If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. Young gangsters distort Golden Rule: Do unto others tOl what they did to you .

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NATIONAL SCHOOL SAFETY CENTER NEWSJOURNAL FALL 1989

J 121384- U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice 123189

This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organization originating it. Points of view or opinions stated in this documel',t are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Institute of Justice.

Permission to reproduce this copyrighted material has been granted by Pepperdia g TJni vers i ty ~ationa1 School Safety Center to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of th6. NCJRS system requires permis­ sion of the copyright owner. · . v. "~ , - : i' _.' , '.~ ...., ~ ••. ~ ;,:. !', ~" ." '" ,I . .v '. '. CONTENTS

SCHOOLNATIONAL. 4 When you're a Crip SAFETY CENTER (or a Blood)

Peppardine University's National School Safety Center is j ~ 3 \ 3Y a partnership of the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education. NSSC's goal is to promote safe schools free of drug traffic and abuse, gangs, 12 LA's gang busters weapons, vandalism and bullying; to encourage good discipline, attendance and community support; and lessons learned to help ensure a quality education for all children. By Suzanne Harper Ronald D. Siephens, Executive Director J~3\SS-- Stuart Greenbaum, Communications Director Ronald W. Garrison, Field Services Director 16 Gangs, guns and drugs James E. Campbell, Business Mannger Bernard James, Spacial Counsel By Ronald D. Stephens

Pepperdlne University NSSC Steering Council: 1;?318Co David Davenport, President. Chair; William B. Adrian. Provost; Vice Chair,· Andrew K. Benton, Vice President, University Affairs; Nancy Magnusson·Fagan, Dean. 20 Gangsters: Back Graduate School of Education and Psychology; Ronald F. Phillips, Dean, School of Law; Charles B. Runnels, to the future Chancellor; Ronald D. Stephens, Executive Director, By Ronald W. Garrison NSSC; John G. Watson, Vice President, Student Affairs; and James R. Wilburn, Vice President and Dean, School 1;?3127 of Business and Management. _____._M~ ______==_ 23 Fighting crime for kids' sake School Safety By Karl Zinsmeister School Safety is published by the National School Safety IQ318~ Center to communicate current trends and effective pro· grams in school safety to educators. law enforcers, law· yers, judges, government ofticials, business leaders, 27 Troubled Asian youth: journalists and the public. Publication dates are Septem­ ber (Fall issue), January (Winter issue) and May (Spring The deafening silence issue). Annual subscription: $9.00. By Jeffrey J. Munks j ~ 3 I ~'l Ronald D. Stephens, Executive Editor Stuart Greenbaum, Editor/Art Director Brenda Turner, Suzanne Harper, Associate Editors Updates 2 NSSC Update Cynthia Randolph, Photocompositor

Articles in this publication may be reprimed - excluding individually copyrighted material - with credit to School Safety, NSSC nnd a copy of reprints to NSSC. School 31 National Update Safety encourages the submission at original articles, artwork, book reviews and letters to the editor and wili review nnd consider each item for publication. 32 Legislative Update Correspondence for School Safety and the National School Safety Center should be addressed to: National School Safety Center, 16830 Ventura Boulevard, Suito 200, Encino, CA 91436, telephone 8181377-6200, FAX 8181377·6209. 33 Legal Update

Prepared under Grant No. 8S·MU·CX'()()()3 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Progrnms, U.S. Depanmenl of Justice. 34 Resource Update Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Education or Peppariine University. Resources 18 NSSC Resources Copyright © 1989 National School Safety Center.

19 NSSC Resource Papers About the cover: Gang "brothers" pose for this portrnit, proudly flnshing their gang hand sign. Photograph by Merrick Morton. 35 "Principals 01 Leadership"

School Safety 3 Fall 1989 , l • •.•• •• . . . ..' . . . . '. .. " , .."

