NEWSFLASH! There are gangs in Venice. They have been here for a long time, and although their activity has waned due to policing and community vigilance – they are still here. Also, this particular gang that left their signature above had a fight at the basketball courts with another gang which resulted in the shooting of youth pastor Oscar Duncan…preceded by a rash of taggings just like this. Did you know that local gang just hosted a BBQ and softball game with a South Central gang at the Oakwood at the community center – displacing kids who were getting free school backpacks donated? Can you believe that? Is that the kind of community togetherness you want… when local gangs are getting along with other gangs to the point they host weekend get-togethers in your park? They may be trying to keep the peace, but really? What do gangs do when they “team up”? My guess is they aren’t planting trees… especially when they kick needy school kids to the curb, or expect them to hang out next to 100+ gang members.
Just a thought… if you are going to march and protest and line the streets for a skateboarder, or a frigging post office – maybe you might want to think of being equally or more outraged when a group responsible for drug sales, violence, shootings and death in your own neighborhood flare up like a big ugly cold sore on the face of our community. LAPD found Oscar Duncan’s killer. Question their tactics on bits and pieces of what you know all you want – LAPD keeps things glued together here so it isn’t an all out war and they do a GREAT job too. You have two captains who really care and invest a lot of time going to meetings and listening to all groups when their jobs are to FIGHT CRIME. They balance a lot, because they care.
This needs to end folks, but it will only end if you help put a stop to it. Contact the H.E.L.P.E.R. Foundation and ask them to help combat this gang graffiti. Tell LAPD that you are pissed off too… unless you aren’t. If you aren’t, make sure to duck if you hear gunfire. Come to think of it, I know a few groups with time on their hands along the boardwalk that have lots of paint…and they supposedly hate violence, want PEACE and love to protest. Maybe they can help paint over the violent taunts?
If you see or hear this kind of vandalism happening CALL 9-1-1 it is a crime in progress and the dispatchers know how to route the calls… don’t hide from it or pretend it isn’t there. It is, and you live here. Sack up and at the very least REPORT IT so it gets GONE.
I was and am delighted that the history of Venice has been multi-racial from the start. Gangs have to do, not with race, but with a perceived need to band together to survive – and from that, to move on to profit. They’re not a good thing, for sure. They’re a deeply embedded part of Venice culture and have been for a long, long time, although their complexion changed radically for the worse when crack cocaine became prevalent (I was here then, I remember). However, I have to say that inter-gang peace initiatives are a good thing. If they displaced another good activity, that’s a bad outcome, but on the other hand I’d prefer to see them getting along. I don’t want the meat wagon outside my front door – again.
This gang is marking their territory, its a warning for rival gangs to stay out. A beatdown or shooting happens when a rival is there. The tagging is a big problem not just there but all VENICE.
Anybody should be able to live in Venice without being threatened or intimidated by their neighbors KATHY. All races. All religions. I don’t think you have to be a genius to understand the point of the story is that people are quick to protest violence yet seem to ignore the gang related operations that are apparent in our neighborhood every day – and are responsible for a lot of the most horrific goings on. Or maybe you do have to be a genius…
If there was a swastika or a KKK symbol painted on a fence, I would write the same story. Maybe this is about white people for you, but my point and story is that gang activity, and certainly the tagging shown in several photos does not foster anything but hatred and fear and as suggested – the community should be vigilant in making sure it gets reported and removed right away. It has historically been a symbol of “messaging” that precedes violence. So if you are saying this is something you condone because it has been here for a long time – shame on you, and shame on you for your racist comments. Nowhere did I say that all gang members are african american, nor were the disadvantaged kids getting backpacks white…and you don’t know the color of the neighborhood I grew up in. So if you want to be an ignorant bigot in this conversation – keep it to yourself… and your veiled threats, Kathy.
Gee, some people are never happy. Seems like progress if you have gangs not shooting at each other. A good way to accomplish that is by having a social gathering possibly in their own neighborhood that just happens to be your neighborhood. Sounds like a scheduling problem with the oakwood community center not an intentional plot to displace schoolchildren. Maybe you should consider the goal of fostering peace with your fellow neighbors instead of trying to incite hatred and derision. It’s a bigger challenge to promote peace and unity . If that same thing happen to a kid in Mar Vista neighborhood under the same circumstances there would certainly be an uproar. We all support LAPD but they are not immune from the scrutiny that any agency that serves the public must endure.
Did you know that you moved into Venice with this gang already there..I guess this is your effort to say you don’t even want them to come back to where they were born and raised. Don’t ask for something you can’t handle talking about wanting another shooting you act like you walk around with a bullet proof vest on or your white skin is going to save you. Remember, if anything start to happen because of your bull**** then all eyes will be directed on you and your family, so do you want another shooting? The people that were at the baseball game were not all gang members so get your facts right before you get your white comrades caught up in a game they know nothing about. FYI gangmembers can read, stupid. If you want them to stop tagging say that, these people have generational history in Venice, you have had Venice for how long? since it was whitewashed, they ain’t going no where so if you don’t like it then the white only community you came from might just except your butt back. If you want to give the little white kids some backpacks don’t be scared no one has bothered you or them. Not all African Americans are gangmembers like you want to report in your irresponible reporting. Maybe the next march might be white folks marching because YOU started some mess you can’t handle.