watching

i watched Crips and Bloods: Made in America by documentarian Stacy Peralta (Dogtown and Z Boys, Riding Giants) recently, and it is a phenomenal documentary. outlining the genesis of the two most notorious gangs in American history, the Crips and the Bloods, the film does an excellent job in explaining the institutional and casual racism that ushered in a whole generation of gangbangers. in a very incomplete nutshell, after the Watts riots and during the civil rights movement, community organizations like the Black Panthers helped stifle gang activity in the area. however, J. Edgar Hoover, the police, and the "white establishment" put targets on the backs of such community organizations, leading to the assassination or incarceration of many of the leaders of such movements. this left a whole generation of black males disenfranchised and left to fend for themselves. when you give someone absolutely no hope of getting out of the situation they have been placed in (and make no mistake, the were purposefully placed there, just look at the way LA county was divided to keep "undesirables" out of white neighborhoods) their only option is to implode on themselves and the community around them.

for anyone who is interested in the historical context of how these gang wars were started, it's a fascinating and enthralling documentary. Peralta interviews current and past gang members, as well as members of the "first generation" of "clubs" (precursor to the modern gang.) i think the hardest part is knowing how little is being done to give resources to the communities - resources that are so desperately needed. you truly can tell a lot about American society when we blame people for acting in the only way they know how to, and give them no options otherwise. i also don't think it is sympathetic to gangs, but is trying to understand all of the mitigating factors that lead these communities to where they are today. i'd be extremely interested to see an update, particularly about the influx of the Mexican gangs into south central. if anyone knows of a documentary about that, please leave it in the comments.