Be a "fly on the wall" at an unusually civilized meeting between members of LA's most notorious rival gangs­ the Crips and the Bloods. Get ready for an education. When you're a Crip (or a Blood)

The drive-by killing is the sometime The following forum is based on a Getting jumped in sport and occasional initiation rite of discussion held at the Kenyon Juvenile LEON BING: Imagine that I'm a thir­ city gangs. From the comfort of a pass­ Justice Center in south-central Los An­ teen-year-old guy, and I want to get into ing car, the itinerant killer simply shoots geles. Parole Officer Velma V. Stevens a gang. How do I go about it? Am I down a member of a rival gang or an assisted in the arrangements. Leon Bing the right age? innocent bystander. Especially common served as moderator. among LA's Bloods and Crips, the LEON BING is a Los Angeles-based LI'L MONSTER: There's no age limit. drive-by killing is the parable around journalist. She is currently writing a It depends on your status coming into which every telling of the gang story book about teenage life in Los Angeles. it. It's like, some people get jumped in, revolves. Beyond that lies a haze of im­ LI'L MONSTER was a member of some people don't. ages: million-dollar drug deals, omi­ the Eight-Trey Gangsters set of the nous graffiti, and colorfully dressed Crips. He is twenty-three years old and BING: Jumped in? marauders armed with Uzis. The soci­ currently on probation; he has served ologists tell us that gang culture is the time for first-deglee murder, four counts LI'L MONSTER: Beat up. flower on the vine of single-parent life of attempted murder, and two counts of in the ghetto, the logical result of soci­ armed robbery. B-DOG: Either beat up or put some ety's indifference. It would be hard to RAT-NECK was a member of the work in. write a morality play more likely to l07-Hoover Crips. He is twenty-eight strike terror into the hearts of the mid­ years old and currently on probation RAT-NECK: Put some work in, that's dle class. after serving time for atte'mpted murder, mandatory, you know, a little mis [mis­ Many questions, though, go unasked. robbery with intent to commit grave demeanor] - small type of thing, you Who, really, are these people? What bodily harm, assault and battery, burg­ know. It's like this: say I get this guy urges them to join gangs? What are lary, and carrying concealed weapons. comin' up and he says, "Hey, Cuz, I their days like? To answer these ques­ TEE RODGERS founded the first Los wanna be from the set." Then I'm like, tions, Harper's Magazine recently asked Angeles chapter of the Chicago-based "Well, what you about, man? I don't Leon Bing, a journalist who has estab­ Blackstone Rangers, affiliated with the know you - you might be a punk." So lished relations with the gangs, to con­ Bloods. He is currently the resident I might send him somewhere, let him vene a meeting between two Bloods and "gangologist" and conflict specialist at go and manipulate, send him out on a two Crips and to talk with them about Survival Education for Life and Family, burg' or- the world in which the drive-by killing Inc., and an actor and lecturer. is an admirable act. B-DOG is a pseudonym for a twenty­ BING: - is that a burglary? three-year-old member of the Van Ness This article is an edited reprint by Gangsters set of the Bloods. After this LI'L MONSTER: Yeah. But then, you special permission from the March 1989 forum was held, his telephone was dis­ might know some person who's got a Harper's Magazine, copyright 1989. All connected, and he could not be located little juice, and, like, I might say, "You rights reserved. to supply biographical information. don't got to go through that, come on

