"Watts United"

A crowd of at least 100 gathered Thursday for a candlelight vigil to mark the driveby-shooting death of 15-year-old Dovon Harris in the Nickerson Gardens housing project. LAPD Southeast Capt. Rick Jacobs announced a suspect was in custody. The crowd cheered and clapped.

Unlike many homicides cases reported on The Homicide Report, this one benefited from numerous witnesses cooperating.

As covered previously here, the reluctance  of witnesses to cooperate with police, especially in the context of black and Latino urban poverty, is central to high-homicide dynamics.

It works like this: Witness reluctance affords killers impunity, and gives them power to essentially become underworld lords, ruling lawless ethnic enclaves created by the inexorable calculus of housing segregation and poverty. Within such enclaves, violence becomes a kind of currency that people ignore at their peril, and formal legal protection does not exist. Men and boys, in particular, experience extreme pressure to demonstrate they too  are capable of violence. If they appear weak, they risk falling on the wrong side of the violent transactions that organize this underworld. They must walk tough, talk tough, and cultivate a reputation for being dangerous if provoked.

Elsewhere in America, it's not like that. In, say, Beverly Hills or Encino, people dwell in a world where the state has a monopoly on violence. Violence and power are still inseparable, but the violence is inchoate--conserved within the apparatus of the state. The state's monopoly on violence remains invisible, but it governs conflicts. When people cross each other, as they inevitably do, the legal apparatus of the state influences how their quarrels are resolved. Business or neighbor disputes end up in civil courts. Fights over girls or insults play out around unspoken calculations of possible state intervention: Kill your rival, and you're likely to end up in jail. Better to just punch him, or show him up at the next office meeting.

But in a world where the state has lost its authority, and power is diffused among violent individuals, even the mildest, most passive individuals must make uneasy compromises with killers, and the percentage of people--especially men--who actively embrace violence to resolve conflicts expands.

This reporter has interviewed many churchgoing, working, middle-class homeowners--fathers and mothers with no criminal histories and little inclination toward violence--who, nonetheless, seriously consider lethal retaliation when their sons are killed in South Los Angeles. They are not insane for doing so. They are not simply depraved individuals with a yen for "senseless violence," to quote that overused cliche. Rather, they are human beings who have suffered real injury in a context where state power is missing in action. They are experiencing the ultimate interpersonal conflict in a world where witnesses don't cooperate, cases go unsolved, and those who hurt others gain power. Think about your son's killer living near you, enjoying impunity, even exerting influence, and you may see their point of view. Now imagine how the same thoughts might be resolved in the mind of a teenage younger brother of that same murder victim.

The challenge for law enforcement in such communities is to convince people to give state power a chance to penetrate. That means first overcoming people's distrust and dislike of the police, and also their terror of gang retaliation--"If you were living soaked in gasoline, would you light a match?" said one Compton resident, talking of what it means to testify against gang assailants in his community.

In Nickerson, where Dovon was killed, new efforts to improve relations between police and residents of the Watts projects may have paid off in helping to solve the case, said Jacobs, the precinct captain. There has been more communication, more negotiation, more give and take, and homicides are down sharply.

One example of the new ethos was the night Dovon's murder took place. An emotional crowd gathered at the scene--a situation that in the past has resulted in riots quelled by police skirmish lines. But this time, officers stood back as other Nickerson residents pacified the crowd, Jacobs said.

When it came time to investigate Dovon's murder, residents rallied around his family and people talked. "If there was a case I'd put on a pedestal in terms of community support, it's this one.... They've really come through," said Det. Sal LaBarbara, Southeast homicide coordinator, watching the vigil a week after the shooting.

Those in attendance heard prayers and speeches. "Watts United! Ceasefire! Ceasefire!" they chanted, then lit candles.

Photo by Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times

Comments

[jeremy]

I worked with the kids out in Nickerson for 3 years. It's very sad to hear what happend to Dovon. I'm praying for the family. I remember being in Nickerson in the past and when a murder acurred everyone was afraid to act. It's good to see people stand up for the ones who can no longer defend for themselves. However i do understand the fear of retaliation but the more the good people of Nickerson stay together the more the power moves into their hands.

[CAROL]

CEASEFIRE. STOP THE KILLING!!!

