Black Panther movement 1960's

black massage therapists at work

Guns & money

“There has to be an active majority who voice their outrage, and out of that a small group of people of action who will do practical things like create a citizens board with the authority to pass judgments against the police in WA. The Black Panthers in their time armed themselves, stood and observed the police in action, reported them, and in short, acted within the confines of the law. It was impossible for the police to do anything against aggressive citizens who knew the law. The Panthers became a force to be reckoned with. They created community within their community, and the voice of the People became a force to reckon with. The US government was afraid, and outraged. Our government began a campaign to undermine what began as community development into a national security issue. Elevated to national security the right to kill insurgents became the law of the land, and the killings started.



With the fall of the Panthers the notorious gang, the Crips, arose out of the rubble. At first clinging to the spirit and tenets of community passed down by the Black Panthers the community held on to the singular hope of community development African-American style. And then a train loaded with weapons showed up on mysterious night and pushed darkness into their souls, and the Crips became a terror in the national consciousness under the social pressure of the larger communities who expected Black and Latino communities to die on the asphalt. The gang rivalries between the Bloods, the Crips has grown into a millions of dollar industry for the criminal justice system, and the film, music, and fashion businesses as the body count across the country has deepen the blood levels on American streets beyond what any individual can survive in, and maintain sanity.


This is a short history lesson, and insight. The train? Witnesses in the early 1980’s recall a train full of guns, and ammo that appeared unmanned in Los Angles one day. The early members of these gangs who survived the last three decades remember how the guns got into their communities.


It takes a warrior to build community in the United States.” –Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories