Oakland Gang Wars
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Gang Activity in America
The rising level of gang violence in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and throughout America can be traced to a depressed economy, high unemployment and the increasing prevalence of drug addiction among gang members.
Funeral directors in East Oakland are getting rich off the foolishness that's going on in their community. White supremacist groups are sitting back laughing at these lost teenagers because they are doing the job of "ethnic cleansing" much better than the Klan.
Black-on-black crime. Fighting over "turf" that doesn't belong to you. The kids barely own a pair of tennis shoes and that gaudy chain around their necks, and have the audacity to speak of "protecting turf." What turf? What do you actually own? Killing over "colors," so now, as a 15-year-old boy, you have a patent on certain colors? Or are you just a foolish kid who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground? My money's on the latter.
What the actions of these misguided teens are doing is totally disrespecting the memory and legacy of the hundreds of thousands who laid down their lives. Martyrs who sacrificed their lives so you could vote; so you would not have to sit at the back of a bus; so you could eat at any restaurant; so you could be a valid participant in the United States Constitution, and this is how you repay them.
Rapper, Humpty-Hump, formerly of Digital Underground, said it best:
Other races, they say we act like rats in a cage, I tried to argue, but check it, every night in the news, we prove them suckers right and I got the blues.
Evidently you're OK with being called "rats in a cage" or, "you people act like animals." Let me level with my young Latino and Black brothers and sisters, your behavior is much worst than animals because animals abide by a basic code. Some animals are domesticated and those that remain in the wild use the mental and physical capacity bestowed upon them. In other words, if a situation requires them to use survival instincts, that is what they do, no more no less.
There is no rational explanation for the hard core gang members of Oakland and other inner city communities. There's simply no defense for the myriad crimes and atrocities that take place on a daily basis. And now, because of social networking, YouTube, and various other video-sharing websites, we are seeing this barbaric behavior unfold before our eyes.
As Marvin Gaye so eloquently puts it, "What's going on?" Why are we killing one another? The vicious retaliatory cycle doesn't seem to open your eyes, so what will it take?
Here's what our young people don't care to understand and what most grown folks are not quite comprehending: the political leaders of the city of Oakland and the state of California do not care that you are killing one another as long as it is quarantined in one specific area. If you don't believe me, take your homies out one weekend to an upscale neighborhood, outside of East Oakland, with your "Sideshows" and see how long it last. Take your drive-bys to an affluent area in Sausalito, commit cold-blooded murder and see that you don't spend the rest of your days in a Supermax prison.
These young people are not as absurd or tenacious as they appear. When you kill your brother in the hood it's equivalent to beating up your little sister or your little brother, while having nothing to do with the Gates family across town. This family of "Landlords" is not only controlling your "turf" but will evict yo Mama if she's behind in rent. I don't see any "drive-bys" to the Gates facility. No gang-banger has laid a finger on a member of the Trump family, but you will eagerly kill a young member of the Garcia or Johnson family who lives a couple of blocks away.
Here's what they are attempting to do in surrounding communities:
Headline: North Oakland asks court to approve anti-gang 'safety zone'
The request for an injunction against the North Side Oakland gang is intended to prohibit the gang's members from conducting certain activities, such as associating with one another in public or carrying items that can be used for graffiti or vandalism, in a roughly 100-block "safety zone" in North Oakland that stretches to the city's borders with Emeryville and Berkeley.
"They have terrorized our community, intimidated witnesses, and recruited young people and children to their criminal enterprise" "They are part of the malevolence that has crippled our city for decades and continues to hold Oakland back today." ~ City Attorney John Russo
"Injunctions are not a silver-bullet solution to crime in Oakland, but the action would make the area in North Oakland safer for law-abiding residents."
ACLU of Northern California and the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights oppose "gang injunctions in any form." Damn that, drastic situations call for drastic measures. Why aren't East Oakland residents calling for an injunction on gang activity? I don't really know and maybe someone who is closer to the situation can shed some light by leaving a comment. Personally, some parents may not want this because it would keep their truant kids at home. If you're a parent that is intimidated by her own kid, you don't want that little bastard at home either. An injunction, along with multiple arrest for just congregating would keep quite a few off the streets, keeping them home to raise hell.
The pervading outcry from East Oakland is, "we don't have activities for our youth." The "city" is not providing enough things to do to keep our "babies" out of trouble. Well, get off your collective asses and create your own activities for your own kids. As a member of the community you must know by now, the city and state governments do not care about minority kids. Therefore, if you want to kill each other, it's no skin off the city or state's back. Government officials are not losing any sleep because LaShon was murdered. THEY DON'T CARE!
