Latinos in Pico-Union

LATINOS IN PICO-UNION
by RICARDO VIDES

INTRODUCTION HOUSING------------------------------------------------------------
UNEMPLOYMENT------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCRIMINATION------------------------------------------------------------------------
GANGS--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DRUGS DEALERS-------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFERENCE--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERVIEW GUIDE-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHORS BACKGROUND-------------------------------------------------------------

LOS ANGELES PICO UNION Los Angeles is said to be one of the most problematic cities in California. Drug dealers, gangs, drive-by shootings, killings, road rage and some catastrophes like the Rodney King riots in 1992. Even nature is playing a part; the fires, the floods, the storms, the earthquakes, and now The El NINO phenomena is doing weird things with the Los Angeles weather. All of these factors are contributing to the destruction of Los Angeles. Some people call Los Angeles "The Land of Chaos". It sounds scary; but despite of its bad reputation, when people from different countries come together to celebrate their own traditions, Los Angeles can be very colorful, uplifting, and inspiring. Believe it or not, many people in L.A are united like brothers. People from all over the world live in this city. Immigrants from Latin America, Asia, Europe, U.S born children with parents from foreign countries, and others are concentrated here in Los Angeles. I want to focus chiefly on the Pico-Union community where the majority of the residents are Central American. Pico-Union is one of the communities that have been most affected by social, economical, and political problems. Pico-Union is located just five minutes west and south of Downtown Los Angeles. Its surroundings include other communities such as WESTLAKE, Echo Park, Hollywood, West and East Los Angeles, South Central and others. Pico Union has become extremely diverse due to a great amount of people arriving form various countries. Each day thousands of people cross the border to come to the United States in the pursuit of better jobs and a better education. Their Hopes and dreams are trashed after a few days of being in the United States finding themselves jobless, an with no hope in finding one. With all the disadvantages that a person who emigrated from a foreign country has, it is even more difficult. HOUSING Pico-Union is one of the poorest parts of town. Families live crumpled up in single or one- bedroom apartments. People, related or not, share the same furniture. It is hard to imagine seven or eight people living in the same apartment. They barely fit! It is not unusual for a dozen or more people to live in the same apartment just to be able to save money to send to relatives in other countries. Many people in the Pico-Union area work in minimum wage jobs and, therefore, cannot afford to live in a better area. For this community, the phrase "buy a house" is not in their vocabulary. They can hardly pay rent, let alone buy a house. The majority of people in Pico Union rent the apartment l they live in. Tenants are often times taken advantage of. Rent increases are common. Owners know that the tenants are not going to move because rent elsewhere is too expensive. Pico- Union is believed to have the most affordable rents. If the tenants complain, they are told that immigration is going to be called on them. Many of the people who live in Pico Union are undocumented or have applied for political asylum, which only entitles them a to a work permit. It does not protect them from any other immigration laws. The economic situation is worsening everyday. People feel obligated to find other means to make money. Living conditions are very bad in the Pico Union area. Renters pay much more than what the apartments are worth. The physical condition of the dwelling is deplorable. Most units are infested with roaches and rats. Other units are in need of paint, roofs leak when it rains. People use picture frames to cover the holes in the walls. Plumbing is in need of repair. Water often times backs up through the toilet into the shower or tub or into the sink. UNEMPLOYMENT People in the Pico Union resort to drastic ways to make money. Many who do not have sufficient knowledge of the English language cannot even get a job at McDonalds. They have to work in the rain or sun all day just to make fifteen to twenty dollars. They sell fruits, prepared foods, clothes or anything that they can to make some profit. Community leaders say, "yes, we will create more jobs, people do not have to depend on welfare anymore, people-- will have-- a paycheck at the end of the week". These are meaningless words; these are phrases that vanish as soon they are said. Where are these jobs coming from? How will these promises be fulfilled? Some people in Pico Union resort to crime in order to survive. You can obtain any kind of illegal document in Pico-Union or "legal" papers if you want to call them that. These illegal papers are presented to employers when applying for a job. Around the very famous McCARTHUR Park, you can shop for any document you want to buy illegally: birth certificates for $40.00. (With the name, age and country you want), work permits for $50.00, (they look exactly like the ones you get at the immigration office). Residence and even citizenship cards are being obtained there. With limited education, little