Uptown vs. Downtown - 9/20/07

In Albany there are notorious gangs that are either “Uptown” or “Downtown”. They basically shoot each other and beat the crap out of each other. They also bring their issues into the high school. Last night there was a big fight between the rival groups on Quall Street and some cops got injured. The mayor of Albany blamed the high school because a number of the kids involved were Albany High School kids. The teachers told me that today the school had extra security incase some students decide to fight. During the first lunch period there was a strange feeling in the air and the kids looked nervous and tense. You could see in their faces that something was going to go down that day. My cooperating teacher and I heard a fight break out in the hallway and some hall monitors ran by yelling to each other that the police had been called. We looked outside and the kids were running all over the place, completely out of control. What surprised me most was the principal’s decision to make nervous sounding announcements throughout the brawl. It made the kids more uneasy to hear her so afraid. My cooperating teacher told me about how they needed the riot police last year to bring order back to the school. By the end of the day there had been three fights and a few girls were arrested.