History of CRIPS

Agree2Disagree Forum

In 1969, a South Central L.A. community place was set up, called Community Relations for an Independent People. Black youth were attracted to center to hang out. Acronym was develop to represent center: C.R.I.P.s. Black Panthers was main influence in early days.

1973, they published a CRIP Constitution and defined themselves as: Community Reform Inner-Party Service (CRIPS). Members, many whom had come from prison , pledged to serve their people , instead of hurting and exploiting them.

Sanyika Shakur asks rhetorically, " Had we not begun as predators of New Africans (Blacks) would we have been allowed to last this long?" He announced , in 1993 the reformation of the CRIPS into the Clandestine REvolutionary Internationalist Party Soldiers.

No, Malcolm.

CRIPS does not stand for Clandestine REvolutionary Internationalist Party Soldiers.

They were named CRIPS because of their particular style of violence.
They would take golf clubs and beat people into being 'crippled.'

Not a very flattering term.

Why start a thread trying to portray a bunch of street thugs who have contributed NOTHING to society in a better light? They deal drugs, they vandalize, they murder. Great bunch of guys.

Oh yeah... I want to grow up and be just like that!

Very interesting, Heck... thanks for the information!

I knew that they didn't start out as a good "gang" but it's nice to get some history on it all.

I'll have to check with an old buddy of mine...Toray Pyles and his twin brother...
They brought the CRIPS to Denver....

The reason I didn't get a golf club to the head back in 1988 when they were in my 'hood' busting people in the head is because Toree had a thang for me. Poor boy. Poor poor boy.

Watch the news. We see it all the time. There are Crips here in San Diego, and trust me, they are not a bunch of boy scouts. They are murderous thugs. The contribute nothing to society. Nothing.

You seem to be all caught up in the past Malcolm. Instead of posting about the crips of yore why not do some research on the modern breed? Heres my suggestion, get lots of red clothing and walk around Compton late on a friday night, the local crips will likely introduce themselves. If you survive, please post of your experience, Im sure we would all find it enlightening

So are you trying to justify gangs that sell drugs, hurt innocent people and ruin neighborhoods? Nothing justifies that. They are a blight that should be wiped out by the authorities.

Nobody in their right mind is going to feel sorry for gang members. The Crips should pull themselves up and stop blaming other people for their problems. Any one who sells hard drugs or steals purses, etc. are not good human beings - they've lost all self-respect and respect for humankind. Why would you support gang members? They would not support you. In their world, it is every man for himself. By the way, Malcolm, I wonder if you know the history of your namesake, Malcom X?

I keep waiting for you to defend the crips Malcolm. So far all you have done is attack Colombine kids, Scott Ericson,Hitler, and Bush. People are attacking the crips so defend them, or can you?

Okay...Here is the history of the Crips: (Not sure why Malcolm is defending this trash....but oh well)


History of the Crips
The Crips were founded by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams. Williams argued that this was after the two became fed up with random violence in their neighborhood. Law enforcement officials dispute this, pointing to the extremely large number of violent crimes involving the gang members, even in early years.

The original name of the gang founded by Raymond Washington in 1969 at the age of 15 was the Baby Avenues, derived from a gang of older boys in the 1960s, named the Avenue Boys with their turf on Central Avenue in East Los Angeles. This evolved to Avenue Cribs and then Cribs as nicknames for the age of the members. The name Crips was first introduced in the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper in a description by crime victims of young men with canes, as if they were crippled (though there is some discussion that it may have initially been a simple spelling mistake). The name stuck.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams co-founded the gang in 1971, and started his own gang called the Westside Crips. The Crips became popular throughout southern Los Angeles as more youth gangs joined it; at one point they outnumbered non-Crip gangs by 3 to 1. In response, some of the besieged smaller gangs formed an alliance that later became the Bloods.

Contrary to popular misconception, Crip sets do not feud solely with Bloods, but also other Crip sets — for example, the Rollin' 60s and 83rd Street Gangster Crips ("Eight-Tray") have been rivals since 1979, and their rivalry is currently the largest in L.A.


Expansion
In the 1980s, Crips moved into the sale of crack, a form of the drug cocaine. It was invented by developing a cheaper process for extracting the stimulant from the coca plant. Previously, the only available form was an expensive powder, leading to the traditional image of cocaine as a status symbol for the wealthy hedonist. Inexpensive and highly-addictive crack could be marketed by the Crips to lower-income brackets.

The Crips made enormous profits from selling crack and gathered the capital to advance themselves in the illicit markets. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the Crips developed intricate networks and a respected reputation with other gangs across America and neighboring countries.

To stem violence between the Crips and Bloods, a peace treaty was recently negotiated, most notably in Watts, the treaty being largely based upon the ideals laid forth by original Crip co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams in his "Tookie Protocol For Peace". Though violence levels have been reduced somewhat after the conclusion of this peace treaty, gangland killings and warfare persist in heavily gang-controlled areas.

