Crips and Bloods: Made in America (A Documentary)
 

"A cluster of neighborhoods lies in the heart of Southern California, streets and boulevards forming a grid between concrete ribbons of freeway. Surrounded by the California Dream, this region has a legacy. It is heavily guarded, yet no one is protected. Nearly a quarter of its young men will end up in jail or prison. Many others will end up dead. These neighborhoods in South Los Angeles are home to two of America's most infamous African-American gangs, the Crips and the Bloods.
On these streets over the past 30 years, more than 15,000 people have been murdered in an ongoing cycle of gang violence that continues unabated. It was here, just a few miles from the gated communities and sprawling mansions of Beverly Hills and Bel Air, where this nation’s most bloody and costly outbreaks of civil unrest erupted — not once, but twice, 27 years and just three miles apart.
In Crips and Bloods: Made In America, renowned documentarian Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z Boys, Riding Giants) examines the story of South Los Angeles and the gangs that inhabit it. Blending gripping archival footage and photos with in-depth interviews of current and former gang members, educators, historians, family members and experts, Peralta brings his trademark dynamic visual style and story-telling ability to this often-ignored chapter of America's history. Hard- hitting, yet ultimately hopeful, Crips and Bloods: Made In America not only documents the emergence of the Bloods and the Crips and their growth beyond the borders of South Central, but also offers insight as to how this ongoing tragedy might be resolved."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_kIdrBWMsE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN4pP-1NWoA

have you ever read the book Monster?

it's a must if you find this stuff interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Autobi.../dp/0802141447

This is a local movie of sorts, I pass through the neighborhoods in the film almost daily on the rails to get around town where I got to get to like work/volunteering/church

My church is literally on the corner of the Jordan Downs PJs on Long Beach Ave where a lot of this documentary was filmed. I am there at least twice a week strolling around seein whats poppin.

If you have never seen the street life of Los Angeles this film is truly an accurate glimpse into that life. Its not like the movies, its not that Boyz-in-Hood shit, its even more dramatically complicated.




The situations in the film, on these streets local to me, is the direct result of corruption. It is corruption in the local government, in the courts, in the police departments, in the probation offices, in the school boards, in the city councils, in the mayoral offices, in the school districts, in the zoning committees, in the adviseray boards, in all the local bullshit, fuck as far as I am concerned the city of Los Angeles as corrupt as fucking Zimbabwe, and the result is the buck-wild gorrilla youth of Los Angeles, who mob and kill each other daily. fucking dailly. there aren't enough hail mary's to give proper memorial for the amount of youth ending up in caskets. Its daily, and it hasn't stopped in twenty years, my entire life has been a product of this environment, my entire generation and now the kids we are raising, know this violence and this corruption as a part of daily reality. why do we continue to accept it? Becasue most of the people in suburban Los ANgeles, in the State of California, in the United States as a country, in the world in general, think LA is what they see on TMZ....
LOS ANGELES HAS FAILED ITS YOUTH. THE SCHOOLS, THE COURTS, AND ESPECIALLY THE PEOPLE COLLECTIVELY HAVE FAILED THE YOUTH.

and we only continue this shit as Viaragosa continues to increase the police state atmosphere of LA (shit I had to buy a ball cap cuz I GET ROLLED UP BY POLICE THREE TIMES A WEEK AT LEAST WITH THIS BALD HEAD!!!) by increasing the police presence, increasing the war on gangs, sending even more and more youth to prison to continue to cycle of crime, poverty and disenfranchisement...


as long as nobody gives a shit, these youth will not give a shit about themselves. This is why I get off the train in the hood with pride, and spread that love around to build up a bit of love. You only get what you give, and from my city I want to get love, so I give it out freely. Whats the worst these brothers can do to me? Rob me? Kill me? Shit, they can only do what is delivered by the hand of my God, but through His Grace alone I come there continually to spread that love. And thus far, I have only gotten it back in return with no trouble..

