Long before the inner city legend of Stanley (Tookie) Williams walked into our living rooms via the glamourous media, Tookie was a huge icon for gang members who wanted redemption.
He stood tall as a mystical hero who had authored ten books for children, telling inner city youths to stay away from gangs or fall to the same fate he was battling.
Don¹t Misunderstand Me
I am not Tookie Williams by any means. I represent more of an inner city Hispanic minority living a simple life. My upper arms are as thick and strong as some girls who play softball.
Nevertheless, at one time I was the Latino icon of a local gang, the evil Mar Vista Boys, also known as the Culver City Boys.
Growing up in the 1970s and Œ80s in Culver City, like many young men, I was glamourized by the local Culver City gang. They lived in the Mar Vista Projects, and they used false addresses in order to attend Culver City High School.
At that time, there were many gangs within a gang. The Peewees were for ten and eleven year olds. The Winos and Diablos were for twelve to fifteen year olds. However, the real felonies were committed by the Cutdowns and the Dukes, which had members whose ages ranged from sixteen to thirty-eight.
It was prestigious to belong to these games and to disassociate from the old hillbilly Mexican country folks. At seventeen, I thought that was all there was to life, to be noticed and respected like a true soldier.
Crime in the Beginning
My first criminal experience was riding in stolen cars through the streets of Culver City. Then came fights with the Venice 13 gang. The so-called Chose Ones were selected by older, more experienced gang members to ride along in drive-by shootings.
The bolder gang members started to rob supermarkets – with lucrative gains. I became one of those bold gang members, until the boldness came to a stop.
At twenty-one, I went to prison for armed robbery. I went on a long, shackled bus ride up north where I stepped out onto the same welcome mat as Tookie Williams. Prison is the final stop for gang members who really want to live in darkness.
I wanted to see the truth. So I stayed away from other gang members, and I was released with a mark of good behavior.
Back on the streets, I saw more young men being taken in by the gang lifestyle. They saw glamour in dressing like a gang member, only to end up being killed for a worthless dress code.
Friends and family members were being recruited and then left on the streets to die by the same gang members who did the recruiting. They betrayed anyone who challenged their status quo.
I did not become a spiritual church counselor, a gang intervention counselor or an anti-gang worker. I just picked up my favorite tool, my pen. I began to write. My writing has been very healing for me as I implore the youth of the community to stay out of the Culver City Boys.
In addition to my first book, The Dream Neighborhood, I am currently writing a safety guide for teens in the streets.
This is my opportunity to make t¹shuvah, to turn away from wrongdoing, to do good.
