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






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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