Gang identification
For many years, Crips were characterized by their tendency to wear blue in order to easily identify each other. One suggested origin of the selected color is traced to the school colors of Washington High School in South L.A. A particular set of Crips, the Grape Street Crips, have been known to wear purple in addition to blue. The GSCs are seperated into three sub-sets, the nine;139th street, the Foe;134th street, and the deuce;132nd street in the city of Gardena, California and have been known to wear dark-green, the city color of Gardena, in addition to blue to show that the Shotgun Crips are from Gardena. Crips also wear blue bandanas and British Knights sport shoes (using the company moniker BK, which the Crips use as a backronym meaning "Blood Killas"). They usually refer derisively to their rival, the Bloods, as "slobs."

In more recent years, however, the Crips have begun to cease the use of colors as a means of identification, since it is likely to draw attention from police. Methods such as the use of college sport team jerseys and hats are sometimes used, but in general, what set a certain gang member claims can be determined solely by their tattoos.

Origin of the name "Crips"
There have been many different explanations for the origin of the name of the gang:

The most well-known theories tie the current name with "crib" or "crib street" (alluding to an actual street or the young age of the members at the time of the gang's founding).
Crip or crib originates from the carrying of a cane or stick — Los Angeles Times 14 April 1992: "Word spread about the tough-looking young men, who some said carried canes and walked with a limp — cripples, or crips, they were called for short."
Mis-pronunciation of "The Crypts."
The rumor that to get initiated into the gang, a person had to have crippled someone.

Some alleged backronyms for the name include:
Community (or California) Revolution In Progress.
Community Resources for an Independent People
Crip meaning cradle amongst the grave. C standing for Cradle, RIP standing Rest In Peace, a common phrase inscribed on tombstones.


Crips, hip-hop, and C-walk
Many popular rappers, in particular West Coast rappers, have close ties to Crips gangs in L.A. County. Snoop Dogg is a former member of the Rollin' 20 Crips in Long Beach (as are Warren G, Nate Dogg, and Goldie Loc), while WC has an affiliation with the 111 Neighborhood Crips in South Central Los Angeles. The late N.W.A member Eazy-E reportedly had ties to the Kelly Park Compton Crips. Recently signed G-Unit rapper Spider Loc is a member of the 97th Street East Coast Crips. However, there are also many rappers who are not members of Crips sets, yet take on traits of the Crip image and behavior because they hope to self-promote and sell records by doing so. Ice Cube has at times claimed to be a member of the Rollin' 100s Nhood Crips, even though he has no proven ties to this gang (aside from the fact that he is from the same area), and Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy has also claimed to be a Crip in some songs (also without any proof).

It is said that the popular hip-hop dance, the C-walk (Crip-walk), is meant to spell out one's set as an insult to rival gangs. On WC's song "The Streets" from his Ghetto Heisman album, he and Snoop Dogg rap about the C-walk's popularity in the mainstream
warning suburban teenagers and other non-gang members that it is a dance for Crips only.


Crip members initiate into the gang by committing a crime in front of gang witnesses. The initiation process is called 'Loc'ing'-In

I used to work with a guy that was affiliated with the rollin 60s. He used to tell all kinds of war stories with the ''8 tray''. I had no idea they were both crips, I guess he thought we all knew

Have you read initial post? What do you want me to defend?

My former English prof would edit your post to 1 paragragh, he doesn't allow smear or propaganda

Malcolm, have you ever been to L.A. or even Southern California?

and the KKK started out with a different purpose than they have today. Still, it does not matter. What does is that both groups are hateful and do nothing for the betterment of society.

Yeah, post a thread on how the kkk was started as a group with some good ideas Malcolm, then say nothing negative.


See how that flies.


It won't. Neither will this thread, which started with nothing but postive things said about the crips, then back off later in the thread and say you are not defending them.


Whatever.

"Now the KKK wears three piece suits, it's like that y'all, it's like that y'all in fact you know it's like that y'all."

--Public Enemy (Chuck D and Flava Flav and Security of the 1st World)

The biggest tragedies are often preceeded by the best of intentions.

-HECK!

In what way?

-HECK!

Yes Heck. Come out of your bubble and once and for all comdemn this stupid war.


Bubble boy.

heck!, you right wing consevative nut job. You make me sick with your flag waving and your insane love for Geroge Dubya. You make me ill my friend.


Sorry. Just hit my funny bone is all.

...what's happening? lol

* goes to smack a stooge out of Heck.

Don't worry Heck, I'll rescue you!

HECK's always been a closet gun-toting, Yosamity Sam loving, minority hating, <insert conservative stereotype here>ing Right-winger.

This has got to be the most comical exchange I've ever seen...

How could you not know about HECK? Amazing.

Wow.

That's all I have to say.

Between the BAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA'ssss

WHIZZLE! I am the designated post skimmer. Don't push that one off on Malcolm. Sandy June is my back up post skimmer.

not one of you know the TRUTH about us. C R I P.

Clear it up then, please. Who ARE the CRIPs, who WERE the CRIPs, and what GOOD are the CRIPs?

I see alot of you fools dissing "crips" on this page.....We have done alot things for the community that you dont see.....

Who are you to question me ???????

Thanks for reminding me how the ******s our ruining our neighborhoods.