All language subtitles for (2008)MadeInAmerica[ING]

[Helicopter]

[Siren]

[Gunfire]

[Police radio transmissions]

Man: There's a war going on
in South Central.

[Sirens]

[Taser fires]

[Gunfire]

Second man: These Crips
and Bloods have been

Warring for 30-odd years,
one of the longest-running wars

In the history of this country.

Third man: There can always be
someone outside that's ready

To kill me because of
where I live at.

We go over there
and kill one of them,

And they come over
here and kill one of us.

Fourth man: It's like
we born into it.

You can't dodge or run away
or get out of this.

This is what it is.

Operator: 911.
What's your emergency?

Second man: Over the past
20 years alone in L.A. County,

There's been over 15,000
gang-related deaths.

[Siren]

Fifth man: If you had 15,000
people killing each other

In any other country,
there would be diplomats,

There would be mediators.
It would go to the U.N.

Sixth man: I grew up in the
hood. I was born in the hood.

I was raised in
the hood. I'm-a die in the hood.

I didn't choose my destiny;
my destination chose me.

[Wind blowing]

Whitaker: In the southern
portion of the richest city

In the richest state in America

Lives a cluster of
neighborhoods,

Their streets and boulevards
laid out in a grid

Between concrete ribbons
of freeway.

Ten miles to the west
is the Pacific Coast Highway

And the beaches of Santa Monica.

Five miles to the north
is Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Seven miles to the east is the
corner of Hollywood and Vine.

25 miles south lays
Orange County and Disneyland.

Surrounded by
the California dream,

This region has its own legacy.

On its streets erupted

The country's most violent
outbreak of civil unrest

Not once but twice.

It's also
the home of America's

Two most infamous
African-American gangs,

The Crips and the Bloods,

Whose bloody, 40-year feud
has taken 5 times as many lives

As did the long-running
sectarian conflict

In Northern Ireland,

Yet whose devastating body count
continues today.

But in South Los Angeles,
life wasn't always this way.

Male singer: * 1, 2, 1, 2

[Echoing]

* Hot

* Hot

Whitaker: In the 1950s,
3 friends from South L.A...

Ron, Bird, and Kumasi...

Grew up reaching for their piece
of the American dream.

Male singer: * Hot

The most significant thing
was when I went to join

The Boy Scouts.

OK, the Boy Scouts of America?

My mother takes me up

To the Scout troop at
Goodyear rubber plant,

Where the original blimp...
And from 1933 to 1983

Parked in our neighborhood
right there.

So, I go up there
to join the Boy Scouts.

My mother takes me up.

The scoutmaster...
uh, he was nice.

But he tells my mother,
"Well, I don't know,

But some of the parents
might object."

'Cause it was a white troop.

See, they say, "Be prepared."

"Do a good turn daily.

"A scout is... is trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly,

"Courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, brave, clean,

And reverent."

See, that's the Boy Scouts of
America: a bunch of racists.

Kumasi: We couldn't be
Cub Scouts,

Couldn't be Boy Scouts,
couldn't be Explorer Scouts.

We couldn't get involved
in organized activity

That would take us anywhere
that would bear us

Any kind of good fruit, you see?

So, we built
an auxiliary alternative.

Whitaker: With names like
"The Businessmen,"

"The Gladiators,"
and "The Slausons,"

Black teenagers began forming

Their own street-front
fraternities.

Our neighborhood was situated in
an area where we were assigned

And designated to a little,
small park on 62nd and Hooper

Called Slauson Park.

That's where our name
comes from.

Whitaker: The Slausons
would evolve

Into what many consider to be
L.A.'s first modern

African-American gang.

Kumasi: But we never
called ourselves a gang.

That was something
that the city and the police

Would describe us as.

We were clubs.

Wilkins: What drew me to Slauson
was that they mirrored

Who I was, and it made one
feel like one had some status.

And you had an identity now,

An identity that you didn't have
anywhere else.

There's a sense of family.

There's a sense of acceptance.

You also have a way
to wield some power

Because now you've got numbers.

Kumasi: We had rivalries
among ourselves,

And then we had rivalries with
people in other neighborhoods.

You had Slausons and Gladiators,
or Slauson and Watts,

Or Slauson/Compton.

Kumasi: But our ring
was on the sidewalks

And in the parks
and in the alleys.

That's where our rings was.

See, in those days,
we'd give you an appointment

For an ass-whupping.

Oh, you had to be there,

Because everybody else
in town knew about it.

They'd say, "Bird, how good
are those things?"

I said, "These things
right here?"

I'd say, "I will beat
your hairline"

"All the way back
to the center of your head"

And whup your sideburns off,

"Beat all the eyebrows
off your forehead."

That's what we call "woofing,"
though, you know.

But, yeah, I was good
with my hands.

That's why they'd say,
"Man, these are guns!"

You know, and you looking
for somebody,

Say, "Tell 'em
I'm gunning for 'em!"

But it wasn't really about
destroying somebody.

It was just a competitive thing,
you know,

Just competing with each other.

[Sirens]

Officer on radio:
127, this is Unit 16.

We have...

Bird: I used to get stopped by
the police all the time.

My mother always said, you know,
"What did you do this time?"

I said, "I didn't do anything,"
you know?

See, people, including parents,
could not believe

That the Man just stopped
you all the time.

Young black men in this society
have always been represented as

The most threatening figures
across the board.

Horne: They're viewed
as being people

Who will commit crimes.

Whitaker: From 1950 to 1966, the
Los Angeles Police Department

Was commanded by
Chief William Parker.

Boyd: Chief Parker
ran the police department

Like a military unit,

And the people who bore
the brunt of this

Were the black residents.

Shut it off and get
out of that car

With your hands up!

Get your hands up,
I said!

Drop that purse and
get your hands up.

Boyd: And so the cops were
treating these young black men

As though they were enemies,
as though they were in warfare.

Get 'em up!

Get your hands up
and go!

[Officer saying commands]

Officer: Right this way.

It was an open secret

That one of the tacit duties
of the LAPD was

To make sure people were in
the right neighborhoods

At the right time.

And Alameda Boulevard was
"the White Curtain" in L.A.

You didn't cross Alameda
for no reason at all.

Wilkins: East of Alameda,
these were white areas.

Lynwood, South Gate...
we couldn't go there.

You had cops
that didn't want you there.

And blacks that deigned
to cross the line

Were quickly put in place
by police officers.

Kumasi: There are barriers,

Invisible barriers,
social barriers,

And their job is
to reinforce that barrier.

Wilkins: We'd get stopped.
We'd get harassed.

"What are you doing here?

You're supposed to stay
in your neighborhood."

[Tires screeching]

Bird: One time I was
walking down the street

On 77th and Central,
and, uh, the Man said,

"Hey, you?"

I heard him, but I kept walking.

He said, "Hey, you?"

And they ran on the curb,
jumped out the car and said,

"Didn't you hear us
calling you?"

I said, "I heard you say 'you, '
but my name is not 'you.'"

So, you know, "Get up against
the wall," and such and so on.

And they tell me I look like
I've been robbing.

I said, "Well, how does
a robber look?"

He said, "He looks
just like you."

Wilkins: And so you feel
this sense of alienation.

You're culturally disoriented.

You don't have
a sense of identity

In terms of who you really are.

Horne: So the idea was to create

Not only a segregated society,
but the idea

That those of darker hue
were inferior

And should be treated as such.

[Camera shutter clicks]

Wilkins: And after a while,
you begin to internalize this,

And you develop
a deep-seated self-hatred

Because you see yourself
as having almost no value.

Up against the wall!
Don't move!

Kumasi: In a free society,
I'm walking down the street,

Police got the nerve to ask me,
"Where you going?

Where you coming?"

