Gangs: No Easy Answers

West Side Story has something to say about the lure of gangs.
Why do people join gangs? Isn't that the question we should ask and address?

The bowdlerized song, "Gee, Officer Krupke," mocks the police and blames multiple sources for the causes of juvenile delinquency among youth: poor parenting and role modeling, abuse, drug addiction, alcoholism, and the propagation of unwanted children. The poor victim is shunted from one social institution to another: the police department, a judge in the court system, a therapist and headshrinker, and a social worker. The "punk" is labeled as "no good," "psychologically disturbed," "depraved," and "sociologically sick."

Gee, Officer Krupke:
(Tiger, imitating Krupke) Hey you!
(Riff) Who me, Officer Krupke?
(Tiger imitating Krupke) Yeah you. Gimme one good reason for not draggin' ya down to the station house, ya punk!
(Riff) Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke, you gotta understandIt's just our bringin' upke, that gets us out of hand. Our mothers all are junkies, our fathers all are drunks
Golly Moses, naturally we're punks
(Jets) Gee, Officer Krupke, we're very upsetWe never had the love that every child oughta getWe ain't no delinquents, we're misunderstood. Deep down inside us there is good
(Riff) There is good!
(Jets) There is good, there is good, there is untapped good. Like inside, the worst of us is good
(Tiger) That's a touching good story
(Riff) Let me tell it to the world
(Tiger imitating Krupke) Just tell it to the Judge
(Riff) Dear kindly Judge, your Honor, my parents treat me rough
With all their marijuana they won't give me a puff
They didn't wanna have me but somehow I was had
Leapin' lizards, that's why I'm so bad
(Snowboy imitating Judge) Right! Officer Krupke, you're really a square
This boy don't need a judge, he needs an analyst's care
It's just his neurosis, that oughta be curbed
He's psychologically disturbed
(Riff) I'm disturbed
(Jets) We're disturbed, we're disturbed, we're the most disturbed
Like we're psychologically disturbed
(Snowboy imitating Judge) Hear ye, hear ye, in the opinion of this court, this child is depraved on account he ain't had a normal home.
(Riff) Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived.
(Snowboy imitating Judge) So take him to a Headshrinker. You!
(Action) Who me?
(Riff) My daddy beats my mommy, my mommy clobbers me ['My mother is a bastard, my pa's an S.O.B.' in the stage play] My grandpa is a commie, my grandma pushes tea
My sister wears a mustache, my brother wears a dress
Goodness gracious, that's why I'm a mess
(Action imitating Headshrinker) Yes, Officer Krupke, he shouldn't be here
This boy don't need a couch, he needs a useful career
Society's played him a terrible trick, and sociologically he's sick
(Riff) I am sick!
(Jets) We are sick, we are sick, we are sick, sick, sick
Like we're sociologically sick
(Action imitating Headshrinker) In my opinion, this child does not need to have his head shrunk at all. Juvenile delinquency is purely a social disease.
(Riff) Hey, I got a social disease!
(Action imitating Headshrinker) So take him to a Social Worker
(Riff) Dear kindly Social Worker, they tell me get a job
Like be a soda jerker which means I'd be a slobIt's not I'm antisocial, I'm only anti-workGlory Osky, that's why I'm a jerk
(A-Rab) Eek, Officer Krupke, you've done it again
This boy don't need a job, he needs a year in the pen
It ain't just a question of misunderstood, deep down inside him he's no good
(Riff) I'm no good
(Jets) We're no good, we're no good, we're no earthly good
Like the best of us is no damn good. The trouble is he's lazy, the trouble is he drinks
The trouble is he's crazy, the trouble is he stinksThe trouble is he's growing, the trouble is he's grown Krupke, we've got troubles of our own. Officer Krupke, we're down on our knees
(Riff) 'Cause no one wants a fella with a social disease
(Jets) Dear Officer Krupke, what are we to do?Gee, Officer Krupke, Krup you! [a euphemism for a more familiar 'f' word] Doc
(Ned Glass), who returns to his shop, calls the Jets "hoodlums," and thinks that their plans to "rumble" with the PRs over territory is senseless: "Fightin' over a little piece of street is so important?"

Why do people join gangs? Isn't that the question we should ask and address?


What are people looking for if not belonging, community, security.

Comments