There's no cure

I read about parents being blamed for their children's involvement in gangs. My parents have worked so much to put a roof over our family's head and food on our table. I know it's hard to do on a low income.

As I've grown up in what used to be a small town, this gang has always been around. It's not something we look forward to being in, but it just happens. It's society. It's life.

I went to Rio Mesa High. That's where my problems started. Students claimed the area and students from La Colonia started to hang together, getting each other's back. You could call us gangsters. We were just friends living in the Colonia area. I guess we had options, but we didn't choose to get bullied, nor did we have to involve the teachers; we handled the situations within ourselves.

I've lost friends over the years due to gang activities. That won't stop. Like they say, what goes around comes around. We've been harassed just because we wear Dickies and Bens and have bald or faded heads. I've had more than $500 worth of Cowboys clothes taken away from me. I wasn't even on probation. I'd understand if I had clothing saying "Colonia Chiques," then, yes, I should be labeled as a gang member. Are the cops going to give tickets to sport shops for distributing gang clothing?

Right now, I'm incarcerated for a car accident. I lost a good friend and, right away, I get stereotyped for my juvenile past. That ain't right. My bail is $200,000. That's more than a person with an attempted murder charge.

They say the injunction is because of public safety? I haven't committed a violent crime since I was 17. So now I am a threat to society, even though I maintained my adult record clean until this incident? Explain that!

Just because a lot of people are moving into Oxnard all of a sudden, the Police Department wants to create boundaries for this gang. Like you guys said, we are spreading like cancer, but there ain't no cure for it, either. So, I know if the injunction passes, it still won't work, and we'll be spreading into neighborhoods that won't want us around, still socializing!

-- Jaime Amezcua, inmate, Ventura County Jail

Opportunity ignored

Two of the items that were constantly referred to at the April 6 Oxnard City Council meeting as a follow-up to the injunction were education and jobs. Education programs are already in place. It's called public school. As a high school teacher, I see, on a daily basis, gang members throwing away their opportunity for an education. They look at school as one more area to spread their gang influence through terrorism of other students and graffiti and violence.

Tagging puts a great burden on the financial resources of this city and on the school districts. The cost in time and material is phenomenal. Gang members have no respect for anyone's property. In my neighborhood, we have Colonia Chiques tagging on a weekly, if not daily, basis on the homes of the priests who live two doors down from me and on the two convents in our area.

Elias Banales made an excellent point when he spoke about not bringing shame to his family. The Colonia Chiques have no sense of shame.

Miguel Espinosa made the comment that the "white community" has been relatively untouched by gang activity. I beg to differ with him. The "white community" has been greatly affected. Whose homes does he think the Chiques are robbing? To my knowledge, five homes on my street alone have been robbed in the last year, mine included. I live in the National Historic District where we have a very ethnically mixed neighborhood. Every year, we celebrate Halloween for more than 1,500 kids, and then turn around to sponsor Christmas Tree Lane. This is the respect we get from some of the very people that we put these events on for?

Daisy spoke about the phrase "liberty and justice for all" in the Pledge of Allegiance, and that the injunction would take away the liberty of some. People need to understand and accept that with every right comes a responsibility and, in this case, the responsibility is to obey the laws of our land and respect other people and their property.

Finally, I am sick and tired of hearing all the whining about how these poor people are "victims." They are not victims. They are predators. In this great country, there is great opportunity for anyone who wishes to take advantage of it. This opportunity includes getting an education, respecting other people and their property, and becoming a productive member of society.

-- Steve Buratti, Oxnard

Harassment a problem

A gang injunction is a direct violation of our civil rights. I decided to stand up for myself and my community and began having fund-raisers to hire an attorney. Since then, I have suffered police harassment in a way I never thought would be true.

Recently, my brother was arrested and taken to county jail on a bogus charge. A few days earlier, I was at home with my boyfriend when flashlights went through my blinds and I was frightened by banging on the bars to my windows. The police were at my door, and I could see them jumping the fence to my back yard. I was in fear for my life.

I had to call the civil rights organization, Committee on Raza Rights, to come and assist me. The cops tried numerous times to enter my house, but since I know my rights, I didn't let them in. Thank God my mother and grandmother pulled up at that time and told the cops that unless they had a search warrant, they had to leave us alone. All of our neighbors were witnesses to this incident.

The funny thing is, this is the third time the cops have tried to enter my house. Before the gang injunction, I had never had problems with the law. We are a poor community with few resources. However, we have organized ourselves enough to hire a private attorney by the name of John Hachmeister. He has beaten a gang injunction before in court.

We need help to get our story across.

-- Dolly Villa, Oxnard

REFLECTIONS

Ask and learn.

I Maccabees. II, 52, "The Apocrypha"