Tuesday, May 10, 2005

YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, WE HAVE ANSWERS.
The email below asks an important question that resonates deeply into every neighborhood in LA. I'll answer in a very general way. I could go into specifics but I don't want to become the free information library for some LA media types that don't know how or won't do the research. Here's the question.


"Has there been a greenlight issued against so-cal blacks in the los angeles area because of a payment that has not been made to the EME after there was a purchase of narcotics? Some one was telling me that greenlights were issued at any black individual that appears to be bangin no matter their affiliation, if they look the part they are a target. I just wanted to know if this was true."

I'll take the second part of the question first. Nobody (that includes blacks, whites, asians) banging in an established neighborhood needs a greenlight to be regulated or corrected. The reader seems a little confused on terminology. Banging has nothing to do with business or politics. It's street level warfare and it could be brown vs. brown, brown vs. black, black vs. black etc. Banging is keeping your neighborhood free of incursions from rivals with no distinction made on the basis of color. It's a matter of, "This is ours, you can't be here. Period. Trespassers will be dealt with."

Neighborhoods don't issue greenlights because strictly speaking, greenlights come from shot callers. At the neighborhood level, there's always a de facto greenlight on trespassers because that's what neighborhoods do. It's understood from before you get jumped in that it's every homies' responsibility to keep out enemies.

As to the specific brown on black warfare, that depends on a number of factors and those factors vary from neighborhood to neighborhood. Some neighborhoods have shot callers that are more interested in business than warfare. They'll tolerate black dope dealers as long as they pay their taxes and don't start up sets to challenge the established authority of that neighborhood. The question implies that somebody got burned on a dope deal. I'm not aware of any specific big burn but you don't have to be black to get killed over a deal gone sideways. And you don't have to be black to have your whole neighborhood greenlighted.

Other neighborhoods don't tolerate blacks of any kind. They don't care if you're a banger, a dealer or an ordinary civilian that isn't even clicked up. These neighborhoods will not allow a black dealer to set up shop even if he's willing to pay taxes. They won't even tolerate black civilians living next door or down the block. In these neighborhoods, being black is all you need to be to get harassed, driven out or even terminated. I've come across a lot of cases like that and they ain't pretty.

What often determines the racial tolerance of the neighborhood is the personal bias of the shot caller. The shot caller establishes neighborhood policy. If he doesn't like mayates, then they don't live in that neighborhood. If he's the type that puts business above race, then some allowances are made.

As a general rule, the brothers don't do business with blacks. Also as a general rule, brothers don't like blacks moving into the neighborhood because it reflects badly on them. If the neighborhood isn't pure, or nearly pure raza, it's perceived by other neighborhoods as not being in total control. It's seen as slipping. And if you're slipping in that area, you may be seen as weak in others. And weakness is a sign that your forces are standing down and maybe the fortress has some crumbling walls.

Brothers are not big proponents of diversity or multi-culturalism. They're down for the brown and we've heard that some of the brothers won't raise their hand for somebody who isn't 100% raza no matter how much work he put in.

Before signing off, here's a story that goes back to the riots. In the famous chopper footage from Florence and Normandie, DAMIAN "FOOTBALL" WILLIAMS was seen dragging a male hispanic from a car, beating him and then spray painting him. When the brothers saw that, WILLIAMS was greenlighted. Personal hard candy. I've heard he's in PC, but I wouldn't swear to it. If anybody knows for sure, I'd like to hear about it.

Some time down the road, I'll get into the brown on black high school beefs that the big media doesn't seem to know how to report.