School Safety 4 Fall 1989 with me. You from the set." TEE: Keep in mind we don't have no we're rich. We're in high school and we target ranges where we get prolific with been buddies since grammar school. TEE RODGERS: If you click with these guns. And we all decide to go to the same somebody that's already from a set, college. Well, we all on the same street, then you clicked up, or under his wing, B-DOG: Shoot 'til you out of bullets, all those years, and we all just decide you his protege, and you get a ride in. then back up. to - Now, even though you get a ride in, there's gonna come a time when you RAT-NECK: Bullet ain't got no name, RAT-NECK: - join the gang. got to stand alone and hold your own. hit whatever it hit. TEE: What I think is formulating here BING: Stand alone and hold your own? TEE: Wait a minute! That was a hell of is that human nature wants to be ac­ Does that mean I might have to steal a a question, 'cause the mentality of the cepted. A human being gives less of a car or beat up somebody or commit a people that gonna read this be thinkin' - damn what he is accepted into. At that burglary? age - eleven to seventeen - all kids LI'L MONSTER: - every gang member want to belong. They are un-people. RAT-NECK: Right. walks around with that type of gun - BING: If you move - can you join BING: Is there another way? TEE: - and I can hear the police chief another set? saying, "That's why we need bazoo­ RAT-NECK: You can be good from the kas!" Look, put it on the record that LI'L MONSTER: A couple weeks ago I shoulders. everybody ain't got a bazooka - or an was talking to a friend 'bout this Vzi. Okay? guy - I'll call him "Iceman." He used U'L MONSTER: Yeah. Fighting. to be from Eight-Trey, but he moved to BING: It's all on the record. Watts. Now he's a Bounty Hunter. TEE: That's one of the best ways. A homeboy says: B-DOG: There are some people still B-DOG: Boy, that stinks, you know? I'm young and mean and my mind's believe in .22s. more keen BING: He went from the Crips to the And I've earned a rep with my TEE: Or ice picks. And don't forget the Bloods? hands bat. And I'm eager to compete with the U'L MONSTER: Yeah. And he almost bangers on the street RAT-NECK: And the lock in the sock! lost his life. 'Cause I've got ambitious plans. BING: Are there little peewees, say, TEE: When you switch sets, when you U'L MONSTER: See, when Tee was nine- to ten-year-olds, in the sets? go from Cuz to Blood, or Blood to comin' up - he's first generation and Cuz, there's a jacket on you, and you we second generation. Now, if he saw RAT-NECK: Yeah, but we say "Li'l are really pushed to prove yourself for me, he wouldn't be comin' from the Loc" or "Li'l Homie" or "Baby that set. Sometimes the set approves it, pants pocket with a gat or a knife, he'd Homie:' We never use "peewee" be­ and other times they cast you out, If be comin' from his shoulders like a cause then people think you're a Mexi­ you don't have loyalty to the first set fighter. That's what it was established can. Mexicans say "peewee." you belong to, what makes you think on. Then, later on, come a whole that you gonna be loyal to us? That's bunch of cowards that can't come from TEE: If it's a Blood set, they use a k just too much information. We kickin' the shoulders, so they come from the instead of a c. Li'l 10k with a k. See, it, we hangin', bangin', and slangin'. ~ut pocket - Bloods don't say c's and Crips don't say who are you, and where are you really b's. To a Blood, a cigarette is a "biga­ at? Where your heart at? RAT-NECK: - he unloads! rette." And Crips don't say "because," they say "cecause." B-DOG: Perpetrated is what he is! BING: What's the most popular weaponry? BING: What prompted you to join, LrI BING: What does that mean? Monster? B-DOG: Whatever you get your hands TEE: A perpetrator is a fraud, a on. LI'L MONSTER: Say we're white and bullshitter.

School Safety 5 Pall 1989 CRIPS AND BLC)CDS •• : .. "'" t ~'.: . ,'.\ . .."'. \0, ,,_. .' ',' '., . . "1;."

