BOYLE HEIGHTS : Reinstate Anti-Gang Class, Supporters Say

It has been four years since history teacher Joe Carmona brought together members of different gangs from the neighborhoods surrounding Stevenson Junior High School and placed them in a special homeroom so they could get to know one another.

What grew out of that effort was the Barrio Peace Warriors, a group that has continued its message of peace despite an order last year preventing Carmona from holding the class at school. The group is made up of about 50 teen-agers representing 19 gangs.

At a recent meeting at Resurrection Church, about 100 supporters of the program were urged to attend parent meetings at the school, write letters to school district administrators and generally show their support for returning the program to Stevenson and starting it in other district schools.

But Stevenson Principal Edward Amarillas said the program will not be reinstated at the Indiana Street school. A parents group voted in March to not allow the program back on campus.

“It’s a closed subject,” said Amarillas. “We gave (Carmona) all the opportunities to show that it’s a successful program, and he could not do that.”

Amarillas maintains that although there is a need for such a program in the community, it would not be fair to the rest of the school’s 2,000 students if administrators were to bend the rules, particularly on dress and behavior standards, for the students that Carmona is targeting.

But Carmona said his students have changed over the years, even in their style of dress. He said that the changes he wants to see are not in the clothes they wear but in their attitudes.

“They expect me to change kids in a matter of three to six months, when it took 14 or 15 years to get them where they are now,” Carmona said. “What I want to do is get them to stop the gang violence. My goals are very simple. The class is very simple, but I think people think my philosophy isn’t very good. They see the way they dress and they don’t see the change right away.”

For now, Carmona has received promises from parents and others in the community to become more involved in the school and to demand that the program be reinstated. Some have offered to help raise money so the program can continue as it has for the past year, operating out of Plaza Community Center across the street from the school.

At Resurrection Church, parents and others in the community lauded the group’s efforts.

“These youths want to contribute to the community and they are not given the chance,” said Sandra Arias of Concerned Parents, a group whose members have lost children through gang violence. “I believe it has a positive effect on the youth. It gives them a positive direction in their education and helps them believe in themselves and care for their community and their schools.”

The students offered stories about their involvement with gangs and how Carmona’s program helped turn them around.

“I started thinking more about my familia, and if they killed my brother, how would I feel?” said Ben Gonzales, who attended Stevenson in the program’s second year.

“As God is my witness, I have changed a lot and I want to thank Mr. Carmona. He’s been a second father to me. He’s been a counselor. Without this program, I don’t think I would survive.”