We all know what Jim Crow was, the system of laws and customs designed to keep blacks in a subordinate status in the South after Reconstruction. But have you ever heard of Diego Cuervo?
Well, I haven’t either, but this story seemed to beg for Jim Crow to be translated into Spanish to describe what’s happening in some parts of Southern California:
A Latino gang conspired to rid a Southern California city of blacks through intimidation, threats and violence dating back to the early 1990s, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.
More than 50 people were charged as authorities made early morning raids targeting the Azusa 13 gang.
Federal prosecutors said the gang engaged in a host of crimes ranging from drug trafficking to hate crimes that have hobbled Azusa, a city of about 45,000 residents near Los Angeles.
This isn’t the first time:
In 2009, more than 140 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang were charged in connection with waging a racist campaign against black people. Four years ago, authorities arrested dozens of members of South Los Angeles’ Florencia 13 gang in connection with the killing of blacks because of the color of their skin.
Tuesday’s charges mirrored a similar effort federal prosecutors took against The Avenues, a gang from the Highland Park area northeast of downtown Los Angeles, where four gang members were convicted in 2007 of hate crimes for killing a black man.
In Azusa, six people have been charged with civil rights violations for allegedly harassing, and in some cases attacking, African Americans to drive them out of the city or to prevent them relocating there. More than two-thirds of Azusa is Hispanic, while roughly 3 percent is black.
The “progressive” forces in the Triangle bristle whenever someone alleges that racial gang strife is brewing in this area due to the huge influx of Hispanics into areas once dominated by blacks. But judging from what’s happening elsewhere, taking even small signs of ethnic gang tensions seriously would seem to be the prudent thing to do.
