the gangs aren’t as much of a threat to the community as stereotypical big-city gangs, but said they must be stopped early.

“At this point, to not use the word ‘gang,’ we’d be fooling ourselves,” he said. “Is it out of control? No, because we try to recognize those individuals involved and stop it before it becomes too big of a problem.”

Media influence

Decatur has a history of gangs such as Folk and the Latin Kings, but this is the first time the gangs have attracted “normal kids,” said Jones. He blamed the mass appeal on teens’ role models in the media.

“TV is the biggest influence on young people,” he said. “The (music) videos usually build up the gangs’ mentally. They have songs like ‘It’s going down ... it’s at the mall’ and another song that says ‘Throw your hood up.’ That means show your gang sign.”

Jones said the rise in college athletes involved in criminal activity gives teens the impression that it’s “cool” to associate with gangs.

“They’re seeing it in our role models, and they live what they see,” said Jones.

Bill Gilchrist, Decatur City Schools special education supervisor and school psychologist, said teens join gangs to fill a void not satisfied by other pursuits.

“It comes down to a lack of fulfillment in other normal activities — goals, education,” he said. “When that’s lacking, someone might turn to a gang to make them feel like they belong.”

Combating the problem

Gilchrist encourages parents, teachers and community organizations to join forces to combat the rise of gang affiliation.

“It requires a cohesive effort across many venues,” he said. “You have to have a joint community effort to provide kids with what they need to make gang activity less attractive.”

According to Jones, the biggest deterrent for a teen to join a gang is parental involvement.

“Nobody has the answer, but one of the things we have to do is monitor our children,” he said. “We have to know who they’re with, what they’re doing and what they’re involved with.”

Mathews said gangs use graffiti to advertise themselves and urged the community to fight gang activity by immediately reporting and removing graffiti.

“If a group feels that the community is not going to stand for it, they’ll pack up and move on,” he said.