This is a local movie of sorts, I pass through the neighborhoods in the film almost daily on the rails to get around town where I got to get to like work/volunteering/church
My church is literally on the corner of the Jordan Downs PJs on Long Beach Ave where a lot of this documentary was filmed. I am there at least twice a week strolling around seein whats poppin.
If you have never seen the street life of Los Angeles this film is truly an accurate glimpse into that life. Its not like the movies, its not that Boyz-in-Hood shit, its even more dramatically complicated.
The situations in the film, on these streets local to me, is the direct result of corruption. It is corruption in the local government, in the courts, in the police departments, in the probation offices, in the school boards, in the city councils, in the mayoral offices, in the school districts, in the zoning committees, in the adviseray boards, in all the local bullshit, fuck as far as I am concerned the city of Los Angeles as corrupt as fucking Zimbabwe, and the result is the buck-wild gorrilla youth of Los Angeles, who mob and kill each other daily. fucking dailly. there aren't enough hail mary's to give proper memorial for the amount of youth ending up in caskets. Its daily, and it hasn't stopped in twenty years, my entire life has been a product of this environment, my entire generation and now the kids we are raising, know this violence and this corruption as a part of daily reality. why do we continue to accept it? Becasue most of the people in suburban Los ANgeles, in the State of California, in the United States as a country, in the world in general, think LA is what they see on TMZ....
LOS ANGELES HAS FAILED ITS YOUTH. THE SCHOOLS, THE COURTS, AND ESPECIALLY THE PEOPLE COLLECTIVELY HAVE FAILED THE YOUTH.
and we only continue this shit as Viaragosa continues to increase the police state atmosphere of LA (shit I had to buy a ball cap cuz I GET ROLLED UP BY POLICE THREE TIMES A WEEK AT LEAST WITH THIS BALD HEAD!!!) by increasing the police presence, increasing the war on gangs, sending even more and more youth to prison to continue to cycle of crime, poverty and disenfranchisement...
as long as nobody gives a shit, these youth will not give a shit about themselves. This is why I get off the train in the hood with pride, and spread that love around to build up a bit of love. You only get what you give, and from my city I want to get love, so I give it out freely. Whats the worst these brothers can do to me? Rob me? Kill me? Shit, they can only do what is delivered by the hand of my God, but through His Grace alone I come there continually to spread that love. And thus far, I have only gotten it back in return with no trouble..
Folks out there, if you know this life, do what you can to make a difference. If you don't know this life, catch this film and try to empathize for a minute with the hopeless cycle which has been created in these hoodz, have a little sympathy as well, and try to stop those who cast judgment and continue this bullshit "war" on gangs, which just provokes more and more cycles of violence, corruption and poverty. Love is the solution for peace, violence begets violence, corruption begets corruption..
do what you can y'all...
peace and love,
Habte Selassie