"Ain't none of your
damn business where I'm going!

"It ain't none of your damn
business where I came from!

The fuck you talking about,
"Where are you going"!

He gonna ask me,
"What are you doing here?"

"You go anywhere and ask anybody
else what they're doing there?"

Do you stop and ask anybody else
in this society, man,

"Why do you exist?"

You understand what I'm saying?

But you got the nerve to
ask me that all day, every day?

Now, what do you think
that does to me psychologically?

What does that tell me?

What message am I being fed
every day?

See, he don't understand
that every day he's feeding me

A spoonful of hatred.

Every day, that's my diet:
a spoonful of hatred.

You see?

And it's just a question of,
when is this going to erupt

And upon whom
is it going to erupt?

Am I going to attack myself?

Am I going to attack my brother?

You understand?

Am I going to attack
my own image in the mirror,

Or am I going to eventually
attack the cause of my anger

And my frustration?

But the point is,
I'm a walking time bomb.

I'm gonna go off someday,
somewhere on somebody.

The question is, upon whom?

[Helicopter]

Whitaker: At 7 p.m.
on August 11, 1965,

Near the corners of
116th and Avalon,

21-year-old Watts resident
Marquette Frye

Was pulled over by
the California Highway Patrol

On suspicion of drunk driving.

A routine traffic stop,

Until police insisted on
impounding Frye's car

Despite being less than
two blocks from his home.

Frye's mother, Rena,
who owned the car,

Joined the rapidly growing
crowd,

Who along with Marquette,
grew increasingly belligerent

Over what they felt was the
heavy-handed police response.

LAPD reinforcements were
called in, a scuffle broke out,

And Frye, his mother Rena,
and brother Ronald

Were all taken into custody.

[Siren]

The squad cars rolled away, but
the crowd continued to swell,

As word of the incident
swept through the neighborhood.

When I walked up
115th and Avalon,

Charles McWhorter
from the D'Artagnans...

I said, "Man, what happened?"

He said, "They jumped on
Marquette."

[Crowd shouting indistinctly]

Wilkins: We just got
more and more upset.

It was a cumulative thing.

It was one racist traffic stop
too many.

[Siren]

Whitaker: By 8:15,
over 1,000 Watts residents

Were surging up and down
Avalon Boulevard.

[Indistinct shouting]

But by 1 a.m.,
despite 29 arrests

And sporadic reports
of vandalism,

The situation was assessed by
the LAPD as being under control.

Officer: Clear the sidewalks
up ahead.

Please go in your homes.

Please go
in your homes.

Whitaker: Thursday morning
dawned tense

But relatively quiet.

At 2 p.m., a meeting was called
at a neighborhood rec center,

Assembling representatives
from various community groups:

Elected officials, the LAPD,
the media, and even Rena Frye.

I think that we must
stay off the streets.

I think the Civil Rights drive
in America has demonstrated

That violence will never be
the just end

To the grievances we have.

Whitaker: But cutting through
a call for order came a voice

That only the night before
was raised by thousands

In the street.

See, and I'm gonna
tell you something.

Tonight, it's gonna be another
one, whether you like it or not.

[Crowd clamoring]

No, no, wait, wait, wait!

Listen, listen.

We, the Negro people down here,
have gotten completely fed up...

[Audio track speed slows]

Kumasi: Our elders felt
you should bite the bullet,

Suck it up.

"We know it's wrong,
but you can show that

"You're greater than oppression
by outliving it.

Show that it doesn't work,
it doesn't destroy you."

[People shouting]

"And in the process,
we will take the beatings."

Their parents are coming
from places where black men

Are expected to step off
the street and say, "Yes, sir"

To a 12-year-old white boy...

Where black men
are lynched with regularity.

And so from their perspective,
Los Angeles looks wonderful.

They're certainly aware
of the flaws,

But they recognize
it's such an improvement.

Their children, however, have
a very different perspective.

Kumasi: We come along and say,
"We ain't gonna take shit.

You took it, and we're not."

[Siren]

[Overlapping police radio
transmissions]

Whitaker: By that afternoon,
crowds of African-Americans

Again fill the streets...

But this time facing
over 200 LAPD

And deputy sheriff officers.

So here we are
in a crowd at night

On Imperial and Avalon.

Things were in such disarray,

And we're facing
cops in the street.

[Siren]

Bird: And they went
to move the crowd back.

See, so when the Man moved
on us, we moved toward 'em.

[Indistinct shouting]

Wilkins: And so you're
looking at one another

And you're reading the eyes
of people in the crowd.

There's the body language that
says, "Let's go and do this."

[Single gunshot]

And then they fired
some rounds into the crowd.

[Two gunshots]

Said, "All right, it's on now."

[Gunfire]

[Alarm, siren]

Officer: Get on the ground!
Get on the ground!

Everybody, back up!
Back up! Leave it!

Get on the ground
right now!

You're under arrest!

[Indistinct shouting]

[Helicopter]

[Man groans]

Wilkins: We were throwing
rocks at the police

Who were in the street,

And they were taking position
up behind their cars and firing.

[Gunshot]

And I said, "Damn, they...
They're shooting at us."

The cops have weapons,
and they had a law behind them.

The citizens don't have anything
behind them but their own heart,

Their own desire,
their own determinations,

And they're really
fighting to survive.

Kumasi: And you cannot whup us.

We're already dead.
We're already beaten down.

We've been beaten down
for 400 years.

We've already got the wounds
inside and outside our bodies.

How you gonna hurt us?

You cannot threaten us.
You cannot frighten us.

We live in
the most frightening places

Under the most
frightening conditions.

We are immune to fear.
We are immune to harm.

You see what I'm saying?

You have stepped
into a cesspool.

You the only one
gonna get infected.

[Indistinct shouting]

Whitaker: By Friday morning,
additional police were called in

From all points of L.A.

To squash what authorities were
now terming "a full-scale riot."

Bird: They said
they called it a riot.

It was no riot. We knew
what the hell we were doing.

[Sirens]

Man: What you're seeing
is guerrilla warfare,

But the reason that
you can't see it is because

You never gave
the so-called Negro credit

For having enough intelligence
to be strategists enough

To practice guerrilla warfare.

[Siren]

[Gunshots]

[Helicopter]

Horne: But then
what happens is that it

Becomes a big newspaper story,

Which increases
political pressure

On the authorities
to do something.

Kumasi: And then they brought in
16,000 National Guard

Who don't know the terrain.

Horne: The National Guard,
in particular,

Is not necessarily trained

To engage
in civilian crowd control.

Wilkins: We wanted
to drive them out.

And so the question then is,
"What do we do?"

Kumasi: And we were
opportunistic fighters.

We didn't need stockpiles;
we got dilapidated buildings.

Here's a brick pile just waiting
to be thrown at your ass.

There's a dilapidated building;
ain't nobody living there.

You didn't fix it.
You didn't remove it.

OK, it ain't nothing but
a pile of bricks anyhow.

That's coming at you.

That whole building, brick by
brick, is coming at your ass.

That's what we're throwing
at you: the building.

The bullshit, the rubble,
the rubbish that we live in...

That's what's coming
at your ass.

Those are our weapons.

The filth, the funk,
the shit you can't stand,

That you defend,

That you put a barrier
between us and yourself...

That's coming at you.

It's coming at you.

Guardsmen: 1, 2, 3, 4!
1, 2, 3, 4!

Horne: At that point,
they went to the other extreme,

Which was the iron fist,
the iron hammer.

[Gunshot]

And this leads to
a virtual free-fire zone,

Where people could be shot...

[Man shouts indistinctly]

For making the wrong turn

At the wrong intersection.

[Gunshot]

The claim by police is
that these were looters

That were refusing orders
to halt.

