South L.A. Gang Intervention Agency

When people think of L.A. automatically two things come to mind Hollywood and Gangs. A year ago I was in Hollywood and actually had a gang member approach my friends and I because they thought we were trying to cause trouble (though we were only going to the club). Regardless I was able to experience Hollywood-Gangs.

An article I was reading on BlackWeekly had me think back to this incident that I had.

LOS ANGELES-Unity T.W.O. Inc., part of The Unity Collaborative, formed to combine efforts in reducing gang violence in Los Angeles, is quietly brokering "understandings" among feuding Swan Bloods and East Coast Crips, among others, the organizations' executive director Kevin Mustafa Fletcher said during a gathering this week.

Fletcher, a former gang member himself, is now leading Unity T.W.O. in its effort to help bring peace between the two factions. Fletcher and his staff have worked diligently behind the scenes to make the "understanding" happen between the two gangs. "It was
worth it, he said. "For what's taking place in our community, what we're trying to do .is out of respect. This is business."

To validate the "truce of understanding," both sets came together to solidify their pact last week at agathering by the Unity Collaborative. Representatives from both gangs stood side-by-side to announce they had reached a mutual understanding to stop the
bloodshed...

Los Angeles' taxpayers $1 million for every homicide that takes place in the city. Last year, there were 498 murders recorded in Los Angeles. In 2002, there were 640 murders. Gangs had a hand in a lot of those deaths. The two-year total of casualties in the city would come out to 1, 138, and those numbers would equate to $1.138 billion in costs to taxpayers.

The Collaborative has also placed a high priority on the more recent trend of escalating conflict and violence between Latino and black gangs, by assigning black and Latino gang-intervention teams to work together in the schools, on the streets and with individuals recently released from incarceration.

The idea of a gang intervention program sounds good between Blood and Crips, in 92'. I don't even think anyone still bangs like that now adays anyways. Now if we're talking about MS13, that's a different story.

Hopefully this does help out in South L.A. because that place is depressing. Better schools that are actually accredited would be greater help.