The rival Bloods and Crips tied their iconic red and blue bandanas together in a sign of unity during a rally Friday night in Atlanta in protest against police brutality .
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The rally, organized by the NAACP and promoted by Black Lives Matter, drew in thousands of supporters and continued until late into the night.
“Change must come to policing in America but it cannot and will not come at the end of a barrel of a gun,” said Georgia NAACP President Francys Johnson in a statement ahead of the rally.
The two gangs have been rivals for almost 50 years and were both founded in South Central Los Angeles during the sunset of the Black Panther and Black Power movement, forming as the radical Black groups dissolved under the weight of the U.S. government's COINTELPRO operations.
we witnessed bloods and crips uniting today for the bigger vision. united we stand. divided we fall. #AtlantaProtest pic.twitter.com/Z93sHHf8R4— Sk. (@skylarariannaa) July 9, 2016