One of these days I’m going to write a post in here about how this state has had substantial problems with gang activity for… decades, I want to say (at least the section of it that I live in), and how Texas’ response to this has been not to mention it or do anything about it for nearly that whole entire time. We’ve had no shortage of emergency proclamations signed by the governor about COVID-19, hurricanes, the Robb Elementary School/Uvalde shooting, even “the southern border” — something else that I could devote a completely separate post to, and think that I will at some point — but have yet for there to be a single emergency proclamation even remotely addressing the gang activity that is widespread in this state. The last time any major studies were done on it, we were at approximately 100,000 known and confirmed gang members — not supporters, but actual full-fledged members — with there being significant numbers of Tango Blast members, Crips members, and Bloods members, to name just three. Even people who have lived in this state for as long as I have, if not longer than I have, aren’t well-informed about what gangs actually do, and many of them choose to look the other way blaming what gang members actually do on anything else that they can, or want to, circling back around to surprise when it can’t be blamed on anything else but… wait for it, gang activity. Some of these misconceptions are deeply rooted in racism, too (“the only thing gangs do is kill poor Black people”). Other people think that if you can survive the Grand Theft Auto game of your choice, you’re good to go in the real world, smack dab in the middle of Texas. How I wish that were true.

Just by living where I do, observing what goes on around me, and keeping my mouth shut, I’ve at least learned enough about this area — and the falsehoods that people in this area regard as gospel — that I think I can put something together for the sake of this blog. But I draw the line at teaching the police force.

Sometime today, my abuser will be summoned back to criminal court in the state that he has since fled to and expected to begin paying the state back for whatever he got caught shoplifting. However, it will remain to be seen whether or not he actually shows up for this — he has attempted to hide from the state, and each time he’s missed a hearing so far he seems to have been arrested and drug up in front of the judge (as he tried to evade showing up for the initial show cause hearing, which resulted in that state hunting him down and arresting him based on how things sounded, and them no longer letting him show cause as to why he would allegedly not have done this… they went straight to the terms of repayment). I don’t know what he shoplifted where, just that positive identification of him was made due to his passport ID which seems to be his only form of identification, and that whoever he stole from has been seeking the harshest penalties under state law in response. Because he’s burned so many bridges, no family members or friends will help him flee the state any more, which means that he’s been stuck there since he fled there… and the only person that he might try and get to help him because he literally has no one else left to might not be in any sort of position to do anything for him because his father has just as rich and varied a criminal history as he. Based on what I’ve been able to find out, anytime someone applies for a restraining order against my abuser’s father it is approved by the court system because they know his name that well at this point, and he’s gotten drunk and attempted to violate restraining orders in the past — this makes them even easier for people that need them to get them against him, which is sad but justifiable. (And he’s given a lot of women cause to be concerned.)

At any rate, I won’t find out how this went until the end of the day… I’ll be able to find out if another hearing for the matter has been scheduled and what it is generally going to be for. I keep tabs on these things in the event that he is able to flee that state and, for whatever reason, decides to come back down here — he hasn’t been down here in almost ten years though because he’s been dodging law enforcement down here, and our home state is content to weaponize the active warrants that he has by refusing to extradite him when he is arrested in other states knowing that they are sending the message to him that all of his warrants are faithfully being renewed and that we, this state, do not want him to come back down here.