Tribune/Nathan Orme - Chris Martinez shows one of his many tattoos alongside his son's fake tattoo. The tattoo of an angry clown, Martinez says, represents part of his dark side. Below the clown is a tattoo of a woman from his past.
“The clowns are my dark side,” Martinez said in a quiet, calm voice as he gazed down at the tattoo. “The meth and gangbanging side of me.”
Martinez said that although he has made the choice to quit his life of methamphetamines and gangs, his lifestyle choices are still very much a part of him and as such he plans to keep getting tattoos.
“I’m trying to get my life story on me,” Martinez said. He has 17 tattoos already, including one of his daughter’s name and images of several significant women from his life.
Getting tattoos is something that a gang member might do to permanently associate themselves with a gang. In Martinez’s case, he has the numbers 818 tattooed on his arm because it is the area code for the part of in Southern California where the Southside gang originated.
For others, like Albert Ruiz, 47, tattoos were a way to form alliances while serving time in prison for drug-related charges.
“I have I.E. on my shoulders because I was representing Inland Empire in prison,” Ruiz said. “I also have a Southside on my chest that was done in prison, because those were what I was representing in prison.”
Ruiz said his first tattoo was done at the age of 12 as a way to show his allegiance to the gang he was joining. His tattoos cover his arms, neck and shoulders but he does not have any on his back.
“My first tattoo was a skull with ‘Redland’ around it and ‘13’ in the skull,” Ruiz said. “It’s covered up now but there was a name below it for the gang that we had; it is punishers in English.”
Ruiz said his involvement in a gang was natural because he grew up in an unstable environment.
“What made me get involved was I came from a single-family home with a single mother with no discipline,” Ruiz said. “I grew up with no father so I never had discipline in the home.”
He said that when he was 12 years old he had friends who were four or five years older than him and instead of going to school, Ruiz would smoke marijuana with other gang members, which led to his drug addiction.
“I was a heroin addict and a drug addict for more than 30 years,” Ruiz said, explaining that he has a peacock tattooed on his arm because it would cover up the track marks that are left after injecting the drug. “I realized the ones I was hurting were my family and kids because the only thing I cared about were drugs.”
Ruiz now works with Victory Outreach, a faith-based community outreach program. He added that he does sometimes regret his tattoos, but that they help him approach the young adults whom the program tries to help.
Pastor Pedro Gonzales, who works with Ruiz at Victory Outreach, also has a tattoo on his forearm, but instead of having a tattoo that affiliates him with a gang, Gonzales said the tattoo reminds him of positive things in his life.
“I got my tattoo when I was 17,” Gonzales said of the Looney Tunes character Speedy Gonzales tattoo with his last name under it.
Gonzales explained that he learned to fight because of the neighborhood where he lived and got the tattoo when he was boxing as a way for people to think that he was fast and a good fighter. After a few hard battles, though, he decided to stop boxing.
Gonzales agreed with Ruiz that tattoos show dedication to a specific gang.
“It says, ‘I belong to this neighborhood and I am willing to die for it,’ ” Gonzales said. “Some guys get tattoos because they do a lot of (prison) time and do it for intimidation. I’m sure when you see a guy with tattoos on his face and neck you think ‘Uh-oh.’ ”
Gonzales warned that when people with gang-related tattoos go looking for a job, people will see the tattoo and associate it with drugs and gangs.
“When I was 21 years old, I thought ‘Man, I got this big old tattoo on my arm,’ ” Gonzales said. “I wanted to take it off but I want to leave it on as well because of the work I do.”
Gonzales, Ruiz and Martinez all said they have thought about having their tattoos removed or know of people who have had gang-related tattoos covered up or removed.
“I’ve known a few guys that have had their tattoos removed,” Gonzales said. “Some programs in Southern California will take gang-related tattoos off for free.”
Martinez took advantage of a similar program offered by the Gang Alternatives Partnership, but did not stay out of the gang even though the program asked him to.
“I’ve had one removed; it was a frog,” Martinez said. “I got it when I was 14 and did it myself. It was just an outline.”
For Martinez, getting new tattoos or having old ones covered up is easy because he is friends with his artist, Edger Renteria, who said he has done plenty of gang-related tattoos.
“I’ll do it as long as it’s not a rival thing and as long as there’s no problems from back in the day,” Renteria said, adding that he previously had gang tattoos but has since covered them up.
While Martinez strives for his tattoos to tell his life story, his friend Lily Orozco said that it is more than that.
“I think (Chris) is getting them as a closure thing, like ‘I lived it so I’ll get it,’ ” Orozco said as Martinez nodded in agreement, thanking her for finding the right words to explain his feelings.
Ruiz said that he feels conflicted about his tattoos as well.
“I wish I didn’t have them but I don’t regret them because it’s my life,” Ruiz said. “If you’ve got them all over, where everyone can see them, they’re a lifetime mark. I always tell the kids, ‘Don’t get tattoos and if you do, wait until you are old enough to make the right decision. Get tattoos for artwork but not for gang membership.’ ”
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