Fuck South Los Angeles. Fuck the crime, fuck the people, fuck the University of Southern California for being right-smack-dab in the middle of the fucking ghetto. UCLA gets Westwood, Pepperdine gets Malibu, and what the fuck do we get? The University Village. I didn’t always feel this way about our school’s neighborhood. Actually, until last winter, I loved it. I loved feeling a part of the inner-city culture. I loved telling my friends back home that I lived in South-Central Los Angeles. I loved feeling like one of the proletariat. As a connoisseur of hip-hop, I took special regard to the fact that I was living in the 213, and punk police were afraid of me. And, since freshman year, I have walked the streets of South Los Angeles alone, at all hours.
Then, last November – on election night, actually – I got mugged.
A car full of guys pulled up to me on the street, and one “gentleman” got out.
“Yo, lemme have this.”
And he grabbed my cellphone. And I, like a little fucking pre-pubescent boy, let him have it.
Now, you may think that this experience would have turned me off to living in our area. But no. Call me crazy. Call me naïve. But it didn’t. I still walked alone. I chalked my experience up to living in the big city. It’s just a part of life.
Now, about a month later, the house I live in near campus got broken into. My housemates and I were all away for the holidays, and some enterprising thieves took advantage of our absence. Over $17 000 worth of stuff was taken from our house.
This set me over the edge. Here I am thinking I’m some sort of “man of the people” who’s in touch with the working man, with the gangster, with the petite bourgeoisie, but I’m really just a dumb, naïve college kid who liked feeling blue-collar. People are getting killed in this neighborhood. People get mugged all the time! Girls are getting fucking raped! Why in the name of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph did I ever like living here?
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“God, I hate living here! Fuck this neighborhood!”
“Ryan, what happened?”
“As I was skating home, I went by that apartment where those gang-bangers live, and they were drunk or something and started shouting shit at me.”
“What did they say?”
“Oh, I dunno, they just yelled at me. Told me to fuck off or something. I just kept on moving.”
“No. Fuck that. That’s so screwed up. I’ma go talk to them.”
It was a Thursday evening at the beginning of the semester. One of my housemates, Ryan, had just gotten back to the house. I already had a couple drinks in me, and that liquid courage was working its magic. “I’ll be right back!”
“No – Dan… don’t go talk to them! It wasn’t the normal guys! I’ve never seen these guys before!”
“Nah nah it’ll be fine. I’m just going to talk to them. See you guys in a bit.”
As I walked up the silent, oppressive street to confront my friend's tormentors, my mind began to race.
Daniel, what the flying floozit are you thinking?! Who knows what these guys are going to do? Jesus… it’s kind of dark outside. Oh, God. I should just turn around. Well, I’m already halfway there now. Nah. What’s the point of turning back? It’ll be fine. Will it? Probably. Or maybe not. Fuck. I’m going to end up like that one kid last semester. I’m going to get fucking murdered. What the fuck am I doing?! Fuck!
Isaac: “Man, look at this mufucker…”
Rocky: “Yo, nigga, whatchu lookin’ at?”
Two young Latino men were pissing on a light post.
Isaac: “You hear us, mo’fucka?”
“Hey guys… what’s goin’ on?”
Isaac: “Yo nigga – lemme ask you somethin’. You like The Beatles?”
“…Yeah?”
Isaac: “You like The Verve?”
“Yeah… they’re alright…”
Isaac: “Nigga, you like Oasis?”
“Yeah. Actually… I really like Oasis. I saw them live when they played at the Staples Center in December.”
Rocky: “No shit! Us too! Lookatchu’ lookin’ all like Liam Gallagher with your walk.”
Isaac: “Man, come over here, nigga. No homo my nigga, but you seem cool.”
And so it happened. I had an instant rapport with these two guys, because we were both Britpop fans. Next thing I knew we’d gone through the entire twelve-pack of Modello.
Rocky: “Man… we need to get some more beer…”
“Tellya what. Here’s why I was comin’ over here in the first place. You were yellin’ at my friend as he went by on his skateboard, and I was goin’ to ask you why you did that. But ya’ll are cool… ‘smy bad. Lemme getchu some more beer.”
Isaac: “Aww, man, it’s cool. That was your friend? My bad, man. We cool. No homo, man, but we cool.”
A car pulled up. Fuck! I’m gonna get killed in some sort of drive-by bullshit! I should go… what am I doing? Offering to buy them more beer? Okay. Okay it’s just some girl they know. Whew. I’ll just walk down to the corner store, get some beer, have a couple more drinks with ‘em, and go home.
Isaac: “Man, look at this mufucker…”
Rocky: “Yo, nigga, whatchu lookin’ at?”
Two young Latino men were pissing on a light post.
Isaac: “You hear us, mo’fucka?”
“Hey guys… what’s goin’ on?”
Isaac: “Yo nigga – lemme ask you somethin’. You like The Beatles?”
“…Yeah?”
Isaac: “You like The Verve?”
“Yeah… they’re alright…”
Isaac: “Nigga, you like Oasis?”
“Yeah. Actually… I really like Oasis. I saw them live when they played at the Staples Center in December.”
Rocky: “No shit! Us too! Lookatchu’ lookin’ all like Liam Gallagher with your walk.”
Isaac: “Man, come over here, nigga. No homo my nigga, but you seem cool.”
And so it happened. I had an instant rapport with these two guys, because we were both Britpop fans. Next thing I knew we’d gone through the entire twelve-pack of Modello.
Rocky: “Man… we need to get some more beer…”
“Tellya what. Here’s why I was comin’ over here in the first place. You were yellin’ at my friend as he went by on his skateboard, and I was goin’ to ask you why you did that. But ya’ll are cool… ‘smy bad. Lemme getchu some more beer.”
