[heavyset_go]

When I was in school, the administration would work itself up into fits about "gangs infiltrating the schools" because an 11 year old wore a red or blue hat to class, clearly gang colors and a sign of the times.

This was in a wealthy suburb where people like that have to make up imaginary threats in order to feel something, and what better population to fret about than the kids.

[tetromino_]

There was also a wealthy suburb with an actual gang whose existence was swept under the rug for years until they murdered a random 16 year old: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/01/how-a-homegrow...

The cops' reluctance to investigate probably had something to do with the fact that some of the gang members were white student athletes with very wealthy families.

[heavyset_go]

That's a real thing that actually happened, my school administration was worried about "ethnic" gangs and rappers they saw on MTV turning 11 year old white kids into, using their words, "gangstas". Same people were running around like headless chickens about "rainbow parties" and FPS games a couple of years before.