Blacks and hispanics in Los Angeles County are at each other’s throats.
They’re fighting one another in schools and in prisons. As these groups compete for the same low-skill jobs and “preferred minority status,” tensions mount.
Ethnic groups fighting for resources is as old as the hills.
According to a report released by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, 2005 Hate Crimes Report (PDF), 633 hate crimes were reported in Los Angeles County in 2005, up from 502 last year. This increase was caused by a “sharp spike ” in race-related hate crimes, which jumped 46 percent. Contrary to popular opinion, hate crimes are not primarily white-on-black, at least not in LA.
So-called anti-black crimes increased by 47 percent. About 80 percent of hate crimes involving gangs were committed by hispanics against blacks. “Very few reports indicated that these racial crimes were committed by gang members against rival gang members; most were against victims who were not identified as gang members.”
School-based violence between blacks and hispanics also increased. In 2005, “82% of the total number of school hate crimes were racially motivated, up dramatically from 49% in 2004.” Here’s the interesting part: Hispanic-on-black violence at schools was more common than vice versa. It seems that “Latinos” are the aggressors in most black-hispanic hate crime cases.
The people/person who wrote the report went out of his/her/their way to highlight “hate crimes” between between groups other than blacks and hispanics or incidents involving blacks and whites, hispanics and whites, and hate crimes based on “sexual orientation,” but it’s all filler. The real story is that two groups, groomed on America’s generosity (in the form of government assistance) and the government’s counterproductive paternalism (which includes lowered expectations), are battling for resources.
Although the tension between blacks and hispanics is easily explained by the factors I mentioned, the report attributes it to “anti-immigrant sentiment.” Read the whole report if you like, but you may want to skip to page 15:
Signs of Growing Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Another factor driving the rise in racial hate crime was an escalation of scapegoating of Latino immigrants. In the previous year, racial crimes targeting Latinos, and to a lesser degree, Asians, increased while crimes targeting other racial/ethnic groups declined. The increase of anti-Latino crimes for the second year in a row may be related to heated public debate over immigration from Latin America…Groups opposing illegal immigration, such as the Minutemen and S.O.S. (Save Our State), organized rallies, patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border with firearms, and held protests at day-labor hiring sites. Some of these actions prompted counter-demonstrations, heated exchanges, a handful of arrests, and injuries.
Get it? Americans who oppose illegal “immigration” and have the nerve to say so are contributing to LA County’s black-hispanic gang violence.
If there are LA County-area blacks and hispanics out there reading this blog who believe that blacks and hispanics can and should come together to form some sort of “brown coalition” against whites, I have a word of advice for you: Stop dreaming. Teach your children to work for what they want and train them to compete with people of all races, not just each other or “Latinos.” Take your dogs out of the fight and just say “NO” to preferred minority perks.
Unbeknowest to you, people with no stake in the game are laughing as you kill and maim one another over crumbs. It’s like watching gladiators fight to the death for the entertainment of the elite. It’s a shame that blacks have to compete with illegal aliens, who aren’t even supposed to be here to compete with, but that’s the way it is. Discard those deeply ingrained, generational expectations that you, black person, were raised with. Learn to depend on yourself and stand by yourself. Teach your children the same. Stress the importance of education and decent living. Accept no handouts or set-asides from the government or excuses from yourselves or from white liberals.
My words may sound simplistic, but the solution is not as complicated as you’ve been led to believe. Think I am an individual, and watch your lives change for the better.
Sources:
L.A. has been the national womb for gang creation for as long as I can remember. Furthermore, the worst of the gangs in the past fifty years or so (nationwide) seem to be predominantly Hispanic.
These gangs have come into small cities and towns across the nation and have murdered and maimed for the drug trade.
I suspect that Hispanic on black crime is more sociological than racial. I doubt that blacks who do not live in neighborhoods with the mean streets are anymore concerned about gangs than the average Iowa farmer.
I also suspect that “illegal” immigrants do not innocently stumble into gang membership. The gang “culture” is very seducing to adolescents without strong families.
Hopefully, we will not take sides with which gang was here first and provide affirmative action perks to the (ethnic) gang with the most tenure.
Comment by Heliotrope — 12.18.06 @ 9:47 am
I think the culture of hate in this country is growing by leaps and bounds. It concerns me for my children and grandchildren. I don’t think there is any political answer to it, because I don’t believe our political landscape is capable of addressing the real problem.
The photo that La Shawn included is very telling. This young man identifies himself with a gang sign. His identity is bound up in that gang. Why?
These young people seek strength to withstand the struggles of their life. Satan tells them they can find this strength in the gangs, but it is just another of his lies.
In order to reach him, we must bind our identity with someone stronger and reveal that someone to him.
The church needs to send missionaries deep into Satan’s turf right here in this country, in L.A., in the prisons, even into the small town I am living in.
