BLOOD HOUND

The Bloods and Crips are two of South Los Angeles most notorious African American gangs. The documentary Crips And Bloods In America addresses gangs , segregation, racism and more. While many people cannot understand the decades of long cycle of destruction that has come to many daily lives the individuals who join each gang are not mindless, gun-toting thugs, but real people with real families who have become caught up in a struggle from which the only escape is often death. Crips And Bloods Made In America reveals the turf wars, hierarchy, family structure, gun culture, and interviews with gangsters past and present, as well as experts, activists, and academics.
I think this documentary gave off a positive and negative affect to the watchers. The film was very descriptive and showed us vague incidents and brawls. For example one positive thing i liked about the film was the interviews with fellow gang members. They were able to make a picture in my mind of what they went through. One negative thing i did not like about Bloods And Crips Made In America was the beginning of the movie. I did not like that because the past usually dosent interest me then future refrences. In the beginning the movie explained how years ago "gangs" did not fight to kill, to sell drugs, or to rep and be known as #1.

I strongly disliked another main thing in the documentary. During all of the interviews with previous gang members all of them did not stand out as being a con for gang violence. None of the gang members warned the watchers that being in a gang was not the right choice. Although they showed vague events in their life and showed severe violence they werent such good role models.

The film flowed all the way through in an orderly way. It showed chapters in the past and present years. The scenes were not disjointed and were not unexplanitory. Each gang member showed a time in their life where they encountered violence. After showing the event they witnessed they showed the set they were joined in. The summary of the documentary was very clear. Each event that the gang members witnessed left a thought in my mind which made this movie very clear.

Overall i liked this movie because of the vague descriptions. One example that I liked in Bloods And Crips Made In America were the interviews with the people who lost family members due to gang violence. This part of the film was very inspirational and brought tears to my eyes. This movie should be watched by many teens so that they can learn that violence is not the way to solve problems. Violence will only cause death and will not make our world better.

DECISION MAKING AND MORALITY

Decision making is very crucial to life. It's important to distinguish between right and wrong decisions for the sake of ourselves and others around us. Our decisions not only affect but affect the life of others. Some decisions are more important than others because some decisions may affect us for the duration of our lives. Making the right decisions and knowing what the right decision is very signifigant because all decisions have consequences. The fact that all our decisions have consequences is a great reason to understand why its important to always try to make the right decisions.

One time i had to decide whether to stay in a relationship or not. The problem with this situation was that our relationship had many struggles. At many times we would fight over the same things even after we forgave eachother earlier. Since i was younger i always felt that if something is meant to be it will always find its way. My decision was to wait and see if we were able to work things ou in a way where we faught less. My solution would tell me if we were meant to be depending on if she came back or not.

In Down These Mean Streets, we see Piri deciding to go to the transvesties apartment. Piri was accountered in peer pressure and decided to take a big step into being a follower. What led Piri to this decision was not only peer pressure. He felt that going to the transvesties house would make him seem as a bigger person. Piri wanted to fit in and be known as the tough guy who takes risks.

Making the right decisions can have a very important impact on your life. Sometimes people should think twice before making decisions because the first choice you pick might not be the best one for you. As people get older they will gain a better knowledge of making the right decisions due to the fact that they will experience more problems and situations.

Lawrence Kohlberg and Theory of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg (October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987) was an American psychologist born in Bronxville, New York, who served as a professor at the University of Chicago, as well as Harvard University. Having specialized in research on moral education and reasoning, he is best known for his theory of stages of moral development.

Stages 1. Obedience and Punishment (How can I avoid punishment?)
2. Self-Interest (What's in it for me? You do for me, I’ll do for you. You do that to me, I’ll do that to you)
3. Interpersonal Accord and Conformity (Conforming to the will of the group. Peer Pressure)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality. You do something or don’t do something because the law/rule/religious text says so)
5. Social Contract (Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid dictums/rules)
6. Universal Ethical Principles/The Golden Rule (Principled conscience/commitment to justice, equality and respect…think Jesus, Dr. King, Ghandi)


> your caught by the cops with weed because your bestfriend was going to get caught by there parents. In order for yourself not to get in trouble with your parents and law enforcement do you rat out your bestfriend?

: (1). ill rat out my bestfriend
: (2). ill tell the cops because i know i wont get in trouble
: (5). i cant because i might get beat up
: (4). i can't not tell the cop's i need to do the right thing. what would the world be like if innocent people get in trouble.
: (3). im not telling the cops because i know i wont get beat up
: (6)

RACISM

g9One day when i was going to school on the train there was a lot of cops by the train station. They were standing infront of a table and they were doing random searches. Both of the cops were white and they kept telling the black boys who walked in to come to the table. They searched their bags but they didnt stop any white people and they did not stop any girls. This is racism because the search is supposed to be random and the police arent supposed to be racial profile.





prejudice- to pre judge a person or a group ( race, gender, sexual orientation, or a group )



racism- One race thinks its better or more superior then another race.



discrimination- a person or a group unfairly treats another person or group based upon their race broup sexual orientation.

PQP

Dear Piri,
I enjoyed your writing in "DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS". Your writing was inspirational,vague, and creative. Some examples that you used that were composed with those 3 elements was the visit to the transvesties apartment, and the incident in the shower. The writing was very interesting. I liked that you used the word "corazon" often because you showed me an idea of what you meant by having heart.
As i read more of the book I wondered why you didnt include your brother's more in the book. I thought that your brother's would join you into the gangs and be your bestfriends as you grew older. Another question I have is why did you feel the need to be vague with chapter 6.
I suggest that you remain to write books the way you wrote "DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS". You were able to grab my attention and make me interested in what was going on. Your words were inspirational which showed me a lot of comparison on how your life is compared to many teens today.

reflection #2

Two things i learned in class were to import pictures to my blog and how to maintain a well organized blog.

Importing pictures was important because it makes my blog look better and it grabs peoples attention.
Maintaining a well organized blog is good because it makes things less complicated to find.

MY QUESTION/COMMENT FOR CHAPTER 6

One question i have for chapter 6 was what influenced Piri and his friends to go to the transvesties house?
One comment i have is that Piri had matured because i thought he would have wanted to fight the transvesties.