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From: MJLaBurt
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/Stories/0,1413,91~3089~2373380,00.html#
The gang life: Gang member initially felt safe in group
Editor's note: This is the first part of a three-part series about a former gang member who has taken control of her life.
By LAURA CLARK/The Daily Journal
Wednesday, September 01, 2004 -
She's rolled with the punches and she's thrown some too, but a rough start in life wasn't enough to take "China Doll" down.
Though not her birth name, for the sake of this article, the 29-year-old graduate student and former Sacramento gang member wished to use the name given to her by those who protected her -- those from whom she later fled.
Childhood memories
China Doll was born in Woodland.
When her parents broke up she went to live with her father. And then, her mother "stole" the 4-year-old girl from her father and took her to Nevada to live with her grandparents, China Doll said.
"She didn't take me because she wanted me; she just took me because she didn't want my dad to have me," she said.
"That was a bad scene," she said, of living with her grandmother and her stepgrandfather.
"There was physical and sexual abuse. So when I was about 10, I went to the doctor and I had an STD, so they immediately turned it in. The stepgrandfather was the one," she said, referring to the man who gave her the sexually transmitted disease.
Then the FBI got involved, she said, noting that at the time of the incident she was living with her grandparents on an Indian reservation. Her mother also showed up, she said. By this time, she was in the fifth grade and she hadn't seen her mother since she "left her," she said.
"She's all embarrassed because at that time she was working with the state Department of Child Abuse Prevention. I found out later on that the guy that did that to me did this to some of my other cousins and she (her mother) knew about it," China Doll said.
She said her mother -- who at that point took China Doll home to Sacramento to live with her -- told her she didn't want to talk about it and that she should not prosecute. "So it's kind of like nothing ever happened," China Doll said.
Her father found out she was back in town and he began visiting her more, she said, but "he is real busy with his career."
And so it begins
"I am in fifth grade. I start hangingoutwithpeoplethataresimilartowhatIlooklike,saidtheNativeAmericanChinaDoll.
"Most of them are Japanese or Mexican. ... What I mean is everyone was brown and hanging out. The guys that I looked for were similar to that. So I started being attracted to these guys that stood out ... the protectors, or the mean guys ... the leaders," she said.
"When I was 12 years old I got jumped into' the Varrio Franklon Boulevard Gang," she said, noting "VFB" was the tag for the Norteo gang.
"It was great," she said, when asked what it felt like to be in a gang.
"I could walk down the street and I didn't have to worry about anybody messing with me. .. anybody saying anything. All the way up until high school, it was really cool," she said.
But then, before she knew it, the years went by and things started "getting crazier and crazier ... and there are fights ... " she said, noting for example she has been in cars during drive-by shootings. China Doll said she has never shot anyone, but she has held guns for others in her bra, her bags and her pants.
She has also jumped people just because they looked at her wrong, she said.
"It's all crazy, 'cause most of the time we are stoned or something. Our friends would get beat up so we'd go beat them up. Somebody would shoot at a house and then we'd hear somebody's mom or nephew was right by there, so we'd go get them -- the person who did it," she said. If they couldn't find the person who did the shooting, they would go after his best friend, she said.
Yet, she still maintains today, that while she was in her group she felt "really protected."
Jumping in
There are two ways to get into a gang, China Doll said.
"There are the girls who are the hootchies for everyone; they have to have sex with everyone in the gang -- anytime -- while they are in the gang," she said, noting she didn't go this route.
China Doll "jumped in" to her gang, which means she was tough enough to hold her own, she said.
It means she had to fight all nine gang members, one at a time, for two minutes each. "They give it their all, and you give it your all and they see if you are worthy," she explained. The fighting took place at her school, "where people knew where they could go and could not go," she said, when asked why nobody tried to stop the fighting.
You don't care if you are scared or exhausted during the initiation because "your life sucks. Your whole issue of pain is different because you are just trying to survive," she said.
China Doll's ability to fight gained her respect in her gang where she was treated just like one of the guys.
"If something was going down -- say another gang wanted to fight us -- when the leaders came in they'd come into whatever mad-pad (a crash house where everyone is) we were at and then those girls who got in by having sex would have to leave, but I got to stay and hear what was going on because I proved myself to be up to that level. Whatever happened, I would never snitch on them," she said.
China Doll said she got "up to a level" where she was so good at fighting that she got to call shots.
"If somebody had a problem with somebody I could have them beat up that day. If they really embarrassed somebody, like one of my close friends, I would have them dragged to me and watch them get beat up so they would know that it came from me," she said.
The other women in the gang -- the "hootchies" -- were assigned to do the risky things, she said -- for instance, the beer runs, where they would steal the beer and run out of the store and then bring it to the rest of the gang.
"They were the workers," she said of the women who slept their way into the gang. "They are just kind of there ... it was like a privilege to hang out with us, but they had to do whatever we wanted them to do. If we were hungry at 3 a.m., they would have to go get us food," China Doll said.
