Crime in Hathian is a one-way street that happens to be a roundabout. You make one wrong choice and you may find yourself in jail. Once out of jail, no one wants to hire you. To make ends meet you join a gang. Once in the gang, you form a close bond. Once you realize this was a mistake, you are trapped. Your choice is death, the streets without a home, or back to jail. This is the tightening, inescapable vice of Hathian. Or is it? (Sometimes people leave gangs… – Ed)
Myths And Misinformation
Shortly after I arrived in this city, my eyes were set on college. I knew education was my only outlet for creativity and expanding my horizons. I was excited; my big sister was coming to live with me as she had hard times and a record from up in Connecticut. I was going to invite her with me, but one individual I asked about the college told me this infamous phrase… “The College will reject you if you get yourself a criminal record or they find out you have ‘naughty’ affiliations.” The naughty affiliations they further expanded on were being part of a Gang, Criminal organization, Privatized family, or whatever you wish to call it. I was distraught, my big sis is my life, and yet I would have to abandon her if I wanted to receive further education.
Bringing Lies To Light
All that I heard? Wrong. I will state this right away. Upon looking closely at campus regulations, never once is an abandoning of criminal affiliations and/or a lack of criminal records mentioned! The only regulation is on being responsible for bringing your dirty laundry to the Campus. Being seen with a weapon is mentioned, but even that calls for HPD intervention over outright expulsion as a mandatory sentence. So, I heard you ask, “Ms. Nelson, if this is not true, why is it said everywhere?”… Good question!
Working Theories and Facts So Leery
This reporter dug around, and while there is no concrete evidence for the origin of this lie; theories abound. The most common is the rumour was started by an old defunct gang as a way to further lock in members by cutting off avenues of improving their lives outside the gang. Another working theory is past arrests miscoloured public perception due to a lack of information, so as per usual news-based panic, the correlation became causation. If a person arrested had gang affiliations and a criminal record and was subsequently mysteriously expelled, surely that must be why!
Fixing An Age Old Mistruth
Don’t spread it! Simple as that. If we want to better Hathian by giving hoodlums an avenue of escape, an exit lane from this roundabout of crime… We need to ensure they know it even exists. By ceasing this misunderstanding and correcting it where it rears its ugly head, we can once and for all stamp out a little malevolent lie to let the streets it festered in heal once and for all. No need for bravado, no need to risk your life. If you hear it spoken, correct it and move on. Writing from Columtreal University’s News Office and representing both CU and The Observer…
Bringing you the truth and nothing but. God Bless.
– Alia C. Nelson, The Observer & CU News Group
