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Share your response and your reactions to CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America.
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I think that in order to really know about something you have to live it. I've lived in a midwest town with gangs like the bloods and the crips. I totally understand want the show was about. Going thru life with no sense of self is destructive and dangerous. But the opportunities that other people have isn't in the ghettoes of LA or any other city or town in this country.
The doccumentary was a real true that needed to be told. I loved this show and this channel. Keep up the good work.
I saw this just the other night and it was an excellent eye opening documentary. It helped me to understand how these gangs came to be. It's unbelievable how the affects of racism, opression and segregation still heavily linger in some communites. It broke my heart to see how these gangs senselessly murder innocent people and each other. However I don't understand why these gangs decided to turn on each other instead of fighting to reclaim their freedom and community. The same thing their families tried to fight for before them. I do hope that one day they decide to put the guns down and instead use their minds and intelligence to help solve this problem. There seems to be a lot of problems that need to be addressed in this community and I pray that something is done sooner than later. Especially for the children.
I also believe that something needs to be done about the economy. There needs to be jobs created in these communities. This is obviously a problem across the country. However I think rebuilding the economy and keeping jobs from going over seas may infact help solve this problem and many other problems like this.
As a genre I love Documentaries and of all that I have seen Crips & Bloods: Made In America is most profound as well as disturbing. The violence in terrible but the predicament worse. The predicament is relates entirely to rats in a cage, a confined area with no system to leave punctuated with displaced anger. Every Blockbuster movie gets a review somewhere "a must see", this is a must see, this is a film to memorize and quote. In one word BEAUTIFUL.
I saw this movie at sundance a couple of years ago. What keeps the movie together is the cinematography and still photography. i know tony harmon the dp; he's awesome and stills guy brian wiley's work is strong as well!
I was very fortunate to appear in this movie I am so happy to know that this movie is actually making a difference. I am an advocate in stopping gang violence in South Central and since the murder of my brother I really see that there is a need to PUT THE GUNS DOWN in our community. Now for the people on here that want to speak down on our movie I would like to say INSTEAD OF BEING A PART OF THE PROBLEM BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION!!! YOU ALL COME ON HERE AND SAY THIS AND SAY THAT, THAT IS VERY HURTFUL AND DISRESPECTFUL TO THE MOTHERS AND FAMILY THAT LOST THEIR CHILDREN/LOVED ONES TO GANG VIOLENCE OR VIOLENCE AND WORST YOU COME ON HERE AND DISRESPECT STACEY PARLETA!! THE DIRECTOR (A WHITE MAN) AT LEAST HE (WHITE MAN) TOOK TIME OUT OF HIS LIFE! TO COME TO THE GHETTOS AND PUT HIS HEART INTO A BEAUTIFUL DOCUMENTARY LIKE THIS!! THIS SHOWS THAT THERE ARE WHITE PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT CARES WHAT GOES ON IN THE HOOD!! AND NOT JUST POINTING FINGERS AND SAYING "STOP BLAMING WHITEY" LIKE THE REST OF THEM!!! NOW INSTEAD OF COMING ON HERE AND SPEAKING DOWN ON OUR DOCUMENTARY WHY DON'T YOU COME ON HERE AND SAY "HOW CAN I HELP OUT IN MY COMMUNITY TO KEEP THE VIOLENCE DOWN?? OH NOOOO THAT WOULD BE CONSIDERED WORK AND IT IS EASIER TO SIT BACK AND CRITICIZE THAN TO COME AND GET YOUR "CLEAN HANDS" DIRTY. Now for the one who said that our documentary was predictable and that they have heard it before, well I would like to say isn't that a shame that you have heard it before, and that it issss predictable but if you would as well, get your hands dirty and try to get involved then maybe, just maybe documentaries like ours will no longer be predictable or no longer needed for that matter, nor, would you have to hear of this type of stuff again!!! now ask how can you be involved? contact your local gang interventionist organization (that is IF you live in a neighborhood like ours) or maybe you don't that's why you are saying this.
so to sum all of this up...don't judge until you have lived a mile in our shoes the ones who have lost loved ones or children to gang violence.
DON'T WAIT UNTIL IT HITS YOUR DOORSTEP TO GET INVOLVED!!!!!
MUCH PEACE TO YOU ALL AND A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE!!!
CHERYL DENSON (CRIPS AND BLOODS MADE IN AMERICA) (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CEASEFIRE COMMITTEE) (PROJECT CRY NO MORE)
I liked the history of this film, I liked the personal interviews. However, the film does a huge dis-service to the problem by glossing over the crack and cocaine business that is the reason for these gangs. Would a similar film on Hell's Angels exclude drug running? I don't think so. The cultures is part of this problem, but the elephant in the room is the drugs, and the money associated with running and distributing. Hopefully this film-maker will return to this topic and give it another in-depth look.
An amazing and powerful film, everyone must see this.
Thirty years of a failed economic ideology that defunds the public sphere to finance the life style of the obscenely rich with never ending tax cuts and corporate tax funded subsidies has radically altered American society.
To sell a fiscal policy that benefits the few at the expense of the many, it is attached to the populist message: economic freedom and individual responsibility. The translation is that everyone is on their own and free to buy what their economic reality allows, including education, speech, and sometimes elections. To justify an economic philosophy of selfishness and greed, the poor are castigated as immoral and lazy, deserving of nothing but disdain. The black community was the first casualty, the end of America’s economic strength and global leadership is the finally. No country can maintain economic supremacy and civility if it neglects the social and economic needs of its people.