[JAHNEiSE]

MAN iT SEEMS LiKE YESTERDAY WAS WAS LAUGHiNG AT U BECUZ U BUMPED iNTO THE DOOR MAN iMA MiSS U CUMMiNG OVER MY HOUSE AFTER CHURCH & STUFF....MAN =[ i LOVE U & iMA ALWAYS HOLD iT DOWN 4 U i PROMiSE U ARE GONE BUT NEVER EVER FORGOTTEN "DON'T U KNO POO-POO SLEEP" HAHA WEN U FELL ASLEPP ON THE FONE THAT WAS FUNNY WELL UNTiL WE MEET AGAIN i LOVE YOU!

[mytmike]

I am a 50 yr old Black man. Born in Chicago, raised in Watts. I remember when the Crips first started. I knew Raymond, Tookie, Jamal as well as members of Bounty Hunters, APB, Piru as well as others. I never entertained the thought of joining any of those gangs, although I did later join the biggest gang in the world(US ARMY). I respected my mother and I knew how hard she worked to keep a roof over head and food on the table. I cared more about disappointing her than I did about befriending the individuals mentioned previously. Don't get me wrong, I was no angel and I did my share of dirt. But I didn't need a bunch of idiots to help me do anything. I did all of my idiotic acts by myself. I got my respect and I could go to any neighborhood I wished to. I had 4 friends and we had no problem going anywhere from the Valley to Long Beach. We were not a gang and claimed no allegiance to anyone but ourselves. What's missing is the fact that no one is teaching responsibility, consequence, discipline, action with forethought.

[Fritz Saxl]

Ms. Leovy, I am always so grateful for your thoughtful and detailed reporting. I've only been in California a short time, and many of the things I've been trying to understand about the city are not things that any of my acquaintances can explain. In Chicago, where I come from, I think it's a bit more common to assume that all of our neighbors' business is also our own business. It's clear that your reporting is serving many people in important ways.

I point my white friends in the direction of your blog whenever there's a break in the conversation about organic tofu.

[Gabe Fuentes]

Jill, you are not too verbose.

Excellent, excellent blog entry. I blogged here below on the culture of impunity and how a successful homicide suppression strategy must include a greater commitment to witness protection. I am not clear on all the details of this case but hope that the arrest is a righteous arrest based on evidence from witnesses who actually will testify. In any event it is hard to imagine a DDA approving charges without real witnesses who have agreed to join Team America.

The question I would pose is whether any such witnesses were more motivated to come forward in a case like this, when we have such a sympathetic victim. To stamp out the culture of impunity, and to restore the state monopoly on force in the community, we would need cooperation (through trial) of witnesses in cases involving the less sympathetic and even unsavory victims as well. I maintain that we are not going to get that unless we get a much bigger state investment in witness protection, an investment way beyond what a county bureaucrat would consider feasible. As a nation, we have enough money for a lot of things, most notably the prosecution of an overseas war, but we do not seem to have the money to prosecute the criminals in the war going on in our own streets.

Maybe you should ask people like Detective LaBarbera, and the DDAs he works with, what they think they need to at least regain the high ground in the community. Seems to me the Times has written before about the difficulty of getting witnesses to testify in Los Angeles gang crimes prosecutions. Maybe it's time to revisit those stories, this time with a view toward assessing what sort of resource commitment would be necessary to move toward some real progress.

[buz algood]

Let me clarify.......ITS ANONYMOUS. That means you do not have to identify yourself when informing the police with information. And no one said anything about REWARD MONEY. So don't worry about having to conceal your windfall profit from gossipy coworkers or neighbors. Any more excuses from the beard scratchers?

[Jim Penn]

Gang Retaliation can be stopped.

Today people don't believe in the confidentiality of the "Tip" reward cash delivery program. Somehow the community has to know they can get the money without being identified. Documents, cameras, location, employees all effect a person's decision to put their life on the line for a few thousand bucks.

[buz algood]

It is called an ANONYMOUS POLICE TIP LINE. Perhaps the people of South LA have heard of it! Pick up the phone and help the detectives out.

