Gangs aren't what they used to be.
They aren't just in big cities anymore. National gangs such as the Bloods are moving to suburbs, rural areas and small cities around Pennsylvania and the country.
Most of Philadelphia's gangs are kids and young adults from one block or neighborhood fighting with similar groups from another.
Young people join gangs for respect, for a sense of belonging and identity bordered by their block. And there is a code of loyalty made routinely lethal by the prevalence of guns:
Your gang brother gets shot, you go after the shooter or someone from his gang.
It's a stupid way to live and a good way to die.
Knowing that background is important for designing a strategy to draw or keep kids away from gangs.
Philadelphia police now work with Meehan's office and other law-enforcement agencies to identify and nab violent gang members.
Mayor Street sees the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership and the Adolescent Violence Reduction Partnership, which shower intensive services on kids deemed most likely to kill or be killed, as important tools for deterring young people from crime.
The city has stepped up its enforcement of curfews and has opened a curfew center in Point Breeze. Spreading those centers throughout the city is a smart idea. Street soon will announce a new truancy initiative.
Those efforts are good; kids who skip class or stay out late are often kids who are in trouble. But those efforts aren't enough. Johnson and Street should look to city history and other cities for greater inspiration.
In Boston, a gang truce has emerged after police, clergy and youth workers held quiet talks with gang leaders. To keep that peace, truce organizers meet regularly with those leaders.
They get perks, including invitations to watch Patriots football from a corporate box. More important, the mayor's office helped kids to get summer jobs.
In other words, they earn respect and money constructively, legally.
Negotiating a truce is not a new concept. In 1974, the Philadelphia nonprofit House of Umoja organized a meeting for 500 gang members.
No members died during the 60-day truce that flowed from it, and gang homicides went down dramatically in the next few years.
David and Falaka Fattah, who founded Umoja, still are helping kids through their "Faith of Our Fathers Campaign," and asking this generation of gang members to sign a peace pledge.
A couple of months ago, Umoja sent a letter to area companies asking if they would hire pledge signers who are willing to move into the mainstream economy. David Fattah said he has gotten no response.
Businesses ought to be eager to help - out of civic responsibility and economic self-interest.
Cooperation from all sectors of the city is important if young people are to be persuaded that they are better off staying away from gang life and death.