Great Film.
There will always be gangs in America, as long as our country is the largest melting pot on earth.
This was an outstanding film.
This was the most misleadingly biased documentary I've seen in a long time. The filmmakers certainly have the right to represent a point of view, but I would have liked to see more balance. Why is the only discussion of drugs in the neighborhoods presented in such a way that the gang members are victims of the drugs and not participants in their sale and distribution? The assertion that young black men who were not allowed to enter the Boy Scouts of America had as their only alternative the creation of street gangs is a racist one. This is not to remove all of the blame from the society at large; certainly the racism and segregation earlier in the 20th century led in part to the gang problems. But the attitude that society giveth and society taketh away is one that must be overcome by these communities. The "us versus them" mentality disregards the fact that these U.S. citizens are part of the government and must be part of the solution as well.
I live in San Francisco, and I am not into the gangs. I have wondered if there are crips and bloods in San Francisco.
The filmmakers touched briefly on the real causes of this violence; Single parenthood and children born out of wedlock, but quickly returned to the tired tale of blaming whitey.
The break down of the black family is the real engine that is driving the violence. Not plant closings, not the police, not the liquor stores but looking honestly at that problem requires turning the light on yourself and holding yourself responsible for your own behavior.
The whitewashing of the Black Panthers was predictable and pretty pathetic as well. They could have increased their credibility and given the film a freshness by dropping lefties like Tom Haden with their predicatable responses and highlighting some conservative opinion and analysis but I suspect the filmmakers were more interested in indoctrination and not honest debate.
I thought the documentary was a little predictable. I laughed at the cool liberal white guy complaining about America making scapegoats of the gang members. This whole documentary is about shifting blame to others instead of the individuals doing the deeds. Other people should do this for us, other people should stop judging us, Other people...
What is the name of the song toward the latter half of the film (right where they talk about prison and show Schwartzenegger)? Sounds like Ice Cube?
Editors note:
Music credits for CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made In America can be found here >>
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/cripsandbloods/credits.html
saw it while on vacation in main. it is the best explanation for the way things are in this country that i have ever seen. should be shown once a week for the next couple of months till everyone knows it forwards and backwards.
thank you so much
Stacy Peralta is a masterful hand at riveting documentaries. I hope I'll never be the same after seeing this. I hope I'll never forget each and every one of the people who so articulately and heart-wrenchingly shook me out of my ignorance and indifference to what's really happening out there. We can only remain complacent if we don't see them as us. They are us. We are them and all of us together can make a difference. Take my tears, Stacy, and my renewed conviction to do something. I don't yet know what that is but thank you for this.
Sad. This made me sad. It wasn't anything I didn't already know, and it's not a place (south-central LA) I haven't spent a little time in, and I wasn't suprised, just sad, that there is no forseeable end to this. That this story could have been told 15 years ago and probably can be retold to a new audience in 20 years, and nothing will have changed. And worse, the comments below - the stop blaming whitey and take some responsibility for yourselves and grow up and make something of yourselves. That makes me intolerably sad for its ignorance, for its narrow-mindedness, for how it reflects a complete and utter inability to get it, to get what the core issues are, to understand the how and the why and most importantly the who. Good Lord this country does not need to be working on the problems of the rest of the world without giving considerably more effort to solving some of our own deepest and darkest horror stories right here at home. And this is just one of them, but it's a particularly nasty one with very little progress in the works and on the horizon...
No community develops its values, mores and condition in a vacuum. Those who would characterize these influences as 'excuses' exemplify the antipathy and indifference that fosters the condition. Labeling them collectively (and I use the term 'them' with reservation because I used to be one of 'them') as "criminals" and "miscreants" does nothing but reinforce their collective apathy toward their worth.
Everyone knows the quiet kid who's afraid of their own shadow because their parents demean them whenever the opportunity presents itself. Loosely related is the historical significance of the systematic destruction of the Black entreprenurial spirit through the use of bombings, lynchings and mandated segregation. Think of it like this; the reason why the concentration of their predominant race was there was because they were not allowed to live anywhere else in the city. So even if you tried your best to 'move on up' like George and Weezy, there was nowhere to go.
Well, as I said (see below) WAAAAY back on the first night this aired, and now a few other people have pointed out, this film has pretty much been done before. Not putting the film down, still good to get the word out there, but as I pointed out; a barrage of news and docs have been made covering LA (and nationwide) gang culture and sometimes in a more "personal way." I'm just surprised/saddened this is still "new" news for some.
For example here's a 10 minute "give the camera to the victims" type about the number of KIDS killed here in Chicago. 36 this year by the way. To put that in perspective
4 in Phil.
4 in Atlanta
23 in Los Angeles
The film shows not the least bit of interest in holding thugs and hoodlums accountable for their destruction of communities. It tries to rationalize gangsters committing murder and assault, glosses over that they objectify women and young girls. Once again, the mantra is raised, "Everything we do wrong to one another is whitey's fault." Regardless to how much racism causes problems, blacks are accountable to arrive at a solution.
And not powerless to do so. Animals trapped in a cage can be excused for helplessly turning on one another. These criminals are not cock roosters. They are not pit bulls. They are thinking individuals who make a deliberate choice to vicitimize those around them. Just ask the ever increasing number of innocent bystanders who get beaten for being in the wrong place, who mistakenly shot, often killed, when these miscreants are wantonly murdering each other.