There are churches that have been successful at breaking down these strongholds, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Young Life, for example. Every Christian can be involved in some way with reaching these people.
Comment by benm — 12.18.06 @ 11:02 am
I used to live in Los Angeles and when I first moved there in 1976, it was a magnificent place to live - fun, great people, vibrant economy - the works. As the years wore on, it became ever less livable until I pulled up stakes and moved to the Delta area in Northern California and eventually, in 1994 back to Ohio where I have lived ever since.
It is congested beyond belief and communication is deeply strained by the huge number of people who are unable to communicate in English and are hostile when you try to insist on it! Like WE are the interlopers in our own nation.
Comment by Gayle Miller — 12.18.06 @ 11:48 am
And all the while, there are a number of white people who are legitimately to blame, La Shawn. These are your rank and file white liberals who have a selfish, myopic view of these events and those like them. Feminists for example, won’t condemn the terrible violence that women of all races are now suffering at the hands of the immigrant men in Europe. Why? Because they don’t want to be a white person saying the obvious, which is that many minorities are deeply racist on a level that would never be tolerated in mainstream culture by whites.
I hope to God that these people start to gain some capacity for self-reflection, and I think that’ll only come when “alternative economies” like the drug market are ended by things like drug legalization. I have said it once, I’ll say it again, things like the War on Drugs, coupled with welfare, provide too many of these teens and young adults with paths to being rich or at least comfortable without having any role in the production of legitimate wealth. Take all that away, and they might start to gain some of the self-reflection they need to say, “pretty much every group who ain’t us doesn’t like us too much, why is that?”
Comment by MikeT — 12.18.06 @ 12:42 pm
I doubt that blacks who do not live in neighborhoods with the mean streets are anymore concerned about gangs than the average Iowa farmer.
There’s a gang problem in Iowa, too. People move out from Chicago to get their kids away from the gangs, but the gangs follow. The Hispanic gangs have followed the meth traffic. And kids in Iowa watch the same gang-idolizing hip-hop videos as kids in cities! Des Moines reports at least 31 different gangs.
Comment by Radish — 12.18.06 @ 1:45 pm
Interesting Reading December 18, 2006
LaShawn Barber takes a look at the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission’s 2005 Hate Crimes Report. The report shows an increase in hate crimes based in race. La Shawn points out how this is an increase in a certain category of racial hatred a…
Trackback by Fire and Hammer — 12.18.06 @ 2:06 pm
In one of her posts this week, LaShawn hammers relentlessly on some of the same social myths.
Pingback by truegrit — 12.18.06 @ 2:33 pm
Black/Latino tensions are nothing new, despite what the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission would like to believe. I did my student teaching in a tough public school in Texas over a decade ago. The tensions between black gangs and Latino gangs was palpable even back then.
Comment by Mwalimu Daudi — 12.18.06 @ 2:38 pm
Liberal Efforts to Lock Up Racist Whites Fail Miserably!
Folks, let me speak to you as a Black man who has heard what is said when people of other races are not around. Blacks pressed for states to enact so-called hate crime laws because they wanted to see racist White men locked up, period! It was not do…
Trackback by Independent Conservative — 12.18.06 @ 2:53 pm
I just got done on December 1st with my student teaching assignment in a majority-minority school in a large Texas city. The third grade class I was in was exclusively black and Hispanic. Even at this young age, there was name-calling that was racially tinged, and sometimes lead to attempts at shoving matches.
My father teaches high school in this district. He tells of tensions between native-born Latinos and immigrant Latinos, as well, in some of the area high schools.
Comment by Miss Ladybug — 12.18.06 @ 3:45 pm
“It’s like watching gladiators fight to the death for the entertainment of the elite.”
Excellent analogy… That really does some it up…
Comment by Renee — 12.19.06 @ 10:01 am
I live in Los Angeles and wish I could add to the conversation. Sure, when it comes to physical altercations involving different ethnicities, the black versus Hispanic is the worst. No doubt about that.
Overall, there appears to be much balkanization with the different groups. Then, there is the same with regards to class. It appears to be the old “birds of a feather” thing.
I heard a sheriff’s spokesman say that in the incorported city of Compton (part of LA county) there are 157 gangs in a population of 100,000 or so. Why don’t we have troops there?
John
Comment by John — 12.19.06 @ 11:50 am
“It’s like watching gladiators fight to the death for the entertainment of the elite.â€
That sounds way too heroic/mythical for my taste.
Sounds to me like under-educated self-absorbed morons obsessed with macho concepts of ‘identity’ and peerage.
