On July 26th, Dartmouth's Alpha Delta fraternity sent out an email "Blood and Crips Party", a theme involving two infamous South-Central Los Angeles street gangs. That night more than 200 fellow students came to the themed fraternity house which soon turned into a "ghetto party" with "racialized language, speech and dress" (2). Although this party started with no meaning of harm, it took a quick turn for the worse when stereotyping came to the plate.
With much discussion on campus regarding whether or not this party, its hosts, or other aspects of the episode deserve to be labeled as racist, Scholar, Lawrence Blum, would argue that multiple occurrences of this episode should be deemed racist.
To begin, many students claimed that the brothers
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meant no harm in their choice of theme, and that there was a lack of awareness of how it might affect others. Students who have "seen the real thing" have experienced not being able to wear certain colors on certain streets; these students have made statements claiming that the party, and more specifically it's theme, was extremely off-putting. While Blum would take this all into to consideration, I believe he would also dictate that the students themselves were not in fact racist. Blum argues that in order for racism to be present antipathy, strong dislike or any negative feeling towards a group, and/or inferiorization, treating one group as inferior to another, must be involved (8).
At Dartmouth, the students do not show antipathy through any given statement or report. While their behavior was "insensitive and thoughtless" there were no signs of hatred towards the Bloods and the Crips, or those who identify with that …show more content…
group. When looking at inferiorization, Blum would argue that though there was definitely inferiorization present, it was not necessarily defined by the hosts of the party. Blum states that "Symbols, jokes, images, epithets, and remarks can be racist in their own right, apart from people's motives in using them" (16). This goes on to show that while the theme and party can be deemed racist, it does not necessarily mean that the students hosting the party are racist as well. The hosts of the party do not seem to have a grasp on what their theme represented; a Dartmouth student stated "I understand [Alpha Delta's] fascination, because gangs are literal brotherhoods…But I doubt any of the guys in [Alpha Delta] have seen anything dangerous in their whole lives. For them being a gangster is a fascination of being above the law" (3). While Blum would find this statement a bit generalizing of the backgrounds of those in the fraternity, I believe he would find the overall gist of this statement to be true. The brothers were following the inferiorizing theme of how the Bloods and Crips are perceived in our society. The theme itself, the dressing up as gangsters, the perception of how gangsters talk, are all a part of the theme of this party. The theme is inferiorizingly racist because a majority-white fraternity is pretending to be "gangsters", which are generally African American, and speaking, acting, and dressing as they perceive this group of people would do.
This is inferiorizing because it involves social racism. According to Blum the theme would "compromise racists attitudes and stereotypes widely shared within a given population" (9). It is evident that through the "racialized language, speech, and dress" that stereotyping was involved. A stereotype is "a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing" (). When a brother of the fraternity speaks and acts as a member of the Bloods and Crips, it would seem from any outsider that he was condescendingly misrepresenting the given population; he would be representing them as if they were below himself through this
theme.
There is a deep seated hatred between rival gangs, which makes it difficult for the gang’s members to let go. Gangs became a source of income for some people, which made it difficult for many young African Americans to escape the gangs. Significance: This film shows how the police saw activist groups such as the Black Panthers and the U.S. Organization as a threat, which led to repression despite the Civil Rights Movement. This repression leads to anger and hatred and the need for a sense of belonging amongst the African American community.
The impression that I made out from watching this film is that back in 1965 in Los Angeles the gangs Crips and Bloods was found to protect black Americans from the violence cause by white police officers and white gang members. During those periods black kids in high school and junior schools were being attacked by white students in school so black people teamed up together to fight against them in school; and that was how the black gangs became. Some gangs were sponsored by Slausons, Farmers, Bausinessmen, and Gladiators. Moving forward, bastards of the party came from a passage in city of quartz which was later made a documentary film in 2005, it was produced by Alex Demyanenko, and directed by a former blood gang member Cle Sloan. Inside this movie, it explored the creation of two of Los Angeles’s notorious gangs Crips and Bloods from the perspective of Los Angeles community.
The documentary, “Crips and Bloods: Made in America” talks about many social concerns. In the documentary, both discrimination and economics are the main factors for the problems in Southern California. The gangs started because of discrimination. By denying people because of their skin color to join social activities such as the boy/girl scouts is what led to the formation of groups that later turned into gangs. Apart from that, hatred and threats escalated the situations that then turned the gangs into what they are today. According to the documentary, because of the gang rivalry there exists an invisible line that separates the territories of both the Crips and the Bloods. Not only is that the only factor, but also
The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America, can be analyzed through three works: “Modern Theories of Criminality” by C.B. de Quirόs, “Broken Windows” by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling and “Social Structure and Anomie” by Robert K. Merton.
