Hopes and Dreams on the Verge of High School

I n December, 1991, View writer Beverly Beyette profiled four eighth-graders at John Burroughs Junior High in the mid-Wilshire area, to learn how they felt about growing up in Los Angeles. Last year, she spoke with three of them after the riots (the fourth had moved from the area). Now, as she revisits them one year later, they are preparing to graduate and enter 10th grade.

Branndi Johnson, 14, and her mother have moved twice and now live in Inglewood.

“I don’t feel any better about L.A. because I’ve had three confrontations with police, all negative, very negative.”

(She tells of being falsely accused of stealing from a Korean merchant at a swap meet; of being roughed up by police at a fast-food restaurant, where she and friends happened upon a fight; of police harassing her group as they waited outside a home for parents to pick them up after a party.

“I can’t say that’s never happened to Koreans or Mexican-Americans or Caucasians. This is the first time I’ve personally had it. I just don’t trust the police. If something happened in my house, I’d be afraid (that) if I called them they’d mistake me for the person who’d done the crime.

“On Easter, our pastor was talking about how 85%-90% of crimes are committed by Caucasians--Waco, Jeffrey Dahmer. But the people who rob little stores are African-Americans and you always see them on the news being arrested. The KKK and the skinheads have killed a lot more African-Americans than gang kids.

“I’m still going to go into politics, step by step. I would be something positive to politics. Truthful. I didn’t see any truth in the mayor campaigns. Everybody made false promises. Putting more police on the streets isn’t the cure. The cure is putting more police on the streets who do protect and serve--everybody, every race.

“I’ll go to Hamilton High or Wilson, which has a law program for magnet students. I want to be a discrimination lawyer--sex, race, all kinds. I’m still thinking about Cornell, but I’m looking at some black colleges.

“I have gotten into the Muslim religion. I don’t eat pork now. I’m going to study it more. I still go to church. I’m going to keep an open mind.

“I’m in Young Black Scholars. But I’m not a nerd. I go to Venice Beach and kick it with the homies. I wear baggy jeans like everyone else. My friend Aubrae and I have a rap group, A and B, and hope to be produced.

“My friends’ parents read about me and say, ‘Look at this nice young lady. . . .’ But I’m a normal kid who just happens to know her goals.”

Elisandro (Alex) Duran, 15, his mother, three siblings and two uncles still live in South-Central.

“About the only thing they’ve built down here since the riots is a McDonald’s. But I think it’s safer now. A year ago you saw a lot of bad kids outside, looking for trouble. It’s quiet now.

“I’m happier. I think we’re only going to stay in this house one more year. A friend who helps my mom get houses to clean is going to help us find a house in Santa Monica. There’s seven of us living here now. My big uncle moved in and is helping pay the rent.

“They don’t have that many gangs anymore, just tagging crews. I don’t get pressure from gangs. My little brother, I think he gets pressure. When he comes from school, he’ll be saying a lot of gang names. But I know he ain’t in a gang. If you don’t look for trouble, trouble don’t look for you.

“I worry about school. Too much homework. Sometimes I don’t do no homework because I don’t know which to do. In English we’re reading ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ That’s killing me.

“I worry about my family, what we’re going to be in the future. Thanks to God, we have food in the refrigerator, we have gas, we have electricity. But what are we going to be?

“My mom does a lot of hard work. When she comes home, she lays down to rest, then we go to church, then she comes back and makes dinner. We go to church every day. You know the little kids that help the (priest)? That’s what we are. We take the wine, the water. We hold the book for the Father to read. I like helping Father.

“My mom makes us read the Bible in Spanish. I can’t speak Spanish that good. If we’re watching a gangster program and we laugh, she gets the Bible and says, ‘All right, you guys are going to read this.’

“I still want to be a ballplayer, but not as much. I go to my older brother’s games and I see there’s a lot of good players. Maybe I’ll be a mountain ranger. They’re real smart. They look for people when they’re lost.

“I’ve applied to Hamilton High. One of my teachers wants me to go to some school in the Valley. But I want to go to Fremont, where my brother’s going, because I won’t have to wake up early. And I want to be around my brother. He’s learning pretty good there.

“I heard there’s going to be a war (in Bosnia) and if it lasts like three years, me and my brother may be in it.

“My brother and I are going to start working part time, to help my mom get a car that won’t cause trouble and a good house. If I could have any car, if there was no price, I’d like a Corvette. I wouldn’t want a Lamborghini. I wouldn’t get a block down here in a Lamborghini.”

Ramsay Davila, 14, and his parents still live in Hancock Park.

“We had a vote at school and I won for ninth grade for cutest smile and most talented. I got nominated for prettiest eyes, too. I was really happy. I voted for myself in all the categories.

“We’re doing ‘Oliver!’ June 18 and 19. I sing a solo, ‘Where Is Love?’ The show’s about this workhouse boy who causes trouble because he wants more food. So they sell him to this funeral parlor. It’s sort of like ‘The Addams Family,’ only it’s the Sowerberrys. I cause trouble there, too. So I run away to London and there I meet the Artful Dodger and in the next scene I’m at Fagin’s with all the little pickpockets. Well, you have to see it . . .

“I’ve grown. I’m maybe 4-feet-10. I got a turtle named Danny. My oldest brother moved out so I got a bigger room. I sprained my ankle jumping off some steps. I’ve seen ‘Wayne’s World’ 12 times. I’m learning to skateboard.

“I just got accepted to Los Angeles High School of the Arts, depending on if I get a C or higher in all my classes. I’m failing algebra and I’m getting a D in English. I’m getting A’s in drama.

“I was glad the (LAPD) officers got convicted. If someone you knew got beat up like that, you’d want the person who did it to pay. Even if they do get 10 years, they’ll probably be out in 18 months.

“I’ll be graduating in June. I’ll miss my good friends. But sometimes I just want to get out of there. It’s really sexist. Guys can’t wear earrings because the principal doesn’t think it’s manly.

“I was in a short film, ‘Portraits.’ The director did it as a demo. I didn’t get paid. In it, they measured people’s heads in the 1930s to show how big their brains were, to put down black people. It ended up black people had bigger heads, so they stopped.

“We went to a citywide junior high drama festival. I was wearing pajamas because it was part of my character. The rules say no costumes, nothing you wouldn’t wear to school. Well, at John Burroughs once a year we have Pajama Day. But they marked us down. We got an honorable mention.

“I still want to be an actor. I know one actor who’s 26. He’s living, but not very well. Maybe I’ll be a bioscientist, but nothing to do with history, except recent, like the last few days. Nothing like 18th-Century voodoo dolls. That’s boring.

“Next year, the Boy Scouts might go to Europe. Do you want to buy an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast ticket for a dollar?”