Today In Hip Hop History: The Historic Truce Between The Bloods And Crips During The L.A. Riots 32 Years Ago

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In 1992, a truce was announced by Crips and Bloods to deter the gangs from killing each other after the acquittal of four police officers in the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles the year prior.

What later became known as “The Watts Riots” was at the climax of a time in L.A where the murder rate had peaked at over 1,000 per year.  Black and Latino gangs were the catalysts to much of the heinous and violent criminal activity being perpetrated throughout the city, and there was seemingly no end in sight for many. As one Rollin’ 20 Blood from the West Adams neighborhood, Skip Townsend recalled, “I mean I couldn’t even pump gas. I couldn’t go to the grocery store.  I couldn’t do anything without interacting with someone who would want to hurt me or I’d have to hurt them.”

In the most unlikely of places for a cause to end the violence to have existed, came something unique and profound; a peace offering. At a housing project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, in the heart of the city, two rival factions laid down their weapons and picked up a pen and paper to form the Watts Truce. Meeting there that day were The Grape Street and P Jay Crips met with the Hunter and Hacienda Blood sets, facilitated in part by football legend and anti-gang activist Jim Brown through his Amer-I-Can foundation. The West Coast Rap All-Stars also played a big part in setting the mood to end the violence, with the historic song We’re All in the Same Gang.

Within days, many gangs within the city took their cue from this peace accord, and the violence between them had almost completely ceased minus the few of those who held out, even as the infamous L.A Riots broke out the very next day. While the order of events may be very different as we fast forward back to now, the context is very much the same. History is only doomed to repeat itself unless the people work together to end violence as one.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: The Historic Truce Between The Bloods And Crips During The L.A. Riots 32 Years Ago first appeared on The Source.

The post Today In Hip Hop History: The Historic Truce Between The Bloods And Crips During The L.A. Riots 32 Years Ago appeared first on The Source.

[WATCH] Charleston White Calls For Death To Gangs: May They Die Like King Von, Nipsey Hussle, Drakeo The Ruler

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In his typical non-apologetic fashion, social activist and controversial online personality Charleston White took to social media to disrespect every street organization/gang known in the U.S.. The 52-year-old then went as far as cursing the names of fallen rappers who were associated with the aforementioned street gangs such as Nipsey Hussle, Drakeo The Ruler and King Von.

White, who is a former Crip from Texas, disassociated himself from the California-based gang when the family of the person he killed at age 14 forgave him for taking the life of their relative. In the above video, White holds up an assault rifle magazine while he declares, “Death to all Crips and Bloods. Death to all GDs and BDs. May they all die like King Von. May they al die like Drakeo The Ruler, May they all die like Nipsey Hussle.”

The post [WATCH] Charleston White Calls For Death To Gangs: May They Die Like King Von, Nipsey Hussle, Drakeo The Ruler appeared first on The Source.