Where the hell are the parents? Where are the guardians of these waywardly psychotic children? These young hoodlums, 12, 13, 14 years of age (sometimes younger) are being raised in the streets. In many cases the mother and father are very young themselves. Quite often the father is nowhere to be found. Be that as it may, if you become a 15-year-old mother, then you just became a 15-year-old adult. As an adult who has brought a child in the world you now have a tremendous responsibility to raise your son or daughter. If you're not going to raise him either have an abortion or give him up for adoption. Sounds harsh but the families of murdered victims probably wish you would have not tried to raise baby Dillinger.
Furthermore, society is not asking you to raise the next Barack Obama, but at least give him enough to work with so that when he's older he'll have enough of a moral compass to keep from being a detriment to society.
Why do you think America keeps building more jails and prisons? Because they are making millions by incarcerating our incorrigible, bad-azz, Bebe's Kids!
Don't get me wrong, white kids commit crimes too, but not too much white-on-white. One of the most notorious gangs in America is the Aryan Brotherhood. This bunch dates back to 1964, is approximately 15,000 strong, but even they don't typically kill their own. The AB, those are some scary MF's, scared me just typing about em.
"Can't we all just get along?" .. Apparently not.
Funeral directors in East Oakland are getting rich off the foolishness that's going on in their community. White supremacist groups are sitting back laughing at these lost teenagers because they are doing the job of "ethnic cleansing" much better than the Klan.
Black-on-black crime. Fighting over "turf" that doesn't belong to you. The kids barely own a pair of tennis shoes and that gaudy chain around their necks, and have the audacity to speak of "protecting turf." What turf? What do you actually own? Killing over "colors," so now, as a 15-year-old boy, you have a patent on certain colors? Or are you just a foolish kid who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground? My money's on the latter.
What the actions of these misguided teens are doing is totally disrespecting the memory and legacy of the hundreds of thousands who laid down their lives. Martyrs who sacrificed their lives so you could vote; so you would not have to sit at the back of a bus; so you could eat at any restaurant; so you could be a valid participant in the United States Constitution, and this is how you repay them.
Rapper, Humpty-Hump, formerly of Digital Underground, said it best:
Other races, they say we act like rats in a cage, I tried to argue, but check it, every night in the news, we prove them suckers right and I got the blues.
Evidently you're OK with being called "rats in a cage" or, "you people act like animals." Let me level with my young Latino and Black brothers and sisters, your behavior is much worst than animals because animals abide by a basic code. Some animals are domesticated and those that remain in the wild use the mental and physical capacity bestowed upon them. In other words, if a situation requires them to use survival instincts, that is what they do, no more no less.
There is no rational explanation for the hard core gang members of Oakland and other inner city communities. There's simply no defense for the myriad crimes and atrocities that take place on a daily basis. And now, because of social networking, YouTube, and various other video-sharing websites, we are seeing this barbaric behavior unfold before our eyes.
As Marvin Gaye so eloquently puts it, "What's going on?" Why are we killing one another? The vicious retaliatory cycle doesn't seem to open your eyes, so what will it take?
Here's what our young people don't care to understand and what most grown folks are not quite comprehending: the political leaders of the city of Oakland and the state of California do not care that you are killing one another as long as it is quarantined in one specific area. If you don't believe me, take your homies out one weekend to an upscale neighborhood, outside of East Oakland, with your "Sideshows" and see how long it last. Take your drive-bys to an affluent area in Sausalito, commit cold-blooded murder and see that you don't spend the rest of your days in a Supermax prison.
These young people are not as absurd or tenacious as they appear. When you kill your brother in the hood it's equivalent to beating up your little sister or your little brother, while having nothing to do with the Gates family across town. This family of "Landlords" is not only controlling your "turf" but will evict yo Mama if she's behind in rent. I don't see any "drive-bys" to the Gates facility. No gang-banger has laid a finger on a member of the Trump family, but you will eagerly kill a young member of the Garcia or Johnson family who lives a couple of blocks away.
Here's what they are attempting to do in surrounding communities:
Headline: North Oakland asks court to approve anti-gang 'safety zone'
The request for an injunction against the North Side Oakland gang is intended to prohibit the gang's members from conducting certain activities, such as associating with one another in public or carrying items that can be used for graffiti or vandalism, in a roughly 100-block "safety zone" in North Oakland that stretches to the city's borders with Emeryville and Berkeley.
