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Gangs Began as Neighborhood Groups
"Chicago gangs have always started as neighborhood peer groups"
"While law enforcement argues that the black and Latino gangs of the 1960s were nothing more than hoodlums, others have pointed out how the Conservative Vice Lords, Blackstone Rangers, and Young Lords were deeply immersed in the civil rights movements of the day." -
Conservative Vice Lords in the community
"[Conservative Vice Lords] intervened in gang wars and looked for ways to get kids and young men off the streets. They told kids it was stupid to be killing each other. The CVL transformed a pool hall at 3655 W. 16th Street into a place for Lawndale's youth and young adults to hang out. Their reputation grew around the country. Militant civil rights groups came to meet with them." -
Racial Tensions in the 1960s
-The increase in African American and Puerto Rican populations in the 1960s shook Chicago politically
-Gang identity became racialized, as whites defended their turf against nonwhites and Latinos affirmed their own racial and ethnic identity in the face of racist violence.
