African-American Street Gangs in Los Angeles :: Gangs Crime Essays

African-American Street Gangs in Los AngelesIn Los Angeles and other urban areas in the United States, the formation of street doughnuts increased at a steady pace through 1996. The Bloods and the Crips, the most well-known gangs of Los Angeles, are predominately African American1 and they have steadily increased in number since their beginnings in 1969. In addition, there are over 600 active Hispanic gangs in Los Angeles County with a growing Asian gang population numbering approximately 20,000 members. Surprisingly, little has been written about the historical significance of wispy gangs in Los Angeles (LA). Literature and firsthand interviews with Los Angeles residents seem to point to cardinal significant plosives relevant to the development of the contemporary black gangs. The first period, which followed WWII and significant black migrations from the South, is when the first major black clubs formed. After the Watts rebellion of 1965, the second period gave way to the civi l rights period of Los Angeles where blacks, including those who where former club members who became politically active for the remainder of the 1960s. By the early 1970s black street gangs began to reemerge. By 1972, the Crips were securely established and the Bloods were beginning to organize. This period saw the rise of LAs newest gangs, which continued to grow during the 1970s, and later formed in several other cities throughout the United States by the 1990s. While black gangs do non make up the largest or most active gang population in Los Angeles today, their forge on street gang culture nationally has been profound. In order to better understand the rise of these groups, I went into the original neighborhoods to document the history which direct to these groups. There are 88 incorporated cities and dozens of other unincorporated places in Los Angeles County (LAC). In the process of conducting this research, I visited all of these places in an attempt to not just identif y gangs active in Los Angeles, but to determine their territories. Through several weeks of field work and research conducted in 1996, I identified 274 black gangs in 17 cities and four unincorporated areas in LAC. Post WWII to 1965The first major period of black gangs in Los Angeles began in the late 1940s and stop in 1965. There were black gangs in Los Angeles prior to this period, but they were small in numbers little is known about the activity of these groups.