English language facility, and the majority arriving with rural skills unsuited to the urban environment of Los Angeles, it is not surprising that the median income for Central American immigrants in 1993 was between $5,000 and $9,999 (as opposed to $20,000-$24,999 for Non-Latino Whites). Whether or not they are documented, immigrants pay sales, state, and federal taxes, including Social Security. Some argue that if it were not for immigrants- whose average age is 25 years old-our Social Security system would be in even worse financial shape than it is at this time. Selling drugs, selling illegal papers, or presenting these illegal papers when applying for a job is an unsavory business. People know that it gives them a bad reputation, people know that it even makes them criminals, but they also know that they have to eat and provide food for their children. People in Pico Union will do whatever it takes to survive. DISCRIMINATION Los Angeles has a reputation as a city with serious discrimination and ethic race problems. The Rodney King case is one of the most famous. Rodney King is a black man who was almost beaten to death by a group of white police officers in 1992. This created a major racial problem because people were angry. It brought out a fury that had been suppressed for many years--years of seeing how the so-called "high wage earners" take advantage of the lower class. The community was enraged at law enforcement agents taking the law into their own hands and angry at people with power who, under the circumstances, are forced to say over the "NEWS" how sorry and angry they feel about the incident. They say they will do anything in their hands to make sure that these law offenders get the maximum sentence. There is a severe lack of trust for politicians on the part of Pico Union citizenry. The Rodney King incident was a precursor to the riots in 1992. This was a major catastrophe that was heard of all over the world. Businesses were broken into, burned and destroyed; cars were stolen and used for carrying things that had already been stolen from other stores, people were hurt and even killed. Discrimination is how stereotyping starts; it is how hatred is built up; it is how we divide ourselves into colors and communities of colors, "Your children can't play with my children because my children are more privileged than yours". "You are not accepted here because you are not the right color of skin". These are phrases which you will hear anywhere. The movie A TIME TO KILL with Sandra Bullock and Samuel Jackson presents a good piece in which you can see how people can be so discriminative when it comes to different races but not their own. This movie is based on a real life story. At the end of the movie, the lawyer is narrating a story to the jury. It is a story about a black girl who was raped by a white man. The narrator describes how she was kidnapped and taken to the wilderness, tied to a post, her clothes ripped off and then raped. While still tied to the post, bottles of beer were thrown at her. All beaten and moribund, she was thrown into the river to die. The jury consisted of nothing but whites. The lawyer was white too but he wasn't too happy of how blacks were discriminated by whites. The lawyer knew that he did not stand a chance of winning the case unless he ended the story with a touch of reality. He proceeded the story by saying, "now picture everything I just told you"."picture that this little girl who was raped and beaten and thrown into the river to die, "is white". There have been many cases in which you can show how racism can get out hand. On Monday April 11th of 1996, two Riverside county sheriffs' deputies were videotaped beating two undocumented immigrants after a high-speed chase on the freeway. The chase, which stretched at least 70 miles from Southern Riverside County to Eastern Los Angeles County, ended with a pickup truck pulling to stop. The truck carried 21 people and most of its occupants fled from the truck after the stop. One deputy was videotaped clubbing a man on the back and shoulders. The same deputy also beat a woman on the back with a baton. At least one other deputy struck the woman with his baton. The deputies, Tracy Watson and Kurtis Frankling were suspended with pay from the Riverside Sheriff's Department. People were outraged. "Hey!!!, you beat people up and you get paid vacation". "I seriously doubt that if these immigrants had been blond-haired Canadians that the police would have beaten them", said U.C.L.A undergraduate President York Chang. The Director of Asian Pacific Coalition also said, "This beating shows that brutality is still occurring." "The mood created is one of hate and violence toward people of color, most notably, immigrants". Whether you are a legal or illegal immigrant in this country, it does not establish anything. Nowadays, Latinos are referred to as criminals, trash of the United States. "Latinos are the worse piece of shit", some say, as if being good or bad has to do anything with being Latino. It is sad that we have to show these horrible and unnecessary beatings to convince others that injustice is being done. A couple of months after the Rodney King beating, two friends and I were pulled over just because someone thought we looked suspicious. This happened in East LA, it was about 2 a.m. We were coming home from a party. My friends did not speak English very well, so I had to do the talking. I asked one of the officers, "Why are we being stopped?" "You look suspicious," he said. Then one of my