The autopsies clearly show that
people were shot in the back.

[Indistinct P.A. announcements]

One has to really question
whether or not a human life

Is worth a bottle of beer
or a case of beer.

That is to say,
people were being killed

For what, in retrospect, were
the most trivial of offenses.

[Gunshot]

Boyd: The looting
didn't undermine anything,

Because we're talking about
desperate people.

We're talking about people who
have nothing, who see no hope.

[Glass breaking]

[Indistinct conversations]

Yorty: This is a criminal,
a lawless element

With which we're confronted,

And that the only thing they
understand is force and power.

[Excited chatter continues]

[Gunshot]

Wilkins: That's been
the one taboo,

Is that black people and other
oppressed people in this country

Are never to use violence
to achieve what it is they want.

But this country uses violence
whenever it chooses,

And then it legitimizes
the violence.

[Camera shutter clicks]

When you send me the message
that my life is of no value,

Then and how can your property,

How can
your society,

How can your civilization,
how can any of the mores

Or the rules
or any other monuments...

How can any of that
be of any value to me,

When all it has on the door
for me is a rejection notice?

I'm not allowed to look.
I'm not allowed to touch.

I'm not allowed to partake.
I'm not allowed to participate.

All my life, I was rejected
before I was born.

I am the most rejected.

Nothing is open to me.

And every time I knock
on the door and get rejected,

It takes a little something
out of me.

So how does it mean anything
to me that I should

Try to salvage it
or I should respect it

Or I should try to preserve it?

It stands as a barrier
before me.

It was there when I was born;
it will be there when I die.

Boyd: The fact that it took them
5 days to shut down something

They thought they could
shut down in a day,

Is a testament to that
revolutionary spirit.

Singer: * All our love...

Wilkins: And so there was
this sense of pride

That we had taken a stand,

And that we had sent a message
out to the world.

Singer: * It's a small step
for man *

* But it's a giant leap
for all mankind now *

Wilkins:
The newspapers in Europe

And other parts of the world

Carried the story,
carried these images.

And so in a sense,
it unmasked this country,

Showed this country
for what it really was.

Prior to the 1960s,
race riots, as they existed,

Were really riots of
white people marauding through

Neighborhoods where blacks were
living, and attacking blacks.

The riots of the sixties...
Detroit, Chicago,

New York, L.A...

These riots
are completely different

Because they're really
manifestations of black anger,

Black hostility,
and that's very new.

[Indistinct shouting]

Singer: * Declare peace...
peace and happiness *

* Change for us all...

What distinguished Watts from
the riots in Chicago and Detroit

Is that nobody thought
it could happen here.

Boyd: The whole environment
of L.A. was supposed to be

So much nicer than
other parts of the country,

But yet that image of L.A.
that's in the public mind

Had nothing to do with the large
numbers of black people

Living here in
segregated conditions.

Singers: * Peace and happiness

[Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground"
playing]

Wilkins: The other thing
that the rebellion

Represented for us

Was it helped accelerate
our consciousness.

From '65 until about '71,
gang activity in L.A.

Was at an all-time low
because so many young people

Were joining organizations like

The Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee,

Like the Panther Party.

Wonder: * People

* Keep on learnin'...

Whitaker: This growing
black pride movement

Saw the development of dynamic
African-American organizations

Committed to instigating change
from within.

Wonder: * World

* Keep on turnin'

* 'Cause it won't be too long

Whitaker: Former street fighters
like Kumasi, Bird, and Ron

Now fought the power
rather than other gangs,

Working alongside groups
like the Black Panthers

On civic programs that ranged
from free breakfasts

To neighborhood restoration
to political activism.

Wonder: * Believers

* Keep on believin'

Kumasi: All them youngsters

Were busy trying to rebuild
their communities,

Trying to build their future,
trying to figure out,

"Where the fuck do we go
from here together,

And how do we give ourselves
some kind of a future?"

Wonder: * Gonna keep on tryin'

* Till I reach
the highest ground *

Whitaker: But this new
black power structure

Quickly found itself

In the crosshairs of government
agencies like the FBI.

According to recently
declassified documents,

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
launched a covert

Counterintelligence operation
against the Black Panthers...

An organization he described as,

"The greatest threat

To the internal security
of the country."

[Gunfire]

Wonder: * Powers

* Keep on lyin'

They turned around
and squashed those movements.

Wonder: * While the people

* Keep on dyin'

Whitaker: Former Slauson
and Panther chapter founder

Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter

And John Huggins
were gunned down

At a UCLA Black Student meeting,

While Black Panther founders
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale

Faced arrest
and lengthy jail sentences.

Wonder: * Oh, no

* Till I reach
my highest ground *

[Gunshot]

Whitaker:
Within a few short years,

Many of America's
most influential,

Iconic black leaders
had either been incarcerated...

Or assassinated.

[Gunshot]

They ran 'em down.

They chased 'em down.
They hunted 'em down.

They murdered everybody
that they could,

And made everybody else
either go to exile,

Or they locked 'em up
in the penitentiary.

And when all that was over with,
a new element rose up

Called the Crips.

You see?

And the shit started again.

The original Crips
came out of our neighborhood.

They were the children
we passed by every day

And paid no attention to,
but they watched us.

We had the generation
our parents came from,

And we had the great
personalities

Of their generation
to connect with.

We had something to attach
ourselves to; they didn't.

They were born in a state
of suspended animation.

They were totally disconnected
and disenfranchised.

They're like a planet
out of orbit.

Whitaker: In the late 1960s

From the blacktop playgrounds
of Fremont High School

Emerged this new order,

Led by South L.A. teenager
Raymond Washington,

Generally credited as
the Crips' founding member.

In response, a number of
rival gangs formed an alliance,

Calling themselves "Bloods,"

A moniker adopted by
African-American soldiers

Serving in Vietnam.

With the opposing armies
now in place,

Battle flags were raised:

Blue for Crips,
and red for Bloods.

And exactly which set
or neighborhood

Drew first blood and why
may never be known.

Much of the firsthand knowledge
has been taken to the grave

By gang leaders like
Raymond Washington,

Who was shot and killed on the
corner of 64th and San Pedro.

Guys don't fight anymore.

We used to fight, but they
don't do that anymore.

Guns!

All about shooting,
taking 'em out.

Part of the mechanics
of oppressing people...

Is to pervert them to the extent
that they become

The instruments
of their own oppression.

[Gun cocks]

[Gunfire]

Whitaker: Over the next
4 decades,

Warring Crip and Blood sets

Would carve
the streets of South L.A.

Into a grid
of rival territories.

Today, these fractured
communities are home

To 5 generations
of urban soldiers.

These are Crips and Bloods of
all different eras and ages,

From different neighborhoods,
loyal to different sets,

Yet they
share one thing in common:

All have grown up at war
on the streets of L.A.

If you ain't from

Where I'm from...

Fuck you.

That's just how it is
where we come from.

That's just
the old motto:

"Kill or be killed."

Gee Active:
Once you go to enemy turf,

Anything can happen to you.

You come across Normandy,
you die.

You come across Vermont...
Pssh... I feel bad for you.

James: When I was gang-banging,
if you wasn't from my hood,

You don't come to my hood.

If you come to my hood and you
don't know nobody in my hood,

Then you die.

Young Dre: West side
of us is Bloods;

On the east side of
us is Crips.

We're just surrounded
in a box,

You know what I mean?

We're surrounded by...
By enemy sets.

This was created
over 20 years ago

To where the geographics

In the neighborhoods have
been separated by gangs.

Nikko De: Certain streets,
certain alleys, certain stores,

Certain schools, certain parks
were claimed as turfs.

Bow Wow: You can't go
to this gas station

And put some gas in your car.

