What Causes Chicanos to Join Gangs and How Does
             It is a cold and dark night in East Los Angeles. The streets are empty except for a few people on their way home. Then out of the shadows comes a car slowly driving down the streets. There are four young men heavily armed, just waiting for a target to come along. At a nearby house a rival gang member comes out of his home for a cigarette. One of the G's [gang member] in the car recognizes him as the man that shot one of his homies [fellow gang member] at a party the previous week. The car speeds by and the vatos [men] in the car open fire on the individual. The sounds of gunshots can be heard all around the nearby streets. He is hit once in the head and dies instantly. His wife and children hear the shots and come out to find their father lying lifeless on the ground. One man is dead, a woman is widowed, three children are now without a father, and four young men are now on the run from the law. This is what life is like inside a gang. This is their future. But gang members are not the only victims to street violence; their family, their children, their friends and loved ones, and countless of innocent by-standers are all victims to gang warfare. Knowing all of this, it is inconceivable why anyone would want to join a gang, but countless teens do. What is it that causes a person to join a gang and how will that decision affect his or her life?
             Before we can start to understand why young Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) join gangs we must first understand what a gang truly is. According to Bullet, a gang is a group formed by groups of friends and acquaintances whose main purpose is to take control of a territory, which they call a vario or barrio, which is usually where they live (Interview). Most of the time they do this to sell drugs, or just to control an area where they can feel safe and not be threatened by another gang. They fight for that territory so they can walk and feel...