I’m sure there’s plenty of useful things they could build/do/learn given the right boot camp/boot over the border
Comment by JohnD — 12.19.06 @ 1:50 pm
As a Minuteman I profusely apologize for the anger and hatred that Black gangs are heaping on their Hispanic brothers. Not. As a correctional officer I’m aware of the Surenos and Nortenos gangs. They are being targeted by other gangs because of tensions that came to a boil in the California prisons not out of any anti-immigrant sentiment. I don’t see why you would even class them as racial hate crimes; the Surenos and Nortenos fight each other more than gangs of other ethnicities. Also benm the prisons are being administered to, we have many outstanding religious volunteers at our facility, but as with anything good you have to want it.
Comment by Rancher — 12.19.06 @ 1:55 pm
La Shawn: Unbeknowest to you, people with no stake in the game are laughing as you kill and maim one another over crumbs. . . . Accept no handouts or set-asides from the government or excuses from yourselves or from white liberals.
WHAM! BAM! Thank you Ma’am.
Ironic how back in the 50s/60s — back to the Zoot Suits even — no one was calling the Latino/Black gang wars a hate crime. Just ask Tom Skinner or Nikki Cruz who came up out of Harlem’s gang scene. The only constant over time is that they are fighting for crumbs, the pursuit of which leads to a short lifespan.
Try as they might, the multi-kulti liberal brigade can’t save the lost, let alone make headway. Speaking of LA, isn’ that Jesse Jackson’s turf. How in God’s name can the ‘reverend’ do nothing about the tragedy in his backyard while extorting corporations for their lack of ‘diversity’? On second thot, forget I asked, he’s the kingpin gangsta what moved up from Greenville and made big time amongst the boardrooms.
Comment by Andy — 12.19.06 @ 3:37 pm
I think we are watching the Somalia-ization of American major cities: Where weak, corrupt and inefficient governments exist that fail to enforce laws honestly and protect citizens, warlords and their well-armed gangs move in to fill the vacuum.
I predict that within 20 years (maybe sooner) governments officials will begin negotiating power-sharing agreements with these warlords. Of course, the government will never be honest enough to admit it.
Our cities are well on their way to becoming American versions of Mogadishu.
Comment by Mwalimu Daudi — 12.19.06 @ 7:25 pm
Sorry, Mwalimu Daudi, that comment was ugly, even if you were joking.
After John Kerry’s stupid “end up in Iraq” commentary that he eventually apologized for, we need to have a positive message.
MOST AMERICANS (sorry to go all caps) IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS CONSERVATIVE.
Many of those same God fearing Americans say they want THEIR Social Security … How will it be PAID for is the question because people think they will get it … just because …
We(all of us) have to complain every time spending is not cut and free give-aways are given.
Americans don’t LIKE liberal tax policy … they endorse CONSERVATIVE[1] tax policy and I find it hard to believe that even when reported in the media that some people LIKE paying more taxes.
[1] We elect Conservative Republicans here in Texas that make sure we pay few taxes.
Comment by Tim Dennis — 12.19.06 @ 9:27 pm
Sorry, Tim, but I’m not joking. And it’s the ugly truth. Have you seen what goes on in the inner cities? These are not gangs anymore in the Hollywood sense, these are budding nation-states with psychopathic leaders who appeal to ethnic hatreds and are capable of monstrous crimes. It is different from Somalia in that (so far) it is on a much smaller scale than what we see there.
And I don’t doubt for an instant what these psychopaths would do if given half a chance at exercising governmental power. Don’t underestimate them, I beg you.
Comment by Mwalimu Daudi — 12.20.06 @ 2:20 am
Teach your children to work for what they want and train them to compete with people of all races, not just each other or “Latinos.†Take your dogs out of the fight and just say “NO†to preferred minority perks.
BRAVA!!
Thank you LaShawn for stating what needs to be done.
Comment by Fausta — 12.20.06 @ 10:51 am
Mwalimu is right. Here in LA, over the past year, there’s been violence between blacks and Mexicans at Venice high school. In South Central, a black gang member shot a couple of Mexicans about 4 months ago. The first thing the Mayor said was “This was not racially motivated,” which means that it was, of course. The list of Mexican on black and black on Mexican crimes is endless. In Fontana, there was a race riot about a couple months ago.
We really have spineless leaders that talk out of both sides of their mouth out here. The illegal immigrants are really a problem, and you don’t really feel like you’re in the US anymore.
Comment by Walt Schulte — 12.20.06 @ 5:29 pm
As a Ventura County, Ca. native son (54 yrs. old), I will second Mr. Doudi’s “motion”. The liberalization/feminization of American culture is taking us to precisely the picture he painted, whether we want to hear it or not. The perverse, weak-kneed Liberal officials at all levels have well demonstrated their proclivities by their fearful, pandering actions toward inner-city gangs, illegal immigrants and Muslim Jihadists.
Solzhenitsyn was right: when a nation forgets God and slops at the trough of pleasure and convenience, chaos is sure to follow.
God bless one and all…
Comment by Jim Robertson — 12.22.06 @ 9:43 pm