baby boy breaks it down
Rico and I were enforcers in the gang we belonged to. And he's right. We know all about terrorism. We didn't use bombs but we had our weapons of choice: intimidation, physical brutality, and the willingness to go there. For those who don't know what that means, I'll make it simple: doing things that other people can't or won't do. And that's what terrorists do. They go there. They escalate to higher and higher levels of violence and intimidation
So how do you fight those who are willing to go there? Well, you can escalate also to higher levels of violence and intimidation towards them. And I can't knock it. It's an instinctive reaction. But many times that leads to a circular pattern of destruction. Incident, retaliation, and counter-retaliation is par for that course. But you know what stopped gang enforces like Rico and I? It wasn't the rival gangs. It wasn't necessarily law enforcement. It was the community. When they stood up to us, we faded. When 25 - 30 hard workin' men and women from UAW Local 22 showed up when we were "roughing up" a couple of drug addicts that owed money, we stopped in our tracks. And what made it worse for us is that they marked us. They got our nicknames and gang affiliation. We were basically screwed.
The community has the power to kill terrorists. For the terrorists are born and raised in the community. When the regular folks change their minds, the fools have no power. Yes it is a hard, tough, nasty road. But it is a road that has to taken. The war on terrorism has to be a smart war on terrorism. Hard questions need to be asked and answered at home and abroad. Uncomfortable situations have to be endured. But winning the community wins the war.
