A primary theme in Emako Blue is that gang activity affects both individuals and communities. Gang violence touches each character in the text after Emako’s murder in a drive-by gang-related shooting. Emako’s death ripples through her community, showing that violence does not affect just individuals but everyone in a community.

Monterey notes the large crowd outside of the church on the day of Emako’s funeral service: “A crowd was standing in front of the church, but I knew that if Emako hadn’t died the way she had, most of these people wouldn’t be here” (1). Monterey does not share yet just exactly how Emako died, but when the reader learns that it was in a gang-related shooting, Monterey’s observation illustrates that the turnout is the community’s reaction to mounting gang violence. The community recognizes the senselessness of Emako’s death—as we see in the preacher’s statement about her innocence—and it rallies around Emako’s family.

The threat of gang violence greatly affects the individual characters as well. Eddie, for example, lives in fear because his brother is also in a gang, and he knows firsthand how easily anyone can become a target. Even after Emako’s death, when Eddie’s plans to go to are college secured, Eddie worries about the possibility that violence could still catch up with him: “I wondered if I would make it.