On Wednesday morning my semi-monthly cleaning lady called me to let me
know that she would not be coming that day. "I have to go to a Funeral",
she said sadly. When I asked her who it was, she told me that it was the
son of a neighbor friend of hers who was killed in a drive-by shooting.
The son lived in Pacoima where there is a lot of gang related crimes.
The day before I was on my way to an appointment in South Central L. A.
The appointment was with a teacher who worked for L.A. Unified School
District. She told me that instead of taking the Vernon St. exit off the
Harbor Freeway, that it would be faster to get off at the 51st exit of
which I was less familiar. And although I had been in this part of town
before, 51st St. just wasn't a main throughfare that I knew. I drove a
few blocks and suddenly came upon a police crime scene yellow tape
stretched across the street. Up ahead at the intersection were several
L.A.P.D. cars. Overhead a couple of helicopters flew close over the
intersection and surrounding streets in ever increasing wider circles.
Needless to say I couldn't go any further. I pulled into a driveway and
got out of the car to see what was happening. I asked a woman who was
standing off to the side of the driveway at the entrance to a small
Park. "Someone's been shot," she said very sternly, glancing at me
swiftly and turning way. I got back into my car and made a u-turn behind
the other cars that had come on the scene as I had, and were now trying
to get out of the dead-end traffic jam. I made many turns in and out of
different streets before I finally made it to my destination. I was
surprised that I didn't feel nervous or the slightest bit concerned.
Maybe because it had happened to me before. It felt somewhat strange
however, as I could still hear the droning of the helicopters over my
head all the way to the school. I am sitting here wondering about all
the drive-bys and the Gangs connected with them. How do you make joining
a gang repugnant to a young person who wants desperately to belong and
to be cool? There have been many ad campaigns in the media and even in
local schools about the use of tobacco and the negative aspects of
smoking. There were ads that were released many years ago with Brooke
Shields as a spokesperson for anti-smoking campaign slogans and ad
posters that were distributed in the schools and shown on t.v. There has
also been an ongoing anti-drug program called DARE that is circulating
in many school districts with the local police 'teaching' classes to
children as young as elementary school age. I also happened to see an
ad(not sure who sponsored it) in YM Magazine for young adults concerning
a girl who was grounded for smoking weed. It showed the teenager sulking
at home by herself while four of her friends were out enjoying
themselves at the local hang-out. The message was obvious and very
simple. It occurred to me that while much has been done to reach out to
the Y generation, that it seems nothing has been thought of to deter
kids from joining gangs and the ultimate event that occurs because of
it: premature death by guns. If there is some sort of program or
campaign, I am unaware of it. Maybe there is someone out there with a
similar idea who has already started something or has even organized a
group. I just haven't seen anything being done on a wide scale. And it's
really bad. This has been going on for as long as I can remember. Maybe
it's easier said than done. It is just so darn disheartening and so
terribly sad. It is scary to think that as much of gang related
shootings occur, that it has become the 'norm' and that the newspapers
just can't report all of them. Something that happens every day in our
community and becomes so routine that we have all become oblivious to
it's tragedies. THINK ABOUT IT Peach