Thread: Racism's role in LA gang case rekindles debate UPDATED

Racism's role in LA gang case rekindles debate

By THOMAS WATKINS and CHRISTINA HOAG, The Associated Press
6:21 p.m. May 22, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors called their sweeping indictment of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang the biggest takedown of its kind in U.S. history.

That was sure to grab attention, but details buried in the court documents were bound to touch a raw nerve: One of the Latino gang's primary motivations was hatred of black residents.

It's the third time in recent years federal prosecutors have investigated a gang and found racism in its DNA, reopening a thorny debate that has publicly divided the region's top cops.

In dueling newspaper opinion pieces last year, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca maintained that race fueled gang violence while Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said skin color was seldom a factor.

"If you do a survey within the African-American community ... you are in constant fear that your young male offspring is going to be killed because of the color of his skin," Baca said in an interview after his piece appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

In an area both proud and sensitive about its diversity, racial tension has been at the heart of some of its ugliest chapters: from the zoot suit riot beatings of Latinos by white sailors in the 1940s to the deadly Watts riots in 1965 to the riots that erupted in 1992 after four police officers were acquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney King.

So-called brown-on-black or black-on-brown violence has been a long-standing concern in neighborhoods where black residents are being supplanted by Latinos. Acknowledging it, however, has political implications and officials often downplay the tension.

"Saying gangs make targeted racial hits can add a great deal of fear of communities," said Joe Hicks, vice president of Community Advocates Inc. and former executive director of the city's Human Relations Commission. "We are not on the edge of some kind of racial Armageddon here. It's just part of the picture, but it's a particularly frightening part of it."

Baca, an elected official, says his opinion comes from running the county jail system where he has to segregate inmates because of gang affiliations that break along racial lines.

Bratton works for a politically appointed commission and the Los Angeles Police Department has traditionally dealt with black gangs more than Latino gangs, though that is rapidly changing.

"Is there racial crime committed by gang members? Yes, of course," said Deputy Police Chief Charlie Beck, head of detectives under Bratton. "But if you are asking me if race is a primary factor in gang crime, the answer is no."

Having worked as a Boston cop in the 1970s when different races were bused between schools in an attempt at forced integration, Bratton is keen not to stoke racial fears, said Constance L. Rice, director of the Advancement Project, which studies gang violence.

"He comes out of some terrifying policing situations," she said. "He knows what happens when you don't handle this stuff right."
While U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien would not comment about the debate between the two, he said his office calls cases as it sees them.
"I am not concerned about political backlash for anything," O'Brien said.

The indictment of 147 alleged Varrio Hawaiian Gardens members and associates on charges ranging from racketeering to kidnapping and attempted murder marks the third time O'Brien's office has said explicit racial hatred plays a major role in gang crime.

Most gangs are formed along racial or ethnic lines, so turf battles can easily be construed as racist, though they're usually driven by desire to control lucrative drug territory or other gang business.

"Every time you see one case, it's easy to blow it up into a hate crime," said Malcolm Klein, a University of Southern California social psychologist. "I tend to downplay that."

But the cases federal prosecutors have brought often have involved innocent victims who don't belong to rival gangs. The Varrio Hawaiian Gardens investigation began after a gang member killed a sheriff's deputy.
In 2005, federal prosecutors indicted members of The Avenues, a Highland Park gang, charging them with hate crimes for killing a black man in what prosecutors called a campaign to drive blacks from that neighborhood.

Two years later, another indictment charged dozens of members of the Florencia 13 gang in south Los Angeles, saying the gang had killed black people because of the color of their skin.

The violence goes both ways, with the Grape Street Crips, a black gang, trying to force Latino residents out of a housing project in the Watts area of south Los Angeles.

Baca and Bratton's diverging views surfaced after the U.S. attorney unveiled the racketeering indictment against Florencia 13. The debate intensified when Jamiel Shaw, a black high school football player, was killed by a man prosecutors say is an illegal Mexican immigrant.

Much of the true racially motivated violence stems from directives from prison gangs, said Robin Toma, executive director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.

The Varrio Hawaiian Gardens and Florencia gangs took orders from higher-ups in the Mexican Mafia, a prison-based gang known to be highly racial.
Pinning gang crime on race can prompt a backlash from community members. Toma said he is already hearing anti-immigrant sentiment from black residents in Hawaiian Gardens and the surrounding area in south Los Angeles County.

"That's the real danger," Toma said. "It's difficult to keep a lid on this stuff when people are getting shot."

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=104069

The violence goes both ways, with the Grape Street Crips, a black gang, trying to force Latino residents out of a housing project in the Watts area of south Los Angeles.

I think pelosi got it mixed up?
These are the "Patriots"

They dont need to use violence but why cant our govt see that this is what We the people want?

These are parasites that infest everything at all levels and destroy the host.

This is good to hear, that the police down there are putting a name to the crimes being committed by these gangs.

Unfortunately, it also is extremely sad to hear that this is such an insidious problem.

