High school violence highlights tensions.
By Rick Orlov
Staff writer
LOS ANGELES — Forty years after the Watts riots and 13 years after the Los Angeles riots, many civic leaders fear Los Angeles may again be ripe for growing racial violence.
Recent fights and race-related threats at nearly two dozen high schools coupled with the city's continuing economic woes and rapidly changing demographics have raised the specter that long-simmering tensions may be reaching a boiling point.
"You have gangs and turf battles and you have the potential of them spreading beyond campuses," said Rabbi Alan Freehling, who heads the city's Human Relations Commission and sees the city at a critical juncture, with the schools serving as a potential lightning rod.
"You have kids with nothing to do when they're out of school and no real prospects of good jobs. You have a community that is changing dramatically and that causes problems."
While officials are quick to point out that some of the issues that plagued Los Angeles in 1965 and sparked the deadly Watts riots no longer exist, the city still has an equal number of problems.
"We have a much more complex city," said Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles. "This is a much more dynamic city because of its diversity, but that creates other tensions.
"It is no longer a black-white issue. If you look at this city, it's amazing we don't have more problems. Every day I wake up and wonder what will happen. It only takes a little spark to turn all the good upside down."
Four decades ago, the spark that ignited six days of rioting was fueled by a variety of factors.
With a majority white population about 60 percent of the 2.9 million residents a sense of powerlessness pervaded a generally poor minority community. There was high unemployment. Overcrowded schools. Lack of adequate health care.
Similar conditions existed 27 years later when the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King triggered three days of riots in 1992 that left 55 people dead, more than 2,300 injured and 1,100 buildings destroyed.
Situation familiar
Many of those same issues that existed in 1965 and 1992 are being seen today in a much larger Los Angeles with a more diverse population and potentially more tensions.
Today, Latinos are in the majority making up 47 percent of the 3.7 million residents. Whites make up 30 percent, African-Americans make up 11 percent and Asian-Americans 10 percent.
Gone are most of the industrial jobs that served as entry-level work for many families, replaced by lower-paying service industry and tourism jobs.
The city's Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center, which was built in the aftermath of the Watts riots, is in disarray with county officials having shut its trauma unit while officials determine how to save the rest of the institution.
The county Economic Development Corp. said inner-city unemployment averages 9.5 percent about double the rate in the rest of the city. Joblessness for teens is even higher.
And even as the Los Angeles Unified School District is on a fast track to build new schools for its more than 730,000 students, it still is bursting at the seams.
Jefferson High School in South Central, for example, was built to accommodate about 1,500 students. It currently has 3,600 who attend year-round, with about 2,400 students on campus at any given time.
Cell-phone links
Officials fear that, with the advent of cell phones, any school fights could quickly escalate into off-campus unrest as students call family and friends.
Meanwhile, there is always a ticking time bomb of community-police relations.
Sheriff Lee Baca recently was out front in disciplining 13 deputies in connection with a May shooting in neighboring Compton, where officers fired into a moving SUV, wounding a driver.
Police Chief William Bratton has dealt directly with community leaders on a series of recent incidents, from the beating of suspected car thief Stanley Miller by officers to the shooting of 13-year-old Devin Brown, who was driving a stolen car.
In an effort to head off violence, Bratton, Mayor James Hahn and other officials held high-profile community meetings and events to quell rumors and allow residents to vent their frustrations.
Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa has been active in dealing with students at Jefferson and Taft high schools sites of the most recent fights to try to calm students and stem any spread of unrest into the broader community.
"Any time you have violence in the schools or anywhere in this city, you have to react quickly to it," Villaraigosa said. "You cannot allow it to fester and develop into bigger problems, whether it is on a high school or anywhere else in the city.
"What we have to realize is the cause of the violence is for a variety of reasons. We have deplorable conditions with overcrowding, dropouts and a lack of literacy. That's why we have to work with the school district to address these problems."
Villaraigosa said he will do more than try to contain the violence. He has talked about increasing job opportunities and opening the city process to include more small businesses and requiring out-of-state firms to partner with local firms.
He has promised to create an administration that is reflective of the city, by bringing in more minorities who might feel threatened by the election of a Latino mayor.
And he said he will meet with various groups to emphasize their stake in the city's future.
"If we contain it, we have failed," Villaraigosa said. "We have to end the violence."
Currently, the city is developing a series of programs to commemorate the Watts riots, including a photographic retrospective and panel discussions comparing Watts with now, on changes that have been accomplished and on whether such violence could recur.
Ridley-Thomas said his office is working with Villaraigosa and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo to launch a series of Days of Dialogue meetings across the city to commemorate the Watts riots.
"We can never forget what happened. And we have to look to make sure that it does not repeat."