Folks out there, if you know this life, do what you can to make a difference. If you don't know this life, catch this film and try to empathize for a minute with the hopeless cycle which has been created in these hoodz, have a little sympathy as well, and try to stop those who cast judgment and continue this bullshit "war" on gangs, which just provokes more and more cycles of violence, corruption and poverty. Love is the solution for peace, violence begets violence, corruption begets corruption..

do what you can y'all...

peace and love,
Habte Selassie

The Amer-I-Can Program

Jim Brown
269 South Beverly Drive #1048
Los Angeles, CA 90212 (310) 652-7884 Phone http://www.amer-i-can.org/
info@amer-i-can.org

Unity One

Lechein Taylor
(323) 228-3592 Phone
(323) 933-7636 Fax
http://www.unityonenow.com
lasheentaylor@yahoo.com "

Maximum Force Enterprises

Aquil Basheer
The Crisis Survival Training Center
The B.U.I.L.D. Youth Empowerment Program (Brotherhood for Independent Leadership through Discipline)
1409 West Vernon Ave.
Los Angeles, CA. 90010
(323) 295-1904 Office
(323) 294-1223 Fax
http://www.maximumforceenterprises.com
takechargeinc@aol.com


Project Cry No More


Vicky D. Lindsey, Executive Director / Founder
(non profit 501(c)(3) support group for murdered victims’ loved ones)
Mailing Address:
622 S. Keene Ave.
Compton, CA. 90220
(310) 438-0075 (direct)
projectcrynomore@aol.com
The Reverence Project


Aqeela Sherrills
Mailing Address:
9101 Hooper Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90002
http://www.TheReverenceProject.com
http://www.wattsarts.com

UNITY TWO, Chapter 2


“Pete” Cavitt
Mailing Address:
207 W. 74th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90003
(323) 758-4657 Phone
(323) 719-4290 Phone
jeraldcavitt1@sbcglobal.net /
Advancement Project Los Angeles


Connie Rice, Co-Director
1545 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 989.1300 Phone
(213)989.1309 Phone
http://www.advanceproj.org

SideWalk University: A Pro-Gang Institute


T. Rodgers Ph.G, Gangologist
“FORGIVENESS ONE HUMAN BEING AT A TIME; A LIFE EXPERIENCE”
The one the OG bangers call!
Mailing Address:
P.O.BOX 191795
LOS ANGELES*CA.*90019
(323) 294-2649 phone
(323) 295-0331 fax
sidewalku@hotmail.com
http://www.trodgers.com

2nd Call


Skipp Townsend
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 191476
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(310) 916-1902
http://2ndcall.org
skipptownsend@yahoo.com


C.H.A.N.G.E.


Don Won
9329 E. Cedar Street Apt. #11
Bellflower, CA 90706
(562) 965-4040 Phone
http://www.castinghopeforchange.com
myprochange@yahoo.com

Building Communities and Families


Maniac Bey
6590 Long Beach Blvd., #230
Long Beach, CA 90805
(562) 413-5572 Phone
(714) 827-5070 Fax
http://www.b-c-f.org
buildingcf@yahoo.com

Homeboy Industries


130 W. Bruno St. Los Angeles, CA 90012
(323) 526-1254 (Phone)
(323) 526-1257 (Fax)
http://www.homeboy-industries.org
info@homeboy-industries.org

Films by Youth Inside


Alex Munoz-Creative Director
8320 Lincoln Blvd #202
Los Angeles, CA 90045
310-980-0134 Phone
http://www.fyifilms.org
alex@fyifilms.org

Voices Behind the Walls


Apollo Payne
(323)445-5459Phone
voicesbehindthewalls.com
jpapollombp@yahoo.com

my only issue with this film is that it did not even touch on the black panther connections to the origin of the CRIPS (Community Revolution In Progress) which essentially was founded as a street gang arm of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Black Panther.