You can't go
to that Burger King over there

'Cause you in
the wrong neighborhood.

[Helicopter]

You got some motherfuckers
that'll ask you

"Where you from?"
and you would tell 'em,

You know, "I ain't
from nowhere, homey."

You know what I'm saying?

But you got some motherfuckers
that won't ask you shit,

Just blow your head off
just 'cause where you at.

I done been jammed up,
guns all in my face.

"Where you from?"
I had to tell 'em.

You know what I mean?

Told 'em where I was from,
and the guns come down,

And I'm out of the situation.

B-4: I wish I can just go

And just be wherever
I want to chill with, man.

There's other girls
in other projects, man,

I just want to go through
and just see, man.

You feel what I'm saying?

My little, young hotties, man.

I can't even go there
and see my young hotties.

No everything.

I can't, man.
You can't do it.

[Siren]

My little brother
walk out the door to school,

6:00 in the morning,

And they shoot at him
as he's going to school.

So you got to think...

We talking about sick
motherfuckers in this world

Be up that early in the morning
just... you know what I'm saying...

To do some cruel shit like that.

[Indistinct shouting]

Young Dre: When we've been
burying one of our friends,

One of our comrades,

And we've had shootouts
at the funeral

Where another one of
our homeboy gets killed,

At the funeral!

You dig?

[Gunshot]

So as we live
amongst each other,

There might be one street...
It might be one gas station

That service
2 or 3 different gangs.

Well, when I get
to the gas station,

I have to find out,

What are your intentions with me
while I'm pumping gas?

So I cannot turn my back
and allow you to shoot me

Or hit me
in the back of the head.

I have to look you in your eyes
and see your intentions.

And when I look you
in your eyes,

I'm looking
to see if you're a wolf.

If you're a wolf,
and I'm a wolf,

Then we need to come
to some sort of agreement

So we can both
get out of here peacefully.

And if you're a pork chop,
I'm happy.

"Let me go on
and get my gas, pork chop.

I appreciate you being here."

When I was in the communities
talking to guys in the gangs...

In Watts, in Compton,
in Inglewood...

That so many of these...
Particularly the younger guys...

Had never seen
the Pacific Ocean.

In a gang-infested community,
there are situations

Where people will not leave

A given 10-block radius
for years.

Put it like this, man...
For those that don't go nowhere,

They got a fucked up attitude
about a lot of shit.

Why? Because they don't know
nothing else.

Kumasi:
And he's been taught, man,

That if you ain't quick,
you're dead.

It's what they call "slipping."

"Don't get caught slipping."

"Slipping" means relaxing,
being off-guard, not on point.

Not always hostile,
hard, ready to do and die,

And be the one who does
instead of the one who dies.

Scrap: You can't have hope
living there.

You have to be on your toes
at all times, man,

Because anything at any time
can happen to you.

Interviewer: Wait a minute.
You... you can't have a heart?

No, no, no.

You can have a heart,
but you better not show it.

It's sort of never
letting yourself be weak,

Never letting yourself
be seen as someone

With feelings, emotions...

Except for brutal force.

In the ghetto, you will be
taken advantage of.

You will be targeted.

Sharks will just eat you up.

So out here,
in the concrete jungle,

You got to be respected
as a man.

But in most cases,
respect is actually fear.

"You better respect me."

No, you better fear me.

Famous: You want to have that
hard look; everything is hard.

You want to be in that
right state of mind.

If you feeling good
about your dress code,

You gonna represent
to the fullest.

Feeling good about your dress
code... state of mind...

You feeling good about
your dress code...

Dress code.

You don't want to dress
like no sucker,

Not out in the world,
not in a gang.

Famous: [Echoing]
State of mind.

B-4: And that's all we know,
man, is looking good...

Famous: Feeling good about
your dress code, dress code.

And doing whatever it takes
to look good.

Famous: Feeling good
about your dress code...

Ha! I was on book tour,

And two guys were with
me in San Francisco

To be interviewed.

I knocked on the door
of their hotel room,

And they said, "Come in."

Singer: * What's up, yo?

Leon: And here are two

Of the most hardcore
gang members,

And one of them has got
his ironing board out,

And he's got
his traveling iron,

And he's ironing
his clothes.

[Spray bottle dispensing]

Flipside: It's the look,
man, you know?

We just get some starch
and we iron our shit.

It was like fashion,

To make your pants
stand up in the corner

With nobody in 'em.

Ha ha ha ha!

What about that!
You know what I mean?

[Helicopter]

[Indistinct chatter]

Interviewer: For somebody
that has no idea

Why a young man would do it,

What is the allure
and stuff?

I joined a gang not only
for the protection,

But for the love,
for the unity,

To be a part of a family.

[Indistinct chatter]

James: If you living in a ghetto
and you living in an environment

Where you're being assaulted
like I was,

I just got tired
of being a victim.

It's like either
you're the victim

Or you're the victor.

B-4: You raised into it.

It's not like you're gonna
get out of it some way.

You raised into it like

This is what they teach you
at a young age.

Bandana: I was really
a good dude.

Then, you know,
getting chased out of schools,

Getting shot at all the time,
and you like, "Fuck it."

I'm damned if I do,
damned if I don't."

Man: Compton... fool.

Caddy: I didn't get jumped
in this; I grew up in this.

My mom grew up
in my neighborhood,

My dad from my neighborhood,

All my uncles
from my neighborhood.

So I don't look at it
as, like, no gang thing.

It's just family.

[Indistinct singing on
soundtrack]

Gee Active: Looking up to all
my big homeys and shit,

They look down on me
and bless me, you know?

They give me what I need.

Singer: * Before long,
before long, before long *

* Before long, before long,
before long, before long *

Bandana: And that's why when
he's hooked up with his crew,

They feeding him,
they looking out for him,

They putting clothes
on his back.

"OK, but now it's time
to get in this car

And go get these niggers
that's just shot up my house."

What you gonna do?

What you gonna do?
You obligated to.

That man just fed you
all month.

So how can you
say no to that?

"Let's go kill these
motherfuckers

Because, man, shit,
you feeding me."

[Guns cocking]

Interviewer: How old were you
when you first got a gun?

Gee Active: My first gun?
I was, like, 10.

I probably
was about 12.

Man, I got my first gun
when I was 13 years old.

We got guns just to go
to school, you know?

If you don't have one,

You got to be around
somebody that got one.

I carry 2 or 3 guns.

'Cause if I run out of one,

I have another one.

I got a backup.

Naji: The AK-47,
the Uzi, the MAC-10...

You got big guns.

You ain't got .22s,
.38s no more.

These cats pulling out
9-millimeters

With 16 bullets in 'em.

Come on, man. How you
gonna survive that gunshot?

[Gunshot]

Big Girch: My generation
was the last that fought.

After my generation,
it was gun play.

There was no such thing
as fighting.

The kids today came
right in the game with guns.

That's why
there's so many murders.

T. Rodgers: That's made
a 12-year-old, a 13-year-old

King for a day.

Oh, my God, put you
in a whole 'nother state.

[Gunshots]

Man: Oh!

Just the sound within itself
said that you cleared the block.

Pow! Pow! Pow!

You cleared the block.

People close their windows,
shut their doors.

Car alarms go off.

The dogs and cats run,
ain't no rats.

I mean, you cleared the block.

And you standing there,
12, 13 years old,

With the pistol smoking.

And you stick it in your pocket
and you walk on home.

Shaka Blood: I think it's very
hard to use a gun

Against another individual
or a human being,

But once you block
that part of your mind out,

It becomes very easy.

You can watch 'em:
they become numb.

The first time, they're jittery.

You can just see
the nervousness in 'em.

And you come back and look
at that same person

After being involved
with the hood for a year,

And, I mean, they soldiers.