friends told me that he needed to use the bathroom badly. I asked the officer if my friend could be excused to urinate. He said, "Tell him that he has to do it in his pants". Then, another officer said, "You know what, you better just shut up or the same thing that happened to Rodney King is going to happen to you." "Nobody is recording us", he said in a sarcastic way. It is very easy to see how mad racists take pleasure in beating innocent people. Discrimination is getting so bad that we cannot control it anymore. Discrimination exists in restaurants, in liquor stores, Super Markets, gyms, schools, nightclubs everywhere. There is no place you can go that you will not be discriminated against. Discrimination is becoming so viciously scary that we are discriminating within our own race. Blacks discriminate against Blacks, Hispanics discriminate against Hispanics, Hispanics to blacks, blacks to Hispanics, to whites, to Asians, to red, to green, to yellow, to anything. GANGS Violent street wars over drug and gang territory make the vicinity of Pico-Union and WESTLAKE one of the Los Angeles Police Department's highest crime areas. At least fifteen gangs call it home. These gangs charge "rent" to anybody who wants to do use their territory. Poor street vendors who struggle to make some money still have to pay "rent" to these people. The 18th street gang, the M.S. (Mara Salvatrucha), the easy riders, the wanders 13th street, and many other small gangs called "wanna bee's" conquer the area of Pico Union. These gangs are constantly fighting one another. They fight for the right to own and rule more land, similar to the Spaniards and the Indians back in history. With the exception that these gangs do not actually own the land, they simply claim their territory. I have been living around the area of Pico Union for more than ten years now, and I honestly thank God I was never attracted to joining a gang. The popular saying, "if you are living with them, you are one of them" is not necessarily true. I have lived around gangs all this time and never became a gang member. In high school I was pressured everyday into joining a gang, either by friendly persuasion or by threats. If I was friend with members of one group, I was hustled by another group, which would only create anger and desire to join one to get revenge. I could never wear any watch or jewelry for fear of being robbed. Once when I was walking home from school, three guys approached me with an ice pick. They put it against my back and asked me for a gold chain that I was wearing, I had no choice but to say, "you can have it, it's all yours". I knew these guys. They were not actually my friends but I knew them. I could not report it to the police because they were not going to do anything anyway and in addition, I would have gotten more trouble. I could not have asked for it back because I was sure going to get beat up. What was left for me to do was to pretend like nothing had happened. I am sure people who have lived in parts of town with the same kind of problems can relate to this. DRUG DEALERS Drug dealers have spread all around the city. They keep moving around every so often in order not to look suspicious and not to be caught. Coke, rocks, marijuana, speed and other drugs are being sold in the streets. When the police roam around them so much it becomes too hot and risky to handle, they change their appearance or style of clothes or hair so the police will not recognize them. Before they have to relocate to another street, the drug-dealers let their clients know. Buyers follow their vendors, and they always buy from the same person. One reason for this might be that always buying from the same person prevents the risk of buying from an undercover police officer. If somebody calls to place an order over the phone, they have to use special codes or passwords. Phone deliveries have dropped because the phones are being tapped. Drug deals are also done at nightclubs in the area. Conducting drug deals in nightclubs requires more people to be involved because you have to bring it into the club. The security guards, the DJ, bartenders even the ticket holder knows about this. They also help in passing word around. From time to time they are given a little bonus. Drug dealers usually work at night. They like to find the busiest and most crowded streets. There is a person on each street corner from where the drugs are being sold and they watch out for police and advice others. COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS There are not many community organizations in Pico Union. They have been disappearing because of the insufficient funds provided. Many of these nonprofit Community organizations have had to cut programs. They struggle everyday to come up with new plans and new strategies and new ideas to keep the organization standing. Having enough funds enables them to open new programs to better service the community. For instance: Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) has had to drop some of the programs due to the scarcety of the funds received. The food distribution program had to be closed. It was a very helpful program because it provided food for more than 80 people every week. Another program that CARECEN had to close was the mobile clinic. Five doctors and nurses who used to bring medical supplies every week and treated a series of patients, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for five hours each day. CARECEN was full with people who want it to see the doctor. As for now CARECEN'S