| Summary: | This paper is an analysis of the relationship between educational experiences, street life, and gang formation for Vietnamese American youth gang members in Southern California. I use critical narrative methodology to center the life and experiences of a Los Angeles area gang member. His narrative substantiates how racism in schools and on the streets works together to impact and inform gang formation. Schools were sites of inter-ethnic conflict and racialized tension, and streets were spaces for contentious interactions with the police. In addition, I place the Vietnamese American youth gang phenomenon in larger historical and political contexts such as California’s anti-youth legislation, representations of Asian American youth, and U.S. geo-politics and imperialism—factors that have serious material and ideological implications and consequences.
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