Indians Wear Red : Colonialism, Resistance, and Aboriginal Street Gangs. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.Indians Wear Red : Colonialism, Resistance, and Aboriginal Street Gangs

With the advent of Aboriginal street gangs such as Indian Posse, Manitoba Warriors, and Native Syndicate, Winnipeg garnered a reputation as the &;gang capital of Canada.&; Yet beyond the stereotypes of outsiders, little is known about these street gangs and the factors and conditions that have produced them. &;Indians Wear Red&; locates Aboriginal street gangs in the context of the racialized poverty that has become entrenched in the colonized space of Winnipeg&;s North End. Drawing upon extensive interviews with Aboriginal street gang members as well as with Aboriginal women and elders, the authors develop an understanding from &;inside&; the inner city and through the voices of Aboriginal people &; especially street gang members themselves.
While economic restructuring and neo-liberal state responses can account for the global proliferation of street gangs, the authors argue that colonialism is a crucial factor in the Canadian context, particularly in western Canadian urban centres. Young Aboriginal people have resisted their social and economic exclusion by acting collectively as &;Indians.&; But just as colonialism is destructive, so too are street gang activities, including the illegal trade in drugs. Solutions lie not in &;quick fixes&; or &;getting tough on crime&; but in decolonization: re-connecting Aboriginal people with their cultures and building communities in which they can safely live and work.

Elizabeth Comack is a professor of Sociology at the University of Manitoba. Over the past three decades she has written and conducted research on a variety of social justice topics. Her most recent work is Coming Back to Jail: Women, Trauma, and Criminalization. Elizabeth’s current research projects stem from her involvement in the Manitoba Research Alliance’s SSHRC Partnership project, “Partnering for Change: Community-Based Solutions for Aboriginal and Inner-City Poverty.” Elizabeth leads the Justice, Safety, and Security stream of the project.