"Stick to What's Right" Former Gang Member Says
An Insider's Look at Gangs' Fatal Attraction
By Joan Lownds
Malaki Mapp never will forget the stricken expression of an innocent bystander trying to protect his baby daughter from a hail of bullets fired by Mapp's gang.
"The image of a Spanish man on his porch, holding his baby against his chest as a shooting went on, will stay with me for the rest of my life," said Mapp, 30, a former gang member who spoke at the Greenwich Boys & Girls Club on March 24.
Addressing an audience of 128, Mapp warned that once a gang takes control over someone's life, "it's like a form of slavery."
The personal toll for Mapp, a Norwalk resident, includes his mobility. He is wheelchair-bound after a gang war in which stray bullets struck his leg and chest, causing a debilitating spinal cord injury.
However, Mapp viewed the episode as a turning point. "The bullet taught me hope and wisdom, although I wish I learned it earlier and not through gang life." Along with the injury, Mapp had a girlfriend who "begged me to quit the gang and then left me when I wouldn't." This also provided the impetus for Mapp to leave the Bridgeport-based Foundation Brotherhood gang.
He now is a student at Ellis University, an online program, studying behavioral psychology. He maintains a 3.7 grade-point average and hopes to graduate in December.
His presentation was sponsored by the Greenwich Police Department and coordinated by Youth Officer Phyllis Mickle and Neighborhood Resource Officer Mark Zuccerella. The purpose was to foster "awareness of what gang life is really like and what it will do to your life, which is nothing positive," Mickle said. She noted that gang life is often falsely glorified in popular culture "on television and in music."
The latest statistics provided by the National Youth Gang Center reveal that gang membership is on the upswing, with more than 25,000 gangs nationwide, and a total membership of more than 600,000. Gang members range from 12 to 25 years of age, although the peak age is 17.
The youngest and most vulnerable members often commit the most violent offenses.
According to Mapp, his evolution into a gang member began slowly. Born to a wealthy family in West Africa, they lost their land to political upheaval and were forced to relocate to "the slums of Bridgeport." There, Mapp, once a dedicated student, had difficulty adjusting. "I had never seen anybody talk back to a teacher before. And I had an accent, I talked about books, I got good grades," which amounted to "nerd" status, he said.
Targeted as an outsider, Mapp found himself "at the bottom of a bully's fist once too often." Slowly, he began to bend the rules so he would fit in. "It starts with simple things like throwing paper at a teacher, skipping school, stealing chips or cigarettes," he said. "Then it escalates, taking you away from core foundation teachings you get at home."
But Mapp found that as he "got more negative," he received more respect from his peers. "The girls who thought I was a loser before would talk to me because good girls like bad boys," he said. The feeling of notoriety and negative attention becomes "like a drug, almost addictive," he added.
By the age of 14, Mapp had joined the 40-member gang, which gave him "the identity and acceptance" he was searching for. However, he described this sense of belonging as "fatal attraction, it energizes you and gives you purpose, but you don't see what it takes away. You lose control of your life."
Gang life rewards violence, and "the more violent you are, the higher your position rises in the gang," he said. The culture of violence develops gradually. "The more you practice, the more wrong starts to look like right," he said.
While on his "first gang hit," Mapp remembered wondering, "What am I doing here?" But he went along because he didn't want to "seem soft or be disrespected." He noticed "the same question marks on everybody else's faces, but no one was bold enough to say, 'Hey, this might be wrong.' It's hard to go left when everyone else is going right."
Although Mapp said he never killed anyone and never served jail time, he described this as rare among gang members. "I've got a lot of dead friends."
Following his own wake-up call, Mapp returned to school, where he hopes to eventually pursue a master's degree, and tries to impart his anti-gang message to youth groups.
He advised, "Avoid the need to be accepted, keep control of your life and follow examples. Mimic excellent examples such as Bill Gates and Colin Powell."
According to Mapp, "all human beings in their core know what is right and wrong. Stick to what's right."
