{"quotes":[{"text":"Cut anyone and everyone out of your life that makes you feel small, hurt, humiliated, stupid, worthless, etc. Do it swiftly and violently and without remorse.","author":"Genereux Philip","tags":["anyone","cut","everyone","feel","genereux","humiliated","hurt","inspirational","inspration","life","motivational","remorse","small","street","street-life","stupid","swiftly","violently","worthless"],"id":14982,"author_id":"Genereux+Philip"},{"text":"The gangs filled a void in society, and the void was the absence of family life. The gang became a family. For some of those guys in the gang that was the only family they knew, because when their mothers had them they were too busy having children for other men. Some of them never knew their daddies. Their daddies never look back after they got their mothers pregnant, and those guys just grew up and they couldn’t relate to nobody. \tWhen they had their problems, who could they have talked to? Nobody would listen, so they gravitated together and form a gang. George Mackey, the former representative for the historic Fox Hill community in The Bahamas.","author":"Drexel Deal","tags":["absentee-fathers","at-risk-communities","at-risk-youth","broken-homes","coming-together","dead-beat-dads","emptiness","empty-nest","family","family-life","fatherhood","fatherless-homes","gang-family","gang-formation","gang-intervention","gang-life","gang-members","gang-prevention","gangs","gangsters","government","hurting-children","hurting-people","member-of-parliament","missing-in-action","policy-makers","politicians","representative","sense-of-belonging","single-mothers","social-ills","street-life","void-within","youth-club","youth-groups","youth-ministry","youth-outreach","youth-problems","youth-programs"],"id":84468,"author_id":"Drexel+Deal"},{"text":"You have to respect a person for what he can do, and you can’t judge him to the fella who shoots ten people who feels nothing, goes to jail and come out and shoots ten more. You have to make people feel that whatever you are good at, we appreciate and respect you for that. Scrooge, former leader of the Rebellion Raiders street gang that once boasted of having some ten thousand membersRespecting people, coaching, gang recruitment, gang membership, gang leaders, street code, street life, gang involvement, team members, self-esteem, self-confidence, feeling respected, feeling wanted, feeling good feeling apart, Rebellions-Raiders, Rebellion RaidersYou have to respect a person for what he can do, and you can’t judge him to the fella who shoots ten people who feels nothing, goes to jail and come out and shoots ten more. You have to make people feel that whatever you are good at, we appreciate and respect you for that. Scrooge, former leader of the Rebellion Raiders street gang that once boasted of having some ten thousand members.","author":"Drexel Deal","tags":["coaching","feeling-good-feeling-apart","feeling-respected","feeling-wanted","gang-involvement","gang-leaders","gang-membership","gang-recruitment","rebellion-raiders","rebellions-raiders","respecting-people","self-confidence","self-esteem","street-code","street-life","team-members"],"id":145331,"author_id":"Drexel+Deal"},{"text":"I'm trap in marriage with gangsta rhyme and my street life.","author":"Kjiva","tags":["american-society","gangster","hip-hop","hip-hop-philosophy","kjiva","life","music","rhyme","street","street-life"],"id":188134,"author_id":"Kjiva"},{"text":"Life is so fragile and unpredictable, especially when you are in a gang or in a life of crime. It’s like playing poker; you think to yourself that you have a good hand. However, it is only when you reveal your hand do you sometimes discover to your horror that someone else’s hand is better.","author":"Drexel Deal","tags":["a-life-of-crime","consequences","court-of-law","criminals","fragile","gang-members","horror","poker","poker-players","prison","prison-inmates","prison-sentence","street-killings","street-life","thug-life","unpredictable"],"id":255769,"author_id":"Drexel+Deal"},{"text":"When I went to prison and came out, it was like another stripe being added to my shoulder—another notch of respect on my belt. On the streets, you cannot get a name until you do something. You have to prove who you are by doing something outrageous, like shooting someone from a rival gang. It allowed others to see what type of person you were, and established