"Made in America: Crips & Bloods" Brilliant! Best documentary that I have ever seen. The film did a fantastic job of educating Americans on the root cause of the problems in our inner cities. Most people fail to realize that those kids really don't want any part of that lifestyle. Those kids grow up wanting the same things that many kids want. Society can not give up on them! Thank you for raising awareness and reminding everyone of our responsibility in this challenge. God bless those men that are going back into those communities to be positive role models.
WOW! thank you so much for the program explaining the bloods and crypts. i have long been an advocate for our silly, missguided, drug laws and such. i just wish everyone could see that program, THANK YOU! jim
As the documentary illustrates, building more prisons will not help. The "war on crime" does not help. We have to take responsibility as a country and reach out to our poor communities and strengthen their school systems and economies. Most of all, we need to reach out to them with compassion and understanding.
ugh.. what a feeling of accountability and reality. This is one peice of art that you can't walk away from and not feel something. I appreciate the young men sharing thier stories. I also appreciate the fact that you didn't leave the story with a desperate ending. I am proud to see the changing tide, in gang infested communities. I love the title made in america. My only concern is what is being done structurally? There is a system and structures that promoted these communities. We are in a place where people are growing more desperate each day. There needs to be a part 2 with more discussions around strucutral issues like, The Gov. of California building more Jailbeds. I feel it;s a prime time to address because of our needing to "rebuild" the economy. That is my 2 cents and my apologies for spelling errors and the likes.
i think that the "bloods" and the "crips" should take notice of the impacts that its putting on other people and their families, no mother should have to bury their child/children. Gangs don't have to be about killing they can help.
I just want to say this video seems true and it is true...halfway. Crips and Bloods been warring for years...true.. but if we talkin' bout South LA then lets talk about another issue within the black gangs...specifically the Crips. Its been said that more Crips have died at the hands of other Crips than BLoods or Surenos. Moster Kody illistrated this in his Autobiography. The war between Six Owe Crip and Eight Trey Gangta Crip has been more deadlier than any blood/crip gang war. So before bloods and crips can unite...Crips and Crips have to unite. There's not a Crip gang (big or small) in LA that doesn't have beef with another Crip gang. And this needs to be illistrated just as much as Blood and Crips.
I watched this documentary today and to say it moved me is an understatement. I loved the music too. Is there going to be a sound track cd? I'm not trying to be thoughtless by asking this, the documentary was an incredible production, with heartfelt emotion in every scene, especially the mother's that have lost their children to the violence. I do not think i could be strong enough to even speak it out loud and their tears are much too real. Overall, this was an eye-opening experience in language that would allow even children to see the right and wrong of this entire situation. Thank you for sharing this with us.
I agree with jojorich. BASTARDS OF THE PARTY is THE film to see. PBS, INDEPENDENT LENS, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, should air Fuqua's and Sloan's film which goes MUCH DEEPER than "Crips & Bloods: Made in America". Or better still, the producers of both films should get together and make a single 3-hour long documentary and then put it in all the theatres in America. Maybe THEN their films would make a REAL difference and stop this black-on-black war. Will blacks finally get the message out that we need to stop killing each other and expose a 3+ centuries' old white conspiracy OR do we have to wait for Ken Burns to pull another Civil War series, but this time about the Black Civil War; about how the racist white man managed to get black brothers to kill each other and self-destruct from the inside. The whites created slavery & segregation. They turned the house niggers against the field niggers. We fought back in 50s & 60s and got ahead, until...until the self-hatred the whites taught us started having its desired effect and we started killing each other...until we started doing the racist white man's work FOR him. As Che Sloan AKA Bone says at the end of Bastards of the Party doc: IT AIN'T NATURAL!
I hope everyone realizes that one documentary cannot tell the entire story. It was a well done piece, but it merely scratched the surface of the complex history and reality of this community. I think the filmmakers did their job...which is to spark interest and ,hopefully, provoke action. I've read some of the posts here and no matter how you feel about what you saw... the real question for everyone, including myself, is...now that you know, what are you going to do about it?
If I could give this documentary more than 5 stars I would.
It is incredibly embarrassing how many people live in complete ignorance of this reality. Even more embarrassing is the fact that many people fail to acknowledge it while knowing the truth. The only complaint I have about the viewing of this documentary is how late into the night it was broadcasted. I want the entire world to see this and realize that HUMAN beings are treated as animals and disregarded all together for reasons no one can fathom. All I can say is bless the hearts of the producers of this film, of the oppressed and of those who are fighting to make a change and claim what is rightfully their's, that is, freedom. I promise to fight with you.
POWERFUL.
I don't like to bash law enforcement, but seeing the El Monte cop kicking the head of the person laying face down in surrender seemed to show that nothing's changed with how the cops deal with gangs. If that's how they're going to be treated, why cooperate?
This was an amazing, very well done documentary. It made me weep for the suffering of these young innocent boys go through and the pain their parents have to endure. (Just remembering the film and writing about is making me emotional).I loved it. As a person who believes that all a child needs to be successful, confident adult is to feel loved and constant support, it reinforced what I knew. Some people just want to arrest these young gang members and see them as bad people but do not ask what circumstances influenced their criminal behavior. I believe that these boys and young men who are just looking to fit in and feel loved and protected can be helped, saved from a life of violence. There is hope for them. The solution is not more prisons but more investment in community programs, putting an end to racial profiling so that these children do not grow up without a fathers love and recognizing the deeply hidden emotional scars these kids have and helping them in some way. I honestly do not believe that it will happen because of racist attitudes and policies that institutions like the government and police departments have but inwardly deny. It is a depressing reality that may not change for these inner city children who are marginalized by the government.
