The Mexican Mafia connection

La Opinion played big on its front page Saturday a story that says the shadowy Mexican Mafia is behind recent racial gang attacks on African Americans. This angle was screaming to get explored somewhere. The story cites a report by the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which relies heavily on the research of Tony Rafael. Meanwhile, less than two days after a supposed "peace treaty" was signed between blacks and Latinos in Harbor Gateway and after FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III himself showed up on South Harvard Boulevard to announce a crackdown on the 204th Street gang, another apparently race-related shooting happened in the area at 2 a.m. on Saturday. Here are some excerpts from La Opinion's story that I've translated:

A resident of 205th Street, where on Dec. 5 Arturo Mercado, 34, was killed, said, on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals, that the night of the murder a group of African Americans approached a group of Latinos, and after screaming, "Fucking Mexicans!", fired their guns.

In response, he added, Latino gang members from the area fired at a group of African Americans on Harvard, between 206th and 207th.

[...]

Charlene Lovett, mother of Cheryl Green, said she had no resentment or hate toward Latinos, despite the murder of her daughter. Instead, she said: "Latinos and African Americans have to unite because we have a lot in common, and once we realize that we can start enjoying each other's cultures."

The story has no local law enforcement sources, though. The paper has started a new War on Gangs section online. Is it just me, or is this shit getting scary? (* Art by La Opinion.)

Comments

[Larry Kaplan]

I think it's time for Los Angeles' leaders to start looking into this issue seriously. And a good place to start would be to research the history and status of race relations in Miami-Dade, FL (NOT NYC or Chicago), where an ascendent Latino population injected a unique dynamic into the traditional American black-white race relations issue. Unfortunately, it's not a very pretty picture.

[South Central Person]

This is not new at all. I don't know if you were around for the Hawaiian Gardens situation, when local Latino gangs decided they wanted all the black people out of that area and launched a campaign of violence and harassment resulting in more than one death in an effort toward ethnic cleansing. It went on for years. It was not black gangsters v. brown gangsters, it was brown gangsters v. every black person who lived there, regardless of gang affiliation. They went after old people. They went after families. Their non-gang Latino brethren said nothing to stop them. The feds eventually stepped in on that situation, but by the time they did the desired end had largely been achieved because the blacks were gone.

It can be difficult for us in this city. We have whites who find 1,001 ways daily to let us know our status as 'unwelcomed'. We have Latinos doing pretty much the same thing, only some of the more criminally-minded throw violence into it. Sometimes I wonder if what Los Angeles' folks want is for all the black people to be gone. Which is odd, because we helped create this city.

[Jonathan]

"It was not black gangsters v. brown gangsters, it was brown gangsters v. every black person who lived there, regardless of gang affiliation."

Sad but true SCP. It's not a Latino gang practice, but a Latino culture practice. That being the case, don't expect Mayor Villarigosa to do anything.
I imagine when he hears of yet another black death in what's clearly a race-war, he smiles. And he's not alone.

[Jesse]

"It's not a Latino gang practice, but a Latino culture practice. I imagine when he hears of yet another black death in what's clearly a race-war, he smiles. And he's not alone."

Totally ignorant comment. This is the type of shit that spurs more hatred and disinformation between our cultures.

You're doing a Great Job!!