Gang tagging is a new thing in my neighborhood. I used to joke that the closest thing to tagging here was a light pole with the signs for Aquarius and Virgo sprayed on it.
Recently, though, there has been a smattering of tagging. I can figure out part of it, but one tag is a mystery to me. (Just for spite, I won’t use actual gang names in this post.) The first one I saw was on a backyard fence, a great big GD. “Oh, great, the Glamourous Dimples have claimed this as their turf,” I thought. That backyard abuts the play yard of an elementary school, so across the street, there’s a school crossing sign and a Drug-Free School Zone on the same pole. A few days later, the drug free sign was obscured by a sprayed GB.
Earlier today, I searched around for midwest gangs, gang tagging, gang names, etc. In the midwest, most gangs are named after, but not connected to, Chicago street gangs such as the Glamorous Dimples, the Venereal Lesions, and the Loony Kitefliers. There are also the Blank Glamourous Dimples, but there was no mention of any of them using a GB tag.
So, what the heck is this GB group? Within this neighborhood, I’ve spotted traffic sign, a pair of trash cans, and the street itself tagged with GD and GB.
Taggers here also tag with their individual “signs”, usually a stylized version of the individual’s initials. Could that be?
Or, maybe they just can’t spell?
I think if you google Gangster Disciples, you’ll have half an answer. Of course, it’s been pointed out about numerous young people that lots of kids show sentimental attachments to gangs without being members. So a few tags might be trouble or might not.
Last month while hanging out in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, I paused to consider just how similar the mysterious markings covering every single smooth surface were to their counterparts in, say, Newark.
It’s not as if the American graffiti was English and the Brazilian was Portuguese — it’s all the same funky symbols that only vaguely resemble writing.
I’m certain that a gang member in Queens would spot the difference if a colleague from Rio had tagged his favorite overpass, but it all looks the same to me.
Yeah, I knew about the Gan-Dis and their Star of David and crossed tridents. None of the tags here get the full symbols. I called them other names because I didn’t want to do their tagging for them. I resent their mindless vandalism, though. I hope my town doesn’t turn into one of those burgs that’s one big graffito from edge to edge. We have enough troubles without that.
Right now, it’s probably some bored GlamDimp wannabes, as you said.