I wanted to say that the show was great! Thank GOD someone exposed the cancer that is within Los Angeles. The inherit racial and economic segregation and oppression in a city with such abundance. And the killing of kids by the thousands. I complained to my collegues one time when my son was attacked by gang bangers; hit in the head with hammers and bats. Only to find that 75% of them had a child or close relation killed by gang violence.
I also wanted to give a shout out to Dr. Gerald Horne. I am an old friend of his from NYC who lost touch. I knew he would still be doing his activist's thang. So glad you guys gave him an audience. God bless you Jerry Horne! How's Marvin??? Love, WAS
I was really impressed with most of the documentary. I am from Los Angeles and was born in 1960. My Father taught at David Starr Jordan High School in Watts. I remember him taking us to Jordan High the day after the riots ended to make certain that his Sience Lab animals were unharmed. The school was untouched. But I remember his wise words as my brother asked why anyone would do this. He said that without human rights, material things mean nothing. He fought for civil rights all of his life, and for the community of Watts. He formed the teacher's unions in the country, including UTLA.
What lacked in the documentary is where the weapons actually come from. We certainly don't manufacture weapons. There was a story that George Bush I put weapons in the gang bangers hands to make money for the Contras during the Reagan presidency. God bless your courage, but keep on pressin'!
i think that crips and bloods should get along unless they get in territory and disrespect who's ever territory it is,even thuogh i'ma blood to that still don't mean nothing,even i get a long with crips,i even got brothers and sister's from crips.so that is all i got to say. by:kieron brice
I kept waiting for a commercial break so i could jot down future poetic ideas/of the epic poem being sung on my television screen/To be from Los Angeles and see and know what goes on/And to relay this info to others/Doesnt really fly the same/I try and tell people of a pale persuasian/That we brown kids have been beat down for hundreds of years/My skin isnt brown because I was born this way/Its brown because of the blood shed upon street corners ran into the gutters/Streamed its way back into reality/Into my mother and father/Into their eyes as they saw another oppressed before they saw love/How do I learn what i was never taught/My parents never once told me to hate cops/I was given the gift of hate when they first dragged me out of my car/I wrestle with emotions that hold my heart in discontent everytime I walk into a grocery store/How can i stand out in jeans and t-shirt/why must every blond face look in my direction/why must i be followed down aisles to make sure i purchase all the things i carry in my hands/We as a people of the non white races are united/We can fight amongst each other as much as we want but when black or brown face stands in a crowded mall in Boise,Idaho/We will be the enemy/We will be the reason farmers move to far off places/Becuz they are scared/Becuz they realize society can mark them too/If they try and stand up for what they believe...
This documentary only brough forth thoughts and facts that Iv'e been trying to block from my mind. I am a single parent of two young black men and the thought of them ending up a statistic tears at my heart and soul. My older son is 13 and my younger is 9. I work evenings from 3pm until 11pm., the hours that my sons need me the most. I used to live in Oakland Ca., and I can identify with the young man who talked about life prior to 1981. Life after 1981 was somewhat a shock. I have three younger brothers who grew up doing the exact same as all of the children had to do then. Mom was never home if she was we did not want to see her in the state she was in. No food or new clothes whatsoever. Man it was a nightmare. I love this documentary because it tells what some of us have known all of our lives, "The Ghetto Trap".
This film is the best documentary that I have seen about Los Angeles's local gang activity. I had made decisions that had put me in the ghetto. No doubt it wasn't as bad as in the film. In the ghetto it is all about survival.
i get it i get it what the story ( in my oppinion) was trying to convey to the audianceis. black men have been manipulated,controlled,influenced and aided by the fact that we cant get ahead any other way but by taking what we want. it`s servival of the fittest,kill or be killed,take or be taken. we as black men have been beate, jailed,murdered hung from trees,kept out of the mainstream of american prosperity. so we make money to feed our children the only way we know how we kill our brothers because they are the competition to a source of income we all need to stay alive we have been taught from a very early age to hate what we are,,,,by the media by white america by the very police put in our communities to protect us many of us have very extensive criminal records a lot of us have even gotten lucky enough to go to college but education doesnt promise a well paying job doesnt promise you wont get harrassed by the police doesnt mean you will be able to livr comfortably we are angry at everyone including ourselves so you have to expect the kind of proplems in south central and for that matter across america im not making excuses for the behavior of too many black men but i am trying to open those eyes that judge before living those lives it`s being said by me---------- walk a mile in my shoes ---and then STF UP
A film that needs to be expanded. They only touched the surface of a festering and now nationwide problem which under present economic conditions will grow exponentially. America needs to wake up. Community involvment is needed!!!!
This is a really powerful film on many levels. I watched it primarily because I am interested in learning more about gang intervention and prevention. Important as that is - the film has so much more to offer than just that.
It is a brilliant analysis of the history of American gangs and how mainstream America unwittingly contributed to their formation and ongoing growth & development. Being unfamiliar with LA - I was initially surprised to realize the extent of the racially segregated "compound" of violence in the center of affluence & tourism. Upon further thinking, I realized this isn't really so different from the City I am familiar with, i.e. Chicago.
The film is also very effective on the human level. The evil of gangs is presented with villifying the gang members. Former gang members are intelligent, thoughtful people who are actively committed to addressing the problem of gang violence.
I hope this is rebroadcast again soon. I would like to recommend it to a number of people.
