Sometimes words give your heart wings and it floats. Sometimes words hit you so hard you feel like the impact they leave is so deep it should never heal.
I have documentarophilia. Don’t try to look it up it’s not in DSM-5, I’m working balls hard to get it in 6th though. I watch a lot of documentaries; a lot is an understatement. I am thirsty, hungry–and voyeuristically there is no better way to fulfill the desire to know more then to see it. I like going places but having social anxiety means that talking to people is difficult. Documentaries gives me the benefit of someone else’s research and work. I can learn a dilettante’s wealth of knowledge in a short term and then branch out from there. It’s like taste testing topics of interest–the ones that really appeal to me I can learn more about: more documentaries, books, online classes, and depending on location, travel. The things that don’t appeal I can put on mental dump or watch a couple more documentaries to see if it was “them” or “me”. The world is really a beautiful and wonderful place. People, even though large groups scare me, are fascinating. History and time is so transient, given to shifting perspective and the whim of the powerful, it’s a personal imperative of mine to gain as much knowledge as I can before I am also lost to the whims and shifts of history.
Acquiring knowledge is something I feel everyone should undertake. Your ability to learn and understand is your gift to yourself. It is the one thing that regardless of where you are and who you are, you can work for yourself. Knowledge isn’t always secrets and power. Knowing that means you understand the world is relative and not just black and white.
Wisdom is a different animal. Wisdom comes from having walked the black, white and grey and understanding the lay of that landscape. It’s knowing first who you are in the world and what your world is. That is how I came to choose my quote for my #WisdomWednesday image today. I was watching the Stacy Peralta documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America and a former member of the Slausons Gang, Kumasi was talking about how the gang culture developed in South Central. Los Angeles in the 80’s. He was explaining the circumstances that these disenfranchised youth who were lacking strong male role models thrived within the streets that made up the territories of the Crips and Bloods. Here were these feral and displaced young black and brown teen men and the law enforcement was fostering a relationship that bred hostility and violence. I know that many people look back at the time from The Black Panther Party to Rodney King and white wash, or perhaps black wash, the entire three decades of African American struggle in American society and discount it wholesale, but these years exist and these lives were lived and lost.
Stacy Peralta’s documentary talks about the evolution of the black neighborhood in South Central from the 50’s on and how even before Los Angeles black and brown communities birthed gangs, their people had already begun to separate themselves into clubs and distinguish themselves apart from one another in their own communities. They segregated themselves while strong black leaders and ideology begged them to come together and then fell apart as all those leaders were killed or silenced. It wasn’t an instance that the Crips and Bloods were there because blacks in the ‘Hoods of Los Angeles were endemic and were always unlawful and given to murder and violence. There was a root to what gave life to the gang culture and Stacy Peralta gave a voice to that in his documentary, Crips and Bloods: Made in America.
Inspiration: Kumasi | Stacy Peralta | Documentaries
My Inspiration, Kumasi was a member of the Slausons Gang which took their name for their territory, 62nd and Hoover, the Slauson Park area. The Slausons formed in the 1950’s and were consider the first African American gang in LA. After the Watts Riots in 1965, the neighborhoods that had been mixed race in South Central prior to the riots went through what was called, “white flight”. The diaspora of caucasian residents left mainly black and brown skinned citizens in the areas and some of the Slausons branched off under the leadership of Bunchy Carter to form the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party. The purpose was to watch and police the police. The Black Panthers were present to keep the people in South Central safe. The LAPD and FBI under J. Edgar Hoover wasn’t having it and the COINTELPRO was created. The Co-Intelligence Program was a covert operation that’s purpose was to survey, disrepute, infiltrate and undermine domestic political interests and organizations; The Black Panther Party and Civil Rights Movement was high on J. Edgar Hoover’s list to neutralize.
It’s from this background that Kumasi has worked to mentor the youth of South Central. He’s advocated and educated for empowerment through unity and has worked to get the neighborhoods free of violence. He is a hero in my book and this is a quote that bruised me on impact, it’s an incredible message, I hope it leaves a scar.
Crips and Bloods: Made In America
South Los Angeles is home to two of America’s most infamous African-American gangs: the Crips and the Bloods. On these streets over the past 30 years, more than 15,000 people have been murdered in an ongoing cycle of gang violence that continues unabated. In MADE IN AMERICA, renowned documentarian Stacy Peralta blends gripping archival footage and photos with in-depth interviews of current and former gang members, historians, and experts, documenting the emergence of the Bloods and the Crips, but also offering insight as to how this ongoing tragedy might be resolved.
Stacy Peralta: Facebook | Twitter | Vimeo | Nonfiction
Crips and Bloods: Made In America: Wikipedia | IMDB | PBS | cinemagia | Matt Trailer
Los Angeles Community Outreach Organizations and Programs: Amer-I-Can | Homies Unidos | 2nd Call | G.R.E.A.T.
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