Across the country, young black men gather wearing matching colors, throwing up signs with their hands, and using unique calls recognizable and exclusive only to their circles.

Florida Department of Corrections

The Crips handsign

Most would assume that this group is a gang. However, stepping onto a college campus would confuse anybody trying to identify these groups, because Greek-letter organizations share very similar customs.

The World Book Encyclopedia describes gangs as a group of people who associate with one another for social or criminal reasons.

Elijah Bowdre, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. from Long Beach, Calif., said he has grown up around gangs and can see how some people would make the mistake of comparing them to a Greek-letter organization.

"I always grew up with gangs around me," said Bowdre, 21, a senior finance student at Florida A&M University. "When I first came on campus I saw (a fraternity) with red jackets, and I thought they were Bloods."

Bowdre admits to seeing similarities in the physical setup of the two groups, but he recognizes important differences in the purpose of each group.

"A gang's purpose is to destroy other gangs and make money through crimes," Bowdre said. "A Greek letter organization's purpose is not committing crimes; the purpose is well documented, to serve the community."

Camron Hawkins, 18, who said he is a member of the Crips gang, does not agree.

"There are people who haven't been in a gang who commit worse crimes than us," said Hawkins, a Tallahassee, Fla., native. "Its not always about violence, it's about money."

Hawkins considers gangs and fraternities to be one and the same, and even considers a family to be a gang.

Ironically, a lack of family structure is what draws many to join gangs in the first place.

Robert Corley, a North Carolina Crip for 14 years, has left his former lifestyle to become a church laborer in Tallahassee.

"We get with our own kind of people to form gangs because we come from a broken family," Corley said. "We find people that we can relate to, and we unify ourselves to become an army."

According to sociologist Daniel J. Monti, quoted in the book "Gangs" by Gail B. Stewart, the family structure provided by gangs helps to build young people the same way families, churches, schools and neighbors do.

However, Bowdre said he does not believe that sociologists can give expert opinions about things they have never experienced.

"While sociologists are at home reading their books, gang members are in the streets," Bowdre said. "They probably don't fully understand gang culture. You can't only go off of an assumption."

Although gangs provide a family structure, many question whether gangs are worth the destruction that they cause the wider community. That question is not frequently asked of Greek letter organizations.

"You can't put us on the same scale," Bowdre said. "The net sum of productivity of gangs and fraternities are completely different."

Elizabeth Hollifield, a psychology professor at FAMU, agrees.

"I don't think gangs and fraternities can be compared, because gangs have a very negative connotation and fraternities don't," Hollifield said. "It's like comparing apples and oranges. They are both fruits, but they have very different tastes."

Christine Thomasos, a student at Florida A&M University, writes for the Famuan. To comment, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Posted Aug. 31, 2007

It's a Rise in "Gangsta" Mentality Among Students

I work with Latino gangs here in Northern California and have done so for about 15 years.

My first comment is that I believe that there are both superficial differences and similarities that set gangs and Greeks apart: colors, purpose, hand signs, gestures and even dances. I say superficial because these things are all seen on the outside.

What connects them fundamentally is the human need to belong to something; respect, identity, status, support and belonging.

Second: Greeks need to be careful not to emulate the "gangsta" image so much that they cannot be distinguished from the local gang set down the street. I have been to many a party or college event where the Greeks became "ganglike" in their actions and demeanor. I would argue that there isn't so much a rise in gangs on college campuses as a rise in the "gangsta" mentality among college students, They are at a place where one does NOT have to be a true gang member to intimidate or cause problems.

Thanks for writing the article.

Alejandro Vilchez
Manager of Violence Prevention & Strengthening Neighborhoods
The Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center
San Mateo, Calif.
Sept. 4, 2007