"They have terrorized our community, intimidated witnesses, and recruited young people and children to their criminal enterprise" "They are part of the malevolence that has crippled our city for decades and continues to hold Oakland back today." ~ City Attorney John Russo
"Injunctions are not a silver-bullet solution to crime in Oakland, but the action would make the area in North Oakland safer for law-abiding residents."
ACLU of Northern California and the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights oppose "gang injunctions in any form." Damn that, drastic situations call for drastic measures. Why aren't East Oakland residents calling for an injunction on gang activity? I don't really know and maybe someone who is closer to the situation can shed some light by leaving a comment. Personally, some parents may not want this because it would keep their truant kids at home. If you're a parent that is intimidated by her own kid, you don't want that little bastard at home either. An injunction, along with multiple arrest for just congregating would keep quite a few off the streets, keeping them home to raise hell.
The pervading outcry from East Oakland is, "we don't have activities for our youth." The "city" is not providing enough things to do to keep our "babies" out of trouble. Well, get off your collective asses and create your own activities for your own kids. As a member of the community you must know by now, the city and state governments do not care about minority kids. Therefore, if you want to kill each other, it's no skin off the city or state's back. Government officials are not losing any sleep because LaShon was murdered. THEY DON'T CARE!
Where the hell are the parents? Where are the guardians of these waywardly psychotic children? These young hoodlums, 12, 13, 14 years of age (sometimes younger) are being raised in the streets. In many cases the mother and father are very young themselves. Quite often the father is nowhere to be found. Be that as it may, if you become a 15-year-old mother, then you just became a 15-year-old adult. As an adult who has brought a child in the world you now have a tremendous responsibility to raise your son or daughter. If you're not going to raise him either have an abortion or give him up for adoption. Sounds harsh but the families of murdered victims probably wish you would have not tried to raise baby Dillinger.
Furthermore, society is not asking you to raise the next Barack Obama, but at least give him enough to work with so that when he's older he'll have enough of a moral compass to keep from being a detriment to society.
Why do you think America keeps building more jails and prisons? Because they are making millions by incarcerating our incorrigible, bad-azz, Bebe's Kids!
Don't get me wrong, white kids commit crimes too, but not too much white-on-white. One of the most notorious gangs in America is the Aryan Brotherhood. This bunch dates back to 1964, is approximately 15,000 strong, but even they don't typically kill their own. The AB, those are some scary MF's, scared me just typing about em.
"Can't we all just get along?" .. Apparently not.
Where's the Church?
Gang activity in America is rampant and it primarily affects our inner cities. Here's my question. Where is the church? Where are the mega-churches in all of this. They are quick to take up a collection but you do not hear their voices regarding two of the most crippling problems in our nation:- The illegal war in Iraq.
- Widespread gang activity in the inner cities across America.
Dr. King: When asked why he's taking a stance against the Vietnam War considering he has his hands full with the Civil Rights Movement responded, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
President Kennedy: We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covet means for expanding its sphere of influence on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of election, on intimidation instead of free choice.
It is a system that has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed not published, its mistakes are buried not headlined, Its dissenters are silenced not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no secret is revealed.
Both assassinations of Dr. King and JFK were colossal cover-ups.
Most churches, law enforcement, and the political establishment are birds of a feather that flock together and peculiar bedfellows. The church pays no taxes; drug dealers pay no taxes and often have one or more members of the police force on their payroll. The Government will certainly not step in because they are too busy extorting money and strong-arming hard-working U.S. citizens -- see I.R.S. Everyone knows what's going on, we all see that big ass elephant in the room but we don't care to discuss it. I love Obama, but his hands are tied. See the Illuminati.
Pay your 10% to the church and we will promise you salvation. All the gang-bangers are going to hell; the 'Lord' will take care of them. In the meantime, as gang activity continues to create a hell on earth, I suppose my 10% won't protect me here, but only in the hereafter. Quite a clever ruse wouldn't you say?
Members of the church and avid bible readers have somewhat of a "go-to" expression and that is, "what would Jesus do?" Not going to sit here and type what he would do because I have no idea, but I can certainly tell you what he would not do, and that is to turn a deaf ear on two of the biggest problems in the history of mankind.
See "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"
Top 6 Gangs in America
- Crips: Drug trafficking, robbery, murder, extortion, ID theft. 50,000 members.
