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12 Crime Bang, Bang, You’re Dead “ItMakesYouFeelSpecial” Oakland Tribune, May 15, 1994 On a recent morning, I was sitting next to Samantha Vong and Lap Neou on a stage at the Federal Building auditorium in downtown Oakland. As they spoke at an Asian youth conference, I felt as though we lived in two different worlds, despite the fact we are all East Bay residents. Our worlds are far apart in terms of age, ethnicity, education, experiences , and world outlook. I was both awed and depressed by what I heard. It’s not that I’ve not heard stories like these before. It was simply that I was beginning to tire of hearing them again, as though nothing has changed, as though nothing will change. Samantha is 16-year-old Oakland high school student. She was born in Cambodia and came to the United States when she was four or five. She told the mostly Asian American youth audience why she chose “the streets.” “I was having family problems,” said Samantha. Her parents didn’t want her to go out. “I’m living in America and I wanna go out, have fun. So I hooked up with friends. We hung out on the streets till one or two in the morning. Why did I choose the streets? I wanted to be, like, somebody. I got into trouble [stealing cars]. I went to juvvie [Juvenile Hall] for a week. I came out and did it again. I didn’t care what anybody said. I went to juvvie for a month. That made me think about my life. My dad, who’s buff, strong, but old . . . he started crying. That really touched me. He was crying for me. He told me to do good. That made me think about my life. I can’t stay a little thug all my life.” 206 “Here’s what politicians can do [for young people]: build more youth centers, offer more counseling, deal with family problems.” Later, she reiterated , “We have solutions [to youth problems], but people don’t want to listen to our solutions: jobs, training, education, places to have a good time.” Lap Neou, a 17-year-old who came from Cambodia when he was a year old, said he wanted to be like the “older guys, be like a gang . . . more powerful .” He got into trouble stealing cars and car stereos, “anything you can get for money. I traded stolen goods for guns and other good stuff.” Some in the audience chuckled. He speaks in a clipped street argot. “[We] kids drink beer, smoke cigarettes , marijuana. We don’t touch crack. We talk with each other, watch [each others’] backs.” He said he’s been “in and out of the [youth criminal justice] system.” He was first caught “joyriding in a stolen car. Got caught in the front seat. . . . I’m not that bad.” Again, some laughter. “My parents got mad at me, cussing me, ‘You gonna end up a bum.’” He got caught a second time driving a stolen car. “They found bullets in my pocket. I tried to lie: I said I was carrying bullets for friends.” For that, he spent five months in the “hall.” “I thought my life was over. . . . They treated me like a dog.” Matter-of-factly, he related some fights he’s been in. In one, he was one of four against ten. “They couldn’t beat us. Someone came at me with a knife. No one got hurt except for me.” Another time, he got into a fight in a suburban mall. He was with a friend, smaller than him. They confronted “a couple of Mexicans. They were big and fat. I go one-on-one with one. I started it. I won. I beat him. Reason I’m telling you this is that I broke my hand hitting a door. Fightin’s not good.” More laughs. His future? “I just wanna finish high school. Don’t know about college. I want a good job, get paid, big house, fancy car.” Someone else asked why young people fight one another. Samantha said, “Kids want to be somebody, they want to have power.” A third person asked Lap why Asian kids fight other Asian kids. “Some Asians think they’re more powerful,” he said. “Some don’t like your race. It’s Cambodians against Vietnamese against Chinese. . . . My brother’s gang used to fight Vietnamese gangs. They didn’t like each other.” Samantha offered, “We don...

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