Hot Summer

A couple of weeks back, I laughed in my car as a drove past Jesse Owens Park about 30 seconds from my house. I laughed because the park had been hit up again by the Rollin' 90s and the message was on the wall was "Summer is hear." What was supposed to be some type of cryptic message had me laughing because the kid that wrote it used the wrong "hear." A clear sign that he needs to be in school.

Regardless of the situation, there truly is a spike in crime during the summer. Last night, I sat on my couch at 1 am, unable to sleep worried about some personal things, when four shots rang out. Even though my apartment is situated such that the angles would not allow a bullet to come through one of the windows and hit me, I still feel to the floor in fear. I sat there on the floor for a few minutes to see if I would hear some sirens or a helicopter. Since I did not hear anything, I sat back up, and continued to waste away the night.

Little did I know that earlier that night, about 6-7 minutes away at Imperial and Vermont, a young 22-year old was shot by the police. I drive by this place on my way home each day. Last week, at Imperial and Budlong (the next major street west), a memorial was set up for a death that I have not heard any information about yet. This morning, I had to pass by there to run a few errands. The street was blocked off on Imperial from Budlong to Vermont as they finished off their investigation of themselves. Then, this afternoon, another shooting right at the same spot. 4 more people were shot, although not fatally (see article here).

Imperial and Vermont has been a crack corner for as long as I have been in LA. The first time I came to South Central, I got off the 105 at Vermont. The drug users line up at the bus stop and kick it all day. These aging (there are very few new crack users) men and women will be seen at all hours. That plus the gangs make it a terrible corner. I remember being there about 2 years ago at the stop light and watching a drive-by. Earlier this year, a woman gang member was shot in the head in front of her apartment there as well.

At the end, it is all another day though, unless it is you or one of your loved ones that gets shot. It is always so funny to me that after a shooting, everything just continues. As I sat on the floor after the shooting last night, the crickets stayed at what they do, another plane flew over head to land at LAX, and within a few minutes the cars on Century continued up and down the street. At Imperial and Vermont, people were outside on their way to the store, getting gas, and living their lives. You would think everything might pause in that precious second as life escapes a man or woman. You might believe that because it is another human, there might be something intensely special or meaningful. But the reality is that there is not. Some people cry, some bring some flowers, some go mentally ill, and everyone continues on.

Society truly deems are lives in the hood worthless. Nothing is done to really fix any of these problems cause it all happens here. At Imperial and Normandie (the next major street west of Budlong), very close to where all of this took place, a new juvenile detention center and station is being built. As if the neighborhood is not its own type of prison. The murders, drugs, and gangs continue. The kids continue to be raised by selfish, irresponsible adults, too hurt and damaged in their own lives to adequately care for another. The police keep killing them dead when they feel they get too out of control or just to kill them. Many live sad and tragic lives of their own making here. As one teacher says, it is "The Watts Story," or the South Central Story, or the Hood Story, whatever you want to call it.

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