Recent Streetsblog LA posts about gangs

Location, Location, Location: Contested Public Space Means Moving Watts School Could Deny Some Education

By Sahra Sulaiman | May 14, 2014 | 3 Comments

“They say they care about our safety, but they’re putting us in harm’s way!” It is a refrain I’ve heard several times over the last month from students of INSPIRE Research Academy, a state-subsidized continuation school based at YO! Watts that offers 17-24-year-olds a free education and a rare second chance to get their high […]

Tattoos - symbols of the struggle of his earlier years - warn you against crossing a former gang member. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

To Be or Not To Be a Gang-Banger: Is that Really the Question?

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 21, 2014 | 6 Comments

*This story features interviews with a number of youth. Some are named. Others requested they remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the information divulged. This story is the second in a series on the impact of generational disenfranchisement and trauma and repressive policing. The first, “Death and All His Friends,” can be found here. […]

Death and All His Friends Cast Long Shadows When They Make Regular Appearances

By Sahra Sulaiman | Nov 6, 2013 | 12 Comments

“I went crazy,” Sherika Simms says quietly of the realization that she would be unable to help her brother. Twenty-two-year-old Maurio Proctor, two years her junior but more like her twin – the boy that had followed her everywhere she went as a child and wanted to do everything she did – had been gunned […]

Mayor Eric Garcetti asks participants in the town hall on gun violence for suggestions of messages he should take with him to meet President Obama. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

“Invest in Us!” say South L.A. Youth in Response to Questions about How to Curb Violence at Town Hall with Garcetti

By Sahra Sulaiman | Aug 7, 2013 | 5 Comments

When asked by his group’s facilitator whether he believed the youth in South L.A. had opportunities — opportunities to grow, succeed, try new things, advance their education, you name it — one young man said he was convinced that the answer was a resounding “no.” It wasn’t just that opportunities weren’t there, the dapper teen […]

This is what stopping youth or men of color often looks like, regardless of the reason for the stop. Mikey, Jonathan, and George/Jorge were frisked for weapons on Ave. 50 and York Blvd. in Highland Park in 2013 while waiting for friends. Sahra Sulaiman/LA Streetsblog

A Tale of Two Communities: New Security Measures at USC Intensify Profiling of Lower-Income Youth of Color

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 30, 2013 | 33 Comments

“What you got on you?” the 15 year-old girl says the cops pulled up alongside her asked as she walked along Vermont one night. Bundled up in her boyfriend’s jacket to stave off the chilly air, she didn’t realize that they were actually talking to her until she heard one grumble, “Fucking Mexican!” and repeat […]

Villaraigosa Offers Tough Stance on Gun Violence, but South L.A. Youth Say the Problem is Deeper than Guns

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jan 18, 2013 | 3 Comments

The first time he shot somebody, he says, another gang member helped him hold his hand steady as he aimed the gun out the window of the car they were sitting in. He hadn’t wanted to do it — he didn’t even know the kid he thinks he hit in the back and the head, […]

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