This was an incredibly important piece of work and every law enforcement and social service provider should be required to watch it. It left me so aware of how we - all of us - have inherited a mess created by racism - alot of which still persists.
To overcome this we need to bring head of household jobs to the area, focus on better education, get male role models to act as big brothers, invest in the infrastructure, have more opportunities for youth and re-educate law-enforcement.
Every city and county no matter how small should take heed - do not allow any area to become run down, less important than another - invest in the infrastructure across your entire jurisdiction and make sure all children get the best education. Make sure new business and industry can provide good jobs - head of household jobs. It's not just a simple matter of haves and have nots - it's a matter of the health of the whole community. When the have nots can't get ahead, it denotes racism.
At first I didn't know what to make of the film but, as stated before, seeing these gang members as persons was riveting. My one major comment is a fundamental diagreement. Watching, I was relieved when they began to stress the prominence of single mothers inability to raise young men, much less children alone, as an explanation of how we got here. But then 'Made in America' went on immediately to blame this on the wanton incarceration of black men in our country. This suggests that if fewer men (Much fewer) were put in prison, ostensibly because of non-violent crimes, young men would act out less or less often. These are two seperate issues. Having children out of wedlock is the major issue here. It's less sexy but it's fact. PBS and independent filmmakers should be hitting this topic over the head repeatedly. Would they? Why not? Society has a big part to the blame but their own culture, pop and otherwise, has to own this. It is both a cause and effect of the poverty but as long as male hormones; male (mostly) horniness, etc. is not brought in check then outside forces can only cry.
Although I thought that the film was informative it felt like I was watching a remake of Bastards of the Party with the same subject matter but shown in a different chronological order. It appears as if Peralta and Davis merely took many of the same characters (i.e., Bird and Bounty Hunter Flip) and story lines from Bastards and repackaged them. Cle Sloan the director of Bastards should appear on the credits for Made in America because so much of the storyline was his (the effects of deindustrialization on South Central, the emergence of the Crips from the ashes of the Black Panther Party, the Watts riots, Cointelpro, the CIA's involvement in the drug conspiracy in South Central LA) I could go on but I will refrain. Although the film was quite informative for those who may know little about the genocide among Crips and Bloods, it is ironic how a white director manages to get credit for this work on PBS when anyone who has seen Bastards of the Party would know immediately that this was a direct copy of Cle Sloan's film with a couple of varying nuances. Even in portraying the senseless genocide of young African-Americans, a white director, undeservingly gets major media attention for a film which was already done by an African-American director who got little attention for it. I would hope that as a director Peralta acknowledges the work of Sloan. Although this critique may be off-based with dealing with the subject matter, I would hope anyone who reads this who has not seen Bastards of the Party would get a copy if they would want to see Peralta's story told from the narrative perspective of a real gang member from South Central LA. It is amazing that Sloan captured both the historical and sociological narrative of South LA and he is a Blood working to change the community, yet his film was basically copied by Peralta. I cannot help but to give credit where credit is due.
Personaly I looked forward to watching this. I was very dissapointed as I just thought it seemed to be another case of white bashing. There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed such as one parent families. But this program seemed to indicate that black people can't get their lives in order because the white man holds them back. I do not think this is true as I work with successful people of all colours. There are people in every culture who find it easier to sell drugs than get a job. As far as I can work out the opportunity is there for all. I am not a racist or radical right winger but I think this filmmaker (who I know is white) has pandered to the "lets blame the white man" for everybody else problems
My wife and I watched this last night and were riveted to our seats. This film answered (an raised) several questions for us(a couple of latter-period baby-boomers). We're insisting that our sons watch this film too, so we can all talk about it, and the similar manifestations of the social malaise we see in the community around us--and what we ought to be doing about it. Real thinkers, and act-ors in our society have always known that whatever affects the least of us in society, affects all of us. We'd better be taking notice, and weighing the cost of inaction as we see rampant fatherlessness, out of wedlock pregnancy, substance abuse, and unending me-ism flourishing everywhere around us. IF we don't get involved, we all will continue to pay a heavy price. We've already missed out on the benefit of countless lives lost in the violence of a relatively few square miles in L.A. I work in the fatherhood movement in this country, and we've got to get un-stuck-on stupid and acknowledge the immeasurable contribution fathers can make (for good when they positively engage--for bad or worse when they don't). Nearly all of the guys in this film testified personally to that reality.
Thanks for showing this important film. I intend to spread the word about it's debut far and wide.
Great film. Had students in our tenth grade US history class watch and they too were moved. We may be over here in Hawaii, but many can connect to the realities and difficulties of pursuing the American Dream.
I didn't get the chance to watch the film yet, but a look forward to the re-run on tv. This is such a real issue, and a lot of people don't realize that. I live in Brooklyn, NY, and everyday there is someone getting shot around my neighborhood. Yet, when I look in the papers, there is never anything about it. People have turned their backs on this community of lost children. I want to do something, but I have no idea what can be done.
I guess if these kids knew that their life was valuable and one of a kind, these activities would diminish. But how do you help someone who is constantly seeing life being thrown away for a worthless cause see that their own life means everything?
Anyone else wanna figure this out in the BK Crown Heights, E. NY area, email me at amandafreymhs@yahoo.com.
All I have to say is this should be aired everywhere everyday. I cried, I was mad, I was shocked and all at the same time. Every black male should watch this film. Wonderful job of film making!!!
What a spectacular film - A must see for everyone! For the first time I was able to see gang members as human beings and not self serving animals.
Bless the men and women that are coming forward to address the taking back of your rights.
To be free
To get an education for your children
To have a job
To walk the streets of your community
I'm a woman born in the half century of the last decade. My generation has lived with rioting, wars, marshall law and I cannot imagine living that everyday.
I have never seen a documentary that better expresses what I've told people for so long; if an opressed minority is so marginalized as to have its very humanity taken away, eventually it will cease to function as a healthy community, essentially losing its humanity. When you are conditioned to think of yourself as worthless, nothing about you or connected to you means anything to you. Life, freedom and the future become barely recognizable abstracts in the back of your mind, overshadowed by the immediacies of survival. Thank you for bringing this to light.
I work as a prison chaplain in the rural rural south (Mississippi Delta). Viewing this documentary gave me additonal insight into the gang problems that are in the inner city, rural America and the prison environment. We need to seriously address what was termed by some in this documentary as the cause. We have to rid ourselves of these causes and maybe in another half century we will have the free children we dream of. I think that we have to act now....
This an important piece of work that needs to be seen by many people. It points a thoughtful person to several important ways to begin making a difference in their own communities so that things like what has happened in south L.A. doesn't have to happen again. But it will require sacrifices of personal convenience and the slaying of personal prejudices in order to do so.
It's so very obvious that intact families is a major key to solutions, here. It's the mirror image of how the social breakdown became so entrenched.
But now we have another major obstacle--lots of folks profess that single parenthood is NOT a factor.
What rubbish!
With 80% (in the black community) of the babies being born to young single moms, just what is the chance that a child growing up will see two adults, his own mother and father, will be working on life problems together for him to see?
Of course, there were many voices in the film stating this, most obvious fact, in various ways.
Even if you are very, very poor, an intact couple has a very significant advantage in managing to leave and "emigrate" to a safer place with greater economic and social opportunities (as has been done throughout the ages under dire circumstances) or in making the very most of great difficulty.
When the "powers that be" are the most impotent in addressing problems, it falls on the individuals effected to OVERCOME on the basis of their own will, abilities, initiative, and scarce resources.
The documentary -- was a profound and "perfect" work of art. The maturity of the direction and editing ! The invocative and intelligent use of the music! I am in awe of the presentation of a subject so vital to our society's denial of reality, of justice, of desperate human truth, --- (and "we" are obsessed with falsity, with delusions, -- misinformed -- by choice, -- and the evil of: not giving a damn!)
I want to "touch" you, and all the pained "warriors", to "acknowledge," -- even though I am powerless to help, (meaning : too poor to aid in the making of such monumental commentary and education; too insignificant to be able to influence the "system",)
There is a related (integral) theme I'm trying to find "allies" for, and am agonizing over: the utter denial of the "rights" (let alone the "dignity",)of children born in violence, or the in hormonal surges, or in a helpless hope of "love",...... Children condemned to a spiritual, emotional, developmental and physical-- DEATH! -- by a society chanting "pro-Life" lies, and espousing vacuous slogans of "morality", -- and joyfully killing -- even the innocent, -- in the pretense of the "entitlement" of a God no other civilization is --supposedly privi to; (so in-sync. with the mirror image of of an enemy called : "Islamic Extremism". We refuse to protect young life, and insist on our right to destroy the "outcrop",..... and -- our "politically - correct" poster-hymnals -- would schriek at, i.e. a consideration -- that -- in the interest of those we have (but we keep forgetting,)a "universal" and religiously proclaimed mandate to protect, -- that we consider -- sterilizing all child-abusers, to prevent the "farming" of tragic victims. Horrors !!! But turning a blind-eye, and killing the luckless "spawn" that land on our streets, and are stacked (at great expense, -- but the Lust for "reprisal" and and "getting!!" -- imaginary foes, SURROGATE FOES !! -- is stronger than budget sensibility,)-- are "harvested" -- in prisons, -- and "death-rows".
It's, obviously, too much for this e-mail, but I know of no-one who could better deal with this evil this hypocracy, -- than the makers of "Crips and Bloods". I beg of you to submit the thought to them ! In deep gratitude, and respect, Juliane Jarrett Extremists").
This was one of the best Doc's l've seen on Crips & Bloods. I appreciated how it showed the evolution of Gangs. Displaced and misguided youth molded by racism and lack of opportunties produced gangs and will continue to. The Documentary was raw, un cut and unbiased. It did not rationalize or glorify gangs or the members it was just straight no chaser. This historical clips were great.
thank you so much for making and showing the documentary about gangs. I think if more people began to speak up and reach out to help those who are involved in these types of situations, then things will take on a more positive change for the black community. We as a community need to help these young people instead of just simply giving up on them. If all of them would of had more positive influences, the violence would stop and the acidemic success would be much more than what it is now. I, myself have lost several family members and boyfriends to gang violence. Nothing can replace those lives lost, but change can save the ones we have left.
This film blew me away, my wife and I did not leave our seat. It was an eye opening film that has inspired both my wife and I to do something about the growing need to help children in need locally. We as a society have to be more involved within our community.
Thank You
This program is a true public service. A phenomenal piece of work. If you did not see this show, please do yourself and all of your friends a favor… An absolutely brilliant and important documentary. It goes into the roots of gang in context of 20th century and current American and African-American history. And while I agree w the comment that women in gangs are omitted, the producers chose to leave it out due to time constraints.
