Gangs have been around for decades, they started out as being unorganized and rarely violent. Large white families from Europe came to America seeking a better life. It all began when the Native born Americans discriminated against these immigrants. The europeans had difficulty finding jobs and a place to live. They formed communities to join each other in the economic struggle.
In the 1940’s the population of Blacks and Latinos started increasing as people came to work to build weapons and ships for the military during world war 2. Although they were restricted on where they could live, some whites feared that the blacks and Latinos would start living outside of their restricted areas so they started having organized white gangs that would seek out Blacks and Latinos to harass and beat them up. The Ku Klux Klan which was racially motivated also emerged during this time. The first Black and Latino gangs were in response to these white gangs and for protection for the Black and
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Gangs started becoming more involved in the Civil Rights Movement and many members starting joining organizations such as the Black Panther Party and Brown Berets. The goal of these organizations was to have Black and Brown communities in control their business, education and employment instead of the rich white organizations controlling that. These organizations were also against the racial attacks that were happening during these times. The more these organizations flourished, the more gangs started diminishing. The police started breaking up these organizations by jailing members and some were even assassinated by the government. Street gangs started to come back after these organizations were broken apart. When these gangs came back they came back stronger and it was more about territories and crime. This organization was made in response to the high level of police harassment towards the Black