The LA panthers, under murdered Bunchy Carter in the late 1960s were implementing a combination of community outreach programs like Breakfast programs, food banks, after-school activities, neighborhood restoration, and also small-time crime like robbery, theft, civil disobedience, and gang rivalries. The Panthers were in a sense using the CRIPS as a street arm of the Panthers, to infiltrate and compete with the popular and growing street gangs, party crews and car clubs which had thoroughly saturated South and East Los Angeles. This whole gang culture evolved from the crucible of these neighborhoods, as weekend dances and car club rivalries escalated into gang violence and drug dealing, with a little help from various government agencies and other saboteours out to make a dollar of the misery of the poor..

The CRIPS devolved into a violent and aggressive street gang as A DIRECT RESULT of the persuction and forced removal of the Black Panther Party, through assassinations, arrests, police brutality and infilitration by the FBI and other agencies, both acting on the government's behalf and as rouge mercenaries...

these youth were provoked. From 1965-1970, the LAPD (who in fact coined the term 'gang') reported almost no criminal activity in black neighborhoods, they said all the youth were to damned busy working with outreach and political organizations! how far have we sunk...

Its a shame really what it became in the 1970s through today.. but the opportunity to use this gang infrastructure to reorganize under Black Panther ideals of community outreach and grass-roots organization is still possible, this was proven in 93-94 with all the temporary truces and peace treaties between LA Crips and Bloods, but since the city of Los Angeles failed to live up to its end to the bargains and in fact took advantage of the gangs kindness as weakness arresting many and increasing police brutality, the gangs picked up where they left off.

Well its time to pick up where the Panthers left off in 1969-1970. Los Angeles, we burnt down this city twice now and what have we rebuilt? The same bullshit!

it's incredible just how many street gangs turn from being beneficial community organizations into something more akin to a terrorist cell.

I blame drugs.

Out of interest, is there any significant differences between the CRIPS and the Bloods? I know most people choose one over the other based on where they live, friends or relatives that are already members, etc, but is there any kind of differing code between the two? I'm talking about now, not when the CRIPS were associated with the Black Panthers.

the bloods were originally a splinter of the crips called the pirus (pie-roos).

drugs and the territory to control them ruined the friendship. after that, bloods started popping up everywhere there were problems with crips.

traditionally, crips were more likely to rob and steal, while the bloods were into selling rock.

I'm pretty sure they all sell drugs now though.

So basically they're two sides of the same coin. There's no reason to join one over the other for any other reason other than neighbourhood of personal loyalty. Are there any significant ethnic differences between the two? I have to admit that I do find all this really interesting. I think there's a danger of people (especially those not directly connected with it) using this interest to glamorise or romanticise gang culture, It is fascinating though.

Great thread.

these days it all seems the same. there's only so much dirt you can do, and if yr hardcore, you've done it all.

although both the crips and the bloods are mainly black gangs, they take in everybody that's willing to put in work (I've heard of cambodian crips).

the main racial exception in american gangs is latinos. they become gravitationally consumed by either La eMe (mexican mafia) or Nuestra Familia (our family).

all of these gangs tend to take orders from higher-ups in prison.

I think that the main black prison gang is the Black Guerrilla Family (including both Bloods and Crips) and with the whites it's the Aryan Brotherhood (o, joy).

I saw a documentary about the Aryan Brotherhood. From what I could gather they seemed to be a primarily prison-based organisation. Do they actually have a significant street-level base?

I image that white people interested in maintaining that lifestyle outside of prison end up either in the KKK or a skinhead / biker gang.

but there are white bloods and crips too, so really, the sky's the limit!

honestly though, I'm not that knowledgeable about white gangs. nazis make me short-circuit.


