A researcher of Samoan street gangs says many young people turn to the gangs after suffering trauma, and use the gangs as a place of counselling.
Dr Moses Faleolo’s discussion on TVNZ1‘s Breakfast today comes after a spate of gang-related incidents in Auckland in recent weeks.
Several houses were shot at and cars were smashed in Ōtara last month, and armed police were called in to stand guard.
Last week it was reported that a truce had been reached between the Tribesman MC gang and the Killer Beez following a community meeting.
Faleolo said street gangs like the Killer Beez and Bloods can actually be a place where young men go when they have unresolved grief and pain – and that in many cases, the gangs can actually help them heal.
He produced his PhD on the topic in 2015, interviewing 15 young Samoan men who had been drawn in to street gangs, and examining the reasons why.
“Unresolved grief was an area that I chose to write about and while I was listening to their stories about some of that grief and loss, there were also other things around abandonment, regret, guilt, pain and loss,” Faleolo said.
“That’s one of reasons why they gravitate to these – I like to call them groups of boys, or gangs.
“Through solidarity, through counseling of each other, and through mentoring each other – some of them were older than the others – and that’s why I feel that the stereotypical view about gangs is not what it’s all about.”
He described the young men as “resilient” and “warrior-like” and said getting through the interviews with them was, at times, difficult.
Watch the full interview above.