Thursday: China Doll moves to Ukiah.
The gang life: Gang member initially felt safe in group
Editor's note: This is the first part of a three-part series about a former gang member who has taken control of her life.
By LAURA CLARK/The Daily Journal
Wednesday, September 01, 2004 -
She's rolled with the punches and she's thrown some too, but a rough start in life wasn't enough to take "China Doll" down.
Though not her birth name, for the sake of this article, the 29-year-old graduate student and former Sacramento gang member wished to use the name given to her by those who protected her -- those from whom she later fled.
Childhood memories
China Doll was born in Woodland.
When her parents broke up she went to live with her father. And then, her mother "stole" the 4-year-old girl from her father and took her to Nevada to live with her grandparents, China Doll said.
"She didn't take me because she wanted me; she just took me because she didn't want my dad to have me," she said.
"That was a bad scene," she said, of living with her grandmother and her stepgrandfather.
"There was physical and sexual abuse. So when I was about 10, I went to the doctor and I had an STD, so they immediately turned it in. The stepgrandfather was the one," she said, referring to the man who gave her the sexually transmitted disease.
Then the FBI got involved, she said, noting that at the time of the incident she was living with her grandparents on an Indian reservation. Her mother also showed up, she said. By this time, she was in the fifth grade and she hadn't seen her mother since she "left her," she said.
"She's all embarrassed because at that time she was working with the state Department of Child Abuse Prevention. I found out later on that the guy that did that to me did this to some of my other cousins and she (her mother) knew about it," China Doll said.
She said her mother -- who at that point took China Doll home to Sacramento to live with her -- told her she didn't want to talk about it and that she should not prosecute. "So it's kind of like nothing ever happened," China Doll said.
Her father found out she was back in town and he began visiting her more, she said, but "he is real busy with his career."
And so it begins
"I am in fifth grade. I start hangingoutwithpeoplethataresimilartowhatIlooklike,saidtheNativeAmericanChinaDoll.
"Most of them are Japanese or Mexican. ... What I mean is everyone was brown and hanging out. The guys that I looked for were similar to that. So I started being attracted to these guys that stood out ... the protectors, or the mean guys ... the leaders," she said.
"When I was 12 years old I got jumped into' the Varrio Franklon Boulevard Gang," she said, noting "VFB" was the tag for the Norteo gang.
"It was great," she said, when asked what it felt like to be in a gang.
"I could walk down the street and I didn't have to worry about anybody messing with me. .. anybody saying anything. All the way up until high school, it was really cool," she said.
But then, before she knew it, the years went by and things started "getting crazier and crazier ... and there are fights ... " she said, noting for example she has been in cars during drive-by shootings. China Doll said she has never shot anyone, but she has held guns for others in her bra, her bags and her pants.
She has also jumped people just because they looked at her wrong, she said.
"It's all crazy, 'cause most of the time we are stoned or something. Our friends would get beat up so we'd go beat them up. Somebody would shoot at a house and then we'd hear somebody's mom or nephew was right by there, so we'd go get them -- the person who did it," she said. If they couldn't find the person who did the shooting, they would go after his best friend, she said.
Yet, she still maintains today, that while she was in her group she felt "really protected."
Jumping in
There are two ways to get into a gang, China Doll said.
"There are the girls who are the hootchies for everyone; they have to have sex with everyone in the gang -- anytime -- while they are in the gang," she said, noting she didn't go this route.
China Doll "jumped in" to her gang, which means she was tough enough to hold her own, she said.
It means she had to fight all nine gang members, one at a time, for two minutes each. "They give it their all, and you give it your all and they see if you are worthy," she explained. The fighting took place at her school, "where people knew where they could go and could not go," she said, when asked why nobody tried to stop the fighting.
You don't care if you are scared or exhausted during the initiation because "your life sucks. Your whole issue of pain is different because you are just trying to survive," she said.
China Doll's ability to fight gained her respect in her gang where she was treated just like one of the guys.
"If something was going down -- say another gang wanted to fight us -- when the leaders came in they'd come into whatever mad-pad (a crash house where everyone is) we were at and then those girls who got in by having sex would have to leave, but I got to stay and hear what was going on because I proved myself to be up to that level. Whatever happened, I would never snitch on them," she said.
China Doll said she got "up to a level" where she was so good at fighting that she got to call shots.
"If somebody had a problem with somebody I could have them beat up that day. If they really embarrassed somebody, like one of my close friends, I would have them dragged to me and watch them get beat up so they would know that it came from me," she said.
The other women in the gang -- the "hootchies" -- were assigned to do the risky things, she said -- for instance, the beer runs, where they would steal the beer and run out of the store and then bring it to the rest of the gang.
"They were the workers," she said of the women who slept their way into the gang. "They are just kind of there ... it was like a privilege to hang out with us, but they had to do whatever we wanted them to do. If we were hungry at 3 a.m., they would have to go get us food," China Doll said.
Thursday: China Doll moves to Ukiah.
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