[edits: yes, please]

There's been a couple of documentaries made by the BBC that looked at American Nazi skinhead culture. It was sort of hard to see what they actually did, besides listen to old blokes babble on about the holocaust and slamdance to Wagner.

you forgot spray-painting synagogues and beating up on blacks/gays.

while I understand a lifestyle born out of poverty and necessity, I fail to see any logic in racism (or whatever ism get's yr rocks off).

the main bond between all of these gangs is a pathological condition of human nature.

I watched this doc on gangland all over the country. Apparently the bloods and crips tried to move into new orleans and in a matter of days were all killed by the "gotti" boys of New orleans. Apparently they're the most vicious of em all.


Either way, anything started with a good cause will be consumed by greed and etc. and the drugs like crack didn't help gang violence any.

I am saddened how no matter what, for some people it's the only life they know at birth. They are born into a cycle that's been going on for years, and will bring children into this world that have the same lack of choice.

THAT scares the shit out of me.

But unfortunately, it's the only way some of them can survive because of corruption.

What I wanna know is are most of the killings related to gang on gang members/the ppl buying the drugs or is most of it, sadly, wrong place wrong time shit, and whether you're apart of what's going down, you might get killed?

I don't have police statistics, and I'm sure that it varies from town to town.

living in a gang-infested area can get you shot due to random ballistics. when you shoot yr gun in the air, it comes down somewhere.

years ago, the most notorious gang was a group of Jamaicans that operated out of Texas. once, in dallas, they herded a family of mexicans into a bathroom of a hotel and left a bloody mess. I can't recall what they called themselves though. Rude Boys or something stupid, I think.

That Jamaican gang you talk about sounds like something that has been an issue in the UK for a few years with Jamaican 'yardies' coming into the country (often straight from jail). They're extremely violent and have a whole culture of 'honour killings' that can lead to person who disrespected them in some way having them and their family killed as a result - which seems to have been the case with that Mexican family you mention. Very scary stuff.

the top jamaican gangster in the uk was ranking dread all through the 80's, and his drug selling network is still in use and you might have gotten weed through it.

he's also known for recording hardcore gangster songs like "i love my mammy" "lot's of lovin" and "god blessed children"

That's crazy cause Tenor Saw was found dead in Texas & no one seems to know why...

I always thought it was "crypts". No?

when the sun goes down
over shanty town
man 'a get gun down
when the sun goes down
over I'yah mon town
man 'a get gun down

o, cowboy bones are gettin' old
when dis rudeboy's days are done
get along, texas boys. get along

I don't live there, so I'm not pretending to know more about this than you. You have a day-to-day view of this mess, so you see a lot more of the gritty reality than I do. But I think it's unfair to put all of the blame on the government. What about the people themselves? Are they not responsible for their own actions? You can say that all these people know is violence, but that's not entirely true. If they have TV's or watch any movies, they have the ability to see, if nothing else, the possiblity of a lack of violence.

Sure, that's all easier said than done of course, but it's still there. They still have the choice not to act that way. Why would it be my responsiblity as a single human being to put an end to it, when it is another single human being that's causing it and not stopping it? I'm just rambling, so I hope this is making sense :)

And there are other factors too, factors which (and I'm not pointing fingers, I'm just saying) you seem to support. Drugs & ganster rap that often promote violence play a part as well. While I like a lot of rap myself, I can't say that a kid growing up listening to Wu-Tang wouldn't be influenced for the worse. While I listen to itand just like the way they flow, some kid in a bad neighborhood is thinking "Yeah, that's how I got to be to survive."

Sure, local governments need to do more to provide positive influences, but the people creating the negative influences need to think about what they are doing as well, and take some responsibility.

Anyway, whenever I'm in a big city, I think carefully about the color of shoes I'm wearing in any particular hood. Wouldn't want those gangstas shooting me for my Converse JPs!

^^^

Hmm, well I'll be fucked.

and where do all the drugs come from?



You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to wellcharge again.


