Black Movements in the US - Fall 2008 : Homies Unidos

This page last changed on Nov 20, 2007 by ocritten.

MISSION: "Homies Unidos works to end violence and promote peace in our communities through gang intervention, the promotion of humane treatment of marginalized youth, providing alternatives to gang involvement and destructive behavior, empowering youth to change, and providing positive and productive opportunities for them to do so in both El Salvador and Los Angeles."

"I was runnin' around there thinking I was untouchable. Eventually the game will touch you"
-Current Gang Member, in a posted interview

The History

Homies Unidos is a social justice movement founded in 1996 in San Salvador, El Salvador by gang members seeking an alternative lifestyle, free from the chains of gang life. The organization's Los Angeles branch was formed two years later in 1998.

Homies Unidos provides support and resources for gang members and their families that aims to end the cycle of gang violence, crime, and drug use. It offers comprehensive and concrete services and programs for gang members who decide to leave "the game" and rebuild their lives. Seeking to address the root causes and underlying factors that shape gang culture, Homies Unidos takes a fourfold approach that involves the whole community. This approach entails focusing on why people join gangs, developing strategic means of discouraging drug use and gang membership, providing resources for drug treatment options, and and encouraging collective community action that empowers community institutions (churches, schools, families, government, businesses etc.) to find solutions to the problems that affect everyone involved.

The organization's ties to El Salvador stem from the El Salvadorean Civil war that raged throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. This war was between a semi-democratic government that received U.S. aid and a communist, or collectivist, group seeking power. As militarized young men traveled to the United States alone, or with their familes, gangs provided a sense of pride, belonging, and power in and often hostile society. Gangs also provided protection from ethnic conflict in Los Angeles and other cities. When El Salvadoreans returned, or were forced to return, to El Salvador the gangs found a new home on a new continent.

When Peace Accords ended the civil war in El Salvador in 1992, the United States began deporting convicted Central American felons back to their mother countries. Strict deportation policies continue exacerbate the problem by spreading gang ties throughout the Southern United States, Mexico, and South America.

The commitment and dedication from the members of Homies Unidos makes it a successful organization