They're ready to get down.

Pete: These wars go farther back

Than most of these kids
been around.

A lot of 'em are not sure
about why the war was going on,

But they started doing
what was being done.

Caddy: Don't nobody like us,

But that's even before our time.

Before I was born,
it been like that.

So I just grew up into
making more enemies.

We at war with
a lot of people right now.

But being who I am and the shit
that I've been through,

I got a lot of love for being
a real motherfucker out here.

And that has saved my life
many times.

You know what I'm saying?

But at the same time,

It's another generation
that don't know me

And feel like they can get
a stripe if they get rid of me.

You see me,
you give me a pass.

I see you,
I might give you a pass.

Depends on how I feel.

Don't give me a pass,

Then you already know
what time it is

Next time you see me.

Nikko De: The game is
to hunt your enemy,

And whatever they do,
you counterattack.

They write on the wall,
you write on the wall.

They beat up somebody,
you beat up somebody.

They shoot somebody,

You shoot somebody.

[Sirens]

They come over here
and shoot one of us,

We go over there and shoot,
like, 3 or 4 of them.

Operator: 911.
What's your emergency?

We got to shoot back.

[Gunshot]

We got to do what's necessary
to survive,

And it became
a dog-eat-dog war.

[Siren]

When one of your loved ones
get killed,

Then what you expect to do?

You got to retaliate, because
your heart is broke, not theirs.

You know what I'm saying?

You in tears at the funeral,
not them.

So now you got to make them
feel the way you feel,

And this is a vicious cycle.

It just goes over and over
and over again.

[Tires screech]

[Gunshot]

[Police radio transmissions]

[Siren]

Dispatcher: Two suspects.

Suspect one: a male, black,
black hair, dark eyes.

Dark complexion
and medium-length natural.

Suspect two: male, black...

[Transmission continues,
indistinct]

White t-shirt.
No further description.

Big Girch: Even though I'm
in the game I'm in, I pray.

Interviewer: But how do you deal
with the moral argument, man?

I ignore it.

I don't pay attention to it.

There's really no room
in this... in this world

For soft motherfuckers, man.

Soft motherfuckers don't eat.

I wrestle with my moral issues
a lot, man,

Because I know that, ultimately,
this ain't the way that God,

Or society, intended it to be.

So a lot of times, man, I know
morally, I'm a good individual.

But sometimes I got to put that
moral state of mind behind me

And become an animal.

[Film projector reel spinning]

[Singing spiritual
on soundtrack]

Prior to World War II, 85%, 90%
of the black population

In this country
lives in the South.

[Singing continues]

Boyd: Black people had primarily
lived in the South

Because of slavery, and
the South was a rural agrarian

Or farm economy.

[Singing continues]

[Whistling]

Sides: World War II ushers in
a series of transformations that

Radically change the nature of
black history in this country.

Blacks, for the first time,
are invited en masse

To work in America's industrial
arsenal for democracy,

Building those tanks,
building those planes,

Building
those ships.

Between the 1940s and 1970s,

You see over 4 million
African-Americans

Leave the South in ways that had
never, never occurred before.

Head for New York, head for
Chicago, head for Los Angeles.

For the first time,
they were integrated

Into the American work economy.

They were earning enough
to be lower middle-class

Homeowners in L.A.

And to establish,
if not exactly,

A very close similarity
to the American dream.

L.A. didn't have
the overt history with racism

That one had in the South.

Sides: There were no laws
that said blacks had to ride

On one part of the bus.

There were no laws
that said blacks

Had to be in certain schools.

There were, however,
an extremely exclusive web

Of racially restricted housing
covenants that kept blacks

In particular areas
and out of other areas.

Whitaker: These covenants
mandated the sale of real estate

Along racial lines in an effort
to keep traditionally white

Neighborhoods free
of non-desirable homeowners.

Sides: Sometimes "non-desirable"
meant Latino,

Sometimes
"non-desirable" meant Jew,

Sometimes "non-desirable"
meant Asian,

But it always meant black.

And so those racially
restrictive covenants,

Which didn't disappear

Until the late forties
and early fifties,

Essentially kept blacks
circumscribed

In a very narrow portion
of the L.A. County region.

Boyd: Black people
were sort of forced to live

On top of each other

Because it just wasn't possible
to live where you chose,

Even though you might have
been able to afford it.

[Horn honking]

Whitaker:
South L.A. residents responded

By transforming
their allotted territory

Into a thriving cultural hub,
with Central Avenue developing

Into a sort of Harlem West.

[Woman laughs]

Sides: West Coast's
best jazz clubs,

Dozens of black businesses
lining the street,

People dressed in their
Sunday best on the weekends.

A period during which the most
affluent and the poorest blacks

Live, essentially, side by side.

Whitaker: And then
with World War II's end,

L.A.'s wartime
economy adapted itself

To a booming
automotive industry,

With major corporations
like GM, Chrysler, Ford,

Goodyear, and Firestone

All establishing factories
in South Los Angeles.

Boyd: You work in a factory,
you got good benefits.

You could buy a house.
You could buy a car.

You could raise
a family.

You could live a working-class
or lower middle-class life.

Sides: It was a moment of
unprecedented black prosperity

In which the trajectory of
black America was on the rise.

People were getting jobs.
People were buying homes.

People
were buying cars,

Sending their kids to colleges.

It was a moment
of real optimism.

Horne: In the late 1950s,
you begin to get the first wave

Of what came to be called
de-industrialization.

The American economy
is changing.

We're moving from an industrial
economy into an economy

Based on service,
based on information,

Rooted in technology.

Sides: That is,
it's high-skilled, high-wage,

High training on one hand,

Very low-skilled, sweatshop
labor on the other hand.

Blacks find
that their skills don't fit

Into either of those demands.

They don't have the education
or the skill or the training

Because of historic
discrimination

To work in aerospace.

On the other hand, they don't
feel any desire or need

To go into the low-skilled
service-sector jobs

Like hotel cleaning, like
sweatshop work in downtown L.A.,

Because they don't
perceive that as jobs

That American citizens
should have.

Boyd: We're not talking about
people who had careers.

We're talking about people
who had jobs.

If you have a job,
you are dependent upon that job.

So when that factory closes,
you are, in essence, ass out.

Sides: By the late sixties,

You see those plants
beginning to disappear.

When they disappear,

There is virtually
nothing left in their wake.

And so it leaves a gaping hole
in the economy of that region...

[Crows squawking]

With consequences
that are just enormous.

Generationally, in America,

It's supposed to be
about the American dream.

People are supposed to move up.
They're supposed to elevate.

We're talking about
a situation where, in actuality,

It went in reverse.

The children, over time, began
to do worse than their parents.

Whitaker: In 1975,
"The Los Angeles Times"

Sent reporters into the streets
to assess progress

In the city's black communities

10 years after
the Watts rebellion.

"The fearful live

"Behind protective bars
and double locks.

"High schools are graduating
functional illiterates.

"Some black people
have got businesses;

"Some professionals have gotten
into significant jobs.

"But if you talk
about the masses,

"Or that guy
who was in trouble in 1965,

It is more difficult now."

"For the black in the ghetto,
the goal is survival."

Singer: * California love

* Ooh

* California

* Knows how to party

* California

* Knows how to party

* In the city of L.A.

* In the city
of good old Watts *

* In the city, city

* Of Compton

* We keep it rockin',
we keep it rockin' *

Can I ask you
a few more questions?

Yeah, definitely.

Hold on. Let's just
let this settle.

I don't want to lose
what you say.

[Helicopter, sirens]

Huh. Sirens, huh?

How about if they're going
on all night and all day?

All night... all day.