BING: How can someone prove us. If you know the words, sing along: Knights. I don't buy my clothes because himself? "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the they blue. My jacket and my car is red way, from your first cigarette to your and white. I wear the colors I want to LI'L MONSTER: All right, like the cat last dyil11g day." wear. I don't have no blue rag in my Iceman. They might say, "To prove pocket. I don't have no blue rubber yourself as a Bounty Hunter you go hit LI'L MONSTER: There you go. bands in my hair. But I can be walking somebody from Eight-Trey." down the street and, nine times out of Hangin', Bangin', Siangin' ten, the police gcnna hem me up, label B-DOG: If you got that much love. BING: Once you're a Blood or a Crip, me a gangbanger - do you dress differently? We hear about BING: Hit somebody from the very set guys with their jeans riding low, their RAT-NECK: - or a dope dealer. he was in? underwear showing up top, wearing colors, and having a certain attitude. LI'L MONSTER: There's only one look RAT-NECK: Yeah. Then his loyalty is that you got to have. Especial1y to the there. TEE: A brother will get up, take his police. You got to look black. That's time, spray his hair, put his French the look. Now B-Dog here's a Blood, BING: But is it really? Wouldn't some­ braids in, fold his rag, press his Pendle­ and he doetm't even have to be gang­ one say, "Hey, he hit his homeboy, ton or his khaki top, put creases in his banging because if I'm in a mall with what's to say he won't hit us if he pants, lace his shoes, and hit the some of my homeboys, nine times out changes his mind again?" streets. of ten we gonna look at him crazy. That's how you know. He don't have to TEE: Look, when he changes sets, he's LI'L MONSTER: He's dressed to go have no red on, we gonna look at him already got a jacket. And when he goes get busy! crazy. That's the mentality. back and takes somebody else (lut, that cuts all ties, all love. TEE: He's dressed, pressed, he's down! TEE: Let me give up this, and you correct me if I'm wrong: police offi­ B-DOG: Can't go to no 'hood. Can't go BING: Is that the way you dress after cers can recognize police officers, nowhere. you're in? athletes can recognize athletes, gay people can recognize gay people. Well, RAT-NECK: There it .s. TEE: The reason a lot of brothers wear we can recognize each other. It's khaki and house slippers is because it's simple. TEE: The highest honor you can give cheap and comfortable. for your set is death. When you die, BING: When someone insults you, when you go out in a blaze of glory, B-DOG: Ain't no dress code nowadays. what happens? you are respected. When you kill for your set, you earn your stripes - you LI'L MONSTER: Look, Rat-Neck got LI'L MONSTER: Depends on what he put work in. on a blue hat, I got on this hat, we saying. Crips. B-Dog's a Blood: he got red RAT-NECK: But once you a Crip - no stripes on his shoes, and that is that. BING: Say he calls you "crab" or "E­ matter what - you can't get out. No Now I can be in the mall, look at his ricket." Or, if you're a Blood, he calls matter what, woo-wah-wham, you still shoes, and know he's a Blood. He can you a "slob." These are fighting words, there. I can leave here for five years. look at rny shoes - these B-K's I got aren't they? Then I gets out of jail, I gets a new on - and say, "He's a Crip." haircut, new everything. Then, "Hey, RAT-NECK: It's really just words. there goes Rat-Neck!" You can't hide RAT-NECK: But then again, might be Words anybody use. But really, a lot of your face. You can't hide nothin'! All none of that. Might just be ordinary that word stuff don't get people going that immunity stuff - that's trash. guys. nowadays. Nobody forgets you. BING: I've always thought that B-K LI'L MONSTER: That's right. TEE: That's how it goes. Just like stands for "Blood Killers" and that's LAPD - once he retire, that fool still why Crips wear them. TEE: There was a time when you could the police! He's still strapped, carrying say something about somebody's mama, a gun. He's always a cop. Same with LI'L MONSTER: It stands fOl': British and you got to fight. Not so anymore.

School Safety 6 Fall 1989 .. ~ \ :. ' _~~ ,,' ,,' " • ,,', - .'~ ..,. ~ '. • ,I' ,.' '~ .. ,

LI'L MONSTER: Now just ignore the the street. And if a homeboy rises up­ RAT-NECK: I had a younger brother, fool. and it is not so much jealousy as it is fourteen years old. He's dead now, the fear of him leaving me - I want to but we never did talk about it. He TEE: But if sombody say, ,,---- your come up with him, but when he reaches was a Blood and I am a Crip, and I dead homeboys," oh, now we got a the top of the barrel, I grab him by the know what time it is. I couldn't social­ problem. pants leg and I - ize with him on what he do. All he could do is ask me certain things, like, LI'L MONSTER: Yeah, that's right. TEE and LI'L MONSTER: - pull him "Hey, bro, do you think I'm doing the back down. right thing?" And, well, all I could say TEE: Somebody call me "oo-lah" or is, "Hey, man, choose what you wanna "slob," my rebuttal to that is "I'm a TEE: It's not that I don't want to see be. What can I do? I love you, but super lok-ed out Blood." There's always you go home, but take me with you! As what do I look like, goin' to my mama, a cap back, see what I'm saying? But a man, I'm standing alone a~ an indi­ tellin' her I smoked you, smoked my when you get down to the basics, like, vidual. But I can't say that to him! I brother? What I look like? But why ,,---- your dead homeboy," and you got that manly pride that won't let me should I neglect you because you from name the homeboy, that is death. Oh break down and say, "Man, I'm scared! there? Can't do that. You my love." man, we got to take this to the grave. Take me with you - I want to go with And if I don't care ahout my love, and you!" Now, inside this barrel, we are in I don't care about my brother, then I BING: Well, let's say you're with your there so tight that every time we turn don't care about my mama. And then homeboys and someone does say, ,,---­ around we are smelling sombody's you're out, when you don't care about your dead homeboys." What happens stinky breath. There's so many people, your mama. then? I got to leave my community to change Like some people say, "I don't give a my mind! ----, I'll smoke my mama!" Well, you B-DOG: That's it. The question of the know, that's stupidity. matter is on, right there, wherever you RAT-NECK: Yeah! at. BING: I realize that loyalty is para­ TEE: That's how strong peer pressure mount. But what I want to know is, if a LI'L MONSTER: He's dead. And if is! It's that crab-in-the-barrel syndrome. rival set has it out for someone, does it he's not, he's gonna - We are just packed in, but I want to always mean death? feel good. So how? By bustin' a nut. B-DOG: - wish he was. So I ---- my broad, she get pregnant, LI'L MONSTER: Before anybody go and now I got another baby. So we in shooting, it's going to be, "What is the BING: What does that mean? there even tighter. I here, in this room, problem?" Then we are going to find we can relax, we can kick it, we can the root of the problem. "Do you per­ TEE: I cannot believe the readers of laugh, we can say, "Well, homeboy sonally have something against Eight­ this magazine are that naive. The point from Hoover's all right." Because we Trey?" You say, "No, I just don't like of the matter is, if he disrespects the in a setting now, and nobody's saying, what one of your homeboys did." Then dead homeboys, he is gonna get got. "I DON'T LIKE HIM!" You know you all beat him up. Period. Now let your imagination run what I'm saying? We can't just sit down free; Steven Spielberz does it. and enjoy each other and say, ''Are B-DOG: Beat him up, yeah. you a man? Do you cut? Do you bleed? BING: Why this intensity? Do you cry? Do you die?" There's LI'L MONSTER: Just head it up. Ain't nowhere where we can go and just ex­ nobody else going to get in this. TEE: Because there's something called perience each other as people. And dedication that we got to get into - then, when we do do that, everybody's BING: Head it up? dedication to the gang mentality - and strapped. understanding where it's coming from. LI'L MONSTER: Fight. One on one. It's like this: there's this barrel, okay'? RAT-NECK: Seems like nothin' else ... You know, head up. And then it's over. All of us are in it together, and we all want the same thing. But some of us BING: You make it sound inescapable. BING: Are you friends after that? are not so highly motivated to be What would you tell someone coming educated. So we have to get ours from along? What would you tell a younger LI'L MONSTER: Well, you not send­ the blood, the sweat, and the tears of brother? ing each other Christmas cards.

School SaiGty 7 Fall 1989 :,.,. . ,' .... ' . , . .' . .

CRIPS AND BLOODS _ ~ - . . .

BING: What if you just drive through LI'L MONSTER: There's many ways carry something, you know, 'cause we another gang's turf? Are you in danger?' that it can be dealt with. Everybody don't really know what's going on in can disown him, or everybody can just New York. But we hear so much about LI'L MONSTER: Yeah. I mean, I say, "Okay, fine, but you gotta do New York, how they operate, how could be sitting at a light, and sombody something else." See what I'm saying? rough it's supposed to be. So, okay, we say, "That's that fool, Li'l Monster," decide we gonna carry a buck knife - and they start shooting. That could be B-DOG: But he's gonna be disciplined something. So we kickin', walkin', anywhere. Bam! Bam! Bam! one way or the other. cruisin' the street, everything. And then I see a homeboy standin' right here next BING: Are you targeted by reputation? RAT-NECK: 'Cause he know everything, to me. man, and he think he gonna ride on up And he come up to us and he take LI'L MONSTER: Yeah. That's my outta here? three pennies, shake 'em, and throw worst fear, to be sitting at a light. 'em down in front of his shoe. We, like, LI'L MONSTER: So you go home and what is this? Is it, you got a beef? Like, B-DOG: That's one of mine, too. say, "Yeah, mama. I got out, mama. he knew we weren't from there. So we Everything's cool." And mama looking not lookin' at him, but, like, why he LI'L MONSTER: So I don't stop. I at you like - "Son, are you sure?" throw three pennies down there? Like, don't pull up right behind a car. And I 'Cause she knows damn well they ain't was it, "Get off our turf'? But we am always looking around. gonna let you go that easy. didn't understand his language. Out here, it's like, "What's happenin'? B-DOG: Always looking. TEE: Now that's the flip side to those What's up, Cuz? What's up, Blood?" who say, "I smoke anybody - I'll But in New York, you loukin' at the LI'L MONSTER: That's my worst fear smoke my mama!" We, as homeboys, damn pennies, and maybe he come because we did so much of it. You look at him and say, "Your mama back and hit you. Maybe if you pick up know, you pull up, man, block him in, carried you nine months and if you'll the pennies, then you got a be~f with and - kill your mama, I know you don't give him. Maybe if you don't pick 'em up, two shakes of a rat's rectum about me!" then you supposed to walk off. So we B-DOG: - that was it. walks off and leaves the Bronx and RAT-NECK: He'll kill me. He'll smoke goes to Harlem. LI'L MONSTER: They put in work. me. Oh, man -- that's what you call a That is my worst fear. And if you ever gutter. You get to lookin' around there ride with me, you notice I always posi­ BING: What's going to happen in 1989? and thinking, "These my people? Livin' tion myself where there is a curb. That Los Angeles has the highest body count like this? Livin' in a cardboard box?" I middle lane is no-man's-land. ever. More deaths than in Ireland. mean, Skid Row got it goin' on next to Harlem. Skid Row look like Hollywood B-DOG: That's dangerous. RAT-NECK: Not more than New York. to them. In New York they kill you for just a Ll'L MONSTER: You know how they penny. r took a trip to New York one Kickin' it say, "Look out for the other guy"? time. This guy wanted me to see what BING: Did you vote in the last Well, I am the other guy. Get out of it was like. election? my way. Give me the starting position. You know, because I can - phewl BING: You mean gang life in New TEE: Yeah, I voted. But look at the Claustrophobia. I don't never want that York City? choice I had. to happen to me, just to be sitting at the light and they take your whole head RAT-NECK: No, to see how people live BING: Why didn't you vote for Jesse in off. - gang life, the whole environment, the primary? the whole everything. I was there for BING: Say everybody's fired up to get two days, right? He took us to Queens, TEE: Everybody I know voted for somebody from an enemy set, but Harlem, the Bronx - everywhere. We Jesse, but- there's this young kid who says, "I can't talked about going out strapped. He do that. I don't feel right about it - said, "You can't go out there strapped! B-DOG: - Jesse was out. this is a friend of mine." What's going What's wrong with you?" But 1 say I to happen? gotta let 'em know what time it is and RAT-NECK: It's different for us. Like,