programs include: ? A youth employment and leadership development program which has served over 165 Pico-Union WESTLAKE Youth, the majority of whom have finished high school and many of whom have gone on to technical schools and colleges. ? Free introductory ESL classes for community residents with childcare provided, serving young adults and the elderly on a continuing basis. ? PRO-BONO legal represented with the help of over 50 PRO-BONO attorneys walk-in legal clinic offering work permit extensions, amnesty inclusions, deportation defense, changes in venue, monitoring of INS compliance with law, and the provisions of "CHARLAS" (information sessions). As you can see these are very helpful programs-programs that help the community. If we only had more of these, we would be able to reach every body in the community. CARECEN was located at 1818 W. 8th St., for many years but has recently relocated to 2845 W. 7th St, starting the first April of 1998. Tel. (213) 385-7800 CLINICA MSR OSCAR ROMERO CLNIC MONSEMOR OSCAR ROMERO has a Non-Discrimination policy that says: Every person is entitled to receive services provided by Clinica Msr. Oscar A. Romero regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnic group identification, ancestry, gender, sexual preference age, condition of physical or mental handicap (as defined in CFR 60-741.2), in accordance with requirements of federal and state laws. Any person who feels services or availability of services has been denied bases on discrimination may register a complaint with the Medical Director or the Health Education Director. The medical director or Health Education Director must investigate the complaint and provide a written response within 48 hours. An appeal of the written response may be made to the Executive Director within 72 hours. A further appeal may be made in writing to ADPA. State Department of Alcohol and Drugs 1700 "K" St., Sacramento CA 95814, Tel. 919- 324-0846 Clinica (clinic) MONSENOR Oscar Romero offers free Health Care, Education, Prevention and Organizing Services. ? PEDIATRIC AND ADULT MEDICAL CARE ? FAMILY PLANNING ? TREATMENT FOR SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES ? CONFIDENTIAL HIV COUNSELING AND TESTING ? LABORATORY ? PHARMACY ? DENTAL CARE ? PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING ? HEALTH PREVENTION PRESENTATIONS AND EDUCATION ON HIV/AIDSSexually Transmitted Diseases Family Planning Tobacco Prevention Lead poisoningCar Safety Seats ? ALCOHOL AND DRUG PREVNTION PROGRAM This is another organization that helps the community. This organization as well as others that I mentioned, does not require you to be legal in the United States in order to receive services. We need more of these community organizations. TAKE NOTE ALL SERVICES ARE FREE! 1135 W. 6TH STREET, LOS ANGELES, CA 90017 TEL (213) 482-6400-----------FAX (213) 483-1124 E-MAIL: PUA.ROMERO @ MAILCITY. COM SAN JUDAS MEDICAL GROUP Another center that provides great help to the community is the SAN JUDAS MEDICAL GROUP. This is located 2005 WILSHIRE Blvd., Los Angeles (corner with WESTLAKE). (213) 484-4444. Opens Monday-Saturday, 8: a.m. to 6:30 p.m. San Judas Medical Group offers a variety of services to the community, for example: Free Physical Exams. For persons without medi-cal (0-19 years of age), the following services are free of charge. ? VACCINES ? EYE TEST ? HEARING TEST ? ANEMIA TEST ? URINE TEST ? LEAD TEST ? TUBERCULOSIS TEST ? BLOOD PRESSURE TEST For future mothers, San Judas Medical Group offers FREE pregnancy test and pre- natal care. They help you apply for medi-cal, food vouchers during pregnancy as well when your child is born, regardless of your legal status. As a courtesy to the clinic, they offer free transportation; they pick you up and take you back. ALL THESE PLACES MENTIONED ABOVE WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU REFERRALS TO OTHER FREE OF CHARGE COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS IF THEY CAN NOT HELP YOU THEMSELVES. THE RED SHIELD YOUTH AND COMMUNITY CENTER THE SALVATION ARMY The Red Shield Youth Center is on the corner of 11th and Union and provides the community with a variety of recreational programs for people of all ages. All with a caring staff that provides quality supervision in a positive and safe environment. The Red Shield includes a full gymnasium; an indoor swimming pool; outdoor recreation field; weight rooms; Game room; library; aerobic room, and computer lab with instructors. The Red Shield Youth And Community Center is not completely free but you can get all the commodities and advantages of the services that provides for a fee of $5.00 to $20.00 dollars per year. These recreational programs include: ? Basketball ? Soccer ? Girl's Club ? Flag football ? Swimming Lessons ? Arts and Crafts ? Softball ? Karate Club ? City of Angels Ballet ? Men's and Women's Weight Rooms ? Boy Scouts ? Senior Citizens Club ? Women's Aerobic Classes ? Gang and Drug Prevention Program ? English as a Second Language (ESL) ? Cultural folk Dance ? Cooking Classes ? Recreational swimming ? Parenting Classes ? Volleyball ? Computer lab A very important program that they offer at the Center is the Tutoring/Learning Center. If your child is having difficulty with their schoolwork and needs extra help with their lessons, we encourage them to use the learning center that is staffed by an accredited teacher. THE RED SHIELD AND COMMUNITY CENTER is not free of charge but it helps at least a little bit because the programs that this center offers are very