Watts truce

Last updated

The Watts truce was a 1992 peace agreement among rival street gangs in Los Angeles, California, declared in the neighborhood of Watts. The truce was reached just days before the 1992 Los Angeles riots and, although not universally adhered to, was a major factor in the decline of street violence in the city between the 1990s and 2010s.

Contents

Background and 1988 attempt

The late 1960s and the 1970s saw the formation of the Crips and the Bloods, which became rival gangs, but by the 1980s the infiltration of rock cocaine and high-powered weapons into poor inner cities had created infighting among factions. By the early 1990s, after 20 years of increasing gang warfare across public housing projects that saw peak crime rates in Los Angeles, gang members themselves began trying to stem the violence. An effort took place in 1988, which was dubbed the "Year of the Gang" by the LAPD and city leaders following the murder of Karen Toshima in the city's Westwood neighborhood. In July of that year, the Rev. Charles Mims Jr. and others organized a gang summit in South Los Angeles, but formal support for gang prevention was non-existent at the time and this early effort was short-lived in media. Most of the members attending kept the truce going and did not resort to violence against each other, in particular the two Watts gang factions, the Bounty Hunter Bloods and the A Line Crips, and the truce still stands to this day. In October 1989, Minister Louis Farrakhan visited Los Angeles to deliver his Stop the Killing speech aimed at curtailing gang killings. He returned for part two at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in January 1990 where hundreds of Crips and Bloods members were in attendance.

1992 peace treaty

In April 1992, Crips and Bloods in the Watts neighborhood in southern Los Angeles convened to negotiate peace. The Grape Street Crips from the Jordan Downs Projects, the PJ Watts Crips from the Imperial Courts housing projects, the Bounty Hunter Bloods from the Nickerson Gardens housing projects, and the Hacienda Village Bloods [1] agreed to a ceasefire agreement following the death of Henry Peco, who had been shot execution-style by LAPD officers during a blackout [2] in the Imperial Courts housing project. [3]

On April 28, 1992, representatives from these four gangs signed a formal peace treaty at a mosque in Watts. The treaty was modeled on the 1949 Armistice Agreements reached between Israel and Egypt. Jim Brown helped establish the truce through his Amer-I-Can Foundation. [4] [5] [6] Within days of the truce, despite the relative lawlessness caused by the 1992 Los Angeles riots, most of the African-American gangs in the city declared themselves at peace and there were no major flare-ups in violence. The Watts truce is generally credited with contributing to the trend in declining street violence rates in Los Angeles. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloods</span> Street gang founded in Los Angeles, California, US

The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Washington</span> American gangster

Raymond Lee Washington was an American gangster, known as the founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles. Washington formed the Crips as a minor street gang in the late 1960s in South Los Angeles, becoming a prominent local crime boss. In 1971, Washington formed an alliance with Stanley "Tookie" Williams, establishing the Crips as the first major African-American street gang in Los Angeles, and served as one of the co-leaders. In 1974, Washington was convicted of robbery and received a five-year prison sentence, during which his leadership and influence in the Crips declined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watts, Los Angeles</span> Neighborhood of Los Angeles in California, United States

Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated community of Willowbrook to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Los Angeles riots</span> Riots following the beating of Rodney King

The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. The incident had been videotaped by George Holliday, who was a bystander to the incident, and was heavily broadcast in various news and media outlets.

Jordan Downs is a 700-unit public housing apartment complex in Watts, Los Angeles, California, next to David Starr Jordan High School. It consists of 103 buildings with townhouse style units ranging from one bedroom to five bedrooms. The complex is owned and managed by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA).

Venice 13 or West Side Venice 13, abbreviated as V13 or VX3, is a Mexican American street gang based in the Oakwood neighborhood of Venice, a section of Los Angeles, California. It has a substantial presence in East Venice as well as the Culver City/Los Angeles border, especially around Washington Blvd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rollin' 60s Neighborhood Crips</span> African-American street gang

The Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips is a "set" of the Crips street gang alliance based in Los Angeles, California, originally formed around Hyde Park, Los Angeles in 1976 from the Westside Crips and having since spread to other cities in the United States. Membership is estimated to be around 1,600 people, making it one of the largest gangs in the Los Angeles area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crips</span> Street gang from Los Angeles, California

The Crips are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips began as an alliance between two autonomous gangs, and developed into a loosely connected network of individual "sets", often engaged in open warfare with one another. Its members have traditionally worn blue clothing since around 1973.

