Title: Los Angeles Gangs: The Bloods and the Crips | Socialist Alternative
Headings: Los Angeles Gangs: The Bloods and the Crips
Los Angeles Gangs: The Bloods and the Crips
Los Angeles Police Department
Gary Brown

Content: In amongst such conditions, children are the most vulnerable. Society’s alienation of these youths means that the only place they can find respect, kinship and power is within a gang. The bond between gang members is so strong that many will kill or die for each other, no question. A gang has been described as being “your religion, your family, your college, your everything.” However, the current level of violence cannot be explained by these factors alone. The stigma of Black people being called ‘naturally aggressive’ is over 500 years old but the explanation for violence cannot be linked to genes or biological make-up. Violence is learned behavior. A child that is beaten frequently and unjustly will learn to resort to violence against others. Similarly, a community that is constantly visited with unjust killings and beatings at the hands of an oppressive police force can learn to settle conflicts through violent means. The internalization of problems caused by external factors, by then, has taken place.