Silver Lake Gangs Prove Exceptional

Gang violence and what to do about it have become Los Angeles’ major political issue. Headlines about gang activities have dominated the newspapers in recent weeks. Television news has focused on the gang drug trade and the slaughter of innocent victims as homeboys establish, and re-establish, their territory.

Yet gangs are not all the same, and their members are not all alike. What did not make the front pages last weekend was the ceremony applauding seven Los Angeles gangs for their community service. At the Sunset Junction Street Fair on Saturday, both the city and the state honored the Diamond Street, Echo Park, Temple Street, White Fence, 18th Street, La Mirada and Aztlan gangs for their work on the fair since 1980.

There is a temptation to see this as a cosmetic gesture, a political gimmick to gloss over the problems that gang activities cause in our city. Perhaps one has to live in Silver Lake to know that this is not the case.

In 1980 Silver Lake was a community that was ready to explode. For years this residential area had been developing as a minority neighborhood as whites moved to the suburbs. But in the late 1970s “white flight” was reversed because the area’s proximity to downtown and Hollywood appealed to an energy-conscious population. As “gentrification” took place, minority residents began to feel that they were being pushed out.

What made the situation even more volatile was that many of the new residents were lesbian and gay, men and women who were open about their life styles. Socially and politically active, they became a force that suggested change--unwanted change.

The stage was set for conflict. There were accounts of incidents between longtime residents and the newcomers, reports of attacks by local youths against men leaving gay bars. The L. A. Reader ran a cover story titled “Turfing It Out in East Hollywood.”

The resolution of the tension came about in a unique way. The Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance, a gay organization concerned with neighborhood issues, joined with established community organizations to stage the Sunset Junction Street Fair. It was planned as a celebration of ethnicity, a chance for the varied populations of the area to display their cultures. Hostile groups could meet on neutral ground.

Perhaps the two most influential co-sponsors of the first fair were the Central City Action Committee and El Centro del Pueblo, community centers that worked with gangs. For them to support a celebration sponsored by a gay organization was a daring move, and it conveyed a dramatic message. Their involvement was much more than the lending of names; they were actively involved in planning and development. Youths sponsored by the centers were to help set up, to man the booths during the fair and to work on clean-up when it was over. Gang members were to be street monitors, responsible for traffic and crowd control.

No one knew what to expect that first year. When the police first heard of gang involvement, they threatened to withdraw their support. Gay men were reluctant to work with the same youths whom they suspected of attacking them at night. Gang members had no reason to trust these outsiders who had invaded their territory. But everyone agreed to give it a try.

“Despite the planning, we didn’t know what would happen. We had our stereotypes of gays, and we knew they had their negative view of gangs,” said Robert Aguayo, El Centro del Pueblo’s program director, a former gang member himself, who was in charge of gang monitors that first year. “Some of our kids didn’t know anybody besides their own neighbors; they didn’t know how to socialize. But I told them that they had to experience new things and meet new people. Their world didn’t have to end at the border of their neighborhood. So they took the chance.”

The importance of the gang members’ participation is not simply that they have provided service for the smooth operation of all eight fairs. What is most significant is that these youths have taken the step toward a positive interaction with the whole community. They have learned to work with men and women who are different from them, people whom they have been trained to mistrust. Their world is larger now, and they are learning to be comfortable in it. Unacceptable behavior is unacceptable no matter who does it; criminal activities by gang members must be dealt with firmly and quickly. Yet that’s only half the answer; the other half is to approve positive action. The solution to gang violence in Los Angeles will come when society offers gang members realistic challenges--and applause for challenges well met.