Andre DeSean Wicker, better known by his stage name Gangsta Dresta, is an American rapper. He is best known for collaborating with Eazy-E on the 1993 single "Real Muthaphuckkin G's".

The Jungles faction of the Black P. Stones street gang is a "set" of the Bloods gang alliance in Los Angeles. Originating in Los Angeles' Baldwin Village neighborhood in the 1960s, the Black P. Stones became one of the largest gangs in the city. The gang has been linked to various crimes, including murders, assaults, robberies, narcotics violations and firearms violations, and has been the subject of numerous FBI and LAPD investigations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Zinzun</span> American politician

Michael Zinzun was an African American Black Panther and anti-police brutality activist.

Crime in Los Angeles has varied throughout time, reaching peaks between the 1970s and 1990s. Since the early 2020s, crime has increased in Los Angeles.

The Watts Gang Task Force is a community-based group that was created to reduce gang related crime in the Watts, Los Angeles, California and improve community-police relations in the area.

<i>Crips and Bloods: Made in America</i> 2008 American film

Crips and Bloods: Made in America is a 2008 documentary by Stacy Peralta that examines the rise of the Crips and Bloods, prominent gangs in America who have been at war with each other. The documentary focuses on the external factors that caused African-American youth to turn to gangs and questions the political and law enforcement response to the rise of gang culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grape Street Watts Crips</span> African-American street gang

The Grape Street Watts Crips is a "set" of the Crips gang based in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The gang's rivalry with the Bounty Hunter Bloods has been described as being "the most violent and long lasting feud between two gangs that are in the Watts area."

Imam Mujahid Abdul-Karim is an African-American convert to Islam, who is best known for his involvement and "spearheading" of the April 26, 1992 Watts Gang Truce between the four influential rival gangs— Watts Hacienda Village Bloods, Grape Street Watts Crips, Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, and PJ Watts Crips. He is imam of Masjid Al Rasul mosque in Watts, Los Angeles and the leader of The Imam Mahdi Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods</span> African American street gang

The Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, also known as the Bounty Hunter Bloods, is a "set" of the Bloods gang alliance situated in the Nickerson Gardens public housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles.

James Hart Stern was an African American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, speaker, and author from Los Angeles, California. He was most well known for his work defusing gang violence through a series of summits in the 1980s and 1990s and for his incarceration with Edgar Ray Killen, the former KKK leader who was convicted of the 1964 Mississippi Burning murders.

The Crips and the Bloods, two street gangs founded in Los Angeles, California, have been engaged in a gang war since the 1970s. The war is made up of smaller, local conflicts perpetrated by chapters of both gangs, and has mostly taken place in major cities in the United States, especially Los Angeles (L.A.). It is also present in other countries, including Belize. The gangs often identify themselves using clothing colored blue for Crips and red for Bloods; people wearing those colors in gang territory are often targets of violence.

References

  1. ↑ Jackson, D. Amari (April 29, 2017). "The Lasting Legacy of the 1992 Watts Gang Truce". Atlanta Black Star. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  2. ↑ Afaray, Kamran (2009). Performance and Activism: Grassroots Discourse After the Los Angeles Rebellion of 1992. Lexington Books. p. 77.
  3. ↑ CHAVEZ, STEPHANIE; SAHAGUN, LOUIS (January 5, 1992). "Slaying by LAPD Becomes Rallying Point : Police: Imperial Courts tenants use Henry Peco's death to vent frustrations about life at the housing project. They seek an independent investigation, but officials call the shooting justified". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  4. ↑ Duane, Daniel (January 2006). "Straight Outta Boston Why is the "Boston Miracle" – the only tactic proven to reduce gang violence – being dissed by the L.A.P.D., the FBI, and Congress?". Mother Jones . Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  5. ↑ Stoltze, Frank (April 28, 2012). "Forget the LA Riots – historic 1992 Watts gang truce was the big news". LAist – NPR News for Southern California – 89.3 FM.
  6. ↑ Trotter, Jim (May 20, 2023). "Was Jim Brown a great man? To me, yes. Was he a flawed man? Without question". The Athletic.
  7. ↑ Stoltze, Frank (April 28, 2012). "Forget the LA Riots – historic 1992 Watts gang truce was the big news". 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio. Retrieved November 9, 2013.

Watts Gang Truce Activists. DeWayne Holmes, Twilight Bey

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.