Rachel Holmberg

Mr.Adam

Humanities

2 October 2020

Community

You may know me as a thug who’s part of the King Lords, but did you ever consider anything

else about me? My name, my back story, or even who I am as a person. Well, my name is Binca and

although I might be a King Lord I still should be considered important. I would like to think that I impact

the community in a positive way but I know King,” our leader”, takes advantage of it and makes our gang

look like a ​threat​ to society. ​Every community has its “issues”, but every community still remains together as

a whole trying to stay above the rapid waters.

I became a King Lord when I was only 13 years old. My father was an abusive alcoholic and I needed

a place/family to escape to, and that’s where I met King. He took me as his own and cared for me and I needed

that in my life, so I became a King Lord. After that ​incident​, I was rarely home and soon my only ​instinct​ was

to never go back. King and the gang make me feel like I ​matter​ and they care for me in a way no one else has.

Us lords wear a grey bandanna to symbolize our connection as a member of the King Lords. It’s

something small but it holds us together with respect, dignity, and most importantly, love. You can’t just throw

the bandanna around ​recklessly​ like it’s just a piece of cloth, it’s like saying you don’t care about your family.

We stay very close because we have to due to the other rival gangs that always try to start something with us.

We have to stick together. An ex-member likes to compare us to Harry Potter with the different houses, and

how they’re always trying to beat the other.

One of the first people that I met in the King Lords was Khalil. He was 2 years older than me, but we

just clicked. He had this charm that was so magnetizing that everyone wanted to be his friend or just wanted to

be associated with him. You may or may not have noticed but I said ​had ​and that’s on purpose. About a week

or two ago he was killed by a police officer. It felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped my heart
out when I heard the news. He was with his old friend Starr when it happened. I’m just so angry because I feel

so broken and alone even though I know so many people around me feel the same. I feel like as a community

we have grown closer from this incident because we want ​justice​ for Khalil, and we want his name to be heard.

After the incident, there were news reporters showing where he lived and they just showed the worst

and most destroyed parts of our neighborhood. It made me so mad because they just showed the media what

they wanted. A poor black kid who was from the hood and didn’t deserve anything more than to be put in a

grave. What makes my skin boil, even more, is the fact that they just pushed this image on him that he was this

thug​ drug dealer. Which was not who he was, he was loving, caring, charismatic, a little ​stubborn​ but the most

humble person I have ever met. You want to know why he was selling drugs because his crack head mom stole

from King and he was paying back her ​debt​.

Maverick is Starr’s dad and he used to be a King Lord and Maverick and I have created a small bond

over the years. The point being he invited the King Lords and the Garden Disciples to his house to have a

meeting about how to protect the community from riots. When a death like Khalil’s gets out people ​riot​ and go

crazy destroying neighborhoods, towns, and communities. It was a shock to me that there were no fights or

arguments during the meeting because we are rival gangs, but we all understood that we needed to protect our

community. My job was to go around and put up black-owned business signs so that rioters wouldn’t destroy

them.

After helping out he invited me to his son Seven’s graduation/birthday party. I had such an amazing

time! There was so much food, friends, family, and love floating in the air. That was the first time in a long

time that I felt important and that someone cared about me. Yes, King at one point made me feel important, but

he soon got distant and only care about his money and power. I was just so happy to feel normal for a second

and not think about all of the pain that I have been feeling.

Every community can overcome their issues if they remember that they’re family and not

enemies. Community is so important in every person’s life and without it, you can feel lost. There is a

need and want in everyone’s life to be heard, loved, and cared about in which a community can supply

those needs. Even if you are different from your neighbor you still have one thing in common which is

your community.