Ghettos Death Sentences, The Uprisings Of The 1960s

Ghettos: Death Sentences The uprisings of the 1960s were not the culmination of violence in the ghettos. The decades following the 1960s saw the shift of violence in ghettos from protest violence to simply violence. In â€Å"Urban Violence and Street Gangs, gangs are defined as â€Å"groups of [primarily] male adolescents and youths who have grown up together as children, usually in cohorts in a low-income neighborhood or city† (Vigil 226). In the movie, Doughboy and his friends are not shown as a subset of a widespread gang (although it can be inferred from their blue attire that they belong to the infamous Los Angeles Crips). Yet, they grow up together on the streets, find solace in one another’s company, and become involved in violent behavior during their adolescent years; therefore, they can be defined as a gang. Several factors play a role in the violent atmosphere which dominates ghettos and gangs: a locura mentality, ecological factors, socioeconomic factors, a nd a lack of social control--particularly family stress (Vigil 231). 1) Locura Locura is defined as a â€Å"spectrum of behavior reflected in a type of quasi-controlled insanity† and it has become a â€Å"psychological mindset† and a â€Å"requisite for street survival and a behavioral standard for identification and emulation†. Locura is a key quality gangs look for in their members because it â€Å"helps assuage fear and the anxiety associated with the fight-flight (and even the middle ground of fright) dilemma that street realities