affordable. The Red shield Youth And Community Center is located at 1532 West 11th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015 (corner with Union Street). Tel. (213) 381-3747 CONCLUSION A CRY FOR HELP Pico Union is striving for a better future. It is fighting for a safer and cleaner environment. Pico Union is like any other rich or poor community, rich in its own way. It has just been denied by people with the power to help. The government will not take action in repairing and or rebuilding the City of Los Angeles. When I started doing this project, I never thought I was going to find so many mishaps, atrocities and misfortunate people whom driven by desperation have turn into crime. I learned a great deal from it, but at the same time I was sad and unhappy from finding out all the injustices being done, for instance: a dozen people living in the same apartment for not being able to afford the rent. Apartments with all kinds of infestations in them; roofs leaking, paint peeling off the walls. People work all day selling food on street corners just to make a measly twenty dollars. Police brutalities, not all necessarily in the Pico Union area but the same time they are done to Latinos and blacks. The government lies to us, promising jobs, better schools, more parks, many inventions that will never come true. The people in Pico Union will even work for less than minimum wage because there is too much competition. Companies love the fact that the more people looking for jobs the easier it is for them to offer the lowest paying positions. Gangs and drug dealers terrorize the area. Students have to dropout because they have to go on the streets and work. We are all the same; we can all be professionals in our own fields if given the opportunity. We are human beings. We are all related in some way. Americans and all other prejudice people will not recognize how much we mean and contribute to the society. Who else but us is going to go work at the fields for five dollars an hour? Who else but us is going to work at minimum wage jobs? Who else but us is going to work at jobs nobody else wants. You will hardly ever see a non-Latino working at a fast food restaurant. A few days ago, while I was off to work at five in the morning, I encountered several people carpooling in the back of a truck. I asked them where were they going, they said they were going to work at the crop fields. Jorge Ramos, born in Guatemala, only eighteen years old, he was one of the group, replied that they leave very early in the morning and come home late at night, leaving them no time for anything else but to prepare lunch for the next day. He said that this was Everyday. Seven days a week, making less than forty dollars a day. They have no time for anything else. How can we get an education to better ourselves, to handle a better paying job if the opportunity is not given? or better phrased "TAKEN AWAY"-- Every way we turn, we are being screwed. It made me realize that we are not lazy bums as some may think. We are hard working people. We have always been hard working people. It is just harder for Latinos to rise with all the disadvantages that put a block on us. Community Organizations are vanishing. Whomever you are who have power to do something about the situation in Pico Union," we need your help". We need more community representatives, people on our side, people who will speak for us and not let us down. With the help of community leaders, community organizations, schools, more jobs, we can make Pico Union a better place to live. REFERENCE ? CENTRAL AMERICAN RESOURCE CENTER ? EL RESCATE ? MONSENOR OSCAR ARNULFO ROMERO ? LOS ANGELES RAMPART POLICE STATION ? SAN JUDAS MEDICAL GROUP ? THE RED SHIELD YOUTH AND COMMUNITY CENTER ? INTERVIEWED THIRTY TO FORTY PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY ? WITNESED CASE INTERVIEWS AT EL RESCATE ? INTERVIEWED DRUG DEALERS ? INTERVIEWED GANG MEMBERS ? INCLUDED SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES ? INCLUDED A PASSAGE FROM THE MOVIE "A TIME TO KILL" ? SEARCHED THE INTERNET INTERVIEW GUIDE 1. How do you see the situation for people in Pico Union? 2. What can you say is one of the biggest problems happening most frequently in Pico Union? 3. What would you say is the reason people choose to sell drugs? 4. Would you say drug dealing is due to the scarcity of jobs? 5. How do see the living conditions in Pico Union? 6. How much is the average rent in Pico Union? 7. How safe is living here in Pico Union? 8. Are these apartments worth the price? 9. Would you describe Pico Union as a united community? 10. What would you change about Pico Union? 11. Do gangs cause you a big problem? 12. Why do you live in Pico Union? 13. Do you like living in Pico Union? 14. What would you is the strongest reason for people to stay in Pico union? 15. Have you ever witnessed a police brutality in Pico Union? AUTHORS BACKGROUND Ricardo vides. I was born in El Salvador, came here when I was fifteen years old. I have lived in Pico Union for more ten years; volunteered and later worked at a non profit community organization called Central American Resource Center. Also worked at NOGALES PSYCHOLOGICAL GROUP. In both places, I had a chance to interact with the people from the community and case managed incidents and problems that were given in the community Pico Union. I also helped one of the psychologists in teaching earthquake preparedness to children at Menlo Elementary School. I am currently at Los Angeles City College planning on transferring to USC.