'We want the same things' that everyone wants

"One reporter? One single reporter?"

Solomon Martin, 71, (far left) was forthright about what he thought about a reporter for The Homicide Report walking down his Compton street last month after a homicide.

"They send you, by yourself? Where are your lights? Where are your trucks? Your cameras?" he demanded. "You can tell your supervisor that I was displeased! Displeased with you coming out here with a little digital camera--a little digital camera--for this! Where are your trucks?" Martin, a retired school-district worker, assumed a look of disgust. "One single reporter," he repeated. "To do a story that will be three lines on page 20."

The story was about 17-year-old Quanisha Pitts, who was killed down the block from where Martin lives. In fact, the write-up didn't appear in the Los Angeles Times print edition, but rather on this web page. But even here, the space was short, and Martin is quite correct in noting that many homicides covered by The Times are afforded only briefs of a few lines buried within the California section, or the scantest mention on the lists published here.

Martin and two of his neighbors, who soon join the conversation, believe murders in Compton in particular get short shrift.  They are disturbed in ways that they struggled to articulate by the way media outlets treat stories about the killings of their city's men and women.

"It's the way you report it," said Martin's neighbor, military reservist Walt Graham, 53, (near left, above) who came over from his front yard. "It's just going to be someone killed in Compton, on page 25," he said.

"Just another story. Another minority kid. So what."

In the residents' assessment, there is both too much coverage of Compton homicides, and too little--too much that bolsters stereotypes and promotes indifference, too little that emphasizes the humanity of victims and promotes broad-based concern. "That girl had a brother, a mama," Martin said. "When does this become a national issue? When does it become a priority?"

Somehow, the neighbors said, it always seems that homicides elsewhere are valued differently than Compton's. Media coverage of gang violence in Compton is so powerfully stigmatizing that Martin and Graham, both comfortably middle-class homeowners, said they feel like people assume they are drug dealers just because they live there.

But at the same time, what the media actually says about Compton homicides seems stingy. Celebrity homicides are covered differently, they contend, as are those rare killings in nice neighborhoods, such as that of the college student killed in Westwood years ago. "When does the value of life in this community matter as much as in another community?" Graham demanded. "Is the life of that young lady any less important?"

The effect, said Martin, is to create an impression that people in Compton are somehow different--that their concerns can somehow be discounted. "You let them know that we want the same things as people in Torrance and Beverly Hills," he said. "We don't want to worry about someone shooting up our house. We want the same protection."

"You tell your editors to get down here, that they don't have to be afraid of us," he concluded.

"Yeah," added Graham. "We might even invite them in for tea. We do drink tea, you know!"

(Above, the manicured lawns of Compton. Homes on the street where Quanisha Pitts was killed sell in the half-million-dollar range, neighbors said.)

Comments

[buz algood]

The people of Compton need to realize that IT IS UP TO THEM to stop the killing in their city. These two residents whine about lack of media attention? They must be joking.

[What really matters]

Quit whining about the amount of press around your killings. Use your energy to do something ABOUT the killings. NObody is going to come to your hood and fix it. Take responsibility for the issue that surround you. Mainly, stop having babies out of wedlock. Start demanding education for your kids, which leads to self pride and dignity, which leads to jobs and money and the ability to be a contribution to society,.. not a reputation of thugsville. With a current fatherless birthrate of 70% you have little hope unless that is drastically reduced. All of the fingerpointing has got you nowhere for decades. It's a very sad situation. --What really matters

[Clark]

Sounds like the subject for a book, except not an erudite one, one in which the author actually talks to people in Compton and conveys their point of view.

The same issues exist in New York City and every large city. My interpretation of the Times' apparent indifference is not that the paper means to say that people in traditionally low-income neighborhoods are less human (though it's an understandable interpretation), but that because they don't buy ad space and presumably have fewer subscriptions than their counterparts in traditionally high-income areas - because they don't matter economically to the paper - the coverage is less satisfactory and, in turn, seems less human.

I'm curious what the author meant to convey with the parenthetical statement at the bottom.

[zuuumie]

Well put. Compton, like other places and parts of other cities have the small % of a criminal element (so do upscale neighborhoods) and incidents, but the minorities that make up the majority are just as these 2 gentlemen point out.

[Bill R. Hector]

Right on MY MAN !! I get tired of the media and other people downing COMPTON , especially the Williams' SISTAS , who learned how to play tennis, in COMPTON. I was raised in COMPTON/WILLOWBROOK/WATTS, and PROUD of it.

