The following story was written by a Watts Community Youth Journalist as a part of the EveryDay Heroes Leadership Camp project that focused on community media.
Living and going to school in Watts has both positive and negative effects.
The positive side of living in Watts is the summer night lights, the parks after dark at Ted Watkins during the summer, the back-to-school backpack giveaways, and the community gym located on Grape Street.
The negative side of living in Watts is gang violence.
Although some things have changed in Watts the gangs are still very much an ongoing problem. These include drive-by shootings, people angrily approaching cars, gang initiation and more.
Although gang violence is a bad thing and should not be glorified, a lot of kids think it’s cool and want to be a part of it. These kids even make the gangs a huge deal in school and bring the drama to school as well.
Over the years some gangs have even tried to end the gang wars and unite but it never lasts long enough.
I think if all the gang violence were to somehow end then children would have a better chance of growing up in a decent neighborhood. If there was no violence I believe children would have a better chance at going to college and having a decent life with careers and jobs that are worth it.
The children living in watts deserve a better and healthy environment so that they can grow up and be proud of where they came from.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry growing up in an area with heavy gang activity can lead to low self-esteem, a sense of hopelessness about the future and underlying mental health issues.
Growing up near gang activity also increases the chances of you joining a gang.
As of late it feels like gang violence in Los Angeles has increased and is the worst in the country. I honestly don’t see a change happening anytime soon and although new buildings are being built and more jobs are becoming available people are still stuck in their ways.
Growing up I’ve noticed most people get used to what they know and if they only know violence, that’s unfortunate. We can only hope for the best.