School Safety 8 Fall 1989 , , ~'... .' {- . " . . . . ~. . . .' what's that guy's name shot President rules and mgulations. TEE: 'Cause the mother carried that baby Reagan? What happened to that guy? for nine months - that's her child. It's Nothin'! RAT-NECK: Okay, like, my little brother her family, and we're the extended family. just got killed. You talkin' funeralwise, She got the first rights on what goes on BING: He's in prison. right? At this funeral, Bloods and Crips there. It's the respect factor that lies was there. But didn't nobody wear there, and if the mother says there's no LI'L MONSTER: Oh no he's not. He's nothin', just suits. Every funeral you go colors, you better believe ain't no colors! in a hospital. to is not really colors. RAT-NECK: And no cartridges in the TEE: They're studyin' him. TEE: Thank you! Yeah! coffin.

RAT-NECK: See, they did that to cover RAT-NECK: You just going to give TEE: If he went out in a blaze of him. They say he retarded or something. your last respect. Like my little brother, glory, and his mama say, "You all bury it really tripped me out, the way I seen him like you want to bury him" - oh, B-DOG: See, if I had shot Reagan, a big "B" of flowers with red roses in then we do it. would they have put me in a mental it, and one tiny blue thing they brought. facility? And these were Bloods! - Like one of BING: How would that be? my homeboys asked me, "What's hap­ RAT-NECK: They would have put you penin', Rat?" and I said, "Hey, man - TEE: If he was a baUer - you know away right there where you shot him. you tell me." And I looked around, saw what I'm saying - then everybody get Bam - judge, jury, executioner. some other guys there, you know? They suited and booted. ain't us, but they came and showed TEE: Why is it they always study white respect, so - move back. Couple of BING: Do you mean a sea of colors? folks when they do heinous crimes, but them walked by Ufo looked at us, and they never study us? ffi? got black said, "That's our homeboy, that's Rat­ EVERYONE: NO! Suits and ties! Shined psychiatrists. Neck's brother." shoes! When he got killed, you know, I had BING: What about all this killing, a whole lot of animosity. I'd smoke any LI'L MONSTER: Jump in the silk! then? one of 'em, but one thing - one thing about it - it wasn't black people who TEE: We own suits, you know! Brooks TEE: I'm gonna shut up now, because did it. That's the one thing that didn't Brothers, C and R Clothiers! And some the way the questions are coming, you make me click too much. Now, if a of the shit is tailored! portray us as animals. Gangbanging is a black person woulda did it, ain't no way of life. You got to touch it, smell tellin' where I'd be right now, or what BING: You mention your mothers a lot, it, feel it. Hearing the anger, the frus­ I'd do, or how I'd feel. I'd be so con­ and I sense a love that's very real. If tration, and the desperation of all of us fused I might just straight out ---- my you do love your moms so much and only adds to what tbe media's been say­ job, my wife, my kid, whatever, and you kill each other, then it has to be ing - and it's worse, coming out of our say, "I don't give a ---- about you - the mothers who ultimately suffer the mouths. There has to be questions bro got killed!" worst pain. How do you justify that? directed with an understanding of our point of view. Sorry. BING: How did he get killed? B-DOG: Your mother gonna suffer while you living, anyway. While you out there BING: All right. Ask one. RAT-NECK: I don't really know the gangbanging, she's suffering. My whole rundown. mother's suffering right now. All my TEE: It's not my interview. brothers in jail. TEE: What Rat-Neck's saying is BING: I'm trying to understand your the respect. We buried three of our RAT-NECK: My mother's sufferin', sit­ motives. Let me ask a different question: own yesterday, and for each one we tin' in her living room, and maybe If a homeboy is killed, how is the went to the mother to see how she there's a bullet com in' in the window. funeral conducted? wanted it - BING: What do you say to your mother TEE: You got four different sets here in LI'L MONSTER: - how she wanted it! when she says, "All your brothers are this room, and each set has its own That's it! in jail, and you're out there in danger"?