I think this may be one of the most immportant documentaries I've ever seen. Its discussion of how and why this urban tragedy continues to wreak havoc in urban minority commuities should be required viewing for politicians, community organizations, social workers,churches.... anyone who thinks they know how to fix the problem i.e. more police, more prisons,etc. Kumasi, in particular, nailed it, when he described what happens when you are fed "spoonfuls of hate". I'm just blown away, and sad, and meagerly hopeful. We owe the children of South LA, and all blighted, ignored, disregarded, something much different and much better. Thank you.
Thank you for bringing this epidemic to light, or better said, for "other people" to see the effects of gangs and gang warfare in a community. There is no way this would be allowed to happen in places like Brentwood or more affluent communities. Here in Chicago we have an ongoing problem with gangs in the inner city. As long as it doesn't harm the people of the North Shore(affluent community), most turn a blind eye.
Perhaps your plan to implement preventive measures and programs for at risk youth will become a model for cities across the nation suffering from this blight.
I enjoyed the film and found it informative. I have only one comment to make for those that talk about solving gang activity in cities today. People need to focus on the root cause of this violence which the film does discuss specifically racism and segregation that happened around the time of WWII and later. If these neighborhoods were in fact segregated due to racism than they should be reintegrated with whites who left the areas in question voluntarily.
Until you have neighborhoods in major cities that are diversified and have businesses that are beneficial to the community, no amount of investment and rebuilding will work. I disagree with those that call for investment in anything without addressing the root cause of the challenges these neighborhoods face. I have lived in Chicago for about 10 years and find it every bit as violent and segregated as L.A. Lastly, I would also include schools that are segregated as well. Stop spending money on problems that have no hope of a solution and focus on the root cause.
I saw this documentary with my husband last night. This film was very well done. It put the men and women in a very honest light, where you felt like you were right there with them listening and feeling their pain.
I was struck by the way the generations kept handing down the gang life to their young boys, over and over again and as I watched the images, I began to see the big picture, all of this made sense. The violence ,the loss, the building of gang soldiers, the life-style. We definitely need our African-American men more than ever!
Thank you for bring this to us.
This was beautiful. So well done. I do wish it was not aired at 10 PM at night, as I think it is already a subject matter which most people will avoid. Having it at 10 PM just gave them a better excuse.
Thank you! Being from the middle of the country and only hearing about south LA when it explodes has left some gaping holes in the knowledge of what goes on there. It's disconcerting that as long as it's black-on-black the situation seems to be tolerable. In a state that largely votes Democratic where is the support for the outreach programs for people in the 'hood? I will now follow the success of the local/private efforts to help.
After, I watched this film, and I prayed and prayed for my people. But more than that I wanted to know how I could help. I had no idea gang violence was so bad in my home state. I am a resident of San Antonio, Tx now but I grew up in northern California. In this country we are so disconnected from each other about the complexitiy of urban/economic/social problems of our young black youth. To be made aware of the sufferings of others through this film was a gift to me. I believe this film should be at every college, highschool, and university, community center, etc. It is a model for the breakdown of an area and it's people. We really need to wake up, those of us who are more privileged and have advantages, that people are living in this hellish existence everyday-- living and dying because they can't envision anything else for themselves! We need to know that it is our duty and privilege to work to lift up our fellowman!I hope black people, no scratch that, AMERICAN people realize this!
I was deeply touched by this film and even though I don't have a lot of money I would be willing to donate and help however else I can.
I've served as a FBI Agent for approximately, 15 years and started my career working in violent crimes as a coordinator for a Street Gang Task Force. By chance, I caught the broadcast of "Crips and Bloods". Of the numerous television specials, "inside reports" and investigative news pieces I've seen on the topic of gangs - I don't think I've ever seen a program that more poignantly presents the problem and dynamic of gang violence. I found myself captivated by your honest and smart protrayal. Kudos and thank you to the videographers and producers of such wonderful programming.
This was powerful, especially how the consequence of fatherless homes put the problem squarely in the cross-hairs. However, ironically, its as though the filmmakers themselves missed the point that was documented over and over, and literally staring them in the face. They press how we've failed as a community (and not how we've failed as fathers) and the resolution to the situation breaks down into a *political* issue of getting resources into the community. Please don't get me wrong, I believe that the resources are very important BUT they will never eclipse the spiritual problem that begins in fatherless homes and the vacuum that creates for young men. So it makes me sad that the film pulls our emotions into a purely political dimension in terms of where we should turn most, if not all, of our attention.
I was emboldened to hear what I constantly tell my friends or write on my Facebook page--that the problem is systemic--it's poverty and the lack of economic opportunity in south central--ghettos across America. it's nihilism. Now I need to know HOW CAN I HELP??? WHAT can I, an African American woman who lives in Hollywood do to help turn the tide?? Where do I SIGN UP??
Where are the females in this documentary film of "Crips & Bloods"?
I'm glad that the issue hasn't been left behind, but I also think this ground has been covered before. I got inspired though and wrote a piece myself
Did We Really Need Stacy Peralta’s Look at the Bloods and the Crips?
Just caught the last 1/2 of Crips and Bloods. I don't think I could stomach all of it. For the life of me I cannot understand how our government continues to hemorrhage billions of dollars into foreign countries to rebuild what they destroyed in their zeal to win the "War on Terror", yet allow our fellow Americans in S. Central LA to be thrown away, children and all. How do they sleep at night?
