From a Young Hero’s Death, Resolve

Almost five months after a Marine Corps color guard and nearly 1,000 mourners gave 17-year-old Raul Aguirre a hero’s funeral, Glendale has not stopped talking about his death. Last Saturday’s Planting Seeds of Peace summit was one striking example.

Glendale has had its crises before, its problems with gangs, its ethnic tensions between Armenian Americans and Latinos. But the brutality of Aguirre’s death shocked the community into a period of grief, self-examination--and resolve--that continues today.

On May 5 Aguirre, who did not belong to a gang, tried to break up a fight between two Armenian American boys and a Latino boy. For his efforts he was clubbed in the face with a tire iron and stabbed through the heart in front of 40 middle school and high school students. Three Armenian American teenagers, including the girlfriend of one of the boys, await trial for his murder.

Community activists Linda Maxwell and Jose Quintarar, who run the nonprofit group We Care for Youth, and Glendale Police Sgt. Rick Young went out on the streets the night Aguirre died to talk to anguished and angry teenagers. They organized Saturday’s summit, and for this they deserve the community’s thanks. But more than that, their effort merits the community’s continued support. Glendale is in this for the long haul. Aguirre’s memory deserves no less.