Sometimes things are not what they seem.
DETAILS: The Odd Couple? Crips & KKK Team Up To Stop KKK Rally!
Take organized gangs for example. Since the 1980s, the Bloods and Crips have drilled fear into the minds of Americans and shed blood on city streets in Los Angeles and New York City. The Gangster Disciples took over Chicago’s infamous project housing Cabrini Green and terrorized the city for years.
In the end…we’ve pretty much pegged gangs for what they are. Killers.
But is that fair? Today I got to thinking about those history classes I took in college when I heard a story about the Grape Street Crips and their attempt to stop a Klu Klux Klan rally that was to take place in their neighborhood.
Not that surprising.
But what was really interesting was what one gang member said about the upcoming rally.
“The first thing I was thinking was the largest rally you’ve even seen and you’re telling us about it,” DaJuan Horton said. “You’re sending the first blow, we’re not throwing blows we’re going to dodge that one and hug you.”
Hugs? Did he just say…hugs?
To make the situation even more powerful, Bradley Jenkins, the Imperial Wizard for the United Klan of America, ended up seeing Horton’s plea on YouTube and decided to join the Crips in stopping the riot. Huh?
“We will stand resolute with the citizens of Memphis and this young man and anyone in town, no matter what color they be, because hate and racism has no place,” Jenkins said.
It dawned on me that while one of these groups was actually intended to create havoc and perpetuate hate, the other just started out as an organized community group with intentions that had nothing to do with color sets, guns, and a rivalry with the Bloods.
PHOTOS: It’s A Miracle! Atlanta Teen Shot 15 Times After Trying To Get Out Of Gang…And Survives!
Yep. History will blow your mind sometimes.
Here are some actual POSITIVE reasons Crips and Bloods were created in the first place…and some extra facts that you probably didn’t know about their origins.
CRIPs stood for Community Resources for Independent People. It was styled on the Black Panther Party which was formed 3 years earlier, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, further down the West Coast in Oakland.
Gangs like the Crips and Bloods originally started as black street clubs in South L.A. to unite and organize politically against police brutality.
The gangs were organized to also teach kids about brotherhood and loyalty. Eventually this idea took a turn for the worse in the 1980’s, when the gangs turned violent against each other to protect neighborhood turfs.
These small neighborhood gangs that stemmed from the Black Panther Organization took many ideals from the group, including programs to strengthen their communities like school, health and breakfast initiatives for the children and students.
It wasn’t until the late 1970s and early 1980s that the groups started to dismantle due to most of the political leaders being jailed by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program and law enforcement bent on imprisoning and breaking up the “gangs.” Without structure and enforcement of core values, violence among the groups increased.
In the ’70s, 15-year-old Raymond Washington created Baby Avenues, a group meant to emulate the Black Panthers and to fill the void left by the waning Black Power movement. Eventually they became known as the Crips. In retaliation, the Bloods were formed. Enter the violence that most of us recognize as a sign of a true gang.
But remember, not everything is what it seems.
Amazing what a little history can teach us.