Everything you mentioned is correct, the problem with gang, street and drug violence in the city of Los Angeles (and 100% of US cities above 250,000 according to US census which report such activities) is that is a complex network of problems, there is no smoking bullet..

but there are disproportionate contributing factors, and the corruption of government is a kingpin issue here. The fucked schools combined with the corrupt and brutal police combined with FBI saboteurs (who flood the streets with all the guns and drugs to begin with!!!) result in a disaster. And further, the blame can rightfully be blamed on the govt because the govt FORCES the kids to go to these fucked up schools, the POLICE do not give you any options they call all the shots, and the FBI sneak all the guns in as the ultimate devil's advocate..

of course the people are responsible for their own actions, but they are not entirely to blame. Further, I am hoping that communities TO WORK ON SELF-RELIANCE and DO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS FOR THEMSELVES..

but first and foremost, WE MUST SOLVE THE OUTSIDE FACTORS, before we can get at the inside. We must end all the corruption, establish schools that work, get rid of the police-state environment of police brutality and neighborhood injunctions, and get the damned rouge Intellegence agents OUT OF LA and all their fucking bullshit guns and drugs!!

then with all that outside bullshit out of the way, the people can again begin to work on themselves. After all, this is what history teaches us. In the 1960s the black and "minority" communities of the US began to work on self-reliance, become deeply self-aware and form true communties, however the system infilitrated like they took down Marcus Garvey and the UNIA before them, and by 1970 all that was left was body bags, prison inmantes, and a bunch of fucking gangsters selling drugs for the FBI/CIA...

fucked up!

good thread. I like all the input, very thought provoking.

You got that a little backwards, the CRIPS were the first to sell rock, but that was not into the 80s when the CIA first dropped crack on Compton (this is a gem of history which came out public during the whole Iran/Contra scandal by some guilt-ridden CIA agents who also felt like bragging) The Bloods originate in the early 70s as a defense krew against expanding CRIP violence. The Bloods were brothers like the Bishops and the Compton Pirus (ironically Piru is a small block in Compton/Watts and now there are Pirus all over the world, some people even mistakenly attacht street lore that it is some African shit, its not, its a block name) who took on the name Bloods as many were Vietnam vets. They did not sell rock, they sold heroin which was the CIA drug of choice because of easy access in Indochina during the War (some say the war was entirely fought over control of heroin), but the CRIPS began to sell the CIA's new drug of choice in the 70s, coca, which apparently in 1981 became crack (even though people had been free-basing cocaine for over a hundred years previously)...

the history of Los Angeles street gangs is really a history of GEOPOLITICS...


I suppose so, but it is in fact Crips, though some folks believe it was originally Cribs (as in Baby Cribs for Baby Avenue) but the Panther lore says it was always CRIPS (the acronym) and a good deal of the panters were killed so we might never actually know.

Some newspaper reports used to call them Cripples because they used to carry canes from 1971-1973, and a japanese woman reported being robbed by "three crippled black men" but that is sort of a coincidence, even a joke really.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/fre...-targeted.html

Ok, I can definitely see it from this angle. It is true that, especially in these specific areas, public school is the only option most kids have, and they don't even have the option of not going at all. And even if they did have that option, it would mean spending more time on the streets and picking up these bad habits.

And it is true, you aren't going to go up to a gang member and say "hey man, really, what are you doing here?" and turn them around.

once the bloods became a rival power, CRIPS stopped using the letter "b" (unless you are using it to refer to a blood as a "slob", and even then it's typically crossed out).


I wasn't insinuating that selling rock was an exclusive venture, but my data was given to me by a CRIP, so...

