Crips and Bloods: Made in America

In the film Crips and Bloods: Made in America, street philosophers recount how the Watts riots in the mid 1960s eventually led to the birth of the Crips and Bloods a generation later — and then, how those powerful gangs crippled Los Angeles African-American neighborhoods. Black men living in Los Angeles in the early 1960s were routinely stopped by white police officers whenever they ventured out of Watts. “What are you doing here? Stay in your own neighborhood,” they were told. In the aftermath of those heated times, two of the most deadly gangs ever seen in America rose up. The black community remained segregated but the opposing colors weren’t black and white; they were red and blue. Ironically, the message was still the same: “What are you doing here? Stay in your own neighborhood.” 7 p.m. Rice Media Center, 6100 Main. For information, call 713-348-4853 or visit www.ricecinema.rice.edu. Free.
Tue., May 19, 7 p.m., 2009