BILLS
With Knowledge Comes Tolerance
 

BILLS, were youth in The Democratic Republic of Congo who demonstrated their opposition to the mainstream politics by forming distinct gangs.  Since they had little money for any other entertainment but the movies, they made the theaters their hangouts.  They got their name from Buffalo Bill.  They idealized the freedom that American Western movies portrayed.  And each gang's territory was named after an American territory (Texas, Santa Fe...)

The movement was based mainly in Leopoldville (modern day Kinshasa) during the late 1950s, where the town was segregated.  The blacks were repressed while the colonial government reserved rights only for the whites.

Bills wore cowboy outfits - brown cowboy hats and boots.