One of the most common places to examine someone's life is their childhood. The lives of both Saddam and Tookie both aren't the type of childhood one dreams of having. Both were unfortunate in that their fathers weren't a part of their lives.
L.A. is home to Hollywood one of the most glamorous cities in the world. But it also where young Stanley "Tookie" Williams started is reign of fear and violence.
Tookie's father was never in his life and he was raised by his young single mother. He was born on December 29, 1953 to a 17 year old mother in the slums of New Orleans. Three years after his birth the two moved to South Los Angeles. Keep in mind this is right during the heat of the Civil Rights movement and Los Angeles is an ugly place to be no matter what color you are. Tookie grew up during the time of fighting for equal rights and was brought up around the violence of groups such as the Black Panthers. When Tookie was 16 he befriended Raymond "Truck" Washington. The two started the group the "Cribs" which later becomes the "East Side Crips" near Fremont High School. To support her family his mother worked long hours and Tookie took to the streets for both entertainment and comfort.
Tookie's gang first started out as younger imitation group like the Black Panthers but due to lack of leadership within the group it ended up turning into a gang. Initial purposes for this group including getting rid of "bad gangs" and protecting their neighborhood. The members of this group defended each other against other young gangs. As they grew older the power and size of their gang increased. Soon enough they ran one most powerful and influential groups in US history. The gangs soon simply changed its name to the "Crips". This gang was notorious for hurting anyone who they thought were going to trying and stop them. Many innocent civilians the ones who were suppose to be protected ended up being the dead corpses that lay lifeless within the streets of the original purpose of the "Cribs". The "Crips" grew violent they were feared throughout the streets because of their ruthlessness of stealing, drug sells, and many convenient store hold ups. Tookie even confessed:
...we started out — at least my intent was to, in a sense — address all of the so-called neighboring gangs in the area and to put, in a sense — I thought I can cleanse the neighborhood of all these, you know, marauding gangs. But I was totally wrong. And eventually, we morphed into the monster we were addressing...
(http://www.streetgangs.com/crips/)
Saddam's earlier starts aren't too much different than Tookie. Saddam was born on April 28, 1937. Much like Tookie his father was absent in his life. Yet there are reports that his father abandoned the family. The truth remains concealed. The town of Saddam childhood was called al-Auja, near Takrit. He grew up in a mud hut. Not too much different from the slums of New Orleans, right? One major factor that his single mother "Subha" had the support of her family. Saddam grew up surrounded by his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She also remarried a man named Ibrahim Hassan. Hassan was known to be a thief and it is reported that he forced young Saddam to steal. When Saddam was 10 he was sent to live with his mother's brother, uncle Khayrallah Tulfah. His uncle lived in Baghdad one of the most heavily populated cities in the Middle East. Saddam learned much from his time in Baghdad, he excelled in school. One of Saddam's teachers was a "Pro-Nazi" who influence Saddam's hatred of both imperialism and the British.
By the age of 16 Saddam entered the renowned Baghdad Military Academy. Saddam didn't excel academically bet gained a interest in politics. He joined a coup against the Monarcy against the king at the time in 1956 and in 1957 he joined the Baath party known for it's radical nationalist movement. The Baath party in 1958 the group successfully assassinated Gen. Qasssim (the current leader of Iraq at the time) with Saddam leading group. Saddam convinced the party to lead a risky full assault day light machine-gun attack against the general. With their success with Saddam's leadership he was promoted to having a leadership position within the party.
(http://www.emergency.com/hussein1.htm)
So as stated earlier they both grew up without their fathers. Meanwhile Saddam spent part of his childhood in one of the influential Muslim cities in the world, meanwhile Tookie was subjected the rough streets of L.A. as a child. Tookie helped found the group that still leads violence throughout the US today meanwhile Saddam started out as member of a political middle eastern party. While being both fatherless, Saddam was constantly surrounded by family yet Tookie's mother moved young Tookie and herself away from their family before Tookie started school. The two both grew up in poverty. Saddam lived in the mud while as a toddler and Tookie was born in the slums of New Orleans and grew up in the rough streets of LA.
In the end it can be said that maybe Saddam was more doomed from the start. The Baath Party was created to repress and infiltrate the government, and he joined it. Yet Sookie's "Cribs" started to help the community and ended up getting out of control. So would these two still be considered as dangerous if they were loners instead of leaders? Or maybe they would have never been in history books if it weren't the groups they joined.
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