Singer: * Doing your own thang

Second singer: * One day

First singer: * Doing, doing,
doing your own thang *

Second singer: * One day

We've had Hurricane Katrina
going on right here,

Been going on.

Gang of refugees,
if you want to call them that.

We're displaced
like a motherfucker.

[Siren]

[Fire truck horn]

Skipp: A helicopter
flying overhead

Might not be acceptable
in Brentwood.

However, it's something
that occurs every 2 or 3 hours

In my community.

Basheer: In the South Central
community,

Basically what you have
is empty fields,

Broken-down businesses,
if you have any businesses.

Kal Boneski: Every corner,
you got a liquor store.

You got all the different things
that help make you less stable.

Take a walk down Adams Boulevard
from Crenshaw to Vermont,

And you tell me
the opportunities

That are available.

Low-income housing,
5 or 6 churches,

Gang violence, crack.

Singer: * One day,
one day, one day... *

Whitaker: The introduction
of crack cocaine

Onto the streets of
L.A. in 1981

Proved to be
a major tipping point

For an already vulnerable
community.

[Siren]

Scrap: When cocaine
came into our area,

It broke up a lot of homes.

You know, a lot of people just
thought crack was the way out,

You know, without even
thinking about their kids.

You know what I'm saying?

That what broke
a lot of homes up.

If that crack would've never
came, you'd probably still have

Nice little homes and nice
little families, you know?

But when that came, that, like,
tore everything apart.

Interviewer: But let me
ask you, man.

Did you have
a conventional childhood?

Hell, no. Dysfunctional
ass family.

Can you tell me about it?

Pssh. Fucked up.

Father?

He out of here.
He been gone since '93.

I was raised without
a daddy, basically.

So I had to be a man
on my own,

Take care of my mama
and shit: my Gee-moms,

My family, my little
brothers and sisters.

See, I had to do
this shit by myself.

How do you advise your
little brothers and sisters?

Pssh.
"Do what you do."

What else can I
tell 'em? Look at me.

James: I grew up watching my dad
beat the hell out of my mom.

I watched my father...
An alcoholic...

And I smoked PCP with my mother.

You know, I mean,
I grew up on drugs, man.

I mean, you know,
I got kicked out of tenth grade

For selling weed for my mom.

My mom was on drugs.
You know what I'm saying?

Now she cool, you know,
but back when I was younger...

My dad... he in a federal
penitentiary 12 years, you know?

I grew up in a house
where my grandmama,

My uncle, everybody
was selling drugs.

You know what I'm saying?

I grew up to where,
when the police raiding,

They handing me drugs to hide
and all this old stuff.

Skipp: I grew up in a home
where my mother worked 2 jobs

But had 3 boys.

So you can imagine
we were unsupervised,

So I found my supervision
outside of the home.

She was too busy
making a living...

Than to love me.

Even though she tried
and did the best that she could,

It was not enough.

I could say that my whole life,

I was trying to figure out
why my mother didn't love me,

Or why my mother
didn't show me love.

If she could say it,
she couldn't show it,

Meaning that she never once
gave me a hug or a kiss...

It'd be $20, because she would
have to go somewhere.

But all the while, I saw her
chasing other men, other people,

And giving them the love
I thought I should have.

It made me act out.

It made me resent her
in a certain way.

Only because I could've
resented my dad,

But he never showed me
the negative imagery.

He just was gone.

So all I had was
a thought of who he was,

And who am I?

Big Chan: There was a lot of
black kids in the neighborhood

That just went the opposite way.

Or when the gangs was outside,
they didn't come outside.

You know what I'm saying?

They had some parents that,
"Get in your books,"

And stayed on 'em.

But if everybody had that,

Then a lot of things
would've been different,

But that wasn't the case.

A lot of minds are messed up

Because they don't have
that support.

They don't have no
one that really got their back.

They don't really have
no one who understand them.

You got the homeys down
the alley drinking some 8-ball,

And they tell you,
"You are something.

We love you,
and you can be a part of this,"

Then where you gonna go?

Kumasi: The common thread

Throughout all of
these conversations

And throughout
our community seems to be,

For the most part
the absence of a father,

A male figure,
a father figure in the home.

I wasn't taught at all
about manhood.

I was raised
by my great-grandmother,

My grandmother, and my mother.

There was no male figure.

There was no role model for me.

So if you come up in a home
when there is no male influence,

There's no strong
male influence,

Then, uh, everything
is going to be out of whack.

The people that taught me
taught me wrong.

Taught me how to be hard,

Taught... taught me how it was
about being tough.

You gonna teach me how to be
a man by just fighting.

You tell me to fight somebody
or go shoot somebody.

That's the way they taught me
being a man.

Brown: You have a subculture
of young black men

Pretending to be men
by killing each other.

Or by standing up
in a bravado manner.

But they're misguided.

Well, I'll sit here
and I'll tell you

That I didn't become a man
until I was 38 years old.

Because I had to hold
the hand of a man.

It was just that simple.

A man had to stoop low enough
to take me out of the gutter

And say,
"Hey, this is the way to go.

This is what you do.
This is how it's done."

Nowadays, the fathers,
or the black men my age,

Are either dead or in jail.

And one of the problems
we have is

If they're going to try
to arrest the problem,

That means they're putting
all the black men in jail.

Whitaker: A 2003
Bureau of Justice report reveals

That 28% of African-American
men, more than 1 in 4,

Will be jailed or sent to prison
in their lifetime.

[Heavy door slams shut]

We have engaged in this country
in an absolutely historically

Unprecedented experiment
in mass imprisonment.

We now have an imprisonment rate
that is 6 to 7 times higher

Than it has ever been before
in our history.

Singer: * It's a hustle
called capitalism *

* Got my niggers in prison
or stuck in the system, yeah *

Whitaker: In 2007, California's
governor announced plans

To spend $7.4 billion

To build 40,000 new prison beds.

Singer: * I'm from a place

* Where the fuckin' Terminator
is the governor *

Boyd: You look at
the population of the people

In the penitentiary,

Particularly from
the 1980s going forward,

Black men are disproportionately
represented.

That's the new cotton field
right there: the pen.

Singer: * Concrete slave ships
never move *

* Where niggers like us
get used like a mule *

* Don't let 'em catch you,
arrest you *

* Strip and undress you,
throw you in a cesspool *

Gilligan: What this means is
we are breaking up

Even the possibility
of there being intact families

With a mother and a father
present,

Raising a child together.

Singer: [Echoing]
* The nigga trap

Gilligan: Because we are sending
the men off to prison

At unprecedented rates,
usually for nonviolent offenses.

Singer: * The ghetto
is a nigga trap *

* Take the cheese

* Soon as you do it,
here come the police *

* Invented and designed
for us to fail *

* Where you gonna end up dead
or in jail... *

Whitaker: Even with time served,
many of those determined

To start a new life find
little freedom in their release.

I go to get a job.

I'm working for Xerox,
and I lied on the application

And they found out I was
on parole, and I lost my job.

I used to be jealous of my wife

Going to work every day.

This is my wife...

A woman that stood by me,
grew up with me, been with me

Ever since we was kids.

And she would go out the house
and go to work, and I would be

Mad at her, because she could
go to work and I couldn't go.

I would be mad because she was
paying the bills

And I couldn't pay the bills.

Man. I felt like, man,
we over here, man,

We locked in a box, man,
no matter what we do.

You get a record... pssh...
You not getting nothing.

I just got out the pen.

They don't want to hire
me 'cause I'm a parolee.

So what I'm
gonna do?

Just sit out here
and be broke? Stop it.

Either I'm gonna sell
some weed,

Some dope, some crystal,

Some heroin,
or I'm gonna rob.

Interviewer:
To make ends meet?

That's the bottom line.

