Turnarounds: October 2007 Archives

Greetings, dear It's a Crime readers. You may recall, a few months ago, we met up with Paul White of the West Valley Leadership Academy. He tipped me to the story of Dantae Livingston, an ex-gangster who renounced his gang ties in favor of schoolwork. Last I hear, Mr. Livingston was still doing well, working and attending classes.

Anyhow, White's back with an editorial on The Huffington Post, Stopping and Preventing Gangs: There's No Right Way to Do the Wrong Thing.

Paralleling the nation-wide growth of criminal gangs, is the growth of so-called gang prevention groups run by "former" gang members. The most well-known organization of this kind is Homeboy Industries of Los Angeles. Sacrilegious as it may seem to some readers, this venerated group of gangsters and its iconic leader, Father Boyle, are actually part of our (growing) gang problem.

While I don't share White's opinion (I think both Homeboy and Communities in Schools, whom White also criticizes, provide an important component to gang intervention-- so does the LAPD, for that matter), it's an interesting piece and he can speak with authority, given his results. Read on and let us know what you think.

Here's a pair of unusual ones out of our friendly rivals downtown.

First off, check out Ms. Leovy's interview on Gangsters Anonymous at The Homicide Report.

"It's a 12-step program, based on Alcoholics Anonymous. We are recovering gangsters who meet to help each other stay crime-free. We believe the gangster mentality is a disease--a mental disorder. We are sick. We suffer from a criminal mentality. But recovery is our responsibility. " - Kenny Mitchell, 44, longshoreman and founder of Gangsters Anonymous.

And when you finish that, pour yourself a drink, kick back and treat yourself to The exotic dancer, the police chief and the dividing line by Peter H. King. It's an absolutely phenomenal read, telling the crazy tale of a cop, his stripper wife and two feuding towns on the Utah/Nevada border. Not in my wildest dreams could I imagine such a bizarre set-up.

WENDOVER, UTAH -- Sylvia, for whatever reason, needed another pair of shoes. So, on a late Wednesday night in mid-August, police chief Vaughn Tripp headed across town in his red Chevy pickup, hauling high heels to the club where his wife performed as an exotic dancer, stage name "Ecstasy."

"I don't smoke cigarettes, I don't drink alcohol and I don't do drugs. Never have," he declared, not long after he'd been battered by the tabloid whirlwind created when his wife was arrested on narcotics charges.

And it only gets better from there. King really knocks this one out, capturing the sadness and craziness with a great tone. As strange as the story becomes, he never loses the emotions of the characters. Well done, sir.

JK Rowling

This isn't strictly crime-related, but it got me thinking....

So I went to an event yesterday featuring JK Rowling. If you've been living under a rock for the past decade, she wrote some books about this kid named Harry Potter. Mr. Potter is very, very popular. If you really want to learn about him, please check out Portkey to Hogwarts, our excellent blog by Mr. Haddock and Ms. Kaplan about everything you could ever want to know about the books and movies.

Anyhow, this big hoo-haw I went to yesterday featured her reading from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," signing books and taking questions from the 1,600 LAUSD school kids in attendance. After too much murder and mayhem as of late, I was kinda glad to get something light. And while these sorts of things are often ridiculous, staged events to make other people look good by using the kids as props, this was a legitimately cool event.

The thing that I liked about it was these weren't just rich kids from wealthy parts of town-- they came from the Southside, San Fernando, Van Nuys and other places that get more reports of gang shootings than good news. And they were all really, really into Harry Potter. Even the slacker-looking high school kids were pretty jazzed about it.

Basically, JK Rowling turned these kids into whimsical, dreaming nerds-- little versions of herself. All the kids I talked to liked to write and wanted to emulate her (it probably doesn't help that she's allegedly a billionaire-- they were quite disappointed to learn that I am not). And while it's not like their only other career choice would be gangbanging murderer, I'd be willing to bet that Harry Potter diverted at least one of those 1,600 from less wholesome pursuits.

(Just as a note, all the kids with whom I spoke seemed like perfectly lovely young children, all of whom will, I'm sure, go on to become perfectly lovely adults)

This is a long, rambling set-up, but here's my point: whether it's books about wizards, karate, soccer, or learning to freakin' juggle, we've got to find a way to catch kids at a young age. Maybe the one who turns into a nerd (or a jock) won't turn into a ne'er-do-well. And that's a lot easier than arresting 'em and throwing them in prison later on.

Alright, enough of this blather. Everyone except Rick's gone home and I should do the same. There are some leftovers and a night of mindless relaxation awaiting me.