Victor Hugo Sequeira Limieri Guimaraes
Dr. Powel-Williams
SOCI 1101
14 September 2011

Bastards of the Party (2005)

There are several ways to define what Sociological imagination is; the term was coined by the American sociologist C. Wright Mills in 1959, to describe the insight offered by the discipline of sociology. I am going to explain two different definitions of sociological imagination; first, the sociological imagination can be defined as the capacity to see how sociological situations play out due to how people differ and social circumstances differ. It is a way of thinking about things in society that have led to some sort of outcome, and understanding what causes led to that outcome. Things that shape these outcomes include (but are not limited to): social norms, what people want to achieve (their motives for doing something), and the social context in which they live (ex. - country, time period, people with whom they associate). Basically, as an aspect of sociological imagination, what people do is shaped by all these things that result in some sort of outcome. Second, sociological imagination can be also the ability to see things socially and how they interact and influence each other. To have a sociological imagination, a person must be able to pull away from the situation and think from an alternative point of view. It requires “thinking ourselves away from our daily routines and looking at them anew". The actions of people are much more important than the act itself; as a result, sociological imagination is the capacity to shift from one perspective to another. To illustrate, Mills believed in the power of the sociological imagination to connect "personal troubles to public issues."
Cle Sloan is the director of the movie and a Blood former gang-member. Cle Sloan utilizes his sociological imagination to investigate L.A.’s gang problem when he talks with Mike Davis, Joe Hicks, Amde, J. Daniel Johnson, and some other character throughout the movie. To begin with, when Cle Sloan talks with Mike Davis he is beginning to understand how the police played an important hole in L.A. between 1950 and 1966; Parker, the chief of LAPD, was a steadfast and racist person who declared war against Afro-American people. Also, Cle Sloan comprehends that most colleges were “white”; as a result, Afro-American people do not fit in this society. Moreover, Afro-American people started to get together and “fight back” as an answer that they “matter.” After, there are two gangs created called U.S Organization and Black Panthers; both were trying to control the streets of Los Angeles. To illustrate, when Cle questions Joe Hicks about if some of the two gangs declared each other enemies, Hicks says, “ There were no kind of formal declaration; however, there was a serious competition going on and the CoIntelPro was part of it.” In addition, the Black Panthers were opposed by the secret FBI operation COINTELPRO, and the party was referred to as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country" by J. Edgar Hoover. As revealed later in Senate testimony, the FBI worked with the Los Angeles Police Department to harass and intimidate party members. Furthermore, an important part that Cle observes is when he talks with J. Daniel Johnson, eye witness to Bunchy’s murder; Bunchy was a Black Panther member who was murdered at the UCLA Campus because of this gang rivalry. In the 70’s Crips and Bloods were the two main gangs in L.A.; Sloan understood that the Crips were a group to “clean up” the community as Amde, who is a Watts Historian, told him; the Crips even sent a letter of appreciation signed by the mayor accepting them to the society. However, Cle could understand that the Crips were not helping the community; to illustrate, Cle implies that the Crips were getting to much control, even murdering people. Moreover, a reason to the gang’s increase was that the unemployment rate in L.A. increased because fired its workers. To exemplify, Mike Davis explains to Cle that young Afro-American did not have a family to support them; consequently, their only choice was to be part of a gang, which is directly influenced by their family and where they lived. A major problem that Cle discovered is that police were “working” with the gangs because was profitable for both parts; As Cle highlighted, “people would get proposals to get money from the government saying that they were trying to help gang members and that they needed help.” On the other hand, Cle a part in the documentary he expressed his real feelings about how important in his life and how proud he was when he became a gang member; for instance, he said “go get the guns, go hide the guns; I was part of that world now because I fought; I did not run.” One of the most captivating parts of the piece was the solutions that these current and ex-bangers shared with Cle near the end of the documentary. One solution was not allowing children to be labeled with your gang name. It is better to give a chance to grow up with his given name, which would take him out of the box of his family lifestyle and the pressure of having to live up to that image/lifestyle. It seems so simple, but it does indeed affect so much. In addition, it is a fact that significant human behavioral change only occurs when humans experience tragic, life altering events. In conclusion, I learned that Cle's own human characteristics were shown throughout the documentary as he was both partial and impartial as an interviewer and a 'character'. He was impartial when spoke to governmental officials and professors, strictly gathering facts via interview, but partial when talking to his friends because it is his neighborhood, he himself is an ex-Blood member, and he is very loyal to his neighborhood. At one point, someone close to him dies, killed by Crip gang members. and he says that he would do something to slain his friend's killer if he were face to face with the guy; however, at another point he says he would not have any interaction with him at all. This is real and illustrates how dynamic human behavior really is and can be.