WOW: Guns to surpass car accidents as leading cause of deaths among young people

[AtheistCrusader]

124. This is a geographical issue.

Depending on where you are, 'gang banger' can bring to mind a stereotype of all sorts. White, Black, Asian, Latino, you name it.

Where I was born, most people were white. In that environment, the term predominantly served as shorthand for white gang members. I have lived places it is used as shorthand for Latino gang members.

I believe you when you say it isn't used to refer to white kids in the LA area. That doesn't make your assumption universally true.

Drop the same term in conversation in Seattle, and you get a TOTALLY different set of assumptions. (Though it can vary even within the superset of 'Seattle' depending on whether you are in West Seattle, up to Wallingford, or Rainier Valley to South Park, etc.)


If you've caught someone using it in all earnestness, without the connotation you assumed, they are never going to be able to prove it to you, and if you caught a racist using it as a bigoted smear, they are never going to admit it... So this fight seems unproductive.

I would just point out that depending on where one is, that's a racist smear, and move on, personally.


(Edit: Ask someone in L.A. what a 'jockey box' is, and they aren't going to know what the fuck you're talking about. Same too, if you ask someone in Libby Montana what a 'glove compartment' is.)