Joan Lownds is a staff reporter for the Greenwich Citizen, one of the Brooks Community Newspapers.
By Joan Lownds
Malaki Mapp never will forget the stricken expression of an innocent bystander trying to protect his baby daughter from a hail of bullets fired by Mapp's gang.
"The image of a Spanish man on his porch, holding his baby against his chest as a shooting went on, will stay with me for the rest of my life," said Mapp, 30, a former gang member who spoke at the Greenwich Boys & Girls Club on March 24.
Addressing an audience of 128, Mapp warned that once a gang takes control over someone's life, "it's like a form of slavery."
The personal toll for Mapp, a Norwalk resident, includes his mobility. He is wheelchair-bound after a gang war in which stray bullets struck his leg and chest, causing a debilitating spinal cord injury.
However, Mapp viewed the episode as a turning point. "The bullet taught me hope and wisdom, although I wish I learned it earlier and not through gang life." Along with the injury, Mapp had a girlfriend who "begged me to quit the gang and then left me when I wouldn't." This also provided the impetus for Mapp to leave the Bridgeport-based Foundation Brotherhood gang.
He now is a student at Ellis University, an online program, studying behavioral psychology. He maintains a 3.7 grade-point average and hopes to graduate in December.
His presentation was sponsored by the Greenwich Police Department and coordinated by Youth Officer Phyllis Mickle and Neighborhood Resource Officer Mark Zuccerella. The purpose was to foster "awareness of what gang life is really like and what it will do to your life, which is nothing positive," Mickle said. She noted that gang life is often falsely glorified in popular culture "on television and in music."
The latest statistics provided by the National Youth Gang Center reveal that gang membership is on the upswing, with more than 25,000 gangs nationwide, and a total membership of more than 600,000. Gang members range from 12 to 25 years of age, although the peak age is 17.
The youngest and most vulnerable members often commit the most violent offenses.
According to Mapp, his evolution into a gang member began slowly. Born to a wealthy family in West Africa, they lost their land to political upheaval and were forced to relocate to "the slums of Bridgeport." There, Mapp, once a dedicated student, had difficulty adjusting. "I had never seen anybody talk back to a teacher before. And I had an accent, I talked about books, I got good grades," which amounted to "nerd" status, he said.
Targeted as an outsider, Mapp found himself "at the bottom of a bully's fist once too often." Slowly, he began to bend the rules so he would fit in. "It starts with simple things like throwing paper at a teacher, skipping school, stealing chips or cigarettes," he said. "Then it escalates, taking you away from core foundation teachings you get at home."
But Mapp found that as he "got more negative," he received more respect from his peers. "The girls who thought I was a loser before would talk to me because good girls like bad boys," he said. The feeling of notoriety and negative attention becomes "like a drug, almost addictive," he added.
By the age of 14, Mapp had joined the 40-member gang, which gave him "the identity and acceptance" he was searching for. However, he described this sense of belonging as "fatal attraction, it energizes you and gives you purpose, but you don't see what it takes away. You lose control of your life."
Gang life rewards violence, and "the more violent you are, the higher your position rises in the gang," he said. The culture of violence develops gradually. "The more you practice, the more wrong starts to look like right," he said.
While on his "first gang hit," Mapp remembered wondering, "What am I doing here?" But he went along because he didn't want to "seem soft or be disrespected." He noticed "the same question marks on everybody else's faces, but no one was bold enough to say, 'Hey, this might be wrong.' It's hard to go left when everyone else is going right."
Although Mapp said he never killed anyone and never served jail time, he described this as rare among gang members. "I've got a lot of dead friends."
Following his own wake-up call, Mapp returned to school, where he hopes to eventually pursue a master's degree, and tries to impart his anti-gang message to youth groups.
He advised, "Avoid the need to be accepted, keep control of your life and follow examples. Mimic excellent examples such as Bill Gates and Colin Powell."
According to Mapp, "all human beings in their core know what is right and wrong. Stick to what's right."
Joan Lownds is a staff reporter for the Greenwich Citizen, one of the Brooks Community Newspapers.
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