I'm not gonna see my
nephew, my son,

My mama,
or nobody's daughter,

Because these
motherfuckers

Won't give me no job.

So I got to do what
I know how to do.

There's never no cycle

To get us out of this.

There's just a cycle
to get us back into it.

So, of course, people
are going to behave in ways

That are anti-social,

If we don't let them
behave in pro-social ways.

Tony Muhammad:
When you hear America saying,

"There's going to be a war
on crime,"

To a black person, that means

That's a war on black people.

Maniac Bey:
When they say, "a war on gangs,"

I say, that's a war on me.

When they say "war on drugs,"
I say, that's a war on me.

Every war they got is a war
against me and my people.

We need to come in here
and solve this problem,

Not attack this problem,

'Cause here's a people
that's already angry.

I don't have nothing to lose
if you attack me, sir.

I'm being attacked
every day, anyway.

I'm being
shot at every day anyway.

So you shooting at me,
you putting me in jail

Don't mean nothing to me.

Hayden: That's where the
"gang problem"... so-called... is.

It's been redefined as a crime
problem and a gang problem.

But it's really
an issue of no work

And dysfunctional schools,
and so on.

Gilligan: We know that
what we've been doing to deal

With gang violence
isn't working.

But we just keep doing the same
thing over and over again.

And then we say, "Well,
the fact that it isn't working"

"Doesn't mean that we're acting
out of ignorance,"

Or, "Maybe we need to learn
something."

We say, "It just proves"

That these kids
are unredeemable."

Hayden:
It's a belief that our society

Did not contribute to
the formation of this problem.

It's the story of the scapegoat.

The gang member
is the scapegoat.

Nothing's our fault.
It's their fault.

We didn't create them.

They're inevitably incorrigible.

[Sirens]

Singer: * Hit it, hit it!

Whitaker: This
continuing atmosphere of denial

Virtually guaranteed that
history would repeat itself.

On April 29, 1992,

27 years and 5 miles
away from the flashpoint

Of the 1965 Watts rebellion,
rioting again broke out...

The most violent,
costly outbreak of civil unrest

In U.S. history.

Singer: * I got so much
trouble on my mind *

* Refuse to lose

* Here's your ticket

* Hear the drummer
get wicked... *

Whitaker: The explosion
of angry protest

Was touched off by the outcome
of the controversial

Rodney King/LAPD
police brutality trial.

Singer:
* Man, I've had it up to here

Wilkins: The message to
the community is that

The system does not
deliver justice.

It does not work for us.

So we have to find
our justice on the streets.

Singer: * My home is your home

All: No justice, no peace!
No justice, no peace!

Singer: * But welcome
to the Terrordome *

Different singer: * Yeah!

[Sirens]

* Come on down

[Overlapping samples]

Whitaker:
But unlike the '65 rebellion,

Which was primarily
contained to Watts,

The flames of '92 burned
their way to the very doorstep

Of bordering affluent
communities.

Singer: * Uh!

Different singer: * Would you
join me, please *

* In welcome-in-ing

Marcus Garvey used to say
that when all else to fails

To organize the people,
conditions will.

Kumasi: And therefore, in
1992, the reasons all clustered

Together, and it happened again.

Singer: * Uh

[Laughter on music recording,
overlapping samples]

[Indistinct voices]

Whitaker: In the aftermath of
'92's uprising, a high-profile,

Private sector initiative was
formed to create Rebuild L.A.

The $6-billion investment
program defined its goals

As "long-term, systemic change,"

And promised to create
74,000 new jobs

Within the riot zone
over the next five years.

At the same time,
a tentative truce

Between several
Crip and Blood sets,

Helped establish
a tone of optimism

For South L.A.'s
war-weary community.

[Indistinct cheering]

Whitaker:
But just one year later,

With many South L.A.
neighborhoods still in ruin,

Rebuild L.A. quietly closed
its doors.

Hayden: A young generation of
kids heard about this promise.

They momentarily
got their hopes up.

They committed
to this peace treaty.

And instead, they learned
that it was just another

Fork-tongued promise of the Man.

[Explosion on soundtrack]

It failed.

We should have known
what the future would be

In other cites
from here to Baghdad.

Singer: * Compton!

Different singer: * Straight
outta Compton *

Whitaker:
Gang warfare would resume

And for the next 15 years
continue unchecked

With almost no effective
outside intervention.

Singer: * See, 'cause
I'm the motherfucking villain *

* The definition is clear

* You're the witness
of a killing *

And you know what?

Everybody looks at them
and says,

"You're the worst
motherfuckers in the world."

"We don't like you.
We don't want you."

"We don't even want
you to survive."

We want you to go away.

"We want to pretend
like you don't exist."

Singer: * I'm comin' straight
outta Compton *

* Compton

Different singer:
* When something happens

* In South Central Los Angeles

* Nothing happens

* It's just another
nigga dead *

[Echoing]
* Dead, dead, dead...

This is my grandson.
His name was Mark Cornelius.

He was 17 years old,
a very promising young boy.

And in 1996, he came here
to Los Angeles to visit me.

I begged my son to allow
him to come

From Yuba City, California,

To visit me.

He was here 3 weeks.

And he was shot and killed
10:30 in the morning

Walking across
the street,

Headed for Dorsey
High School.

He didn't have
gang colors on.

He didn't even know
too much about the gangs.

As a matter of fact,
he said... to him...

When I warned him about
where to go

And where not to go,
he said, "Grandma",

"This is America."

"This is where we're
supposed to be free."

This is where we're
supposed

"To be able to walk down
any street we choose."

And the next day,
he died

Doing what he thought
was his right.

Pete:
Death is a way of life now

In our communities.

Muhammad:
Can you imagine a society

Where mothers
are burying their children

Instead of their
children burying their mothers?

Pam: It's OK to cry.
You have to cry.

I have to cry in order to...

To keep going.

I have to cry

'Cause if I don't cry

And I keep all the anger
up in me, I may do something.

You know, people say,
"Oh, you can get over it."

Hell, no, we can't.
We just get through it.

Just get through it.
We'll never get over this.

You didn't take my dog. You
didn't foreclose on my house.

You know, you didn't,
you know, repossess my car.

My son was murdered.
He just didn't die.

He was murdered.

Woman: So when I finally
went back to school,

I was always crying.

And it was amazing...
All the kids,

I look around and they're
like all, you know,

A lot of the girls
all teary-eyed

And even some of the boys.

And then I would ask
them, "How many of you guys"

"Know somebody... an
uncle, a father, a friend,

A schoolmate who was murdered?"

And when at first I asked
that question

And 3/4 of the class
raised their hand,

I just broke down in tears.

[Sounds of children playing]

[Sounds of sirens, police radio
transmissions]

Whitaker: A recent comparison
of twin psychological studies

By the LAUSD
and RAND Corporation, indicates

That children
in South Los Angeles

Are exhibiting greater levels

Of post-traumatic
stress disorder

Than children of a similar age

In Baghdad,
the war-torn capital of Iraq.

Vicky: And if
they don't get resources

For these youngsters,
what's going to happen?

You got another group
of angry children,

Another group of killers.

Interviewer: If someone
right now said,

"What do you want
in your life?

I'll give you
anything you want,"

What would it be?

Pssh. Man, one thing?
Just one thing?

Freedom.

Big Girch: My wish would
be for Crips and Bloods

To realize that everybody
else is against us.

And if we don't come together,
it's gonna be over for us.

Interviewer: So if
the resources were here,

You're saying these kids
wouldn't choose gangs?

No, man. No, man.

You choose that
'cause there's no hope.

You... you in...
You're in no-man's land.

There's no hope.

People taking choices
of going to college,

And like, that's, like,
making a choice.

Here, you ain't
making no choice.

There's no choice.

It's like you
waiting for somebody

To come save you, man.