School Safety 9 Pall 1989 CRIPS AND BLOODS , :'.' ,...... '-. . .. ' '.' . .'.

B-DOG: We don't even get into that no want you to go to your grave as a slave away as far as I can. All I want to do is more. for the minimum wage." So you say, "I be myself and not perpetrate myself, try am going to go get us something, make not to perpetrate my black people. Just RAT-NECK: She probably don't think this better, pay the rent." give me a job, give me a nice house - about that at all - just so she can cope The first thing a successful athlete everybody dream of a nice home - and with it. does - and you can check me out - is let me deal with it. buy his mama a big house. That's what B-DOG: Me and my mother don't dis­ we want. And if we have to get it from BING: And how do drugs figure into cuss that no more, because I been into the streets, that's where we go. this? this for so long, you know. When me and my mother be together, we try to BING: Why? LI'L MONSTER: Wait a minute. I just be happy. We don't talk about the gang want to slide in for a minute. I want to situation. TEE: It's the same everywhere. A set the record straight. People think sorority, a fraternity, the Girl Scouts, gangs and drugs go hand in hand, but LI'L MONSTER: Me and my mother camping club, hiking club, LAPD, the they don't. If I sell drugs, does that are real tight, you know? We talk like Los Angeles Raiders are all the same. make me a gangbanger? No. If I gang­ sister and brother. I don't try to justify Everything that you find in those groups bang, does that make me sell drugs? No. myself to her - any more than she tries and institutions you find in a gang. See, for white people - and I am not to justify her work or how she makes saying for all white people, just like her money to me. What I do may come BING: So are you saying there's no dif­ what I say about black people is not for back to hurt her, but what she does terence between the motives of you all black people - they go for college, may also come back to hurt me. Say guys joining a gang and, say, a young the steppingstone to what they want to I'm thirteen and I'm staying with my WASP joining a fraternity? get. And some black people look to mother, and she goes off on her boss drugs as a steppingstone to get the same and loses her job - how does she RAT-NECK: You got a lot of gangbang­ thing. justify that to me? ers out there who are smart. They want it. They got what it takes. But the dif­ B-DOG: They want to live better. To BING: Well, the loss of a job is not ference is they got no money. buy what they want. To get a house. quite the same as an actively dangerous lifestyle in the streets, wouldn't you TEE: I know a homie who had a schol­ RAT-NECK: Not worry about where agree? arship to USC. But he left school be­ the next meal come from. cause he found prejudice alive in Amer­ TEE: "An actively dangerous lifestyle" ica, and it cut him out. He said, "I TEE: To live comfortable and get a slice - okay, here we go. "Woman" is a don't have to stand here and take this. of American Pie, the American Dream. term that means "of man." Wo-man. As a matter of fact, you owe my great­ My mother raised me, true enough. grandfather forty acres and a mule." B-DOG: There it is. Okay? And she was married. There was a male figure in the house. But I never LI'L MONSTER: Forget the mule, just TEE: The Army came out with a slo­ accepted him as my father. My mother give me the forty acres. gan: "Be all you can be." And that's it. can only teach me so much 'bout being We all want the same thing. We've a man-child in the Promised Land. If, TEE: So he took to the streets. He got been taught by television, the silver after that, there is nothing for me to a Ph.D. from SWu. That's a Pimp and screen, to grow up and have a chicken take pride in, then I enter into manhood Hustler Degree from Sidewalk in every pot, two Chevys, 2.3 kids in backwards, and I stand there, a warrior University. the family. So we have been taught the strong and proud. But there is no outlet same thing that you have been taught, for that energy, for me or my brothers, BING: If it went the other way, what but there is certain things that we can so we tum on each other. would your life be like? hold on to and other things that - we So, Mom sends us to the show, and see them, but we just cannot reach all we get is Clint Eastwood, Superfly, RAT-NECK: I'm really a hard working them. Most of us are dealing with the and Sweet Sweet Bad Ass. Now what man. I make bed mattresses now, but I reality of surviving as opposed to, gdes up on the silver screen come down would like to straight out be an engi­ "Well, my dad will take care of it." into the streets, and now you got a neer, or give me a day-care center with homeboy. And mama says, "I d()J~'t little kids coming through, and get me BING: Are you saying that gangbanging

