Hashtag History

• EP 158: The Lynwood Vikings

  This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Lynwood Vikings, one of many deputy gangs of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy gangs are gangs, formed and founded, by deputies of the LASD. And, like most gangs, they involve tattoos and racism and acts of violence as a form of initiation into the gang. But unlike other gangs, these are gangs made up of law enforcement officers who are meant to serve and protect the community. These gangs enact violence on the community and – because they all believe in maintaining the blue wall of silence (AKA not snitching on another cop), their misconduct goes with them to the grave. Not only all of that: Members of these gangs have been responsible for horrific crimes, including but not limited to: beating up inmates and then filing false reports to cover it up, retaliating against whistleblowers, and even murder. As of 2021, there were 24 known and active deputy gangs within the LASD. As of right now when we’re recording this in 2025, there continue to be at least six that we know of.It goes without saying, but this is unacceptable. In the 2023 report that a special oversight committee put together to combat this issue, they said of these gangs, “Both historically and currently, [they] exalt the use of excessive force against civilians, harass other deputies, and undermine the chain of command within the Department. However denominated, the existence of these groups and their impact adversely affects the mission of the Department and undermines public trust in the Department.”To summarize: We know of at least 19 people that have been killed by these gangs, all of which were men of color. We also know that, over the last fifty years, Los Angeles County (i.e., the taxpayers of Los Angeles County) have paid out some $100 million dollars in response to settlements and lawsuits related to these deputy gangs.There are seriously so many of these gangs that we would be here for six hours if I told you specific details about all of them. So in this episode, we are more so doing an overview of these various deputy gangs and then focusing on one specific one: the Lynwood Vikings.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

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• EP 157: The Trojan War

  This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Trojan War, a once-believed-to-be strictly mythological tale about a conflict between Troy and Greece which destroyed the city of Troy. This is the battle that involves the infamous Trojan horse in which the Greeks left an allegedly hollowed out wooden horse outside the Trojan city gates. The Trojans eventually determine it to be a gift and bring it inside but, lo and behold, that hollowed out horse was actually filled with Greek soldiers that came in and destroyed the city. The story of the Trojan war was told in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, a few other pieces of Greek literature, and then was primarily carried on through oral tradition. Because Homer’s works are not historical accounts – they are Greek literature and poetry – we cannot take any of what he said to be proven facts. But, after a discovery in the late-1800s, ruins in modern-day Turkey point to what may have once been the city of Troy…causing some to believe that perhaps Homer’s fictional, mythological works…may have had a little truth behind them.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

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• EP 156: The Lavender Scare

  This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the Lavender Scare, a roughly forty-year period in history (spanning from the late-1940s and into the early-1990s) in which thousands of government employees lost their job as part of a federal anti-gay policy. Under Executive Order 10450 issued in 1953, it became a legal policy to remove all known gay men and women from federal service because it was believed that homosexuals have a proclivity for weakness and would therefore pose a threat to national security if they remained in their positions within the government.We all know about Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare that he set off with his infamous congressional speech about the list of communists he claimed to know worked for the government. But alongside that scare, lesser known than that scare, was the Lavender Scare. As Senator Alan K. Simpson later wrote of it, “The so-called ‘Red Scare’ has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals.” And while McCarthyism is generally associated with the 1940s and 1950s, the Lavender Scare went far beyond that with one federal employee telling about his experience in 1980! Jamie Shoemaker was called into his boss’ office at the National Security Agency in 1980 where “...they said ‘we understand you’re leading a gay lifestyle. And I remember saying, ‘well, I didn’t think I was leading it, but yes, I’m gay.’" He was then placed on leave for four months while his bosses hemmed and hawed about what they were going to do…all to eventually fire him for his sexual orientation…nearly thirty years after the Executive Order had first been put into place!I find this topic to be fascinating – and also, obviously, brutal and disgusting – but fascinating because it is a lesser known part of history…and yet it is wrapped up in the larger picture of a very well known part of history; that being, McCarthyism and the Red Scare.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

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• EP 155: Woodstock '99

  IT'S A LEAH TAKEOVER EPISODE!This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing Woodstock ‘99. Everyone has heard of the Woodstock Music Festival that took place in 1969, on a farm in Bethel, New York. It was one of the largest music festivals in history and became synonymous with the counterculture of the 1960s. But fewer, I think, are aware that there were multiple attempts at emulating the original Woodstock Music Festival that took place at the tail end of the 20th century. Much like the original festival, Woodstock ‘99, which took place July 21 - 26, 1999, was plagued with unfortunate weather conditions, not-so-great logistical planning, and other negative impacts on the surrounding infrastructure and community, but unlike the OG festival, it was also plagued with overpriced food and water, disgustingly poor sanitation, a slew of reports of sexual assault, and the event culminated in rioting, looting, arson, and… death. Links to the videos mentioned:https://www.google.com/search?q=fred+durst+woodstock+99&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS968US968&oq=Fred+Durst+woodstock+99&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyBwgBEC4YgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyCAgGEAAYFhgeMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB4yCAgJEAAYFhge0gEIMzgzMGowajmoAgCwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1c5c0c05,vid:YPk7-fCvbao,st:0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKVfkZUPTdE&list=RDAKVfkZUPTdE&start_radio=1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzDFtqQh90M&list=RDTzDFtqQh90M&start_radio=1Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

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• EP 154: Mary Jane Richards, Union Spy

  This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing Mary Jane Richards, a Black, once-enslaved woman who served as a Union spy during the Civil War. We only know of Richards because, in 1911 (nearly fifty years after the end of the Civil War), a white woman named Annie Van Lew Hall was interviewed by Harper’s Magazine in which she told them a story about how her aunt, Elizabeth Van Lew, had operated an espionage ring within the Confederate White House and how she had enlisted a Black woman – in this story, named Mary Elizabeth Bowser – who worked directly in the Confederate White House and got secret information directly from the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Now, as time has gone on, we have learned that much of this story was not real. But we do know for a fact that a woman named Mary Jane Richards was indeed a spy for the Union Army and did indeed change the course of history as a result of her brave, formidable acts.Because she is a woman – because she is a Black woman – because she was an enslaved Black woman – of course, there is not much information known about her. But I wanted to put together this episode regardless of how short or long it may be because knowing this woman’s name is more important now than ever. It’s imperative that we know about her, that we know her story, and that we tell her story.Follow Hashtag History on Instagram @hashtaghistory_podcast for all of the pictures mentioned in this episode.Citations for all sources can be located on our website at www.HashtagHistory-Pod.com. You can also check out our website for super cute merch!You can now sponsor a cocktail and get a shout-out on air! Just head to www.buymeacoffee.com/hashtaghistory or head to the Support tab on our website!You can locate us on www.Patreon.com/hashtaghistory where you can donate $1 a month to our Books and Booze Supply. All of your support goes a long ways and we are endlessly grateful! To show our gratitude, all Patreon Supporters receive an automatic 15% OFF all merchandise in our merchandise store, a shoutout on social media, and stickers!THANKS FOR LISTENING!- Rachel and LeahEditor: Alex PerezCopyright: The Hashtag History Podcast

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