Isaac: “Aww, man, it’s cool. That was your friend? My bad, man. We cool. No homo, man, but we cool.”
A car pulled up. Fuck! I’m gonna get killed in some sort of drive-by bullshit! I should go… what am I doing? Offering to buy them more beer? Okay. Okay it’s just some girl they know. Whew. I’ll just walk down to the corner store, get some beer, have a couple more drinks with ‘em, and go home.
Or maybe I’ll just tell them I’m going to get them more beer and then go home.
But. No. I don’t wanna do that… these guys have been nothin’ but nice to me, and I just drank a bunch of their beer.
“Tellyawhat… I’ma go down to Lee’s and get us some more beer.”
Rocky: “Nah, dawg. They don’t like to see us over there. Lemme drive you to another place.”
“Why can’t we just go to Lee’s? What’s wrong with that?”
Rocky: “You heard of the Harpy’s? …Well. Nevermind. Lee’s pays us money and shit. So they don’t like to see us in there. Just lemme drive you. Come on, you trust us, right?”
Trust you?! Trust you!? Of course I don’t fucking trust you guys! You’re breaking rule number one, Daniel! What the fuck are you thinking? Don’t get into the car with him!
“Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”
Fuck. This is getting serious. Like, serious serious. I shouldn’t joke with myself. We’re… uh. We’re not just driving down the street, either. I’m fucking riding with a gang member – a drunk gang member – and I don’t even know where the fuck we’re going.
Okay. Um. Oh, we’re here. Wherever here is. Vermont and somewhere.
We walked up to the store, which was, by the way, clearly a gang operation. There was a big bouncer-dude inside watching the place who Rocky seemed to know intimately. I bought another twelve pack of beer, and we drove back to outside their apartment.
And there I stood with these two guys. Isaac and Rocky. Rocky went up to his apartment and brought down his vinyl copy of Dig Out Your Soul, the latest Oasis album, which he had bought on his last trip to Manchester. Rocky was, apparently, an aspiring musician. He also had a court date the next morning for Grand Theft Auto.
“Tellyawhat… I’ma go down to Lee’s and get us some more beer.”
Rocky: “Nah, dawg. They don’t like to see us over there. Lemme drive you to another place.”
“Why can’t we just go to Lee’s? What’s wrong with that?”
Rocky: “You heard of the Harpy’s? …Well. Nevermind. Lee’s pays us money and shit. So they don’t like to see us in there. Just lemme drive you. Come on, you trust us, right?”
Trust you?! Trust you!? Of course I don’t fucking trust you guys! You’re breaking rule number one, Daniel! What the fuck are you thinking? Don’t get into the car with him!
“Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”
Fuck. This is getting serious. Like, serious serious. I shouldn’t joke with myself. We’re… uh. We’re not just driving down the street, either. I’m fucking riding with a gang member – a drunk gang member – and I don’t even know where the fuck we’re going.
Okay. Um. Oh, we’re here. Wherever here is. Vermont and somewhere.
We walked up to the store, which was, by the way, clearly a gang operation. There was a big bouncer-dude inside watching the place who Rocky seemed to know intimately. I bought another twelve pack of beer, and we drove back to outside their apartment.
And there I stood with these two guys. Isaac and Rocky. Rocky went up to his apartment and brought down his vinyl copy of Dig Out Your Soul, the latest Oasis album, which he had bought on his last trip to Manchester. Rocky was, apparently, an aspiring musician. He also had a court date the next morning for Grand Theft Auto.
Isaac was on probation, so he couldn’t leave the state.
A few more of their friends showed up, and I met them, too. I even met Isaac’s Mom for a couple minutes when she leaned out of her apartment window to yell at us to shut up.
Isaac: “Yo nigga, you wanna smoke a blunt?”
“...Sure.”
I was all in.
I looked at my phone. It had been over an hour and a half since I left my house.
Rocky: “Yo homeboy, I’m tryin’ to get paid. I need to go to Commerce.”
Isaac: “I feel you nigga. Lemme go inside to get my gun.”
Rocky: “You wanna come with us?”
“No! Nope. I’m good. Hey, thanks for the beer, and the weed. It was nice to meet you guys.”
And so I left. But not before I got Rocky’s number and Isaac promised that they “had my back if I ever needed anything.”
Now, I’m not going to pretend that I made a lot of good decisions that night. Because I didn’t. I certainly laid myself prostrate before the hands of fate. What produced great material for a solo performance could have also become a news story: NAÏVE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STUDENT MISSING – LAST SEEN WITH KNOWN GANG MEMBERS.
But nothing bad did happen. I don’t know why it didn’t. But maybe – just maybe – the world isn’t as dangerous as we all like to pretend it is. Yes, people do get mugged. Young women have been raped. And that’s fucking inexcusable and terrible. But these are rare occurrences, and can often be avoided. Yes, we don’t live in Westwood, where everything is sanitized, expensive, and glitzy. But we can go to Westwood when we want. Meanwhile, we live in the real world, where we are constantly reminded of just how lucky we are to be in college and not in a gang. But gang-members are real people too. They like Oasis and The Beatles, just like you and me.
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Hey everyone, please be careful out there. And if someone tries to carjack you, or mug you, or whatever, for God's sake, just let them have whatever they want.
A few of my fellow bloggers also have excellent posts about USC's relationship with its neighborhood, in light of the recent tragedy. Check out the Chunder Tribune for a great op-ed about USC forcing gentrification on its environs.
A few of my fellow bloggers also have excellent posts about USC's relationship with its neighborhood, in light of the recent tragedy. Check out the Chunder Tribune for a great op-ed about USC forcing gentrification on its environs.