‘Barrio Warrior’: Man on a Crusade to Save Schoolchildren from Gangs

The vanity license plates on Gus Frias’ 1988 black BMW read EAST LOS--a message to his students from the barrio that they can achieve success.

The plates, which identify his beginnings in a violent East Los Angeles neighborhood, are framed by a holder which reads “USC Alumni.” It is Frias’ message that education is a way out, a message he now preaches in Orange County schools.

Frias, 33, who went from the barrio to earn a master’s at USC and to study law for 3 years at UC Berkeley, works for the Orange County Department of Education as manager of Operation Safe Schools.

The program was started in 1987 to help students, teachers and parents in identifying and eradicating drug and gang problems in nearly 20 Orange County schools.

“Our goal is to make sure the kids have the opportunity to succeed,” said, Frias, a self-proclaimed “barrio warrior.”

One of the targeted schools is Russell Elementary in Santa Ana, where Frias’ colleague, Ronnie Martinez, 23, works with a group of youngsters at risk of being influenced by gang activity in their neighborhoods.

“Do you know the difference between a positive ‘home boy’ and a negative ‘home boy’? Martinez asked a group of fourth-graders recently. “A positive ‘home boy’ is a leader,” he said. Positive “home boys” not only obey the law, but encourage their friends to do so.

Martinez, a former gang member whose life was turned around 9 years ago by Frias’ example, is one of about 20 “field workers” who visit schools for Operation Safe Schools. Martinez will graduate from East Los Angeles College and has a scholarship to USC for the fall.

“I can’t talk to them about (a degree) if I don’t have one,” he said.

While he has abandoned the ways of the streets, Martinez still incorporates much of its language in his presentation.

“It’s up to us to use the same terminology,” Frias explained. “You’ve got to understand where the kids are coming from and redirect them.” He said that consultants, who work with the children on a full- or part-time basis, are required to be articulate, but “streetwise.”

The neighborhood Frias grew up in was so tough that he “started packing a gun in the sixth grade,” he said. But his life changed 6 years later after his best friend was gunned down by a would-be robber.

“I decided to dedicate my life to stop the violent rivalries among the warring segments of the barrios,” he said. “If you want to know what motivates me,” he said, “we can go to the cemetery and see the tombstones of my childhood friends.”

Frias said he does not advocate merely escaping gang- and drug-infested neighborhoods, but changing them. His mission, he said, has been to stop “the madness that is destroying our beautiful raza .”

“This is not a job for me, this is a crusade,” Frias said. He also has written several books, including the autobiography “Barrio Warriors, Homeboys of Peace.”

“I believe a person is not complete,” Frias said, “unless he or she shares his experiences with others.”

People columnist Herbert J. Vida is on vacation.