Billy R. Hector
POSTMASTER (Ret)
Compton, Ca., 90220
(323) 230-7547 (213) 925-5328

[Bob]

What I don't understand is why Compton residents don't band together and drive out the gangs that cause these homicides. The community can take care of this problem, but it chooses to stand by and watch it happen. Courage means fighting through the fear and making a tough stand against gangs.

[Mark in the East]

A friend, a single mom and emergency physician, asked me once in the presence of all our then young children if I didn't want something special for my children that I never had growing up. I told her simply, "Not to live in fear."

I was born and raised in south central L.A., and the presence of killers who had nothing to lose in acting out their aggression and tyranny chilled even the bravest hearts. Many good people were murdered for being in their way let alone for having dared to directly challenge bangers. I note comments here from people outside of this community under siege attacking its residents for failing to challenge the monsters in their midsts; how unrealistic to argue that private, working class people should take on one of the most terrible social phenomena in our country's history, one which requires intervention by state, local, and federal resources as is being recognized by law enforcement and even the current mayor.

Consider what citizenship means, that we are in this together, and what afflicts one community should rally others to its aid. When the problems of Compton and similar communities become the problems nationwide (and, regrettably, this is happening as more young men of every background and ethnicity become disconnected, desensitized, and dangerous), then we will act together. Can't we do that before the problem reaches even greater, more awful dimensions? Or is it that long-standing, pervasive bias against black communities prefers that there continue to be chaos and destruction there in order to preserve a status quo that limits the educational, economic, and political access and participation of so-called minorities in general? As we are all connected constitutionally and practically, this hostility towards Compton, et al, definitely is cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

[josh]

wow, im from a town of around 20,000 in new brunswick canada, and after reading all of these and seeing how many murders there are its insane, we have maybe one murder every 2 or more years and its never just someone randomly walking up and bashing someone for like 20 bucks or something, i cant imagine living in a city where theres over 400 murders a year, . i wouldnt be able to sleep at night, and it make you grow scared of almost everyperson you see walking down the street. i wouldnt be able to ahndle it at all lol, scary stuff for shure. if there where over 400 murders a year where i live, then everyone would be dead with in 5-10 years. and there all purposeless useless murders , i mean are people willing to go to jail for the rest of their life for useless things?, i mean there not gunna get away with it, its almost impossible to get away with murder, so why kill unless its absoultely worth it?, just cause some one said one litle disrespectful thing doesnt mean you need to shoot them five times in the head and then go to death row?

[I Give Up]

I agree with "What Really Matters". It's all a bunch of whining to me. If you're in those neighborhoods, you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. It's the older generations that have failed the younger ones by allowing them to have babies out of wedlock and engage in criminality. The civil rights struggle was a joke. When is there going to be a morality struggle? A personal responsibility struggle? A family values struggle? That's what these communities need. And you've got liberals saying it's ok to be a single mother raising two or three kids. No, it isn't. It's insanity. If you're picking a LOSER to father your children, who's fault is that?

[Gabe Fuentes]

It's a highly complex social problem that the people of Compton can't solve by themselves, although they ought to have a role. Curbing the violence in Compton and elsewhere in the gang-ridden portions of the county is going to require a multilateral response including:
-- A greater commitment to witness protection and relocation so that witnesses will come forward to testify and cooperate. This is a huge issue because inadequate witness protection leads to a culture of impunity. For those of you who want the people of Compton to stand up against the gangs, why don't you try it in the current environment? We'll see how long you last.
-- More federal resources committed to Project Safe Neighborhoods in South Central, Hollenbeck, Newton, etc. Take the guns out of the hands of your violent felons. Send your violent felons to federal prison for 15 years under the armed career criminal statute. Spend money to educate parolees on your renewed commitment to an effective Safe Neighborhoods program so that they know that if they get caught possessing a gun, they could face heavy, mandatory federal time. Improve ATF/LAPD partnership to bring these cases in federal court with additional assistant U.S. attorneys hired for this purpose.
-- Increase the local commitment to law enforcement. Bring LAPD strength to 13,000-15,000 through increased pay and greater commitment to training. Use the additional resources wisely by employing a combination of a CAPS strategy with rapid deployment suppression teams, as in using Metro cops for their intended purpose, not crowd control at immigration rallies.
-- Erect visible pole cameras (and spend the money for the most technologically advanced photographic and digital recording capabilities) in a net across the communities with the worst violent crime stats. Use mobile command posts as well as a central monitoring station to receive the pole cam feeds and deploy the rapid response teams as appropriate.
-- Increased federal commitment to job training, head-start, and day care programs concentrated in areas of greatest need.
-- Increased state commitment to education including rollback of all initiatives passed to limit the taxing powers of school districts in troubled urban areas.

