Blog
RED AND BLUE February 21 2009
I caught wind of the Bloods and Crips documentary several months ago. I was anticipating the film because I've always been interested in gang culture - the sociological, economic, geographic factors that play out in alliances. Limited screenings began popping up throughout the country, and finally reached Los Angeles a couple weeks ago. I jumped on the chance to see it. Needless to say, it was a powerful effort not at exploring the gangs, but exploring the psyche of the participants. It is argued that the genesis of the Bloods and Crips occurred during the Black Power movement. Younger generations sought their 'own way out' by creating groups bound by territory. Those before them fought the system with their words, this time it was with guns. Moreover, the ethnicity that once worked together could no longer coexist. South Central Los Angeles quickly became a war-torn area; the goal of most of its inhabitants was therefore survival.
I neglect the fact that this happens only a few miles from where I live, where I work, where I went to school. That was the most shocking part of it all. While I freely leave my house, people near me insist on staying in. While I freely go about doing my own things, there are young men and women near me wishing they could do the same.
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