Is there still a Black gang problem in Oakland? (Los Angeles: college, restaurant)

[18Montclair]

When I was in middle school and high school in Oakland growing up, we used to laugh about the Southland gang obsession with colors and the idea of not being able to wear certain colors in certain areas of town. That was such a foreign concept to us.

And that's only when the topic came up, which was almost never. Usually when a movie came out about gangs in LA.

Up here it seems that it always been about money-period, whereas in LA, it was more about respect and touchy-feely comraderie and faux kinship. Kinda funny if you think about it.

[18Montclair]

And then when I attended college in Southern California, I saw firsthand how scary the gang thing could be. I was there in the early 90s at the height of it all and it was pretty frightening for me coming from Oakland-I realized that I was quite sheltered in Oakland.

Like when I came down to school, my cousins from LA wanted to make sure that my car was not red. LOL

[bmw335xi]

Someone from Oakland shocked about crime when they moved to SoCal.......

[18Montclair]

And then the kicker was going out with relatives, being told to take off certain articles of clothing or a cap or a belt or socks or whatever, because some people might be offended.

Oakland is just not like that. It was much more carefree up here.

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Someone from Oakland shocked about crime when they moved to SoCal.......

Yeah that's kind of ridiculous. Unless you're moving literally from Rockridge into the 10 blocks where the Crips hang out in South L.A, that just seems like anecdotal tall tales.

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[18Montclair]

I recall going to a Vons(a SoCal supermarket chain owned by Safeway) and feeling so out of sorts in the parking lot. There were these 5-6 cars of young people clearly part of a gang sitting there peering in unison into the store. I quickly retrieved my 2 bags from the cart and hurried quickly on my way. The funniest part is that I was in Orange County.

Didnt expect that considering how people prop up the OC as some better place than LA--to me its basically all the same.

Once again, coming from Oakland I felt sheltered.

[DocGoldstein]

That must have been scary even though you once said that the gangs in Oakland were more violent than gangs in other cities:

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

the gangs that do exist in Oakland are more violet than in other places, and that makes sense.

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[DocGoldstein]

Crime spiked in 2011 and continued to rise in 2012. Quan got rid of 200 officers. Why wouldn't it spike?

Apparently it's also on the minds of most Oaklanders as well:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/us...pagewanted=all

But when Mr. Campos’s daughter, Darlene Franco, took her turn in front of reporters, she said crime in Fruitvale was so bad that she and her customers feared stepping outside.

Still, it is the city’s violent crime that tops residents’ concerns. Although voters passed a measure to finance violence-prevention programs and problem-solving officers in 2007, the city has yet to make a substantial dent in the crime rate.

Later, when the cameras stopped rolling, Ms. Franco told a reporter that Ms. Quan warned her, “Watch what you say; we’re trying to change the image of Oakland.”

Of course, while most of Oakland worries about the crime and how to bring it down, or ignore it like Ms. Quan, you're unaffected because you're jogging and watching babies being strolled around in West Oakland.

[18Montclair]

"Gangs" in Oakland are more violent because money is involved. I can at least understand the motivation behind that.

But as far as defending a stupid color to the death? REALLY? That is rather kooky and bizarre to be honest. I mean I love to wear certain color but would I kill to defend the honor of the color lavender? Prolly not, ijs. No wonder we laughed about it growing up. LOL

Kids in the Central Valley copied that but Oakland, not so much. LOL

I also recall going with my college roommate to his relative's birthday party and the party was fine, but for some reason the parking lot is where all the action was. I was leaving and saw two distinct groups distinguished by you guessed it, CUTE COLOR COORDINATED clothing(LOL) and you could just feel that something bad was about to go down. Once again, not in LA but in Orange County.

Yikes.

[18Montclair]

Well, it was nice having this conversation, but game over:

Originally Posted by Los Angeles Police Department

The County and City of Los Angeles are the “gang capital” of the nation. There are more than 450 active gangs in the City of Los Angeles. Many of these gangs have been in existence for over 50 years. These gangs have a combined membership of over 45,000 individuals.

Gang membership in Los Angeles has continued to increase over the past five years even though there have been periodic crime decreases. One of the major factors contributing to increased gangs, gang membership and violence has been the lucrative narcotics trade, with rival gangs vying for the greatest market share.

Gangs are not a new phenomenon. During the last three years, there were over 16,398 verified violent gang crimes in the City of Los Angeles. These include 491 homicides, nearly 7,047 felony assaults, approximately 5,518 robberies and just under 98 rapes.

Gangs - official website of THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT