Hot Brain Ramble
So the big rumor was that this weekend, gang initiations were supposed to go down at malls, Wal-Marts, Krogers, Targets, etc. I had some reason to believe it that I can’t really go into, but anyway… I went to Schnuck’s, and there was, in fact, an extra cop posted outside. He looked fairly ineffectual, but anyway, he was there. My thought was this: the much greater danger at Schnuck’s is not gang initiations. It’s getting killed by the cars in the parking lot. Man, that place is insane. Seriously, whoever designed the traffic flow there must have been on crack. It’s out of control. The good part of the trip was that I ran into Eric from the Bar-B-Q Shop, and I got to thank him again for my free barbecue last night. On the way home, I saw three different signs indicating the outside temperature. One said 104, one said 94, and another said 93. This was at 7:30pm, so I’m guessing the last two were more correct. You know those signs that say "W:The President"? There is a huge one on Union that says "J: The Messiah." Memphis is a wacky, wacky place. This ramble was brought to you by a heat-induced haze.
Comment by Adam
July 25, 2005 @ 9:41 am
I tend to be skeptical of rumors of gang intiations requiring public and spectacular crimes.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/memphis.asp
Not to say it’s impossible, just noting that it’s the kind of rumor that makes the rounds every once in a while. I’ve heard the same rumor about gang initiations in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, LA and New York City. In each of those situations, there was not a single homicide or assault that could be definitively linked to the rumor.
Think about it. If you’re running a gang, do you want to make every potential member commit a high-profile crime that will get every cop in town after them? Hell, no! You want your members to do something bad enough to make sure they’ll do what you say, but not bad enough to bring an assload of heat down on you. Assaulting a member of a rival gang, theft, robbery – those are the kinds of crimes with a relatively high benefit/risk ration. Murder, as a general rule, isn’t.
A corollary to the above is that wannabes and gang-bangers that want to look tough will claim to know of the “kill/rape/eat/whatever initiation”, making themselves look a little more badass without having to actually commit a crime themselves.
In short, then, use common sense – avoid situations that make you more vulnerable to crime when possible, just like you do every day.