Skinheads in the Antelope Valley

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Recommended: Sociological theories on crime and the lack of education

Skinheads in the Antelope Valley

William Finnegan's essay "The Unwanted" explains the history and

make-up of the Antelope Valley and then explores the lives of some

teenage citizens in order to discover reasons that two rival gangs have

such a significant role in the community and on its people. Absent

parents and lack of education are just two factors facing teens that

ultimately led the Los Angeles Suburb into becoming a society where

Skinheads and Boneheads are a norm and accepted as a part of everyday

life. C. Wright Mills' idea of the sociological perspective, looking

past the facades, is useful when analyzing the micro; individual, and

macro; broad, causes of teens becoming skinheads. Each day America

seems to become more and more diverse. Some people learn to accept the

fact that America is made up of many different ethnic groups, while

others believe the only ethnic group should be their own. There are

various reasons for discrimination and it is a very controversial

issue. In Finnegan's article he describes two gangs with opposing

views concerning racism and how each group expresses their beliefs.

The racist and anti-racist beliefs don't always end at the individual.

Death is an all too common end and when an opinion becomes life

threatening a problem arises. According to Finnegan, one of the two

major gangs that occupy the streets of Lancaster and the Antelope

Valley is, "a white-supremacist skinhead gang, the Nazi Low Riders

(N.L.R.'s)" and the other is, "their rival gang of anti-racist

skinheads, the Sharps" (1998, p.88). One major quality the two gangs

share is their lack of education. Most, if not all, of the teens

Finnegan interviewed, dropped out of school, even though later some

used other means of getting a high school diploma or acquiring a higher

education. Also it appears both gangs tend to resolve their issues

with violence. Most people would agree that some violence is in

everyone, but it seems that well educated people often find other means

to conquer their problems or go about solving them. Through history

knowledge has proved to be an unavoidable part of life. As children in

the community began dropping out of schools in vast numbers these kids

were forced to, willingly or not, gain knowledge elsewhere (1998). A

macro cause for the growing numbers of students dropping out of school

and joining the gangs, could be that the ideas and values of those

gangs quickly spread through the streets and classrooms. This Leads

the teenagers to make decisions about wether or not they agree with the

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