Gwenaelle Gouloba

Gouloba 1

ESL 33B
Professor Karen Carlisi
April, 6th 2015
Detailed outline

What are the events that had an influence on the development of African American gangs in Los
Angeles?

Thesis: Although Blacks are often blamed for their own difficulties, the evolution of black street
gangs in Los Angeles can be attributed to outside factors, especially those related to
discrimination and violence against Blacks.

Introduction:
Commonly, gangs are describing groups of recurrently associating individuals or close
friends or family with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or
claiming control over territory in a community, and engaging either individually or collectively
in violent or illegal behavior. However, even if we know what their activities are, what we
usually dont know is the origins and what leads to the development of those groups.

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Gangs are a popular phenomenon in United States, especially in Los Angeles. The great
diversity of population in this area make it more vulnerable to interracial conflict. The oldest
conflict that we can noticed is the one between Blacks and Whites. Indeed, the African American
peoples situation in United States have always been controversial. Since the slavery period, this
idea of White people being above Black people has been a source of issues and has mainly
contributed to exacerbate tensions between Blacks and Whites. These tensions largely
contributed to the development of what we call Black Street Gang.
In 2012, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department reported that the 43% of all
homicides was gang-related violence. So what factors have an influence on the development of
those black street gangs in Los Angeles?
Although Blacks are often blamed for their own difficulties, we can see that the evolution
of black street gangs in Los Angeles can be attributed to outside factors, especially those related
to discrimination and violence against Blacks.

Outline:
I.Inside factors: The image that gangs draw of themselves to the rest of the society.
A. Gangs composition (LAPD statistics)
B. Gangs activities. (LAPD reports)
C. Gangs rivalries

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II. Gang Origins: Numerous historical factors have had an impact on the creation of gangs.
A. The Great Immigration required White people to get along with Black people.
1. A large number of African American leave the South to go to the North in order to
work and to run away from the big segregation laws in the South. (History.com Staff)
2. After the WWI and the WWII, the number of Black people in the North increased, and
the housing issues created tensions between Blacks and Whites. (Brossard, 166)
B. The White Gangs
1. The Spook Hunters born as a reaction of white people, frightened that black people
will start to live outside restricted areas. (Feenix)
2. Ku Klux Klan: The emergence of Ku Klux Clan provoked the creation of the first
black street gangs. (History.com Staff)
3. Disappearance of white gang led to the apparition of new enemies to fight: Black
street gang start fighting between each other.

III. Racism & Segregation period: Discrimination and violence against black people in Los
Angeles mainly contributed to the evolution of black street gangs.
A. Segregation and Civil Right movement
1. Brief historical summary
2. Gangs became involved in the civil right movement (Seal, 1) (Tyner, 110)
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3. COINTELPRO project : Dissolution of these political organizations (Oppenheimer,
56)

B. Crack Epidemic
1. All the leaders from Black Panthers are lock up in prison and teenagers have lost their
models : Its the creation of Crips & Bloods (Peralta)
2. Crack arrive in South Central due to the C.I.A conspiracy (Delaval)
3. New goals, activities and rivalries

C. Los Angeles riots 1992

1. Brief historical summary
2. The Gang truce (ZinZun, 59) (Monroe,1)

Work cited
Broussard, Albert.S. Tensions and the Struggle for Housing, Chapter 9 from Black San
Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West,
History.com Staff. "Great Migration." History.com. A E Networks, 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 8 Apr.
2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration>.
"The Battles Against The Spook Hunters." Hubpages.com. 28 Sept. 2011. Web.
<http://feenix.hubpages.com/hub/The-Battles-Against-The-Spook-Hunters>.
"A Battle Transplanted Southern California's White Churches, Black Press, And The 1920'S Ku
Klux Klan." Journal Of The West 48.2 (2009): 50-57. America: History and Life with
Full Text. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.Watts Riots

O'Boyl, Timothy. "The Black Panther Party: The Early Years, Bobby Seal." Sociological
Viewpoints 29.1 (2013): 1-16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Tyner, James A. "Defend The Ghetto: Space And The Urban Politics Of The Black Panther
Party." Annals Of The Association Of American Geographers 96.1 (2006): 105-118.
Religion and Philosophy Collection. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
Oppenheimer, Martin "How We Found Out About COINTELPRO." Monthly Review: An
Independent Socialist Magazine 66.4 (2014): 54. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.
Peralta, Stacy. Crips & Bloods: Made in America, 2008.
Zinzun, Michael. The Gang Truce: A Movement for Social Justice, Social Justice. Vol.
24, No. 4 (70), Losing a Generation: Probing the Myths & Reality of Youth & Violence
(Winter 1997), pp. 258-266
Monroe, S. "Life In The 'Hood. Marable, Manning.
African-American Empowerment In The Face Of Racism." Black Collegian 23.1 (1992): 91.
MasterFILE Premier. Web. 9 Apr. 2015." Time 139.24 (1992): 36. MAS Ultra - School
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