Crips
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The Crips are one of the Los Angeles, California gangs. The Crips are identified by the blue color worn by their members and the gang is largely composed of African Americans. The gang has an intense rivalry with the Bloods
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History of the Crips
The Crips were formed by Stanley "Tookie" Williams and Raymond Washington in 1971, after the two became fed up with random violence in their neighborhood.
The Crips quickly became popular throughout southern Los Angeles as more and more youth gangs joined it; at one point they outnumbered non-Crip gangs by 3 to 1. In response, some of the besieged smaller gangs formed an alliance that later became the Bloods. Some of the most notorious Crip Sets (a subgroup of a bigger gang) include LA's Rollin 60's Crips, Watts' Grape Street Crips, Long Beach's Insane Crips, and Compton's South Side Compton Crips.
The Crip gangs have branched out throughout the United States and even internationally. Due to the loose network of territorial gangs, there are significant differences between the various cliques. Even in Los Angeles there are new gangs with Crip affiliations emerging. Crips can be found everywhere from North and South Carolina to New Jersey. In 1989, Belizian immigrants in New York City formed the Harlem Mafia Crips in Harlem.
While there have been bloody rivalries between the Crips and Bloods, a peace treaty was recently negotiated, the treaty being largely based upon the ideals laid forth by original Crip founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams in his "Tookie Protocol For Peace" ideals. Though violence levels have been reduced somewhat after the conclusion of this peace treaty, gangland killings and warfare still persist in heavily gang-controlled areas.
They are known to feud with Chicano gangs. The Crips wear blue to easily identify each other. The origin of the selected color was believed to be traced to Washington High School in South L.A. where blue is the school's main color.
Crips, hip-hop, and C-walk
The popular hip-hop dance, the C-walk (Crip-walk), was originated by gang members. Most do not realize the seriousness of the dance however as it should not be performed by non-gang members. The dance is meant to spell out one's set as an insult to rival gangs. Some high profile rap artists such as Snoop Dogg and Spider Loc are affiliated with the Crips. Snoop Dogg has said that he is a Crip on the remix of 50 Cent's hit song, P.I.M.P. He is a member of the Long Beach Rollin 20s Crips. Snoop Dogg rapped on a remix of fellow Crip WC's single "The Streets" mainly about the C-Walk, in that, the dance is for Crip members and only for Crip members.
Origin of the name "Crips"
There have been many different explanations for the origin of the name of the gang. For example, "Crazy Real (or Ruthless) Insane People", "Community Revolution (or Restoration) In Progress", "California Revolutionary Interstate Pistol Slangers", a misspelling from "Tales from the Crypt", a shortening of the word "cripple", from "crib" avenues (Cul-de-sacs), etc. The true origin of the name appears to be lost in myth and these may all be folk etymologies.
One possible explanation for the name is in the book Do or Die by journalist Leon Bing. She reports that the name came from an early incident involving an incipient form of the gang. By this account, a young man with a physical disability was part of a group that attacked an elderly Asian woman. The woman, who had limited command of English, attempted to describe the young man to police as "crippled", she instead called him "a crip".
See also
- Banging on Wax (CD)
Reference
Bing, Leon (1991). Do or Die: America's Most Notorious Gangs Speak for Themselves. Sagebrush. ISBN 0833584995.
External link
- History of the Crips and how it functions (http://davadnai.users.omniglobal.net/crips.html)
- Snopes Urban Legend website on the origin of the name Crips (http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/crip.htm)de:Bloods und Crips