So you line up a bunch of punks and have them cry about not havin a father or a job. All you need to do is look at the pictures of the Tookie William's victims.
Not having a good childhood isn't an excuse for heinous, senseless murder. All these murdering beasts should go kill themselves. And stay the hell out of the military, you peices of *beep*
Tookie Williams is a name I waited to hear during the documentary, but never heard ikt. Strange for a documentary since Tookie is considered a (co-)founder of Crips.
And an unfortunate trend these days to go into the military to get "training" for their gangbanging.
And you wonder why those folks are they way the are? They can thank people like YOU for helping to feed into the negativity they have received all their lives. Congrats on that, sport.
shareYour right GringoStarr. It's our fault these people would rather shoot each other than get a job. I've always been under the impression that we choose what we do in our lives. It's just easier to blame some one else.
shareHow stupid are you? One of the main points of the documentary was that all the companies pulled out, and there WERE NO JOBS!! That takes away A LOT of your "choices" now doesn't it smart-guy?
Now why didnt they move to an area or state that did have jobs? Idk the answer to that...maybe many did. Maybe many felt the same would happen to them there--move to where there's labor jobs, ANOTHER plant shuts down. It was true that black Americans COULDNT get the same training in tech and other advanced fields. Before racial equality was "cool", most colleges didn't want black people. So...under-educated with all of the labor jobs disappearing, tell me what are a man's "choices" again??
I'm guessing ur spoon-fed middle class folk, who saw MULTIPLE opportunities and pathways open on ur horizon. U actually got to choose "what u want to be", and mom n dad would pay for ur education in that field. It must have been nice......
If ur poor and broke out, all the power to u. But, u would also know the traps of poverty, and what a struggle it is to get out, when everyone u KNOW is stuck there physically and mentally. The "cool kids" just wanna make the most of it--hang out, get laid, get high, and have fun cuz they dont see any way to get out anyways. The smart ones have a lot of temptations and battles to fight if they wanna ignore the world around them (almost all that they know) and focus on school/career and gettin out.
I hope u lose ur job, college degree, skills, and career, and have to go move to the slums. Lets see how easy it is for u to get out. No help from family or friends either....the slums are ur new AND ONLY friends and family....get it now?? >:)
As they say, ignorance is bliss. Those of you who do not wish to recognize the problems which have deprivated SoCal over the past 20 or 30 years then I suggest you enjoy that blissful universe. The film's bottom line as far as I'm concerned expressed a dire need for change. Though gangs are rooted in all our major cities, SoCal is an excellent place to start. This film was not created as an excuse for gangbangers or their actions, and it was not created by ex-gang bangers as an excuse. It was produced and directed by people with jobs who see a problem. So if you choose the uber-right method of dismissing the film by asking for all gangbangers to "get a job" then go throw yourself off a cliff. You're close minded and most likely very stupid. But instead of poking fun at you (even though I already have) I'd ask you to watch the film again and view it with an open mind. The most intriguing points in this film discuss the mind of a human being as that of the mind of an animal. You're mind may be molded well enough to understand society and the way it works but you had the benefit of growing up in a community where there were not shootings on ever street corners, pawn shops and liquor stores on every road. These communities are no place for a young mind to be molded, and they are at times inescapable due to violence. As some of the gang members said in the film, some kids never even left their block for a decade or more. Their minds are cultured to the understanding of the innerworkings of the hood and that fault does not lie with them it lies with their government. The inability of or government to bridge the gap between the wealthy and the poor, to rebuild ghettos and areas of gang violence is IGNORANT. It can be done and needs to be done but will not be done with out government funding. ITS LUDICROUS! At the end of this film we saw many groups which were created in order to help mediate gang violence and rebuild SoCal. All of them were privately funded. It hurts me to know that our Government will never assist in rebuilding areas like this because of the arguments of the wealthy white elites. But I suppose that is all a wash because they are attempting to do it themselves, to take baby steps in rebuilding their communities for tommorrow. Its only during times like these where I feel ashamed to be American. I feel hypocritical to say give me your tired and give me your poor, and then turn the other cheek when they are in soo need of guidance and assistance.
Directed by filmmaker and ex-skateboarder Stacey Peralta, Produced by NBA player and Southern Cal product Baron Davis (people who are most likely better off than you), these are people who do not have to live
I understand what your saying. Gang violence and drive by shootings are the way of life to some people. But they still choose that life still choose the gang lifestyle. No matter how well you say it comes down to choices.
shareWhere are these jobs that you speak of? How do you walk down the street without protection? How do you deal with your post-traumatic stress syndrome? How do you say no to the gang that fed and loved you when no one else would?
shareGreat comments. I agree. It is all they knew and if some of these kids were to branch out to change their lives they are under threat of crossing the wrong side of the street. I hope it gets better. All the way back to the LA Riots in 65" it is true social history. This must be told. The doc did a good job.
shareSo um, did you actually watch the documentary? I think it did a pretty good job of explaining why gang warfare happens, what causes people to get this violent mentality, and why it's not entirely their fault. Obviously if someone picks up a gun and goes and shoots someone else with it, personal responsibility factors in at some point, but when it happens en masse it's clear that there are social causes beyond the perpetrators' actions causing it to happen. Unless you're either racist or you think there's something in the air of South LA that makes people violent, or magically all the nation's violent criminals are all born in the same region. But you can't blame it all on not having a dad or whatever...there are numerous socio-political, and yes, also personal forces at work here.
But if you watched the movie and still have no understanding of this, I'm not sure how I would explain it to you.
"I am Jack's wasted life."
There's a difference between making excuses and simply explaining how and why a situation came to be, you ignorant jackass.
shareIf they truly did explain how and why a situation came to be then it would be acceptable. All they did in this documentary was produce excuses. The one guy couldn't join a boy scout troop, and another said there were invisible walls surrounding their neighborhood separating them from the whites... so.... they start fight clubs, then they load up on guns and drugs and start offing each other. There's no reasonable transition even in their own lame stories of why gangs are the way they are today except it's all the white people's fault. When black people lose this stage of denial they are in that it's everyone else's fault why their communities across the country are criminal infested sh*tholes, maybe they can progress forward with the rest of us. Heck, even the newly illegal Mexican immigrants are leaving them behind in this respect.
shareLol the "fist fighting clubs" started as something fun to do, something to take pride in when there's nothing fkn else to do. It was all about bein the best at SOMETHING, even if u lived in a sh*thole. They were just kids and struggling with poverty, so ROBBING people became the initial offenses being committed by these clubs, sometimes in RIVAL CLUBS neighborhoods.
But the guns didnt get big until crack came onto the scene, and thats when the mass mayhem started taking place. And it was the new generation of kids, growing up with crack addicted moms, no dads, no jobs, and a bunch of other crazy hopeless friends and family around them convinced they WOULD NEVER get out of the hood and might be dead or locked up by 21. GANG VIOLENCE gets u respect in the hood, knocking dudes off, havin crazy guns, bullet wounds....inflicting pain on ur enemy. There's the endless cycle of retaliation....thats why it nvr stops. But the hardcore thugs take PRIDE in what they do and get respect for it....street *beep*
But yeah, the Crips originally founders were disgusted with what had happened, and most gangsters that reach 30 completely denounce the life and try to help intervene.
I dont think the doc was just making excuses though, but it didnt tell the WHOLE story. It did mention a lot of this though, so u either just weren't paying attention or u didn't want to take it in. That or u just cant imagine what it's really like in South LA, and refuse to believe it lol.