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2928389,00.html
By Rick Orlov
Staff writer
LOS ANGELES — Forty years after the Watts riots and 13 years after the Los Angeles riots, many civic leaders fear Los Angeles may again be ripe for growing racial violence.
Recent fights and race-related threats at nearly two dozen high schools coupled with the city's continuing economic woes and rapidly changing demographics have raised the specter that long-simmering tensions may be reaching a boiling point.
"You have gangs and turf battles and you have the potential of them spreading beyond campuses," said Rabbi Alan Freehling, who heads the city's Human Relations Commission and sees the city at a critical juncture, with the schools serving as a potential lightning rod.
"You have kids with nothing to do when they're out of school and no real prospects of good jobs. You have a community that is changing dramatically and that causes problems."
While officials are quick to point out that some of the issues that plagued Los Angeles in 1965 and sparked the deadly Watts riots no longer exist, the city still has an equal number of problems.
"We have a much more complex city," said Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles. "This is a much more dynamic city because of its diversity, but that creates other tensions.
"It is no longer a black-white issue. If you look at this city, it's amazing we don't have more problems. Every day I wake up and wonder what will happen. It only takes a little spark to turn all the good upside down."
Four decades ago, the spark that ignited six days of rioting was fueled by a variety of factors.
With a majority white population about 60 percent of the 2.9 million residents a sense of powerlessness pervaded a generally poor minority community. There was high unemployment. Overcrowded schools. Lack of adequate health care.
Similar conditions existed 27 years later when the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King triggered three days of riots in 1992 that left 55 people dead, more than 2,300 injured and 1,100 buildings destroyed.
Situation familiar
Many of those same issues that existed in 1965 and 1992 are being seen today in a much larger Los Angeles with a more diverse population and potentially more tensions.
Today, Latinos are in the majority making up 47 percent of the 3.7 million residents. Whites make up 30 percent, African-Americans make up 11 percent and Asian-Americans 10 percent.
Gone are most of the industrial jobs that served as entry-level work for many families, replaced by lower-paying service industry and tourism jobs.
The city's Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center, which was built in the aftermath of the Watts riots, is in disarray with county officials having shut its trauma unit while officials determine how to save the rest of the institution.
The county Economic Development Corp. said inner-city unemployment averages 9.5 percent about double the rate in the rest of the city. Joblessness for teens is even higher.
And even as the Los Angeles Unified School District is on a fast track to build new schools for its more than 730,000 students, it still is bursting at the seams.
Jefferson High School in South Central, for example, was built to accommodate about 1,500 students. It currently has 3,600 who attend year-round, with about 2,400 students on campus at any given time.
Cell-phone links
Officials fear that, with the advent of cell phones, any school fights could quickly escalate into off-campus unrest as students call family and friends.
Meanwhile, there is always a ticking time bomb of community-police relations.
Sheriff Lee Baca recently was out front in disciplining 13 deputies in connection with a May shooting in neighboring Compton, where officers fired into a moving SUV, wounding a driver.
Police Chief William Bratton has dealt directly with community leaders on a series of recent incidents, from the beating of suspected car thief Stanley Miller by officers to the shooting of 13-year-old Devin Brown, who was driving a stolen car.
In an effort to head off violence, Bratton, Mayor James Hahn and other officials held high-profile community meetings and events to quell rumors and allow residents to vent their frustrations.
Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa has been active in dealing with students at Jefferson and Taft high schools sites of the most recent fights to try to calm students and stem any spread of unrest into the broader community.
"Any time you have violence in the schools or anywhere in this city, you have to react quickly to it," Villaraigosa said. "You cannot allow it to fester and develop into bigger problems, whether it is on a high school or anywhere else in the city.
"What we have to realize is the cause of the violence is for a variety of reasons. We have deplorable conditions with overcrowding, dropouts and a lack of literacy. That's why we have to work with the school district to address these problems."
Villaraigosa said he will do more than try to contain the violence. He has talked about increasing job opportunities and opening the city process to include more small businesses and requiring out-of-state firms to partner with local firms.
He has promised to create an administration that is reflective of the city, by bringing in more minorities who might feel threatened by the election of a Latino mayor.
And he said he will meet with various groups to emphasize their stake in the city's future.
"If we contain it, we have failed," Villaraigosa said. "We have to end the violence."
Currently, the city is developing a series of programs to commemorate the Watts riots, including a photographic retrospective and panel discussions comparing Watts with now, on changes that have been accomplished and on whether such violence could recur.
Ridley-Thomas said his office is working with Villaraigosa and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo to launch a series of Days of Dialogue meetings across the city to commemorate the Watts riots.
"We can never forget what happened. And we have to look to make sure that it does not repeat."
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~2928389,00.html