[Maxine]

First, I want to give my condolences to Davon’s family. No mother should ever have to bare the pain of losing her son, especially to such a senseless crime. I have been following the homicide blogs for some time now and noticed one thing in common: The murderers mainly preyed on defenseless people. At least in a war, both side are able to prepare and gear up with artillery, but in the cases of shootings in Los Angeles, murderers give the victims no chance to defend themselves, making them just as evil and no different than terrorists across the country.

I think this homicide blog is one of the greatest additions to the Los Angeles Times. Before I started reading the blogs, I knew killings were happening in the city, but didn't know it was happening at such a large magnitude; some of the killings only blocks away from where I live. I pray and ask that we all come together as a community and protect our city. We have to get back to the Civil Rights area era where African Americans had to fight for their rights for fair treatment and equality. Here we are, over 40 years later facing the same obstacles, but this time the fight is with our own people.

[K-Town Jimmy]

It has been said that "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." The transformation of these neighborhoods must come from within the good people who live there. I can tell you with assurance that the animals who commit the murders and serious crimes represent a small fraction of the population who live in the troubled areas. If all the good people (and especially the men) in those areas came together and threw down their fear of these anti-social psychos these problems would eventually go away. Yes, there's some risk and yes it may be inconvenient but it's the only way to deal with the problems in your own neighborhood. People should NOT expect Uncle Sam to ride in on his lilly-white horse and solve the problems that the community has too long ignored, run away from and in some ways endorsed through inaction.

Another quote from a great African-American man in history, Frederick Douglas,

"The limits of the tyrants is proscribed only my the endurance of those whom they oppress."

It's time the people in these embattled communities came together en mass and say enough is enough. It takes a village to save a village.

[adinasi]

Maybe, like the some residents of Iraq who are weary and angry with al-qaeda and are now fighting them along with U.S. forces, residents of our own neighborhoods are too weary and angry at this senseless genocide and are finally assuming constructive responsibility for their safety and freedom.

If you want change you must change first. This does not just involve cooperating with police but how you supervise your children and relate to residents of your neighborhood. If you know there's a 11-13 year old young man who's slowly turning down the wrong path instead of just labeling him a 'bad kid' take the time and effort to listen to the source of his true anger and pain, and you may give that young person just enough hope to keep him from becoming that senseless murderer who terrorizes your neighborhood. Simple mathematics says if multiple residents assume this responsibility a neighborhood will become a safer place.
There's a reason why parents are considered 'boring': when you're rearing children your reckless ambitions and youthful antics must now take a distant back seat to the safety and growth of your children. 'Children' doesn't stop at the age of 13; adulthood legally isn't until 18, and for some people (especially boys!) may not be until 30! We must remain intimately involved in every aspect of our children's' lives at least until 18, and for many even longer. This keeps both the children AND the adults out of trouble, and again this multiplier makes our society safer and freer for everyone.

Pray for Davon, his family, and the suspect and his family; pray for a flame that ignites within all of us from this to take charge of our own destiny.

[robert]

Ms Leovy,

I think this blog is a godsend to inform and educate, and perhaps to persuade those in the affected communities and those outside, in the "safe" areas. But I would kindly ask that you use less verbose language in penning such posts. I myself am a former English major (albeit a long time ago) and I found myself wading through some of the paragraphs herein really slowly, not entirely grasping the details.

Again, I mean this with all due respect. I think it's about time the city woke up and people understood the war here in California.

Respectfully,

Robert

[stephen]

The people of Watts need to take security into their own hands, but the State's discriminatory gun laws give criminals the upper hand by ensuring that only those willing to break the law are the ones most likely to be armed. People like Senator Diane Feinstein and her crony political allies get to carry weapons because they have the political power to pressure their sheriff to grant them a permit, but regular folks from Watts don't have a chance. We need to wake up and pressure our leaders to at least give law abiding citizens a fighting chance.

[valerie]

Out of all of the stories you report on this site, none have touch me in the way that this one has, it is moving how the good citizens of nickerson gathered together to bring about justice for this family. However, the joy was short lived when I saw that the culprit is only a year older than
Dovon.

I know you sometimes catch flack from the readers for inane things like typos, however, I am here to tell you that your report is very valuable to our community as a whole, because it allows us to see how our children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, cousins, aunts and uncles, are being stripped from us on a daily bases.

As the people of Watts so eloquently put it CEASEFIRE