There's a New Sheriff in Town

As mentioned in the past, I'm a third generation Angeleno, which means absolutely nothing other than I have three generations of opinions. My grandmother was born here in 1910 and graduated LA High. My grandfather graduated from Roosevelt. Granny’s parents were the first people on their block to own a car. She would tell stories of the couple hour drive from their house just south of Hancock Park to their summer place in Venice. Funny how that hasn't changed, but traffic isn’t the point of this rant.

What saddens me most about LA is how the racial divide continues to grow, especially on our school campuses.

"A lot of students are depressed because of the conditions in their school," said Anna Exiga, a junior at Jordan High School who was one of the organizers of the survey. "They see that their school is failing them, their teachers are failing them, there's racial tension and gang violence, and also many feel that their schools are not schools -- their schools look more like prisons."

When I was a teen coming of age on the Westside during the 80s, there were racial tensions everywhere we went: At Palms Jr. High, Hamilton High, cruising the streets of Westwood, the UCLA Mardi Gras. In those “good ol’ days” someone might come out a little bloody and bruised. Today, however, looking at someone the wrong way will kill you.

The LA political and MSM machines would lead us to believe that LA is as safe as it was in the 50s. My parents came of age here in the 50s. The only dangers they faced came from my grandfather, who set an alarm clock to make certain Mom made it home by curfew. Don’t really remember the 60s. But, in the 70s, living in the valley, we roamed the streets during the day until it was time to come home for dinner.

That, Tony V, was safe. The streets of LA are not safe for our kids. Just ask Jamiel Shaw Sr.

Now comes Sheriff Lee Baca. I don’t know if he’s getting ready to run for mayor, or if he’s finally decided to differentiate himself from the other drones of LA politics, but Sheriff Baca is admitting what no other LA politician will: racial tensions are killing the kids of our fair city.

Some people deny it. They say that race is not a factor in L.A.'s gang crisis; the problem, they say, is not one of blacks versus Latinos and Latinos versus blacks but merely one of gang members killing other gang members (and yes, they acknowledge, sometimes the gangs are race-based).But they're wrong. The truth is that, in many cases, race is at the heart of the problem. Latino gang members shoot blacks not because they're members of a rival gang but because of their skin color. Likewise, black gang members shoot Latinos because they are brown.

So, let’s tip one up to Sheriff Leroy D. Baca. Sounds to me like there’s a new sheriff in town.