[Lamont Cranston]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

^^^ to finance the war in vietnam with cheap and powerful heroin from southeast asia.



I would image that you aren't the first idealist to preach the good word in the hood. it never seems to work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0YVj4pVHhk

It was to arm and supply the Hmong guerrillas - do you have a better way to fund a 30,000 man strong militia - and before that the KMT 5th Army that retreated south to the Shan States while the rest of Chiangs forces fled to Taiwan.
The Hmong didn't fare well out of this, as they turned increasingly to growing opium cash crops rather than food crops they became more and more dependent on the Americans to the point where in the 1970s villages wanting to stop because they were reduced to sending old men and boys to join the army the response would be to threaten to cut the USAID supplies being flown in by CIA logistics front companies (Air America, etc) - a death sentance on account of having no harvest stored.
Later they faced fierce retribution from the Communist forces.
The money was laundered through the Nugan Hand Bank in Sydney Australia, it employed an awful lot of CIA and military men in its offices around the world and didn't do a whole lot of banking.
Further reading: Politics of Heroin 2nd edition by Alfred W. McCoy.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Lamont Cranston

SuchFriendsAreDangerous, did either of LA's old trollycar companies have lines running through these neighbourhoods?

yes, the red car went right through the middle of South Central, as it does today in its new reincarnation, the Blue Line light rail.. that is how I pass through the hood daily, as a matter of fact my grandpops used to jump on the Red Car near his pad on 45th street and Long Beach Ave and I go to church on 46th and Long Beach Ave (the Blue line runs parallel to Long Beach Ave from Watts to Vernon)

[alteredcourse]

Interesting stuff...

..Only showing this week is at 3am ?! It'll get uploaded sooner or later..

[Lurker]

I do wonder a lot why the hell he hasn't just moved away.

[Tokolosh]

This documentary looks interesting.

These two rivals are a rough bunch, but I always had the impression that MS 13 were the ones that were taking thuggery to another level in Cali... and beyond. These cutthroats have spread worldwide.
I could've sworn seeing a group of 4 walking down my street recently. Facial tattoos and all.

Time to arm myself.

 

[Rob Instigator]

fuck all these pathetic assholes. wipe them off the face of the earth.

[floatingslowly]

Originally Posted by Tokolosh

These two rivals are a rough bunch, but I always had the impression that MS 13 were the ones that were taking thuggery to another level in Cali...

^^^ mara salvatrucha (now) take their orders from the mexican mafia (La eMe). the "13" at the end of "MS" denotes this (the 13th letter of the alphabet being "M").

and yeah, these guys are hard. a large portion of their original ranks witnessed military action in el salvador. they moved to LA and applied that knowledge to the streets.

[Tokolosh]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

fuck all these pathetic assholes. wipe them off the face of the earth.

I'm in. Add the Albanian maffia and runaway Serbian war criminals to that list.
Irradicate this cancer once and for all!

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

"i live in a gun infested neighborhood. I LIVE it a town riddled with gangs. I DRIVE through this shit every day. the goverment here sucks. the school system sucks. I DEAL with this everyday. watch this fun movie so ya can know what MY life is like."

i gathered very early on in suchfriend's post that he lives in this area, with the amount he feels the need to remind people that he lives here consistantly through the entire lenghty post, i gather that hes proud to be from there.

maybe im an idiot.

absolutely accurate synopsis! seriously, I rather enjoyed it..

except for two points, I don't live in Watts/South Central(though there are a few guns around the neighborhood I do live in as well), its where I go to church regularly and on weekdays, its where a few of my friends live, and its also part of any commute across town, as the necessary metro line runs through those neighborhoods. and you forget, I don't drive through them, I walk through them, I take the bus/rail to get around to church and to my peoples spots, and so I am on foot. I've become rather familiar in a few neighborhoods there, perpetually "hey Rastaman" even now with a fade..

perhaps 3-5 times a week I am in the Watts/South Central area. I am not proud of that shit that goes on there at all but I am ever the optimist, I believe that something can actually be done about all this. that is why I have been working with volunteer org around LA, and I am talking with some gang/community outreach centers in those neighborhoods to get more involved there, do a little more then chill out, contribute a little more, and get that Marcus Garvey ball rolling again..

Originally Posted by Lurker

I do wonder a lot why the hell he hasn't just moved away.

"E-T-H-I-O-P-A, ityopya your are the best, above them all, I must confess..."

[Tokolosh]

Indeed. A militant background is something to be reckoned with, floatingslowly.

[jon boy]

thing is i have been to south central LA and those places mentioned and they where not like that at all. they seemed actually quite nice. compton was pretty leafy and didnt seem rough at all. as where most of the other places. then again in vancouver the places where a lot of violence occurs are generally quite nice too and there have been over 40 shhotings this year.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

and yeah, these guys are hard. a large portion of their original ranks witnessed military action in el salvador. they moved to LA and applied that knowledge to the streets.

these are all the cats I grew up and got into trouble with and make up that list of my peoples who have been shot or killed. I grew up with southsiders and I personally live in southside neighborhoods, so that is another part of the politics of daily living, but mexicans are easy folks to deal with if you understand their vibes, and further they tend to be the most reverent gangsters you meet..

it wasn't until I started running with old school big dreads a few years back that I got broken off with the black gang history/culture first hand. then I started to go to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in South Central and my religiosity has been bringing me in those neighborhoods very often for a good while now. It is only recently that I finally found some opportunities and inspiration to do anything about all the bullshit..

this thread was just inspired by watching that documentary recently, I couple of my peoples around town also seen it and it got them equally rowdy..

[floatingslowly]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

fuck all these pathetic assholes. wipe them off the face of the earth.

they are the symptom and not the disease.

I pity them, even if their actions may make them not so deserving of it.

not everyone can pack up and move from the leafy green lawns of south central.

[Rob Instigator]

not everyone who is raised in such environs CHOOSES to lead a violent life of crime either.

[floatingslowly]

that's true, but not everyone in that violent life of crime is given a choice.

I suppose it depends on how much it bothers you having yr family killed instead.

[Savage Clone]

I stumbled upon this doc on PBS last night. Excellent. This particular filmmaker has a way of making me interested in subjects I'm not already interested in. Gangs, surfing, skateboards.

[_slavo_]

 

Watching it right now. What a great movie.

[Tokolosh]

Just finished watching it. Excellent!
Stacy Peralta nails it by going back in history to pinpoint
exactly where the system failed. Well executed and daring.