Graffiti shows gangs are here

By Marijon Shearer, October 19, 2005

For Shippensburg residents who fear that violent gangs and hate groups could take root in their community, state experts have news: they’re already here.



Some of the graffiti in downtown alleys is not just annoying vandalism, it’s an advertisement from at least one urban gang that its members are in town and are looking for new recruits, says a trooper from the Pennsylvania State Police.

Trooper Edward Asbury, a community service officer for Troop H, told the audience at an Oct. 11 community meeting at Shippensburg Area High School that members of the Crips, a traditionally African-American street gang that originated in Los Angeles, are operating in Shippensburg.

Asbury said later that four examples of Crips graffiti have been positively identified in Shippensburg. At least one example, now painted over, was found in the alley behind Shippensburg Public Library, he said.

Like any other businesspeople, the trooper said, gangs in the business of selling narcotics or conducting other illegal activities will set up shop wherever they can make money. Local criminals in the same businesses will have to join them or leave town, he said.

The face of gangs is changing, Asbury says, and new members are recruited from any ethnic group. Girls, too, may get into gangs, he says, although they typically join as girlfriends of male gang members.

Other gangs organize around a common aversion to particular races or ethnic groups, Asbury told the high school audience. He showed films and photographs of modern skinhead, Neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan activities.




Pennsylvania is the No. 1 state for growth and formation of hate groups, Asbury said.

Getting to know young people and giving them a role in the community is a hedge against gang activity, says Ann Van Dyke, an educator for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Speaking out against intolerance is another, she says.

“Silence is the welcome mat for hate,” she said. “You must say, ‘we as a community insist on respect for all people.’”

Young people need a voice, she said. “When people feel alienated, hate can (grow).”

The most powerful invitation to hate groups, Van Dyke said, is “the silence of good folks.”