Curtis Richardson: 13-year-old, Shot Dead in Gang Territory

On March 17th, 13-year-old Curtis Richardson was shot dead in front of his home.

"He was walking with his friends when one of his friends threw up a gang sign and they came back and started shooting," said a 13-year-old school friend of Curtis.

A resident named Vincent said that he was one of the first on the scene. "I ran around here and checked his pulse. He had a pulse but he wasn't moving or nothing," said Vincent. Vincent said that his father was shot and killed across the street a few years ago.

In South Central Los Angeles, these crimes are part of everyday life. The area is geographically divided by gangs, with Richardson's house resting on the cusp of the divide between the Bloods and the Crips.

"I've been living in a war zone since 1987," said Sister Herron, a resident of South Central and leader of the Youth Advocacy Coalition.

Herron was joined by author and civil rights activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson on the street where Richardson was shot. After a 35 percent upsurge in homicides this year, this coalition of civil rights leaders were asking Los Angeles to put violence on hold for 40 hours. After being passed by Los Angeles city council, the moratorium started at 6:01 pm Friday, the day Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. was assassinated 40 years ago. Sister Herron reminded the crowd of the many children and teenagers who were killed in just the last month.

So why don't kids get the message and stop joining gangs? Because it's a lot more complicated than it looks. It's not a case of "just saying no." It's a case of massive, grand-scale bullying and defying an accepted way of life. "I've got family members in gangs, friends," said one of the girls at the memorial. "I mean, it's possible, you don't have to gang bang, but it's hard."

For many teenagers in Los Angeles, joining a gang isn't a decision they get to make. They're pressured by friends and even family members, as some gangs have an ancestry that is hard to defy.

And the rules of gang warfare are even harder to defy. In fact, turning a blind eye to the symbols of gang territory can be dangerous or even deadly. The girls from Richardson's high school explained that even having dyed hair can be a dangerous flag in an area that is controlled by the blue Crips gang or the red Blood gang. "I could walk around the corner and I might not come back," said one girl, who has a wide red streak in her hair.

There have been numerous programs in Los Angeles to try and curb the gang violence that is segregating the city, but nothing offers an infalliable solution. The girls from Richardson's school were sceptical that things could ever change.

"Some people learn and some don’t."
"Some people change their lives and some people don’t."

No matter how many activists come into their neighborhood trying to spread a message of peace, life and death are still just blocks apart. The police still had to patrol Curtis Richardson's memorial so that mourners could gather there. There are still reports of murdered children, and officials announcing that the deaths were "gang-related." The scariest thing is that this isn't a new problem for Los Angeles; it's become a trade mark.