Gangsters and racism

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting article on Latino gang racism against Black families in Compton, a suburb of that city.  It used to be majority Black, but is now majority Latino as the latter racial group takes over, both demographically and - from the sound of things - criminally.  Here's an excerpt.

Federal authorities have alleged in several indictments in the last decade that the Mexican Mafia prison gang has ordered street gangs under its control to attack African Americans. Leaders of the Azusa 13 gang were sentenced to lengthy prison terms earlier this month for leading a policy of attacking African American residents and expelling them from the town.

Similar attacks have taken place in Harbor Gateway, Highland Park, Pacoima, San Bernardino, Canoga Park and Wilmington, among other places. In the Compton case, sheriff's officials say the gang appears to have been acting on its own initiative.

. . .

"This gang has always made it clear they have a racial hatred for black people," said Westin, who has worked in the area for more than two decades. "They justify in their own sick minds because of their rivalry with the Compton black gangs. They repeatedly used racial epithets, they use racial hatred graffiti and they tag up the black church a lot."

There's more at the link.

I've seen this in other cities too, and in prison gangs, where racial tensions can become extreme, even murderous.  The situation is made worse by drug money from Mexico, where the cartels are looking to use local Latino gangs as couriers and distributors of their product.  In order to 'corner the market' for themselves, some gangs are attacking others, seeking to dominate a suburb or town or city.  It's going to get worse, I fear, because the so-called 'War On Drugs' is one of this country's more spectacular failures.

Peter