"Indians Wear Red": Colonialism, Resistance, and Aboriginal Street Gangs

Elizabeth Comack, Lawrence Deane, Larry Morrissette, and Jim Silver. Wear Red: Colonialism, Resistance, and Aboriginal Street Gangs. Halifax & Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing, 2013. 166 pages. ISBN 9781552665824. $19.95 paperback.This relatively short, yet comprehensive book on Aboriginal gangs offers the reader a thoughtful examination of the genesis and proliferation of street gangs in Manitoba, and in Winnipeg specifically. Indeed the authors do an excellent job illustrating the ways in which gangs have developed as a means of fulfilling a number of needs not met by other institutions and as a means of resistance to colonization processes.One of the many noteworthy contributions of Indians Wear Red is the way in which the authors seamlessly integrate the significance of historical and current processes, including colonization, residential schools, neo-liberalism, discrimination, and racism, as the foundation for their analysis. The reader gains insight into Aboriginal street gangs as well as gains a detailed explanation of how trauma trails have contributed to the present day situation and plight of many Aboriginal peoples and Aboriginal gang members. This deep understanding of the context and history beneath the gang landscape in Winnipeg and Manitoba is complemented by the thoughtful manner in which the authors give voice to their participants throughout the text.The authenticity of Indians Wear Red is grounded in the fact that the authors have spent years working with and researching the population about which they write. The book grew out of genuine relationships with gang-involved individuals. As the authors explain, several Aboriginal gang members approached one of the authors (who works with Aboriginal gang members in the community) about talking with him and the university people he worked with. This initial contact blossomed into a project that resulted in 18 interviews with five men over three years, the final product of which is Indians Wear Red.Chapter one provides a broad review of the literature on gang issues, including racialized poverty, street socialization, resistance identities, street gangs as business, the importance of drugs, prisons, and violence to gangs, and the local context of gangs in Winnipeg. The second chapter provides a careful examination of 'the trauma trails of colonialism' and how colonialism is fundamental to understanding Aboriginal gangs. Chapter three provides, from the perspective of those directly involved in the life, honest and poignant portrayals of the factors that lead to gang involvement and the entrenchment of these experiences in some communities (for example, Winnipeg's North End) that make gang involvement, despite its drawbacks, a viable life choice. In chapter four, the authors provide a detailed exploration of the centrality of the drug business to gangs; their conflict analysis provides an alternative look at gang members as entrepreneurs with business savvy, motivation, creativity, and initiative.One of the many remarkable contributions of this text is the nuanced analysis it provides, through the words of the study participants, of the critical significance of prison - and serving time in prison - to the proliferation of gangs, and also to the credibility and respect gang members receive. …

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