The Crips are among the oldest and most notorious street gangs. Their origins go back to a teenager named Raymond Washington who, the legend says, advocated fists, not guns. From its earliest days, one characteristic of the Crips has remained consistent: an inability to develop a single, centralized power structure.
Like many other street gangs, the Crips are actually a loose confederation of hundreds of localized "sets" across the U.S. In fact, despite their well-known rivalry with the Bloods, a Crip is three times more likely to kill another Crip than he is to kill a Blood. The long, violent rivalry between two Crips gangs, the Eight Tray Gangsters and the Rollin' 60 Crips, illustrates the point. - Bloods: Murder, drug trafficking, robbery, extortion. Number of members: 15,000 to 30,000
In L.A., experts estimate there are about 75 Bloods gangs (compared to over 200 Crips gangs). During the 1980s one of the bloodiest rivalries in the history of Los Angeles gangs took place between the Bounty Hunters, one of the area's largest Bloods gangs, and the Grape Street Crips. - 18th Street Gang: Drug and gun trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder, contract killing, prostitution.
Arguably, the 18th Street Gang is the largest gang in Los Angeles County, even though the estimated 15,000 L.A.-area members are spread out into some two dozen individual gangs held together by label only. Furthermore, some experts dispute the perception that gangs like 18th Street Gang have any true connection with the Central American gangs under the same name, like Mara 18. - Aryan Brotherhood
Dating back to 1964, the Aryan Brotherhood has a huge presence in the U.S. federal prison system, particularly in California. They are well-organized, well-connected in and out of prison, and they lack the one card authorities could play against them: fear of punishment. What more can you do to a guy on a life sentence with no parole? Not even the death penalty carries any weight. Consequently, the AB have become extraordinary killers. According to the FBI, members make up about one-tenth of 1% of the entire U.S. prison population, but they're responsible for 18% of all prison murders. - Wah Ching
Wah Ching formed in the mid-1960s. Their criminal activities are highly diversified, making them extraordinarily good at one thing in particular: making money. The Wah Ching are also violent and sophisticated, as evidenced by two 1995 raids in Los Angeles that uncovered an underground factory run by the Wah Ching featuring $18 million in counterfeit Microsoft products. The raid also found weapons, TNT, and C-4. - Latin Kings
The Latin Kings are said to be the largest and most organized Hispanic street gang in the United States. The group has roots dating back to the 1940s in Chicago, Illinois. The Latin Kings were once a movement similar to the Black Panthers but for the past few decades the group lost touch with their roots and grew into one of the largest and most infamous criminal gangs in America. They are involved in crimes including murder, drug trafficking, robberies and other organized criminal activities.
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notimetoulouse
Apr 9, 2012 @ 5:35 am | delete
- Barry I too would like to thank you for this lens, and what is upsetting for me is that here in the U.K. White and Black kids find it necessary to mimic what is going on over there in the U.S.
In interviews there is something bizarre about a young white kid from the East End of London talking in American Street patois complete with all the gang hand signs and street jewellery.
If they had jobs, and responsibility and the self respect that comes with those two things perhaps things would begin to heal.
Thanks again for taking the time to inform us, and I agree with you wholeheartedly when you talk about the Church standing by. I'd add politicians to those who choose to look away.
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davespeed
Mar 12, 2012 @ 7:28 pm | delete
- Barry, this is a remarkable lens. Your passion is evident in every sentence. I wish every parent and pastor in America could read this. I'm posting this on my Facebook page. All the best.
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taskeinc
Mar 13, 2012 @ 2:41 pm | delete
- Thanks Dave, really appreciate it..
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KimGiancaterino Aug 15, 2011 @ 1:27 pm | delete
- It's very sad to see this happening in Oakland, one of the most beautiful cities in California. My parents both went to high school there, my sisters were born there (I was born in Berkeley), and I still have family living near Lake Merritt. Thanks for explaining this sad situation so well. We have similar problems where I live in Los Angeles.
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- It's very sad to see this happening in Oakland, one of the most beautiful cities in California. My parents both went to high school there, my sisters were born there (I was born in Berkeley), and I still have family living near Lake Merritt. Thanks for explaining this sad situation so well. We have similar problems where I live in Los Angeles.
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by taskeinc
Barry Shaw, founder of Work Home Union, over 25 years in Information Technology, web/graphics design, network marketing. WHU aka taskeinc has written... more »
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