And you just ain't gonna
never get saved, man.

I did the gang-banging,
the stomping out the sets,

The getting shot,
the drive-bys,

The getting shot
in drive-bys,

To going to jail...
To all that, right?

But had I had a chance
or someone else tell me,

"Fool, you playing
the devil's game!"

Since I been
in the gang, man,

I done been
to the county jails,

To several penitentiaries

And back and forth
through war,

As far as gunfights
and stuff.

So this perception
that gang-banging

Is wonderful, that it is
the lifestyle to live,

It's no lifestyle
to live, period.

Your reward for
gang-banging is

To be crippled,
lame for life?

Your greatest reward
is life plus 40 years.

Your ultimate reward

For gang-banging is death.

And you don't come back
from that.

[Sirens]

Whitaker: Today,
the streets of south L.A. have

Given rise to a new sort
of gang

Determined to fight not
simply for turf or colors,

But for the lives
of the next generation.

Basheer: I work with
about 400 or 500

High-risk youth every month.

The first thing I do,
I apologize to them,

Because I have to let
them know,

My generation has failed
you miserably.

See, I'm 51 years old.

I've been through decades
of this structure.

So, let 'em know that,

"Hey, we have done
some wrongs

Just like you
doing wrong."

Whitaker: These peacemakers,

Many of them former
gang members,

Have stepped out
from behind the guns

And are now standing
between them,

Literally
risking their lives

With the formation
of street-level

Gang intervention
organizations.

Privately funded,

Receiving almost
no support from either state

Or federal governments,
these grassroots movements are

Taking the first crucial steps

Towards stopping
the cycle of gang violence.

Bo Taylor: People who care, who
want to see a better community,

Who want to see
a better country,

Man, we got to start
getting together

And having some sit-downs

So that we don't keep
breeding generations

And generations who only think
that that's the way to go.

An alternative to that lifestyle
has to be put in place.

And if they want to see change,

Then they're gonna
have to be willing to invest

In that alternative lifestyle.

Man: One thing my son
told me one day was, "Daddy?"

I said, "What's up?"

He said, "I know how you get
your money."

I said, "How do I get
my money, son?"

He said, "Them dirty
people come up."

You give 'em that white
stuff, and they give you money."

I said, "Is that right?"

So, he took off
and rode off on his bike.

And it set me... I sat there
thinking and wondering,

"Damn, my son really out
here watching me

Doing what I do."

So, if I still continue
on robbing...

Whatever it is... he's
going to do the same thing.

Right then, I made
a choice in my life...

Whether I was going to stick
by them or stick by us.

"Us" is meaning me and
my neighborhood and my gang,

"Them," meaning my kids.

So I chose to stick with them.

Turned around a little bit.

Now, I'm a coach,
a role model, a proud parent.

And I'm living.

Skipp: I'm the one
who prevented my own self

From going to different areas.

I prevented it
because of my mentality

And because of what I did,
how I dressed,

How I carried myself.

If I went into an area
and I'm dressed in all red,

I'm looking for problems.

And I would be
looking for problems.

I'd be looking
for the guys in blue.

I'd be looking for
the guys that look at me.

And when they looked
at me now I'm ready

To deal with this problem.

I'm ready to show my anger.

I'm ready to show
my ignorance,

That I can get just
as stupid as you.

But when I stopped
that mentality,

When I started
dressing differently,

Well, I started
thinking differently.

I've increased my freedom
to where I will go anywhere.

And when I get there
and see certain individuals,

They will say, "Well, that's
Skipp from over there."

And we go,
"Hey. How you doing?"

And we can talk now.
And it's not a problem.

I go to
everybody's neighborhood,

And it's not a problem.

Interviewer: How do
you like that?

Love it. I love it.
I truly enjoy it.

[Singing on soundtrack]

Gilligan: We are a democracy.
We have the resources.

We're the richest country
on earth.

It is absolutely outrageous,

It is inexcusable
that we have failed

To meet the most elementary
tests of what it means

To be fellow citizens

And build a community.

[Singing continues
on soundtrack]

Brown: See, the ingredient
is to care about people

And to love them.

That's the ingredient...
Across the board,

And to understand
that they are human.

They're not gang members.
They're human beings.

[Singing continues]

The one thing you have
to realize...

If you open them up,
there would be a stamp

Under their shirt
that says "Made in America," OK?

Not no place else.

They weren't made in
Taiwan or, you know, Indonesia.

They were made in America.

[Singing on soundtrack fades]

[New song starts]

Singer: * See, I was
manufactured and packaged *

* An American bastard

* Tragic born into rapture

* Story classic was blastin'

* Cadillac-in' was smashin'

* Mama stashin' that cash in

* Hustlin',
that's what was happenin' *

* In '82, it was magic,
rollin' *

* Back then, we had it

* You'd toke up,
up in there blastin' *

* Man, we'd rob tricks
like mad... *

* Past me, disagree,
can you imagine *

* If I seen 'em today
walk past me *

* Wouldn't know 'em
from Adam, Adam *

* From Adam, Adam

* Adam, from Adam, Adam

* Yep, I'm from
a dysfunctional familia *

* 'Cause their mentality
is my community *

* Man, I kill ya

* Better hope
it's homey I see *

* I was raised up on Welfare

* Parents spending food stamps
in a store *

* Even when the clerks stare

* They ship for free to
food banks and government Gs *

* The county funded

* Dope fiends
in every h-o-o-d *

* Pay attention closely

* Practice the commodity

* A classic USA biography

* I was just a child
then, honestly, see *

* See, I was labeled as shit

* Exported like 36

* Imported Kis and bricks

* Slingin',
tryin' to get rich *

* 1991

* Runnin', holdin' big guns

* Gang-bangin',
feelin' the love *

* Slugs instead of hugs

* My aunt was fuckin' dove

* My cousin was locked up

* What about that pistol
I built up? *

* Major paper
I wanted to touch *

* Now I'm just busted
but really hustlin' *

* Strugglin',
tryin' to make somethin' *

* Had enough of being busted

* Livin' by-by the gun

* And tried runnin'
the distribution *

* The prostitution,
pollutin' the streets *

* The shootin',
I got it *

* Gotta eat, get
a profit from profit *

* Smash those hydraulics,
you drop it *

* Then you can count it

* Never exchange hands
with a... *

* A police man

* Serve it right out
the vans, supply *

* For the law's demand

* Had what you need,
stackin' grands *

* Hating mentality,
fuckin' banging *

* Locality: shady, hazy side

* South Central, crazy
Los Angeles... God, save me *

* From the plans of the country
that made me *

* My warranty was guaranteed
from a full-life expectancy *

* Past 21 ain't expected of me

* Rather, 3 strikes
and sentencing *

* It's slavery, modern day

* USA, even after the CIA

* Gave us the 'cane, and then
they taught us how to sling *

* We just children of the game

* Followin'

* Our forefathers' name

* We all trapped
in a ball of rage *

* Tryin' to survive
and escape the pain *

* Nowadays
they scavenge a bank *

* Tryin' to survive
the world a week *

* God, don't take
no more of my friends *

* I speak the truth,
it's the truth *

* Daily in these L.A. streets

* Between Crips and Bloods,
they're Tasing blacks *

* It's something you gotta see

* It conjures up
the mark of the beast *

* They wanna bombard ol' me

* With a cheap revolution
in these streets? *

* Callin' us terrorists

* Don't you read
or watch the news on TV? *

* It's wartimes,
can't be peace *

* Gotta have a dream
to succeed *

* So many people rest in peace

* From all these
neighborhood beefs *

* Deadly politics
with the heat *

* Blood-stained concrete

* Police arresting us,
can't you see? *

* Wake up
and fight to be free, be free *