While U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien would not comment about the debate between the two, he said his office calls cases as it sees them.
"I am not concerned about political backlash for anything," O'Brien said.





It's very refreshing to see someone not concerned about backlash for a change.

However, I think that backlash is exactly what's coming down the pike in the state of CA.

Between the massive arrests of Latino gang members in recent months.....most of them illegal aliens and/or anchor babies......the plan by the state government to cut off the freebies, state legislators, including Democrats, stating publicly that they don't believe that the federal government should bail the state out because things need to change, the inevitable, IMO, toppling of Pelosi from her pedestal, etc. and I can seriously see things getting ugly in California.

One of the guys here in the neighborhood, a plumber, was just talking about how some of the other Mexicans he works with have been talking about what's going on in California, and are angry....the anger being fueled by phone conversations with relatives bitching about the Latinos being "profiled" and "persecuted" because of race, so called "activists" like Elias Bermudez throwing fuel on the fire with the same old rhethoric about Latinos being scapegoated, targeted, one step closer to being herded en masse into "concentration camps", the arrests and proposed discontinuation of benefits being a government sanctioned "ethnic cleansing" of the indigenous peoples no differently than what was done to Native Americans.....blah, blah, blah.

Now, if that's here in AZ, what in the heck is going on in California? What's going on out there to stir up the Latino population, to fuel anger and revolt against this perceived "assault"?

The hold on the state, or at least half of it, as a territory "reclaimed" by Mexicans for Mexico, embedded politicians working for the good of Mexico and enjoying the cushy lifestyles wrought of crime and corruption, the free ride Mexican nationals have enjoyed, the impunity with which organized crime cartels have operated, all of the so called "activists" and organizations who found out that they could make a better living off federal funding than actual jobs, etc.......that's not even to mention how Mexico is going to feel about it.

I just cannot imagine that it's all going to be so easily just let go without quite a bit of "backlash".

I have Mexican relatives my grandfather's foster brother's descendants.

Originally Posted by Richard

I have Mexican relatives my grandfather's foster brother's descendants.

That brings up a very good point Richard.

It was a few years ago, but I remember seeing a story where a woman's grandchildren had been shot......little guys who were just out playing.....after latino gang members had committed a drive by in a black neighborhood somewhere in CA.

The children were going to be okay but this poor woman......absolutely heartbroken.....was talking about how the latinos were trying to drive blacks from the neighborhood and they had no idea how many of these people were actually of latino heritage themselves.

But she also pointed out that they didn't care either.....latino or not, first and foremost they saw black and for that alone they were willing to murder within their own group because that's how biased they are within their own culture.

It's sad.

We had a case last year where a group of Latinos went by the Police Athletic League and started yelling racist comments to the black teens. They basically wanted to start a fight but were unsuccessful as a police officer put an end to it very quickly. He also spoke to the teens telling them if it happens again not to reply, just walk away and let an officer know.

That was sure to grab attention, but details buried in the court documents were bound to touch a raw nerve: One of the Latino gang's primary motivations was hatred of black residents.

I always hear that Hispanics do not like black people. It makes me wonder why Al Sharpton and some other black leaders keep pushing for amnesty.

IMO, they stirred up a hornets nest by arresting massive numbers of gang members. I think its great and it will be intresting to see what happens next. I wonder how long it will take the ACLU or LaRaza to start calling the arrests racist.

The victim couldn't even speak English.

http://cbs4.com/local/wheelchair.robber ... 15439.html

Teens Arrested In Attack On Wheelchair-Bound ManMIAMI (CBS4) ―

Miami-Dade police have arrested two teenagers suspected of attacking a man in a motorized wheelchair for his necklace. The disturbing attack was caught on surveillance video.

Celedono Carrera, 66, was pulled from his chair and beaten in his own driveway at Ward Towers on 54th Street and NW 22nd Avenue. The public housing building is home for a number of senior citizens.

Seventeen-year-old Royce Simmons and 13-year-old Xavier Hyland will be charged with strong-arm robbery and battery on an elder.

Carrera was headed home after visiting a friend at the University of Miami hospital. He stepped on the Metrorail and noticed a group of thugs. According to Carrera, "It was a gang that runs through there. They dedicate themselves to robbing the elderly. They get on, and they watch and they signal each other. I noticed them, but I didn't pay any attention."

When Carrera got off at his stop on 54th Street, he noticed two men following him. "Since there were a lot of people in the streets, they weren't going to rob me in the streets, but when I came inside they came inside and they weren't going to miss the opportunity to rob me," said Carrera.

The first man dragged Carrera from his wheelchair; all the while, he fought back. "I gave him a punch right here. And cut him here. And I fought with him. And then he went to pull here and he took my big medallion that I had."

Prize in hand, the thug backed off just as another one moved in for Carrera's wallet. Thankfully, Carrera's neighbors stepped in and stopped this outrageous attack. "The people came out of the building and started screaming and they left," said Carrera.

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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