Has any one read Monster?

[Alex146]

It's about a gang member and the Gang War that was (and still is) being fought in South Central L.A. It's actully by a former Gang Member. I just got it and I think its quite good.

It's not about guns, but this is the best case for gun control I've ever seen. There are people fighting a war in America. They're using guns that are either bought legally or stolen from people who bought them legally. How can any one believe that more guns will equal more safety? If that were true South Central L.A. would be the safest place in the world.

[NewHampshireDem]

1. Parts of it ...

not the whole thing though. Just couldn't get into it. You might want to check out "Makes Me Wanna Holler." That was pretty good.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=zg6UXPp9oj&isbn=0679740708&itm=1

[depakid]

2. Monster Kody

It's a very accurate depiction of gang life in South Central in the 80's and 90's.

At times, it looked as though he might escape the life- but he keeps finding ways back into the system. He was just arrested again three weeks ago:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/9180078.htm?1c

The last I heard, his brother Kershaun got out of LA and was living somewhere in the desert.

[Alex146]

5. How strange

He gets out of jail and is violates parole three times, then gets caught with drugs, then assaults a cop. I thought he was smarter than that...

[MrSlayer]

3. Yeah I've read it a bunch of times. Excellent book.

Great story, Monster Kody Scott was one bad motherfucker. I think it's great that he turned himself around and got out of banging but I think the racist attitude of the "New Afrikan" movement is nearly as bad. Monster is a great look at the social ills of the country which perpetuates the cycle of poverty and violence as well as the biased criminal justice system.

I also suggest reading "Do or Die" which is another good look inside the Crip and Blood sets and the street mentality.

ETG RSK Motherfuckers!

[Cleita]

4. I'm formerly from LA although not from a gang neighborhood.

However, the gang problem always spilled over into other neighborhoods because of the crimes committed by the gang bangers, drug dealing, burglaries, car thefts and hold ups. I always thought Los Angeles County should have some very tough gun laws on the books. I always like Howard Dean' approach to gun control, that it should be done at a local level.

I've lived in the NW and everyone has guns but they don't have the same crime problems S. Central L. A. has so a blanket federal law would penalize people who haven't abused the system. I have always felt that firearms should be banned in Los Angeles County. If hunters want to have guns then they should keep them in lockers away from the city. It seems the NRA could organize something like this. Since hunters would be using guns in the wilderness, there is absolutely no reason any civilian should have guns in the city.

For those types who fear for their lives and feel they need a weapon, I think special concealed weapon permits like those that exist today would be sufficient.

Now, the number two problem is to have a police force trained to deal with these neighborhoods. The government really needs to fund a good police force and there should be a very large presence in troublesome neighborhoods. The trouble with LA is that there aren't enough cops. They are poorly equipped and for the most part their attitude is to stand back and let the homies kill each other. Unfortunately, the children and innoccent residents also get caught up in the violence.

The third problem is hopelessness of poverty that is passed on from generation to generation. Investing in the children with education, food, health care and job training would go a long way in reducing the number of kids who join gangs.

Just my two cents from and old women who has seen the problem first hand.

[depakid]

6. CRASH didn't help matters any

Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) was a program designed to solve your number two problem- having a police force trained to deal with these neighborhoods. Unfortunately, it quickly became corrupted, which given the nature of LAPD and the city itelf(not to mention the gang culture itself) was probably inevitable. After the rampart scandal, it had to be disbanded.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/lapd/scandal/crashculture.html

The third problem you nail pefectly: hopelessness of poverty that is passed on from generation to generation. Investing in the children with education, food, health care and job training would go a long way in reducing the number of kids who join gangs.

SoCalDem had two really insightful posts on that exact point once about 6 weeks back:

Want to stop gangs and the violence that comes with them??

1. decent housing
2. real playgrounds with real equipment for little kids
3. real jobs for teens
4. guaranteed 2 yrs at community college with a C+ or better GPA
5. guaranteed 2 yrs at state college with a B or better GPA at community college
....


Give kids a GOAL..and they can achieve it..

Desperation and hopelessness are what feeds gangs..

Instead of jails, we need to be building community colleges , real technical/vocational schools, and regular colleges..

It's cheaper to teach them , than to incarcerate them.



----------------------------------------------------------------------

they join gangs because they are desperate to "belong"

They have fractured families, and they see nothing good ahead for themselves.. If they had it in writing... a promise of college... they would try harder and see a future for themselves..

If you have no future, the present is meaningless.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

My guess is that even Kody Scott might agree with that.

[Cleita]

7. I agree with you and CRASH was as meaningful as the

prescription drug benefit Cockshrub just gave to seniors. I was talking about real police protection for the innocent people that have to live in these neighborhoods. That's what it's about. The gang members are not the people who need the police. The innocents do.

[depakid]

8. Community policing

like Bud Clark and Tom Potter instituted here in Portland- and which Chief Foxworthy is continuing- would go a long way toward providing that kind of protection. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to implement- particularly among mid-level officers who've been doing things their way for 10-15 years. Add in a large, entrenched bureaucracy like the LAPD, and that change becomes a monumental effort- if it could even work in a city as vast and spread out as the troubled neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

(Notice I didn't even touch your first point. Although I agree with you philosophically about gun control, I haven't the slightest idea how that might be accomplished).

[Cleita]

9. Both are actually do-able.

Gang neighborhoods are well-known by everyone. Old timer cops who aren't flexible to the idea can be reassigned to the affluent white neighborhoods on the westside, and fresh, specifically trained police assigned to the troubled neighborhoods.

As far as gun ownership, it should be banned, period, and the ban enforced. Anyone who doesn't like it can move IMHO. Also, I have heard all the arguments from gun nuts about why it wouldn't work like guns would become contraband. True, but the fewer guns that are out there, the fewer there will be to acquire. I mean California managed to ban smoking in all public buildings. LA can ban guns in the county.

You see Los Angeles County is one wide sprawl, with very little rural aareas anymore, so it would have to be countywide to cover all the small cities in the county, like Santa Monica or Culver City.