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Monday, November 21, 2005 

– Gangs, Race and the Informal Sector

--- this is a modified journal entry i am handing in for my sociology class. it's terrible writing because apparently my writing prowess has been reduced to that of a grade schooler. i've never been a great writer, but this week my brain is actually fried.

-----

This Saturday, I went out for my friend’s 21st birthday. We went to a club in downtown Vancouver. Some of the guys that we were with were Vietnamese gang-members. This made for an interesting expedition. When I go to clubs with my friends, I am usually not concerned about which gang the club is affiliated with.
I started to wonder about immigrant culture in Vancouver, where a lot of the gangs are racialized. There are your Vietnamese gangs, Punjabi gangs and the Hell’s Angels. I’m sure I’m leaving many out, and giving a very thin description, but I don’t know much about gangs in Vancouver. What I do know, is that they are a thriving part of our black market economy, specifically the drug trade. I have always wondered why, at least the stereotype is, that Vietnamese have a higher change of joining the criminal underworld.
My contention is that it is partially the result of an immigrant culture. A large majority of the Vietnamese population were originally refugees. This was the case with one of guys I was with. His family came here without anything and had to work hard to make a living. Even though jobs were available in the formal sector, many Vietnamese youth see the relative poverty that they have to endure and want to change their situation. The fastest way to do that is through the informal sector. And in Vancouver, the informal sector is the gang controlled drug trade. This was the case with the guy I met.
The second guy I started talking to at the club kept repeating, “I don’t like this club. Too many shootings. Too many gangs here”. We left an hour later in a black SUV tinted SUV. He had moved to Vancouver from Edmonton to “work”. As we were driving down Broadway, he remarked how he couldn’t wait to get rich and “roll up in a nice ride” to a club instead of being driven around by the other guy, his boss. It seems like the prevailing attitude in this informal sector: get rich quick.
We drove from the club in search of food, but were distracted by a party by some of their friends. When we arrived at the apartment, we were greeted by a shirtless Vietnamese guy with a dragon inked all over his back. I declined the Ecstasy he offered me and sat down on the couch where the rest of the people were glued to a 60 inch television watching a movie with no sound. They were all high. The guys met were pointing out which of the girls on the couch was “theirs”. The conversations revolved around girls, tattoos and working out.
Overall, it was not a typical evening for me. The evening however, was an eye-opener to a culture I normally would never see, although it is growing within my city. It just made me aware that even in our city there is so much class and race diversity which shows up in both the formal and informal sector; the latter of which is hard to measure because it is underground.

i've enjoyed your recent splurge of blog entries. yes, i admit that this fog is a little crazy and unnecessary on God's part... anywho... so this story of you hanging out with these gang members. haha, that must've awkward and scary and wierd all at the same time. you're now hardcore in my books mel.

i apologize for not really blogging. i do blog on my msn space more often if you want to check that out during one of your procrastination moments, maybe that way you won't feel so "one way".

now speaking of your "era of discontent". i think i know where you're coming from. although im sure our eras differ in reason, but nonetheless, the word bbbbllllaaahhhh seems to capture it all quite nicely, don't you think?

new guilty pleasure tv show (since you seem to be getting over dawson's creek and joey): laguna beach. completely brain numbing trash and could be annoying for you because its based on very stupid high schoolers, but i find it fantastic, just thought i'd let ya know.

wow, apologies for so many grammatical errors.

thanks jenny.
yeah, well, it's not as "hardcore" as it sounds i guess. they were pretty tame and not really ones that would start trouble i think. just get their money from not so legal sources is all.

it was actually quite a boring night. but i figure i should embellish a little to make use of it.

and yea, blaaaahhh is a good way to describe it. that's the sound that reverberates in my head. i need a vacation.

how do i get to ur msn space? what's the address?

if u just go to my blogspot one, i have a link to my msn space. it should work because you're on my msn list...

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  • I'm M
  • From Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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