moving to DC/VA...

[Yankeesfan]

Northern VA has many educated, employed, well-off members of all ethnic backgrounds. That's one of the benefits of living here. You can live in a nice neighborhood and it is not all white, it is very mixed. This includes many families with Latino backgrounds. Kids grow up with diversity.

However, the gangs come from low income families who aren't giving sufficient attention to their children. Many immigrants who come here, legally or illegally, take multiple low-paying jobs. They learn little or no English even after being here for years. They don't spend much time with their children because they are always working. The kids grow up torn between the ethnicity and language their parents cling to, and the English-speaking American world they are spending most of their time in. They may resent and/or envy the middle-class or higher families they go to school with. Or, the parents leave their children back in their native countries and then after several years of never seeing them, they tear those children away from the homes they have always known to bring them here to live with parents who they barely remember. These are the kids that are more likely to become gang members, and in this area the families with those circumstances tend to be Spanish. It's not racial as much as socio-economic.

[Yankeesfan]

Just received this from the Franconia Police Department's weekly report:

Springfield Mall, 6500 Block: On Thursday, May 24 just after midnight, an 18-year-old man was assaulted near Springfield Mall. The Springfield-area man was walking by the Men's Warehouse at 6500 Springfield Mall when a group of men approached and demanded his wallet. They pushed him to the ground and stabbed him in the hand while yelling a gang name. The victim was able to run away. He was treated at Inova Springfield Healthplex. The three suspects were described as Hispanic men, 23 to 25 years of age. They were between 5 feet 5 inches and 6 feet tall. They all wore blue shirts and blue bandanas. The victim in this case was arrested for unrelated charges and was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. He was served with an outstanding bench warrant.