30122: Morse (comment) Bloods and Crips (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

oloffsonram@aol.com

I saw part of an interesting documentary on HBO the other day about the Bloods 
and the Crips, two Los Angeles gangs that gained notoriety a couple of decades 
ago. Í learned that these gangs developed from two political organizations; 
The Black Panther Party, which was quite famous when I was a kid and US (which 
I had never heard of). What intrigued me the most about the main interviewee 
was that he blamed the huge rise of membership in these gangs on the closing of 
factories in the L.A. area. No jobs available for the Black community and the 
youth. A lot of fathers, who by normal progression would have eventually gone 
into mid-level management positions, thereby opening up positions for the 
youth, were all suddenly out of work.

I've always felt the same way about Haiti. We can talk about Democracy and the 
Justice system till we're blue in the face, but if people aren't working and 
bringing home money for schooling, health and basic needs, then where are we 
heading? If we can't address the cause of gang creation, then shooting this 
current crop of gangs is like using a "band aid" for cancer treatment.

Haiti has been dominantly a agricultural society. What are the incentives for 
Haiti's farmers? In Brazil they grow sugar cane to provide gasoline for their 
cars. What are we doing here? Can't we help the farmers? Can't we get some jobs 
down here? We need an NGO for common sense.

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