Does this intimidate you?

Yeah I dunno eh. They used to hardout intimidate me. Still do a bit (especially if I have Harry with me) but not as much as they used to.

See about a year ago (yeah actually Labour weekend last year) DH and I went to a mongrel mob wedding... DH filmed the wedding for them, as our wedding gift. The bride was a friend of ours, MILs old neighbour and she helped us out cooking in the cafe we owned. I was obviously pregnant at the time, and we were practically the only white people there. Sure it was kinda weird, but it wasn't as bad as I would have expected.

When I first met the lady, I didn't know her then partner was part of the gang. She was really lovely and selfless. She told me about it later and it gave me a whole new perspective on it. I certainly don't agree with the whole gang thing, and we've talked about it a fair bit, and DH has had heaps of discussions with her DH. They know where we stand on it all, and they know our morals and how we live our life. But then they are part of the gang who say they're trying to change things, to encourage the youth not to be violent, to change the perception of the badge, etc etc. They don't do the whole kill someone, gang-rape thing (well, not anymore).

But I guess the reason we get on well is that they know my MIL and respect her, and they looked out for her when they were neighbours (MIL was kind to them and their kids). If we were just some random on the street it would probably be different.

The thing that really broke my heart though was seeing a wee boy who was only about 4 years old wearing a jacket with the badge on the back

And also their wee girl told us in the car (we were taking them to the house to get ready) that her friends were scared of her dad's friends but that she wasn't..

Umm sometimes they do, but a lot of the time they may look scary but they are actually really nice.
I used to work on the front gate at Rainbows End for 6 years and I saw ALL sorts of people!
I remember this huge scary as guy with dreads and a leatehr jacket with his gang badge on it came in and I was totally crapping my self about having to put his band on!
Anyways he comes up to me and says "Hello Love!" with a big friendly smile! So I just chatted to him like normal, asked his kids what rides they were going to go on first etc, and he chatted to me then was like "Have a great day!!"
He looked scary, and probably could be if he wanted to, but he was lovely to me.

But I have come across some that are just nasty and you can tell, so I every m y eyes and caryr on with what Im doing, I get quite nervous when Im with Caden though.

We were at the local zoo last weekend when a patched member came in with his familt, all taranaki parks are smoke free he was the only person in the whole area smoking and not one person approched him to say anything, to be honest I do find it intimadating. I grew up in Manurewa and remember walking around high school with my head down incase I accidently looked at someone wrong. Not a nice feeling

They don't intimidate me one little bit!!. To me they are just another person on the street. I guess I feel that way because I've grown up with that affiliation, not in my family, but in the community I grew up in....Taneatua! need I say more lolz

Edited by ooEvaoo

Lol Andie, I definitely don't doubt that he was just there buying his groceries and not out to cause harm ...but it's amazing how wearing their badges gets diff reactions from people.

So are there no laws re: wearing them?

Steph some regional councils have laws against wearing patches but there isn't a National law and I don't think there should be either, next we'd be making laws about wearing burkhas or crosses in public IYKWIM.

I can't say I've ever felt intimidated by someone just because they're wearing a patch, then again I lived in Cannons Creek for a couple of years and my DH knew guys in the mongrel mob.

No there are no laws, we've Wanganui not far from us and Michael Laws is trying to get them banned in public. The gangs have cause huge problems and there was that shooting of the little baby, who was an innocent bystander. The general public don't want them in their town.

I'm sure there are exceptions to every rule, but I do find gang patches and their members intimidating. I'm sure some of them are nice, but I find it difficult to get past the patch to find out.
Maybe I'm just a wimp.

I don't want them in our town. If I lived in Wanganui I'd be voting for them to be banned.
I'm a small white chick, and the only time I've ever felt threatened was by a big black man, they make me nervous.

Mum2Lucas wrote: if we had an active KKK group here, I imagine there would be a HUGE uproar if they were to wear their gear/cones out in public ...I'm not sure what these gangs policies are and if any follow along the same lines as KKK (except they go against whites) but I liken it to what I've mentioned above.

 

Damn right there would be an uproar - and so there should be.  Don't quote me but my knowledge of the KKK is that they truly believe that they are God's chosen people and made in the image of God and that anyone who isn't white is an animal and should be treated as such and put in their place if they overstep their position.  I'm not an expert but pretty sure that unlike the KKK the gangs in NZ aren't into genocide.  Infact (and now I'm generalising) if you look throughout recent history it's usually been white people that have tried segregation and genocide (thinking SA's apartheid, the way aboriginals and american indians were treated, the chinese and indians who were made slaves and servants in their own lands and of course the holocaust)

Anyway, the point is (and again I'm no expert) that the majority of gang members don't mean you any harm, just as the majority of "average" citizens don't.

Edited by MrsMojo

I don't know that the big gangs (such as the Mob and Black Power) are neccessarily anti-white, they do tend to be mostly Maori but I don't think that's a deliberate racial thing, more just like sticking with like.

Me personally, I'm not intimidated by a patch, I'm intimidated by a person. Some patched guys you see and they're going about their business and you're going about yours and I don't find that intimidating at all. But if you have a person trying to stand over you or stare you down then that's intimidating to me regardless of whether they're wearing a patch or not.

A lot of people find Willie intimidating coz he's quite a big man and has the stereotypical bald head, tattoos etc. going on but he doesn't have a violent or nasty bone in his body.