Crips and Bloods: Made in America

On the advice of a friend and colleague of mine (check out his blog about technology and education at brokenairplane.com), I bumped up Crips and Bloods: Made in America to the top of my list of films to watch before returning back to school.  I am glad that I did, because I am planning to start the year off with a unit on race in America at reconstruction and then jumping to the Rodney King Race Riots in L.A.  I will likely make use of sections of this film in my classroom to cover some of the racial issues in L.A. in the 1960s- present day.

The film starts off with a brief history about race in America, but specifically about race in L.A.  When I finished watching the film, it raised the following issues or questions that I would use with my students:

• racial profiling
• Why join a gang?
• Watts Riots vs. Civil Disobedience
• drugs/violence
• wealth and poverty
• the rise of unequal distribution of wealth
• Rodney King
• Police vs. Citizens 

The film is a good one to show students about these issues and many others.

~John