The part I meant was backwards was the traditional part in relation to rock, because in the formation days of the late 60s and early 70s crack didn't exist. aside from that techinical inaccuracy your version is the gospel truth, the proto-crips loved to pull jack moves, and all the sets which united and became the bloods (later Brotherly Love Overcomes Oppressive Domination) were into dealing. this was a panther legacy, as initially the Panthers were devoutly and of course ironically ANTI-DRUG, ANTI-DRUG DEALING

traditionally the crips were into stealing and robbing since they were just a bunch of loose sets affiliated with the panthers, from 65-70. the sets who became the bloods were traditionally drug dealing, as you said, but it was not rock, it was heroin. The crips introduced crack into the game by 1981, cuz they had all the coke in the 70s and the CIA inspired them to cut and serve their blow out on the streets in a new, cheaper way. the bloods STILL fuck with heroin, and bunch are surprisingly more strung out than kurt cobain..

Is this Bloods-CRIPS rivalry pretty contained within themselves? Are there also major rivalries between them and certain Latino gangs, for example, or do the Latino gangs tend to stick within themselves? (I say this knowing that there are Latinos in both the Blood and the CRIPS, I'm thinking more about the actual Latino gangs though that, I think, Floating mentioned)

yes, there is hispanic-black gang rivalry, usually out of a mix of geography and racism.

but this should not imply some kind of unity amongst the hispanic "southsiders"

these are just and even more likely to shoot and kill another southside set than a black set. There is far more inter-southside beef and drama and politics then there is interracial. Every 13 set is against another, where as amongst black gangs, CRIPS tend to be cool with other CRIP sets, and you don't see this necessarily in hispanic gangs. With the Southsiders, each set is sort of on their own, and the 13 just mediates and keeps negotiations and communication open.

This goes against your explanation of the word 'Crip'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crips

And about the LA police coining the word 'gang', well here's what the OED has to say on that:

"Any band or company of persons who go about together or act in concert (chiefly in a bad or depreciatory sense, or associated with criminal societies). transf. a social set. colloq.

1632 in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) II. 197 Nutt the pirate..with all his gang of varlets. 1677 R. CARY Palæol. Chron. II. I. xiii. 126, I have a question to move on the behalf of the Gang of Chronographers. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3755/8 Supposed to be concerned with a Gang of House-breakers. 1782 WOLCOT (P. Pindar) Odes to R.A.'s xi. Wks. 1812 I. 38 And as a gang of thieves a bustle make With greater ease, your purse to take. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. iv. I. 505 Disgusted his friends by joining what was then generally considered as a gang of crazy heretics. 1883 Law Times LXXV. 130/2 The breaking up of gangs of criminals through the operation of long terms of penal servitude. 1945 A. KOBER Parm Me 28 The bunch is waiting at my house. I thought I'd call fa you and take you over, so that we'd meet the gang. 1955 G. FREEMAN Liberty Man I. i. 15 All the gang would be there, and she'd be ever so proud of him."


Note the year 1632.

I don't give a fuck what Wikipedia said. and in regards to your etymology lesson, I meant in regards to street gangs, not the english word itself. good try though, you almost moted me :)

It's not what wikipedia says it's what one of the founding members says.

So you're saying they coined the word 'gang' to mean 'street gang'? Do you realise how stupid you sound? How many other sorts of gangs are there that don't operate on the street? As far as I can see there is no difference in meaning.

I'm not saying a founder member's account shouldn't be taken seriously, but there's a strong chance that Stanley Williams' attempt to distance the CRIPS from the Panthers has more to do with some kind of personal grievance he had with the Panthers than anything related directly to the facts. I mean if I wanna know what really went on in Guns n Roses, the last person I'm gonna ask is AXL Rose.

actually, the wiki is right. Tookie and Washington started the gang to fight other gangs.

it was never really an arm of the black panther party, so much as inspired by it.

and you can't blame everything on the CIA, man. I'm not saying there weren't black-op flights from the golden triangle that didn't make it into the hood, but you had to have someone to say "yes" to selling, and another to say "yes" to buying.

It was all so much more straight forward in The Warriors.

well, the problem is, whoever started it all and why doesn't matter so much as what it's turned into. it spread like a cancer and now it's everywhere.

it's would be near impossible to completely define "crips" and "bloods" due to the thousands of differing mythologies.