Black vs Brown

Gangs have been around for decades, from the Nazi’s to the Black Panthers.  The Crips and Bloods and gangs like them will most likely never go away.  A  lot  of  people  refer  to Los Angeles  as  the  “Gang Capital”  of  the world.  Every gang wants to be the “toughest”, and will do anything to be regarded  as  so. Usually gangs  fight over  territory  and drugs,  among other  reasons. 

However, what’s been going on in southern California, most notably in L.A.  between blacks, and Hispanics, has little to do with simple turf wars. Now  it seems  to be all about  race. Black and Hispanic gangs have been having  this on-going feud with one another for quite some time now. An October 2007 article in Newsweek titled,  “Racial Cleansing”, said that a Hispanic gang called “Florencia 13”, had been  targeting the East Coast Crips, and in some cases killing innocent black civilians. Murder based  on race. Twenty four  members of the F13 gang were indicted in 2007 for charges stemming from  selling drugs,  to assault, killing black gang members, as well as  innocent African-Americans.  From the prisons, to the streets, to high schools, this race war is coming from many angles.

Demographically,  in  the  last  10-plus  years,  Los  Angeles has seen a major  shift  in  ethnic diversity. According  to a study done  in 1990 by Dowell  Myers,  entitled  “Demographic  and  Housing  Transitions  in  South  Central  Los  Angeles,  “55%  of  South  Central’s  population  was  black. Latino’s  accounted  for  45%  of that time. In 2000, the percentage  of blacks dropped from 55%, to 39 %, dropping a  total of 16%. While  the  black  population  decreased,  Hispanics increased,  accounting for  58% of the population at that time. 

This  demographic  change  hasn’t  set well with many African- Americans.  Blacks  feel  like  Hispanics  have  moved  into  their  neighborhoods and some what taken  over. On the fip side, Hispanics feel  like  blacks  should  accept  the  fact  they are no longer the majority like  they once were in many L.A. cities  such  as  Compton,  South  Central,  and Pasadena, just to name a few.  Sergio  Banda, a  sociology  teacher   at  Fullerton  College  believes  the  shift  in  race  has  affected this war. 

“You’ve seen major demographic  changes  in  L.A.  Hispanics  are  moving  into what used  to be black  neighborhoods  and  blacks  are  feeling threatened,” Banda said.  One could argue that Mexicans are  no  longer  a minority  in California,  but  the majority.  “Both  races  have  negative  feelings  for  each  other,”  he adds. “It’s competition now.  It’s  not  just  gangs  anymore.  Now  you have races competing for jobs,  and  resources,” Banda  said. That’s  been a complaint of many African- Americans about Latinos,  that  they  are  taking  all  the  jobs  African- Americans  once held. 

Pride  is  a major  factor  in  this race war. “Both races  are  trying  to  establish  supremacy,”  said  Piaget  Glaspie,  a  24-year-old  resident  of  Delhi,  Calif.  When  asked  if  he  thinks  black  gangs  are  trying  to  hold  on  to power  they may no  longer have,  “Yes. You  have Mexicans moving  into  black  neighborhoods,  and  in  essence  taking  over,  and  you  have  blacks refusing  to  let  that happen,”  Glaspie said.  Blacks may  not  like  the  change  in  demographics  but,  if  you  look  at  history,  one will  see  that  this  is  how the world goes. Every race has  its  time  where  they  dominate  the  population of a particular city.  During the 1930s through '50s cities  and regions like  Compton  and  South  Los Angeles were predominantly white. 

The demographics  changed over  the  years  as  more  blacks  began  to  move  into  those  areas, becoming primarily African- American. Now,  these  cities have had an increase in thei Hispanic population. While this increase shouldn’t  be  seen  as  a  threat, to many blacks it is. The tension in this race war is not  just on the streets. It’s even reached  L.A. high schools.

In 2005, Thomas  Jefferson  High School  was  shut  down due  to  racial brawls between  black  and  Hispanic students.  Hundreds  of  kids  were  involved,  prompting  the  school  to  have  police  come  in  riot  gear. According  to  the  school  demographics,  Thomas  Jefferson  has  an  estimated  3,900  students.  94% are Hispanic and 7% are black.  Dontio  Wiley,  a  black  female  who was a student at Thomas Jefferson High School said,  “I  don’t  care  about  the  police,  but  I’m  scared  of  these Mexicans.  They  come  to  school with weapons.”

