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There’s a rise in new and dangerous tensions between Latinos and blacks

LatinaLista — The issue of tensions existing between blacks and Latinos, in this day and age, has always been quickly pooh-poohed. The consensual feeling is that both communities have reached the heights of education, political sophistication and cooperation that the rivalry that once spurred harsh words, resentment, competition and even fights is now only a footnote in history.
If only it was.
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A 2006 picture shows the overcrowded conditions inmates are subjected to at the California Institution For Men State Prison in Chino.
Tensions between blacks and Latinos are rising again. However, it’s not by either community’s choice. With blacks and Latinos making up the majority of prison populations and being squeezed into prisons not made for the number of inmates now housed in them, black and Latino inmates are pitted against one another like canines in a dog fight.
Living in inhumane conditions is bound to incite violence between the two largest groups of inmates but the problem is that no wall can restrain the animosity that builds between the two groups, and not even being released from prison can erase the intense hatred that was “nurtured” in prison.
These former inmates rejoin society and bring with them a new kind of tension that is far more dangerous than what has historically existed between blacks and Latinos.


Over the weekend, at the California Institution For Men State Prison in Chino, an 11-hour prison riot broke out that injured 200 inmates, 55 seriously. No one knows the incident that triggered the riot but two things are known: the riot was sparked by racial tensions between the black and Latino prisoners and the 5,900 inmates are housed in a facility that was built only to accommodate 3,000.
Authorities attribute the violence to California’s prison system complying with a 2005 Supreme Court ruling that disallows the automatic segregation of new prisoners by race. It was a practice that was routine for more than 25 years and spawned its own set of problems.
In a 2005 interview with LA rapper Kam, he explains how the segregation worked:

LA rapper Kam noted that he spends a lot of time working to heal any rifts which he says starts from the racial segregation and ‘divide and conquer’ techniques used in the California prisons. He noted that this tactic has now spilled out onto the streets and is starting to impact everyday folks buy into these rumors of conflict.
For those who don’t know, in the Cali penal system, inmates are separated by race, ethnicity and gang affiliation. Because the Latino population is so large (almost a third of the state is Latino), prison officials separate Northern and Southern Cali Mexicans.
Within the prisons gangs have formed and alliances made with Northern Mexicans known as Nortenos hooking up with Black inmates and the Southern Mexicans known as Surenos aligning themselves with the White Arayan Brotherhood. The initial split with Northern and Southern Mexicans is something that many feel was a well orchestrated ‘divide and conquer’ plan politicos that went into effect years ago to stem any sort of large Brown block holding and yielding social and political power.

Officials feel that by moving prisoners out of overcrowded jails and not segregating them by race, they will avoid this confrontation but not likely, especially if there are inmates who have been in the penal system for a while.

Santa Monica School Board member Oscar de la Torre, attributes the growing tension (in 2005) in large part to the release of inmates from prisons where black and Latino rivalries often erupt into racial violence.
“There’s racial wars going on behind prison walls,” said de la Torre, who is executive director of the Pico Youth and Family Center, which caters to at-risk youth. “There’s no accountability, and now we have a spillover into our communities and our schools.
“Because there are so many blacks and Latinos incarcerated, you start talking in the family about it,” de la Torre said. “The jail mentality has been becoming the mentality of youth in the community.”
Prison culture, reflected in such films as Edward James Olmos’ American Me, has also “built animosity between black and Latino gangs on the streets,” de la Torre said.

For tensions to subside between the two groups, a host of reforms need to be implemented:
1. Stop overcrowding the jails
2. Create tolerance and self-help programs for inmates to attend
3. Overhaul those laws that put away people for non-violent, low-level crimes.
Unfortunately, the chance that any state could implement any of these changes is not high given the state of the economy.
So, in the meantime, black on brown tensions will continue to rise and cast a shadow over what progress has already been accomplished.

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Comment(9)

  • Ned Hamson
    August 11, 2009 at 6:06 pm

    I agree that the overcrowding had to help get things started. The Court has ordered California to lower its prison population by some 40,000 with a year or two deadline.
    The story over the weekend saying it was about tensions between Latinos and African-Americans has been in part debunked. Seems to New York Times writers and editors not on the scene put together a bunch of facts – some that did not involve Chino – and incorrectly gave it a racial slant.
    The problems are over crowding due to the all too easy way to look good for voters and lock up tons of folks who smoke and/or sell small amounts of marijuana.
    Decriminalize it and give amnesty to those convicted for using it or selling small amounts and much of the overcrowding would end.

  • Velia Koppenhoefer
    August 12, 2009 at 7:53 am

    Thank you for writing this very important story. My son, Efrén, recently wrote another similar piece about the disturbing current state of of our prison system. The URL appears below. Efrén has been instrumental in helping reduce racial tensions in Michigan prisons and teaching the value of appreciating the various cultures and histories of each ethnic group. He believes that fostering this in others can help reduce the problem as well. Community engagement with prisoners, going into prisoners and providing programming, and getting involved can help reduce these tensions. Leaving the work to the prison system to resolve is futile. They have not implemented effective programs or ideas to do this up to this point. It is time the community take matters into their own hands and get involved. If we want to bring our family members home — and those of others family members as well — from prisons unharmed and with a healthy outlook on life, let’s get involved at every level and be a part of the solution.
    http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=137661863131&ref=mf

  • cookie
    August 13, 2009 at 7:37 am

    Outside of prison life there is indeed tension between blacks and latinos. Much of it due to the increase of the latino population by illegal immigration. Blacks are being misplaced in their jobs and neighborhoods. Perhaps that tension is being carried over into prison life.

  • Benjamin
    August 13, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    “Outside of prison life there is indeed tension between blacks and latinos. Much of it due to the increase of the latino population by illegal immigration. Blacks are being misplaced in their jobs and neighborhoods. Perhaps that tension is being carried over into prison life.”
    Absolutely true, cookie, and that’s the true reason why members of these two racial/ethnic groups go to prison that there’s strife. No perhaps about it, cookie. Crowding is an issue but the problem starts in the streets and follows them to the confines of the prison.

  • Marisa Treviño
    August 14, 2009 at 8:06 am

    Benjamin, I have to point out that “your truth” is your opinion and is not necessarily fact.

  • Traci
    August 14, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Well, Marisa, I’ll have to concur with Benjamin. I find it far more likely that there are thousands of Latinos and African Americans in conflict outside and that they carry those conficts to prison, than it is for them to learn it in prison and then carry it to the streets.

  • Che
    August 15, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Spot on Traci. Statistically that makes a stronger argument.
    “Marisa, I have to point out that “your truth” is your opinion and is not necessarily fact.”

  • Jimmy
    August 16, 2009 at 5:52 pm

    Traci is right. There are far more African-Americans and Latinos out of prison than in. We’ve seen thousands of ethnic cleansing Latinos gangs fighting black kids on the streets, so why wouldn’t we come to the conclusion that Latino gang members are doing the same thing in prison? If it began in prison, then the fighting wouldn’t be so widespread, being limited to those who have been in prison. The animosities definitely begin on the street. Overcrowding is endemic within all state prison systems, yet you don’t see the same rivalries among other racial groups in prison, mainly because they don’t have street gangs.

  • cookie
    August 17, 2009 at 8:12 am

    There is plenty of proof out there of the tensions between blacks and latinos in our society. It isn’t opinion. It is fact.

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