So the folks in Compton can do their part but so can everybody else, including you, Mr. Taxpayer. Belly up to the bar to pay for all this because it is going to cost money. Or don't and tell yourself that this is a problem that the folks in Compton can just solve on their own. Or maybe you don't think it's your problem. If you do, you are sadly mistaken.

[Eric Martin]

It’s a shame. We are killing our good resources. Political candidates want to talk about bring our troops home, fighting for daddy Bush’s war in IRAQ. They can not bring up sensible solutions to stop the killings. It does not make sense! More people get killed her on the streets of Los Angeles than in a real war in the streets of Iraq. We need to take care of home first.

[Ford]

Compton, what about Compton? As a little girl I grew up in South Central off of Main Street. I have always wanted to live in Compton. From what I see is Compton is no worse than South Central off of Main Street. Everybody always downing Compton. From my viewpoint Compton is pretty laid back to me. I see alot of strong family ties on this side of town. Gangs are everywhere, so don't just point out Compton. Yeah, you might hear gunfire or somebody got shot, but it is the same things on the other side of town. We as the community can't combat this alone. We do not have the firepower or the resources to fight it. Government wants this to happen so it would be lest problems for them to deal with. Instead of everybody hollering, why don't you come forth with what you know about a crime or who did it. (Are you Scarred.) Then how do you think we feel?

[Joseph Reeves]

Compton, Schmompton! There are gang killing everyday in Chicago, IL. Gangs in Chicago don't kill over colors. So far in 2007 there have been 34 school age children killed. 26 by gunfire and two (2) since the recent school year ended for the summer.

Recently:

* A thirteen (13) year old black female was killed while playing in a park with her cousin.
* A fifteen (15) year old hispanic male was killed while walking home.
* A 17 year old black male was killed while trying to save the life of a class mate while riding a bus home on the way home from school.
* A young thirteen (13) year old black male was beaten to death on a busy street while attempting to run away from his attackers.

The hits keep coming

[Bray Widly]

If you really want to address the issues here you have to examine the whole picture. 87% of the arrested and the victims were intoxicated and wearing uniforms from the swap meets. So if people stop focusing on the surface and digg into the roots a bit you might get a better understand of the hood and its unsolved problems. Every one should know from the movie , The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, that the Gang problem didn't start with Blacks wakeing up one day saying lets go and eradacate our race. lets play the North (Blue,crips) against the south (red,bloods) like the Yankees vs. confederates. Most importantly lets come up with a way to get our bros, sister, kids & friends to volunteer to indirectly kill each other.You spectators think that us blacks were up at Harvard deciding on how we could keep a purpetual cycle going on by flooding the neighbor hoods with guns, drug, liquor stores, graduating the kids with out teaching them and allowing the Chinas (swapmeets) to provide the uniforms that identify them as criminals or gang members even when they are not associated .Because we know from the movie that if you keep your soilders drunk they will volunteer to run out on the battle field and kill themselve.Remeber we are not that sophisticated but I do know a group of people that are. Remeber we never volunteered to be here in the USA.Don't get me wrong a beautiful place to live if the monkey is not on your back. Our people was Kidnapped and smuggled by thugs and theives. So, most of the new grneration of blacks are of coarse confused. they believe they are respected as Africa americans when in reality they are actually American Africans. America have introduced the world to killing with guns, manipulation, and etc. Blks never owned a gun store or a manufacturing plant....Get your facts right, then judge or are you afriad of the truth. Are you in denyle. Misuse of influnce and misdirected powers if you ask me............

[jenny]

ITS ALL UP TO DADDY BUSH, GOVERMOR ARNOL AND HOMEBOY WHATS HIS NAME OH YEAH VILLARAIGOSA, Oh yeah and your city council ALL THEY THINK ITS MONEY MONEY MONEy.

[frebay]

they don't call it the murder capital of the nation for no reason.

www.vufromcompton.com