Other  high  schools  in  L.A.  had  similar  brawls  in  2005,  including  Washington,  Jordan,  and  Locke  High Schools. All of  these  schools  were  once  predominantly    black  in  the  1970s and  '80s,  but  now  have  shifted  into  being  mostly  Hispanic.  For  example,  in  an article done by Roger McGrath,  he  noted  the  demographic  changes  in  L.A.  high  schools.  According  to  McGrath,  Jordan  High  School,  which  is  located  in Watts, was  80  to  90%  black  in  the  1960s,  and  '70s.  Today,  it  is  20%  black  and  79%  Hispanic, a huge fux  in  race. This  signifcant change could be another  reason why this war is taking place.  Back  in  the  1970s  and  '80s  the  black gans, the Crips and Bloods  ran  the streets of  L.A.  According  to  a study shocased on the History  Channel,  today  there  are  a  reported  209 Latino  gangs  in L.A.  County  and  152  black  gangs. 

It  is  estimated  there  are  25,000  black  gang members  in  L.A.  County,  to  53,000 Hispanic members, but  this  is not just a gang war, it’s a race war.  That becomes aparrentt when  innocent  people  are  targeted  purposely.  In  2006, a local Latino gang in Harbor  Gateway placed a curfew on all the  blacks in the city and created a street  boundary  where  blacks  couldn’t  cross.  If  any  black  person  crossed  that boundry, whether  they were  in  a gang or not, they would be harmed  in some way. 

One  afternoon on December 16,  2006 a 14-year-old black girl named  Cheryl Green was outside her home  playing with friends when Hispanic  gang  members  came  through  the  neighborhood,  and  began  shooting  and  killed  the  14-year-old.  She  and  her  mother  were  obeying  the  boundry rules that the Hispanic gang  had set. They stayed on their side of  the neighborhood. Still, Green died  from a gunshot wound.  Three  other  teenagers  were  shot  at  the  same  time. 

This  is  the  kind  of  violence  that’s  senseless  and  stupid. The  next  day  after  the  murder, “NK”, was scribbled on the  sidewalk, which stands for, “Nigger  Killer”. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio  Viaragoso  has taken steps to try and defuse the  situation  as much  as  possible,  but  as  Glaspie  put  it,  “You  can’t  stop  ignorance”.

Compton  is  another  city  that  has  seen  a  fux  in  race, with the city being  nearly  60%  Hispanic  and  40%  black. Alex Alonso,  a gang  expert,  says that blacks control 54% of the  gang  turf  in Compton.

The most  in  all of the county. There are 36 black  gangs in the city of 93,000 people.  Fruit  Town  Piru,  a  blood  gang,  and  The  Tortilla  Flats,  a Mexican  gang, have been at war for so time.  In a special done on Fox News they  reported on a murder that happened  in  2001.  The  Fruit  Town  Pirus  gunned  down  Lamito  Lozano,  a  51-year-old Hispanic working man  with  fve  children.  Luiz  Lozano,  the  victim’s  son,  wants  this  racial  feud to come to an end. “It doesn’t  matter if you’re black, or Mexican.  I just want all this to stop. All these  innocent’s  are  being  killed,”  said  Luiz  Lozano. 

The  Tortilla  Flats  responded  by  killing  Lakeisha  Darton, a 21-year-old black woman,  who had no gang ties. Two innocent  people dead because of race. Those  weren’t  the  only  cases  of  racial  violence  in  Compton  at  that  time.  There  had  been  a  dozen  racially  motivated murders  in  2001. These  two gangs are still at war.

Police  can  only  do  so  much. Todd Oglesby was  a former lieutenant and 31-year veteran of the  LAPD gave his opinion on the state of  this problem. “It’s maintaining. It’s  increasing,”  said Oglesby. “You  have  people  fghting  for  territory  and  drugs. People are  trying  to hang on  to  culture;  it  becomes  about  race,  because now you have black gangs  against Mexican gangs.”  

Oglesby showed  true compassion about  the  innocent  victims of this war. “When you drive in  L.A.,  you see bars on the windows.  You  see  that  people  are  prisoners  in  their  own  neighborhoods.  They  know  they  can’t  come  out  of  their  homes  at  a  certain  time  of  day,  or  they will become victims,” Oglesby,  said. Many  people  have  different  views  of  whether  this  war  will  ever come  to an end. According  to  Oglesby  “Not  in  our  lifetime”. He  may,  in  fact, be  right.

How do you  stop hate? It’s sad that this has gotten  to  the point where  innocent people  are  becoming  targets.  To  improve  this  confict,  Oglesby  suggests  for  more cops on the streets, more gang  injunctions  and  trying  to  work  on  community  relations  as  much  as  possible  but  even  in  the  past  that  hasn’t had much affect. No one has  a  defnite  answer  to  this  problem.  The  scary  thing  is,  there  may  not be one.