SOC 101
Crips and Bloods: Made in America
During the 1950s in Los Angeles, racism and segregation contributed to the creation of gangs by being treated as if they were the bad guys and that interacting with them were unethical. For example, due to racism blacks could not join any Boy Scouts. People who were colored had “no value”. They would be stereotyped as if someone was black they automatically committed a crime. With all of this hate, they made their own “clubs” which made them feel a sense of welcome and a sense of power.
The Watts riot, back in 1965, started when a police routine traffic stop stopped an African American man. The police like all other racist policemen at that time, accused the man of a crime and decided to impound his car. To the black community this was no doubt a racist traffic stop and created a riot. Older and younger African American responded differently based on their perspectives of the race relations. The older generation took the abuse because they were brought up into the nature of moving to other side of the sidewalk for a white person’s convince. They were used to the abuse and knew they were powerless. However, the younger generation told the older generation that they did not want to take any more abuse and that they have to fight back.
Thanks to political consciousness, during 1965 to 1971 there was a decline in gang activity. African American groups, such as the Black Power movement, began to develop to help “fight the power” showing the black community that they can come together as a unit and help each other with this new “black pride”. Groups like these were lead by influential African American leaders that brought gangs together for a brief time period.
Unfortunately, the influential leaders that lead the African American community were all killed. Therefore, South Central Los Angeles went back to its old ways and gave birth to a new type of gang called the Crips. The Crips were disconnected from society...