the fact that you were ready for anything. Back in the day, what we were looking for was for someone to have our backs. So every time I did something and was recognized for what I did, it gave me more nerves to continue. After the deed was all said and done, and we were hanging on the blocks, everyone is praising you and talking about what you did. You all should have been there. You should have seen how Taco rushed up on that fella and dealt with him.Those praises were like drugs that eventually poison the mind, and gave you more inspiration to do things to have more people talking about you. People recognizing you as one who isn’t scared, one who is ready to do whatever is needed.No one ever wants to go to prison. I never wanted to go to prison. I just wanted to be recognized as one willing and ready for a battle anytime. Troit Lynes, former death row inmate of Her Majesty Prison in the Bahamas.","author":"Drexel Deal","tags":["another-world","bad-boys","die-hard-gangsters","drug-addiction","gang-intervention","gang-life","gang-pride","gangsters","hard-core-gangsters","praises","prison","rebellion-raiders","recognition","right-of-passage","sense-of-belonging","street-fame","street-family","street-life","street-recognition"],"id":257863,"author_id":"Drexel+Deal"},{"text":"Never Underrate A Street Boy With Wifi.","author":"Genereux Philip","tags":["genereux-philip","genereuxity","inspiration","motivational","street","street-life","street","underrate","wifi"],"id":297931,"author_id":"Genereux+Philip"},{"text":"Looking back on it all, I believe when we were on the streets coming up, we were simply looking for somebody to look our way. Even though guys were getting killed, the gang continued to grow. I heard some older folks say one time, ‘As soon as two or three of them get killed, this gang will go to the dogs.’ Each time one of us got killed, it hurt, but, that made us stronger. Anthony ‘Ada’ Allen, one of the former leaders and founders of the Rebellion Raiders.","author":"Drexel Deal","tags":["at-risk-youth","attention","coming-up","gang-killings","gang-violence","older-folks","reaching-gang-members","rebellion-raiders","senseless-killings","senseless-violence","street-life","stronger","thug-life","youth-outreach"],"id":310270,"author_id":"Drexel+Deal"},{"text":"When I was on the streets thugging, I wanted loyal people around me. I made my crew aware if you’re going to bleed, I will bleed, too. If we have to go to prison, then we are going to prison together. But one thing about us: if someone is locked up in prison, whatever it takes, we gon’ get that person out. Scrooge, former leader of the Rebellion Raiders street gang that once boasted of having some ten thousand membersThugging, loyalty, prison, Rebellion Raiders, gangbanging, street life, gang life, support, togetherness, unity, lock up, When I was on the streets thugging, I wanted loyal people around me. I made my crew aware if you’re going to bleed, I will bleed, too. If we have to go to prison, then we are going to prison together. But one thing about us: if someone is locked up in prison, whatever it takes, we gon’ get that person out. Scrooge, former leader of the Rebellion Raiders street gang that once boasted of having some ten thousand members.","author":"Drexel Deal","tags":["gang-life","gang-loyalty","gang-members","gangbanging","lock-up","loyalty","prison","rebellion-raiders","street-life","support","thugging","togetherness","unity"],"id":335435,"author_id":"Drexel+Deal"},{"text":"I could understand why some fella’s take drugs just before their crimes: because they need something to help them quiet their minds. However, I don’t do drugs nor do I drink alcohol, but the thing that gets me high like a kite is a crime well done. Then there’s the scent of freshly fired gunpowder, or the sounds of the empty bullet casings hitting the ground as they are ejected each time I pull the trigger. These two things never fail to get me high; the truth is I’m seriously addicted to violence.","author":"Drexel Deal","tags":["addiction","arm-robbery","bullet-casings","drive-by","gang-life","gangbanging","gangsters","hardcore-gangsters","harden-criminals","high-like-a-kite","senseless-violence","street-life","thug-life","violence-addiction"],"id":361246,"author_id":"Drexel+Deal"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":16,"pages":2,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}