HOW DO YOU LEAVE A GANG

HOW DO YOU LEAVE A GANG?

1. Who is Gabriel Hinojos?
Gabriel Hinojos is an former gang member of one of the largest gangs in Los Angeles: Florecia 13 or F13. When Gabriel decided to leave behind his gang and everything that makes reference to it, his first decision was to remove all his gang tattoos. He went to a tattoo removal center named Ya'Stuvo to remove of his skin every mark of his other life. Gabriel Hinojos was covered in black ink, nowadays he is still covered but, many tattoos have gone away and some others "have faded into a faint collection of light grey lines". One of the most remarkable tattoos that he has is the black teardrop just below the eye, he says he got it from doing time at Folsom State Prison. Gabriel told to NEWSWEEK that "escaping from a gang life is extremely difficult". In addition, Gabriel became a poster child just for leaving behind the gang life. To celebrate his achievement (getting out of a gang life), he drunk white wine with former first lady Laura Bush at the White House. Even though, a few months later he was back in jail.

2. What is Ya'Stuvo?
Ya'Stuvo is a tattoo removal center. It is called this way because the translation into Spanish is "that's enough, I'm done with that.". This center name is a way to let your old life behind to start a new one. It is especially made to people who want to get out of their gangs and erase all the marks that this old life has left in their skin. A few times a week, people with skills in tattoo removal, lend their skills to remove the tattoos with laser surgery. Many gang members have black teardrops below their eye, and often several of them. Every little black teardrop means a stint in prison or a person killed.

3. "black teardrops" (line 4) Explain the meaning of this phrase in the context of the article
Black teardrops is the symbolic meaning in gangs for when you have killed someone or you have been in prison.

4. "This is his 45th visit"
This short sentence implies about Gabriel Hinojos that he has been a "big" gangster, because he has many ink to remove from his body. Basically, he was so involved with his gang that he covered all his body (as much as he could) with tattoos of his gang.

5. Getting out of a gang is extremely difficult,  As Gabriel said: "Getting out of a street gang in L.A. is about like getting a tattoo removed: slow, painful, scarring."

6. Definitely, not everything goes as they have planed, sometimes in L.A. it is impossible to leave a gang: "in L.A. a gang banger can never really leave a gang." as Gabriel said to NEWSWEEK.

7. Even though, sometimes it is feasible, for example, Gabriel could do it because he was a special kind of member. Only if you have done a "good work" in your stint in the gang you can expect to be free of them, instead, if you haven't then forget about it. If you have been in prison, or sling drugs and wield a gun, you could expect to leave it, because that is what they call a "good work" (line 21 and 22)

8. What it is extremely difficult according to Gabriel, is to escape "the pull of gang life" (line 22). By saying that, he means that even when you are out of this life you still feeling attracted to it. And sometimes you can't endure to come back, and you finally relapse in what you fight so hard to left behind.

9. Gabriel became a model for leaving behind his old life. He left behind his gang and the gang life. To celebrate his achievement he was invited at the White House to drink white wine with former first lady Laura Bush. Even though, a few months later he was back in prison.

10. This photograph has been taken by Justin Maxon for NEWSWEEK on February the 16th 2009. In this photograph we can observe Gabriel Hinojos, he is shirtless. So, we can deduce that he is in the tattoo removal center "Ya'Stuvo" to remove some tattoos that remind him to his old life: the gang life. His facial expression represents pain, because as NEWSWEEK said, when the surgeon extracted the ink from the soft skin under his eye, "he grimaced in pain". And as Gabriel Hinojos said: "Getting out of a street gang in L.A. is about like getting a tattoo removed: slow, painful, scarring.", he compares two different actions to express pain, with this phrase he also defines how getting a tattoo removed feels. It is also shown in this picture the way they remove the tattoos with laser, and how it goes under the skin to erase each trace of the unwanted tattoo.