I grew up in Southern California, in the 90’s during peak gang culture. It wasn’t about being “cool,” it was literally about two entirely different types of cultures that hated each other. My Mexican family blamed a lot of crime and issues in their neighborhoods on blacks, and vice versa. I went to a school that had gang fights every day, blacks hated Mexicans and Mexicans hated blacks. That’s why they even go their separate ways in prison. It wasn’t about being cool, it was about survival. And that mentality is generational. My uncles fought with blacks on the streets of Southern California, and now, my cousins are doing the same. I also don’t think it’s the “system.” It was literally stupid territory differences. It had nothing to with any kind of system, it was more about you stay where you’re at and take care of your people, and we’ll do the same…
I grew up in Southern California, in the 90’s during peak gang culture. It wasn’t about being “cool,” it was literally about two entirely different types of cultures that hated each other. My Mexican family blamed a lot of crime and issues in their neighborhoods on blacks, and vice versa. I went to a school that had gang fights every day, blacks hated Mexicans and Mexicans hated blacks. That’s why they even go their separate ways in prison. It wasn’t about being cool, it was about survival. And that mentality is generational. My uncles fought with blacks on the streets of Southern California, and now, my cousins are doing the same. I also don’t think it’s the “system.” It was literally stupid territory differences. It had nothing to with any kind of system, it was more about you stay where you’re at and take care of your people, and we’ll do the same…