It’s a subject no child should have to take, but for seventh-grader Angel Suazo, skipping this class could be the difference between life and death.
“They kill for like no reason, just because they have a beef with somebody,” said Suazo, 13, who hopes to become a police officer when he grows up.
“I hope to learn how to prevent people from joining gangs, and also if somebody comes up and says, ‘You want to be in a gang?’ how to avoid it. Because if you say no, they will immediately jump you.”
Suazo and his mother, Esmeralda Pelaez, were among about 80 Washington Heights parents and kids who listened closely while law enforcement speakers walked them through the criminal life and style of New York‘s most notorious gangs.
Suazo gasped when he watched the video showing a 3-year-old boy on a cell phone, holding a bright yellow machine-gun-style water gun, and cursing into the phone.
“Oh, my God, he has tattoos, too,” Suazo whispered. “I can’t understand what kind of parent pushed him to do that!”
Likely a gang member, an assistant district attorney explained. They have children, too.
Pelaez, who works as a parent coordinator in a neighborhood middle school, said yesterday that she thought the session was invaluable for them both.
“When we got home, we discussed the different clothes they [the gangs] wear,” said Pelaez. “He tell me he get a lot of knowledge that he didn’t know. He say that now he knows all of that, he wants to be in The Explorers [an NYPD-sponsored community volunteer program for teens].”
“So all of it was a great experience together to see and learn about the gangs,” she added. “It was so helpful for us as a family.”
BY HEIDI EVANS
DAILY NEWS