Growing Up in East Los Angeles
Growing up in East L.A. was a struggle for me. Always having to watch my back because of gang violence was not the best thing in world but it was reality to me. The fear of being caught in gang crossfire was an everyday occurrence. Living in a better neighborhood without having to fear for your life would be a fantasy. Although many people in East L.A. honor where they live, I myself cannot wait till the day I leave. Gang Violence is very childish and disrespectful. Many teenagers think it may be cool but the fact is the gangs give people in their race a bad name. In the County of Los Angeles and estimated 450 to 500 gangs operated on the streets of Los Angeles. In the Early 1990s, there were 60,000 Latino gang members and about 35,000 black gang members. Black and Latino gangs differ, with Latino gangs being more territorial then Black gangs. In both neighborhoods (Black and Latino) most of the residents were frustrated by gang problems. Many parents have their children bussed to different schools outside their community or sending the to private schools. Many parents did not want their children associated with gangs. There only alternative was to keep them away from gangs. Gang Violence was at its high during the early 1990's
The LAPD and Sheriff's Department strategic plan is "rounding up suspects". They would go around doing a sweep on any person who looked like a gang member and labeled them as a gang member. This was easier and cheaper for our police department then actually doing something about the social conditions that produce gangs. I feel that this is the only way you can handle issues like this, just basically segregate gang members. If you do not want to be labeled as a menace, then do not hang around with gang members. The jury, all white except for one Latina, found the four officers who brutally beat up Rodney King were found not guilty. Anger at the verdict swept Los Angeles. Two Thousand People gathered at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church to protest the verdict, but the protest soon led to violence. The National Guard was deployed to control the violent people. During the five days of unrest, ten African Americans and Latino men died at the hands of officers from the Sheriff's Department, the National Guard, and the Los Angeles, Compton, and Pasadena police departments. During the riots three black men pulled a white male truck driver from his truck and beat him. The three black men were accused of beating Denny and eleven others during the outbreak. Denny's attackers also beat up Latinos, and Asians. In 1995, California would spend more on prisons than on its two university systems, The University of California and the California State Universities. California has spent five billion to expand prisons from 23,534 to 61,983 beds, the number of inmates increased from 23,511 to 119,668 by December of 1993. Latino Politicians knew better, in public they have generally accepted the proposition that passing tougher laws and building more and bigger prisons can end the state's social decay. According to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Latinos were a majority of the inmates in county jails by the early 1990's and they w
Some common words found in the essay are:
Department Latinos, Sheriff's Department, Mexican Mafia, Masters II, East LA, Pete Wilson, Highway Patrol, Black Latino, David Hillo, Compton Pasadena, los angeles, gang violence, mexican mafia, east la, sheriff's department, national guard, gang labeled, everyday occurrence, parents children, prison population,
Approximate Word count = 1308
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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