Monster The Zoot Suits By Sanyika Shakur

Latinos created and adapted their own music,language,and dress to protect themselves from racism and white gangs during world war two. They wore a flamboyant long coat with baggy pants,a pork pie hat,a long key chain,and shoes with thick soles.In the 1940s lots of arrest and negative stories written int he Los Angees Times created a negative perception of the Zoot Suits. Although the Zoot Suits had a few African American members, they were dominantly a latino gang. Taking note on the Latinos movement African Americans began to come together and form small gangs that would allow them to protect ans serve their own communities. After World War2 African Americans and Latino Americans begin to spread in grow in population in east Los

He goes on to further explain how African Americans living in that time only formed gangs to create an atmosphere of unity amongst those who felt detached from society and/or their community. Shakur also speaks about his joining of a gang , and the actual nature of these gangs which were not territorial. Since the valuable positive organizations decreased,street gangs came back full in effect.In the late 1960s one of the most violent and unlawful African American gangs in Los Angeles were formed, the Crips.Two South Central High school students named Raymond Washington and Tookie were the original creators of the Crips. Tookie and Raymond claimed to have begun this gang only as a means of protection against other gangs in the area. Unlike the previous organized groups instead of adults working together against a bigger cause the Crips originated on campuses of High Schools in the Los Angeles area.Fremont High School was the home for “Eastside Crips” and the “Westside Crips”, while Compton quickly formed another fraction of Crips.Some gangs that were formed were the Rollin 20s Crips, 5 Duece Crip, Main Street Crips, and Kitchen Crip. Although these organizations used the Crip in their gang titles they often remained independent and held their own gang leaders and members. Crips had begun terrorizing their own neighborhoods and no longer protected themselves from society, instead they became gangbangers and protected themselves from