The sickening part is, what's wasted, inflated, or flat out stolen in the war budget could make a huge difference in revitalizing S. Central, and the lives and future of the people who live there. Our people, people who deserve far better. The War on Drugs or Gangs is clearly not working. As w/any war it's hearts and minds. How about pumping some of that budget into the community to combat the War on Failure to deliver basic human rights?
I applaud the filmmakers and their sobering expose. And to the ex-bangers, and community activists keep it up, and keep the faith. You can hold your heads high, unlike the powers that be that won't step up. And to you mothers and children God bless you. I wish President Obama all the best in the War on Terror, whatever they're calling it now, but Americans essential needs should be #1. Who knows? Maybe there's a little stimulus left for S. Central. Go for it. Don't take no for an answer.
It is always good to study history to better help understand the situation today. It was a good program and one that more people need to watch.
I want to know how I can help? I want to contribute, in some small way, to make a difference in someones life... what can I do?
Editors note:
For a list of resources related to gang prevention and intervention visit Learn More.
Boys without fathers. So sad.
Very Real, Raw, Enlightening, Heart-Breaking...an Awakening. A glimpse into a life most of us can't phathom or are glad to not know.
AS A BLACK WOMEN I THINK THAT WE NEED TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO HOW POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER POSES AS A THREAT TO THE YOUTH.
It hit home about how each man can, should, and is pre-destined by nature and God to start his own gang. The name of those gangs would be "Families", and he as leader would be known as "Husband and Father".
It also let single mothers know that their children must come first, and to kick to the curb any so-called man that does not see this. I'd rate CAB:MIA up there with Eyes On The Prize as MANDATORY viewing if we are to prosper and not just survive.
Thank God for PBS. Riveting. The film not only exposed the state of the black man (Crip, Blood & Human) in Los Angeles, but in America. Soo long overdue. Personally, I was extremely proud that even some of the hardest Brotha's were eloquent in the knowledge of themselves and their situations. My prayers that their road become easily traveled and that society acknowledge them not only as Black Men, but Men. Remember dear Brotha's...Each One Teach One. If you don't, who will?
Peace & Blessings
This film was a god send. Beautifully shot, and showing how the removal of positive influence from a community led to formation of two of the nations most storied gangs in America, how systematic racsim and jim crow also was used againisit blacks in southern california.
This was a powerful film which artfully tells a story that everyone in America needs to hear. One complaint... although the film mentions several grass-roots movements afoot to counter the continuing violence among the next generation, there's no mention of how we can help or where to make donations to this organizations. Please post some info on where we can send a contribution.
It's all about the males. The gang members are males, the gang culture is male but aren't women half of their community? It's not that women are inconsequential to the picture. That makes no sense. The film discusses the socioeconomic situation from which the gangs arose, so it is strange that there isn't any coherent picture of the total community. They do talk to mothers who have lost their children. But women only as re-actors to the situation. There is talk about growing up fatherless - but that's one half of the parentage. A glaring omission which creates an incomplete, and less comprehensible picture. Weird.
If the word "Bloods" was slang for black soldiers in Vietnam, am I to assume that the original members were veterans? This would help to explain why the founders of these gangs turned to violence at a time when black civil rights leaders called for non-violence. What role did returning black veterans play in the formation of these gangs, if any?
Tonight's Independent Lens was very powerful, however what it didn't really answer was to why Black Gangs turned on thier own race and why it continues today.
I also have to wonder, based on all the interviews, why these gangs still feel so respressed. These gangs can do so much good by "Building" instead of blaming as they still do today. I understand the need for Family, a proper attention to a child and proper education. But these Gangs hold more power than they realize and it should not be about killing, but about the power to rebuild thier community and kill the idea that government rules over thier lives.
Gangs can make a positive change, but with intelligence not violence and it saddens me that the Bloods and Crips still don't see the real potential they can have if they just thought about the positive things they can do to get themselves and others they love out of the horrible situation they truly control.
WOW! what a great documentary. Impressively comprehensive and very touching. Please schedule more airdates!
This film starts with young black men fighting corrupt white police officers, which seems justified. Yet this is supposed to somehow serve as background for when young black men start shooting other black men, but the viewer is not told how this connection is made. I think the makers of the film looked for an easy logic between the Civil Rights Movement and the creation of the Crips and the Bloods, but they failed to find it. If they found it, they did not do even an adequate job of conveying this to viewer of their film.
The film also fails to deal with gender in any serious way. Men make up both the Crips and the Bloods, but there is no explanation for why this is. Why is it "manly" for one black man to shoot another black man? I'm sure there's some explanation, but you won't find it in this film. For that matter, women in these neighborhoods would have experienced the same changes as the men, so why didn't they form gangs? Am I to assume that black men are just naturally violent? I don't think so. And why are all the men in the film obsessed with being "men"? What does this need to dominate others, to "be a man," tell us about their relationships with women?
I am also tired of hearing that gangs members are created because their mothers were unmarried. So, if there mothers were properly dominated by men we wouldn't have gangs? That's what you're telling me. So many of the men in the film expressed sexist attitudes towards women, attitudes you don't hear from white middle-class men regardless of whether their parents were married. Rather than encouraging male domination of women through marriage, maybe advocating equality and respect between the sexes might effect positive change.
Great program - I especially like the juxtaposition of the history of the area in the middle of the real-life stories. It gives context to the modern story which is very much lost.
I really think that it's important that people see this. There is some much that you can learn from this.
Glad somebody made this.
The film is quite beautifully shot and edited. A glaring omission in content is the situation for girls in the 'hood as well as more intervention comments from women.
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