Street Voices: : A Word of Experience

They call themselves the 69th Street East Coast Crips. They hang out in an apartment complex at 69th and Main streets, a tan, two-story building that has long been a gang hangout. Recently they talked about gang life. Among them were Ju Rock, 28, a husky, bearded man who plays the role of godfather; Big Man, 22, who spent five years in custody for selling PCP; Chic, 22, and Li’l Slim, 20, recently back from three years in the California Youth Authority and determined to go straight but still keep his friends.

BROTHERHOOD

Ju Rock: I watched these guys grow up; these are my loved ones, man. I’d do anything for ‘em. (Being part of a gang) is deeper than people think. People portray it to be something it ain’t.

Big Man: You know what put me in love with this? In ‘79, my little sister was walking across the street and almost got shot. One of my homeboys, he got shot in the back to protect her--he jumped in front.

Ju Rock: I used to smoke cocaine, for two years. What made me stop wasn’t no rehabilitation center. It was the love my homeboys had for me. Every time they see me doing it, they ride me.

I got so tired of hearing it that I knew they were right. We become a family, man. It’s like, if I’m broke and I need some money, I can go to my homeboys, ask them to give me five or 10 dollars, get me something to eat.

Chic: These are friends of mine, ‘cause I grew up with ‘em. When you get off work, it’s like you wanna get a cold beer and kick it with the fellows. It’s the same way here.

Li’l Slim: When people say make new (non-gang) friends, you say no. How ? I got these friends. I don’t know how I made them. They was just there all the time. I never said, “I want you to be my friend.” You learn to trust each other.

COMBAT

Ju Rock: Now, some guy gonna do something to you; you get him before he get you, they still gonna lock you up. They want to tell you to sit around and call the police, but damn, it might be too late.

They the ones that rode up on my homeboy. They pull the guns out, but in the process, they get killed. But then the police want to sweat everyone else about them getting killed--but they ain’t saying nothing about the guys who was gonna kill us .

What did they want us to do, say, “Y’all gonna kill him, right? Wait a minute. We gonna call the police.” If we hadn’t jumped out and done what we done, my homeboy would have been dead right now. You got to do what you got to do right then and there.

Big Man: It’s not gangs (that are responsible for much of what police describe as gang-related killings). It’s either revenge on something, or it’s behind dope. When we was little kids, it was all about trying to set up a reputation. We made this (gang) what it is today. All we got to do is sit back and relax.

Ju Rock: We had a good time; we don’t want nobody to mess with us. Nobody should come mess with us. When I started in ‘76, it was like all-out war, but now it’s established, East Coast runs from 1st Street to One Nine Oh (190th Street).

OPPORTUNITY

Ju Rock: If they gave these youngsters something to do, half of ‘em wouldn’t be gangbanging.

Li’l Slim: They don’t build anything but chicken stands in this part of town. They ought to build something that would help some people.

Ju Rock: They got a gym over there (Bethune Junior High, opposite the apartment building). We like to play basketball, but they won’t let us in.

The younger generation sees us playing ball, that’s what they gonna want to do. They see us just sitting around chilling, smoking weed all day, that’s what they gonna want to do.

With some help from the homies, things can change. The nearest rec center they got around here is on Slauson, and it’s too small. There’s nothing around here. Then they want to tell you why your kid’s standing on the corner.

You got all that money to loan out to Libya but nothing to do for your home front. You put it on TV that (gangbanging) ain’t right; we got to stop it, but you just talking; you ain’t doing nothing.

Big Man: We got lotta intelligent gentlemens out here don’t wanna participate (in gangs), but what else is there?

SELLING DRUGS

Ju Rock: Drugs, to me, it’s cool. There’s a lot of people who don’t have no jobs. You sell drugs to people who use it. You not responsible for what they do with it. If you don’t give it to ‘em, somebody else will.

If it’s up to me, I’d rather be selling dope than taking money from people with a pistol in my hand. If we’re selling dope, whatever we’re selling is what they want us to get our hands on. We ain’t got no connections in Libya to go tell somebody we need 700 tons of this stuff.

Selling drugs, it kept me from robbing. It kept me from stealing. It kept me from doing a lot of things I used to do.

THE YOUNGER GENERATION

Ju Rock (the father of a 5-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter who do not live with him): We try to keep the young generation in a positive atmosphere. We don’t tell ‘em to put a gun in their hand; we tell ‘em to go to school.

But if they don’t go, we can’t chase ‘em. We just run down different things we been through. Any person can figure out right from wrong. I’d rather see these young ones trying to go to school, play basketball, get somewhere. They ain’t stupid. Half of them are qualified to go to college. They get arrested, go to juvenile camp, it really make a better person out of you, ‘cause things you won’t do on the street you’ll do there. (Gesturing at Big Man and Li’l Slim.) ‘Cause he changed and he changed.

Li’l Slim: These guys, the older ones, they started out just using their fists, a little shanking (stabbing). We come through using guns. The generation under me, they get to just run up on everybody, shoot into their house. You do to them what they do to you.