School Safety 10 Fall 1989 ..

:. -. . '. ..' .., .1 . '. is just another version of the American Dream? Gangster's slang glossary LI'L MONSTER: It's like this. You got the American Dream over there, and you reaching for it. But you can't get it. And you got dope right here, real close. Baller: a gangbanger who is making money; also high roller You can grab it easy. Dealing with the closer one, you might possibly make Cap: a retort enough money to grab the other one. Click up: to get along well with a homeboy Then you throwaway the dope. That's a Crab: insulting term for a Crip; also E-ricket big ifnow. Cuz: alternative name for a Cripi often used in a greeting, e.g., "What's up, BING: Seriously, does anybody ever Cuz?" stop dealing? Down: to do right by your homeboys; to live up to expectations; to protect your turf, e.g., "It's the job of the homeboys to be down for the 'hood.''' B-DOG: If you was making a million Gangbanging: the activities of a gang dollars off of drugs, you know what I'm saying, are you gonua give that up for a Gat: gun legitimate business? Give it up: to admit to something Hangin: bangin; and slangin': to be out with the homeboys, talking the talk, TEE: This goes back to it. You started walking the walk; slangin' comes from "slinging" or selling dope out for need, and now you stuck in it because of greed. That's when you play Head up: to fight someone one-on-one your life away. There comes a time Hemmed up: to be hassled or arrested by the police when you have to stop playing, but as 'Hood: neighborhood; turf far as the streets go, you are a street player. Now there may come a time Homeboy: anyone from the same neighborhood or gang; a friend or an when you say, all right, I've played, accepted person; in a larger sense, a person from the inner city; also homie I've had time in the gang, now I got to Jacket: a record or a reputation, both within the gang and at the police raise up. But if you is so greedy that station you cannot smell the coffee, then you're Jumped in: initiated into a gang; getting jumped in typically entails being cooked. beaten up by the set members

BING: But if you do get out, do you Kickin' it: kicking back, relaxing with your homeboys always have to come back when your Loc-ed out: also lok-ed out; from "loco," meaning ready and whling to do homeboys call? anything Make a move: commit a crime; also manipulate LI'L MONSTER: It ain't like you gonna be called upon every month. Mark: someone afraid to commit a crime; also punk O.G.: an abbreviation for Original Gangster; i.e., a gang member who has B-DOG: But if you gets called, then you been in the set for a long time and has made his name must be needed, and you must come. Oo-Iah: insulting term for a Blood; also slob

LI'L MONSTER: It's like this - and I Perpetrate: betray your homeboys; bring shame on yourself and your set don't care who you are, where you Put in work: any perilous activity from fighting to murder that benefits the started, or how far you got - you never set or the gang forget where you come from. Set: any of the various neighborhood gangs that fit within the larger frame­ work of Bloods and Crips TEE: That's it. Smoke: to kill someone B-DOG: You never forget where you Top it off to f!!"t clong well with some'Dne; reach an understanding come from. 0

School Safety 11 Fall 1989