Black vs. Brown

It has only been two days since I have started my blog and ideas are constantly flowing through my head on what to write about next. I had my blog topic all picked out for the day, until I picked up the LA times and saw LA County Sheriff Lee Baca's editorial on Black vs. Brown. (For anyone who wants to read it here is the link- http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-baca12-2008jun12,0,5498039.story?track=ntothtml)

Black vs. Brown is the name given to the high tension problems between African Americans and Latinos, a phenomenon that is most prevalent in large US cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.

I have often been one of those people that the Sheriff refers to, a person who is under the impression that the black vs. brown issue is over-exaggerated and exists more so because of gangs than because of race. Earlier this year, I came across a woman whom actually referred to the problem as "ethnic cleansing." Crazy? Maybe not.

I was certain that ethnic cleansing only happened in 3rd world countries, yet I must acknowledge that Sheriff Baca must certainly know more about inner city gangs than I do. Baca, who has been actively calling attention to the problem for the last 5+ years, told the press a few years ago "we’ve heard when the person out there can’t find African-American gang member to shoot, the shot-caller says: ‘then shoot any African-American you see, ’” and apparently that is exactly what they did. Ever since 1995, the number of non-gang members murdered by gang members of the opposite race has risen. The victims have included females and youth as young as fourteen (it must be noted that this also occurs with AA gang members murdering non gang affiliated Latinos).

This morning, it was almost incomprehensible for me to believe that two historically oppressed minority groups would turn their guns on each other. Now, I am beginning to understand. The problem is race, but not exclusively. Without conducting research on the issue, I can already tell you a major cause is a result of economic conditions. These groups are fighting because of a struggle over scare resources in which Latinos and African Americans are in direct competition with each other in the inner-cities. Youth join gangs for many reasons, but largely because they see that there is more monetary profit in the drug trade, than working at a minimum wage job (even someone with little or no education can come to that conclusion). Moreover, we have known for years that gang quarrels continue to erupt over control over the LA drug trade.

I am certainly not an expert on gang prevention programs, but I think funding them is reasonable spending. Personally, I would rather spend my tax dollars on a program, or send one to college free of charge, then pay for them to spend the rest of their life in prison for murder. I leave you with a quote from W.E.B. Dubois, "the chief problem in any community cursed with crime is not the punishment of the criminals, but the preventing of the young from being trained to crime."