By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER SENIOR STAFF WRITER

It’s 2007, do you know where you’re kids are? Are they off thizzing, going dumb, doing purple, or ghostriding?

OBSERVER photographer Rayford Johnson read from “Thug Mentality Exposed” at a recent book signing at Underground Books. Johnson’s book, his first, is sparking conversation about the thug mentality and its impact on youth and the African American community as a whole. Photo (c) Observer / Robert Maryland

Purchase "Thug Mentality Exposed: California Gang Members Speak Out From Youth Prison" as an e-book or paperback at thugexposed.com.

For those who have no clue, author Rayford L. Johnson offers an insightful, and sometimes scary, look into what today’s youth are into. Johnson, an award-winning photographer for The Sacramento OBSERVER has written his first book, “Thug Mentality Exposed: California Gang Members Speak Out From Youth Prison” which explores the hyphy movement that started in the San Francisco Bay Area and is spreading across the country, thug culture, prison gangs and hip hop’s violent undertones. He held a book signing last week at Underground Books, filling the Oak Park store with book fans eager to discuss the book and the issues it brings up.

“There are rich kids in rich neighborhoods that have never stepped in to or driven through a gang-related neighborhood, however, they talk and behave in mannerisms that would make you think that they grew up on some of the meanest streets of South Central Los Angeles,” reads Johnson’s book.

He blames this phenomenon on the popularity of “gangster entertainment.

“They have identified with something they admired from these gangster icons, the hardcore image, the power, respect and invincibility they deceptively portray in their videos. More and more of society has come to tolerate thug mentality and others to embrace it due to its entertainment value and the emotional high they receive from it,” Johnson says.

Through “Thug Mentality Exposed” Johnson, is hoping to educate parents and the community as a whole as to what’s “really going on.”

“With this knowledge we can begin healing by providing truth and hope to an at-risk population, (hope to keep them) from being incarcerated or held hostage by powerful addictions which are leading many to an early grave,” Johnson said.

Johnson, also a licensed minister, is exposing what he believes to be the dark roots of the behaviors that many of today’s youth, and adults as well, have adopted as “cool” and “trendsetting.”

In his book, he addresses the disturbing trend toward Satanism that can be found in modern rock and hip-hop music. Johnson believes that learning where these behaviors originated from will move young people to abandon such negative behavior. Featured topics include the history of sagging pants, the origins of tattoos and the past purpose of marijuana usage.

“Thug Mentality Exposed” is culled from the author’s 11 years of experience as a correctional counselor for the California Department of Corrections. Johnson said he felt compelled to write this book after noticing a rapid growth of the thug culture among the young wards he counsels. The book includes eye-opening interviews with and essays by these wards themselves, as they let those on the outside know what’s going on in their world, one of chaos, abandonment, loneliness and the desire to fit in.

The idea, Johnson says, is to not simply focus on the negative, but offer up unique solutions on diverting youth’s attention toward positive opportunities before they end up in his office as inmates.

“Thug Mentality Exposed” can be found at thugexposed.com, Underground Books, amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.