Finally what followed was a short question and answer section. Professor Ira Berlin was so excited about getting food at the following reception that he had to be reminded about the questioning section. How much compassion does that show I wondered? I observed that most of the questions Professor Berlin received were from African-American’s though their presence in the lecture was towards the bottom of the spectrum. The majority of questions that were being asked inferred the level of political correctness in the way in which Berlin addressed certain racial issues. It seemed as though the questions were rather insignificant and that the questioners knew the answers they’d receive before they asked them. After all, wasn’t everyone in that room that attended voluntarily there for the same general cause?
One direct quote from the film, Crips and Bloods: Made in America that Differential Association Theory can be used to explain is “I joined a gang not only for the protection but for the love for the unity, to be a part of
...d in any activities other than his gang nor did he have any desire to be. As for his beliefs he started out believing that he was wrong, but as time passed he began to rationalize what he was doing. He told him self that the bloods deserved it, or that they were asking for it. Eventually he believed himself (Scott, 1993).
Morch, S., & Andersen, H. (2012). Becoming a Gang Member: Youth Life and Gang Youth. Online Submission
The Crips, originating in Los Angeles, California, are one of the oldest, largest, and most notorious gangs in the United States. They have been involved in murders, robberies and drug dealing in the Los Angeles area. The Crips are mostly identified by the blue color worn by their members. What was once a single gang is now a loose network of "franchises" around the United States. The gang primarily (but not exclusively) comprises African Americans. The Crips have an intense rivalry with the Bloods and are also known to feud with Chicano gangs.
The Bloods and the Crips are the two well-known gang families that started in the 1940’s in Los Angeles as a defense approach by the blacks against the whites (Dorais, Corriveau, 2009, p 8). Gangs are most often visible in specific areas such as restaurants, bars, metro stations, etc.: “The appearance of street gangs in Quebec and Canada dates from the 1980’s, when these groups started to become larger, more visible, and more disruptive to authorities and residents (Dorais, Corriveau, 2009, p 8-9). There are six definable features that can be used to identify the presents of a gang: “ a structured or degree of organization, an identifiab...
This paper will cover issues that young minorities encounter in the movies; Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008), Gran Torino (2008), A Better Life (2011). Movies will be summarize, and compare and contrast youths experienced. Criminological theories shall be utilized to further elaborate issues. Finally steps and theories will be utilized towards solving issues, also possible methods to correct the issues will be addressed in the end.
Race has been a difficult topic to discuss and grasp ever since race problems began. Not only is it a sensitive topic that carries a lot of baggage to the name, but it is a continuous problem that we still today, after many years, battle with. “The Code Switch Podcast, Episode 1: Can we talk about Whiteness?” is a podcast with many speakers of different colors that discusses white ignorance and white uncertainty of talking about racial issues.
There are few known active members of street gangs attending district schools. The gang activity that is seen is that of ‘want-to-be’ gang members who are influenced by family members who are involved in street gang activity. Other ‘want-to-be’ members are often swayed by popular culture. Primarily, school administrators and district officials encounter smaller groups of students, anywhere from 3 to 10 students,from elementary to senior high, who band together and give the group a name. The group serves as a support system for members. These groups tend to be fluid and can disband as quickly as they formed. Most of these groups are benign and caused few difficulties. On occasion there have been groups that have caused greater disruption including violence, intimidation, and drug use. This has led to suspension and student transfer. When a student is identified as a street gang member or has shown signs of street gang influence the first intervention the district takes is to inform the parents of the individual, awareness is
This week’s readings focus on the pathways through which prejudice comes to manifest as systemic racism as it is distributed across uneven power dynamics. Mark Totten’s (2009) work serves as an example of academic material contributing to culturally accepted, but unproven attitudes, beliefs, and expectations. The issues surrounding Totten’s unfounded association between FASD and gangs are discussed more specifically in “Moving beyond the Simple: Addressing the “Misuse” of the FASD-Gang Link in Public Discourse” (MBTS). Here, I reflect on my own experience reading Totten’s work – addressing issues more broadly, posing relevant questions, and proposing future directions of study.
One of the positivist theory demonstrated in Crips and Bloods: Made in America is Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory. Both gangs initially started as a new generation watched the turmoil that their parents endured. They saw the police targeting and the response of their parents. That is how the Crips was formed. Sutherland’s Theory states, “If an individual associates with people who hold deviant (or criminal) ideas more than with people who embrace conventional ideas, the individual is like to become deviant” (24). The founders of the Crips associated with rest of the African-American population as they grew up watching their families be brutalized by the police and result in riots or other criminal behaviors. Society had such a