Criminal street gangs have been part of our lives for several decades now, especially in the city of Los Angeles. Specific areas in SCLA, like Compton, Crenshaw, & Slauson are the most dangerous areas where gun violence and drug dealing are always arising. No one feels safe in South Central LA. The corner of Slauson & Crenshaw will forever be connected to the late rapper Nipsey Hussle, a towering figure in South L.A, where he was “gunned down” in 2019 outside a clothing store he owned.

The danger brought by gang members has gone too far. So much so that LA residents, including myself, are afraid to walk alone or ride on buses at any given time. Unfortunately, public transportation or walking methods are the only transportation methods some of us can afford, as a result, we have to accept the reality that we may be in the crossfire of the next gang violence incident.

Gang members are known to approach people with absurd speech to rile them up enough to cause fights, more than usual, the situation escalates and so these gangsters pull their weapons (including guns) out on innocent people who don’t know how to deescalate the situation and turn into victims of gun violence. There have been several known cases where elderly street vendors are harassed by these gang members when they refuse to lend a share of the money they have been working for all day long. In fact, many have been almost beaten to death or killed because of this. 

An American gang expert, Skipp Townsend, shares many of his own life-threatening experiences as he states, “Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard Metro buses used to barely slow down at the bus stop, where gang members were known to jump aboard and pick fights with passengers. And a trip to the gas station in this corner of South Los Angeles would get you “pocket checked” by the men who hung out there, day and night. I probably would’ve gotten beaten up or told to leave.” Townsend’s experiences are widespread across the many individuals in South Central. 

LA is not and has never been, a safe place, not even after the 1992 LA riots, whose purpose was to fight for victims who were aggressively and violently arrested by the LAPD. This occasion caused people, specifically gangsters to act more hatefully towards police officers. Now, with even more reason, gangsters commit crimes and many other bad habits to take the contrary LAPD. Essentially, the 1992 LA riots shaped South Central LA to be the way it is now, full of gun & gangster violence. LA isn’t a normal neighborhood where you can take a walk with your family or pets or even go buy some snacks at the gas station at any time of the day because gang bangers will stop you. Many of us, unfortunately, do not see our “home” as a safe & peaceful place. Even being at home is a risk here. There are often drive-by shootings that risk many families’ lives. There have been occasions where bullets assailed people’s houses and put the lives of the individuals inside their homes at great risk.

Joining a gang so early on in one's life can make leaving the lifestyle much harder; they get jumped into a gang and are influenced into committing crimes which greatly affects their level of comfort and safety at school. As Neuwirth High School Dean, Mr. Alvarez, explains “I've worked with gang member students for almost 16 years. If students have people from different rival gangs in school, there will be conflict, they will continuously live in an anxious mindset. My students are safe at Neuwirth, however, my fear is, that once they go outside, they end up getting killed. Many students are influenced by their so-called “gang” meaning that everything they do is inspired by their gang. So knowing that there have been cases where these students stay more loyal to their gang than their learning potential, they're more likely to end up dropping out. The environment we live in 100% influences a student's pathway decisions. Many students, not just at Neuwirth but in any school in South Central, are force-courted into a gang and once they get force-courted in, they burn them. Even the small things of tagging in the restroom, that’s where things start expanding and there starts to be conflicts between our students.” 

This “gangster” life influences many adolescents into taking this route because many find it “cool” or simply just want to have the power that gang bangers have. In an interview done on the Leeza show back in 2009, a group of gangster girls share their experiences as gangsters and the reasons why they decided to join a gang. They share all the dangers that they have to live with after deciding to join a gang. The teenage girls claim that they joined a gang to "have respect & power from the streets.". Here in LA, gang life has taken a strong foothold on adolescents' lives, some joining gangs as early as 13, and in some cases it being their “birthright”. 

We need to do something about this problem, we need to stop living with fear, and we need our children to have a bright future filled with great opportunities & benefits, not for them to live in a world full of drugs, guns, gangs, and crimes. Schools and teachers should come together to create lessons and activities like watching videos of other people’s stories and experiences, or even simply speaking on behalf of the topic of gangs and gun violence in gangster life to improve students' knowledge about the reality of this lifestyle. This will demonstrate to students how much these individuals and their families suffer not being able to live a normal life without continuously needing to hide from their opponents. These types of lessons will perhaps encourage students to get out of their mindset of wanting to “live a cool lifestyle” because they will start noticing that there is nothing to be cool about and this type of lifestyle will not get them anywhere successful in their future.

A better life is possible, but it isn’t going to happen automatically. Pressure needs to be put on people in power to provide resources to our communities that will reduce gang violence and crime. We are the ones who have the stories to tell and the opportunity to apply that pressure, but we need the tools, the knowledge, the access, and the support from our school community to stand up and demand better.