• Growth and Development!

    Black street gangs will never be destroyed. You cannot destroy the side effects of a disease unless you destroy the disease. Black gangs are the by-product of racism, unemployment and the American prison industrial complex. These are not the sole reasons gangs exist in the black community, but they are three major contributing factors.

    Without the Spook Hunters, a white group that preyed on helpless blacks in the middle of the last century, there would be no Spook Town Crips. If jobs and industry were still in places like Westside Chicago, the need for the 4 Corner Hustlers would not exist. If we were not sending nonviolent young drug offenders to prison with violent adult felons, there would be no need for them to join the ranks of prison gangs simply to survive.

    Marry those real problems with a media machine that has figured out how to glamorize “gangsterism” (“American Gangster,” “Gangland,” “Locked Up”). You have a revenue stream that will continue to pay so long as the public’s morbid fascination with violence and perversion exists. BET, History Channel, Fox and CNBC win, and gangs and the community continue to lose.

    I, unlike most critics, do not believe gangs are simply community pests that need to be terminated like sewer rats. I believe gangs can evolve. Gangs can grow and develop into what the community really needs: manpower for organizers like Feed the Hungry and Get Out the Vote; safety patrols on street corners; small business supporters/owners; and social clubs that organize at the local, city and state level for the benefit of the community.

    This starts with self perception. Gangs see themselves as outcasts, outlaws and unwanted. This limits the organization’s ability to evolve.

    Gangs must first incorporate like motorcycle clubs. This will give them a much different perception of themselves and begin to change public perception. I cite the Conservative Vice Lords of the 60s and bike clubs, like the Hell’s Angels and the East Bay Dragons, as examples of organizations that have done this successfully.

    After the change in perception, there must be a community outreach effort: toy giveaways and active participation in local politics, like the GD’s did at Hoover’s request in the 90s. The organizations must become more like the Masons and Shriners and less like loosely organized cells of rogue criminals.

    Gangs have members and sympathizers in every walk of American life. If they can alter their image, they can gain public backing and support, but the change must be authentic. There has to be a goal of legitimization like Japan’s Yakuza.

    Corporate leaders and gang leaders share similar personality traits, and with proper tools and training, gang leaders can become businessmen. No longer can gangs hang in front of the liquor store, they must desire to own them.

    Unlike the current store owners in the black community, the gang members and leaders live there. Thus this money will stay in that community, helping youth athletic programs, after-school tutorials, and attracting federal empowerment zone monies to build and grow more ventures.

    NASCAR, with its ability to legitimize outlaw moonshiners and produce an American money-making monster, is proof that this is possible. This sport is still owned and run by the families that took up arms against the Feds during prohibition in the south.

    I watched “Gangs of New York” often, and the fact that sticks out most in that film is that gangsters and gangs were and are tools for politicians. Democrats and Republicans are the product of a gang mentality and manpower. They used them in old America, and the CIA used them in Jamaica. They use them in America today as trigger words to get voters to vote for more money to be thrown at “The War on Gangs and Drugs and the Poor.”

    If gangs and gangsters seek to survive, they must seek to thrive within the bigger society. They must plot, plan, strategize, organize and mobilize their greatest resource – manpower – and become a real force in the community. They must end their 40-year street beefs and reconcile with one another for the betterment of the greater economic good for all.

    This is working on the continent of Africa, where the crimes were far more heinous. Why not here?

    When gang leaders have expressed their desire to do this, they are crushed (Hoover, Fort). And when the community has supported organizations that became what gangs can be, those organizations were crushed (Panthers).

    When people have proposed what I did in this blog, they have been killed (Hampton, Pac). So my days may be numbered, but remember this can be done, it must be done, and I believe it will be.

    Black street gangs must grow and develop into what we need them to be or remain a tool for the incarceration and modern-day slavery system called federal and state prison that only profits the most corrupt gangsters – politicians. Fin. -It’s Bigga!
     November 10th, 2009  xxlstaff   6 comments

    6 responses to “Growth and Development!”

    • this is the most ignorant piece i have ever read. is the writer dumb to the fact that the biggest gangsters in the world wear suits and ties and come from so called respectable families and neighborhoods. you propose our mislead youth follow in their footsteps? why don’t we stop trying to integrate into a system that will never allow us true access? you have to sell your soul and join some fraternity in order to move up the social ladder. those young gang members you speak so highly of can be seduced to carry out any act for monetary gain. without a spiritual cleansing your gang utopia is a disaster far worse than our current problem. there’s a saying “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. giving up power to the gang mentality will beget more violence. the money masters will surely fund what you propose and we the people will be prisoners in our communities paying taxes to the state and some gang leader. the minds of today’s young people aren’t as progressive as the minds in the 60’s and 70’s. if it didn’t work then what makes you think it will work now? our enemies have laws and technology that you’re obviously not aware of. their techniques of controlling the masses will play out perfectly if your stupid plan ever came to fruition. please stop spreading nonsense and raise real topics that require our attention as a community.

    • strictlyhiphopnews
      November 11th, 2009 at 13:59

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    • i’ll try to be civil but Bigga’s rant really got under my skin. i apologize and respect his right to free speech. gangs wont go away because our enemies will make sure social conditions remain ripe for criminal behavior. i watch so called gang bangers everyday and they cant even complete a sentence. half of them haven’t completed basic schooling and the writer proposes we let them take over community businesses? are we gonna have gang aptitude test to find out who among them is best fit to lead? we all feel the need to belong and in the absence of a nurturing community our young people have fallen for the worst society has to offer. instead of giving the crips, bloods, gangster disciples, vice lords, ect free reign to muscle into legitimate business i say we open dialog and teach them about their rich history first. give them a sense of pride in being African first and American second. a spiritual awakening will have to take place before you give that type of responsibility to individuals that are used to cutting corners and getting it any way they know how. why are we always so quick to look up to criminals? why not celebrate the kids that are on the right path? they far out number the gang members. its not even in our dna as Africans to let kids run the community. elders have always held the highest authority in African culture.

    • I read the article, then view the comments by “upstart”. while agree with the point that there must be a spirtual awakening in our youth, I believe you underestimate the intelligence of black youth. Don’t forget many of the black panthers were teenagers and in their early twenties. Their ability to organize made the us govt very fearful. hewey newton, stokely carmicheal (etc). some of the theories they espoused still cause me to marvel at the sophistication of their intelligence.

    • IN MY HUMBLE OPINION UPSTART AND BIGGA SHOULD MEET AND TALK ABOUT WAYS TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE USING BOTH TECHNIQUES.
      Gangs have members and sympathizers in every walk of American life. If they can alter their image, they can gain public backing and support, but the change must be authentic. There has to be a goal of legitimization like Japan’s Yakuza.
      NO DISRESPECT INTENDED, BUT (BEGINNER) YOU SHOULD READ THE ARTICLE AGAIN, I THINK THIS IS A BRILLIANT PIECE OF LITERATURE.

    • i know dont underestimate anyones intelligence but i’m not naive. i dont think the black panthers made the us govt fearful. you would love to believe that because it makes you feel good. the panthers were backed by the communist movement and many of their theories came from the communist manifesto. they even sold the works of Chairman Mao to raise funds. this gave the us govt a reason to invade our communities and change the gun laws. laws that allowed us to protect ourselves from all enemies domestic and foriegn.


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