As you probably know by now, the police have arrested the suspected driver of the hit and run vehicle that killed USC student, Adrianna Bachan, and injured her friend and fellow student, Marcus Garfinkle.
LAPD arrested 30-year-old Claudia Cabrera, whose husband was allegedly the passenger who got out and yanked Marcus Garfinkle out of the car’s windshield and tossed him to the pavement. Police report that Cabrera’s 7 month old baby was in the car when she hit Adrianna and Marcus.
Cabrera’s husband, Josue Luna, 31, is still being sought.
Annenberg Television News recorded the entire press conference at which Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell explained the arrest and the $235,000 reward that likely caused the cruicial tipster to come forward. ($100,000 of the reward was offered by an anonomous doner.)
At my school there’s over 4,000 kids and you’re pretty much on your own. There’s no one you could talk to. If they see violence they [teachers and administrators] don’t talk about it. They act as if it doesn’t happen or sometimes they’ll just simply threaten us, saying that they’re gonna split our lunches or we’re gonna take away your snack, which they’ve already done and it’s kinda like what more do we have left? You’re gonna stop feeding us?Britawnya, 17, Warren High School in Downey
I think more understanding from the teachers [would help], because at my school a lot of students feel like some of the teachers don’t get what they’re going through and they just think that everything is OK so why aren’t you getting the good grades. The teachers that do put more understanding and try to speak to students, they really end up helping a lot of people that I’ve known change and it was because of them, because the teachers took the time to understand and not just pick on them like you know, why aren’t you doing this why aren’t you doing that, get out of my class, you’re acting up.Solange, 17, Leuzinger HS, Lawndale
Around that area there are like the Crips and the Bloods …..so there’s always violence no matter what time of day. Just yesterday there was a fight about to break out in the morning as soon as I was walking to school. It gets tiring after a while. It has to stop. I mean I want to go on and get out of here and move on with my life and this violence and gangs it’s not letting me do what I want, it gets in my way. Juan, 17, Fremont High School, Los Angeles
The kids quoted above were part of a panel of high school students who came together to discuss the results of a 1000-student survey about Los Angeles County teenagers and violence. The survey was conducted this past fall by LA Youth, a newspaper written by and about LA teenagers. Results were released in the paper’s most recent issue.
Among the survey findings:
**42 percent of the teenagers surveyed had seen or experienced shootings,
**59 percent saw or experienced someone being threatened.
**Two-thirds of respondents (64%) said they experience violence at least one a month, with eight percent reporting experiencing violence daily.
**75 percent of the kids surveyed said the violence around them has changed their actions.
(For instance, 37 percent of the teenagers surveyed said they won’t go out after dark.)
Unfortunately, 42 percent do not feel comfortable reporting the violence they see at school to the school authorities.
And, in a statisticthat particularly surprised some of the staff at LA Youth, the majority of teen respondents (69%) were not aware of any violence prevention program available in their communities.
(Good job getting the word out, people. Mayor’s office, I’m talking to you personally.)
These results, by the way, were not merely from kids living in the County’s most violent neighborhoods. They were kids from Pacific Palisades to the SF Valley, Beverly Hills and Pacoima, as well as East and South LA, and all points in between.
Friday, Antonio Villaraigosa said that he’s going to give up on his quest for mayoral control of LA schools—a reality based decision. The four new FOA (Friends of Antonio) LAUSD board members clustered around AV at his press conference like a back-up group behind the lead singer. Along with them for the photo op was Board Prez, Marlene Cantor, a well-meaning, if ineffectual leader, and Julie Korenstein, who always seems to pay far more attention to her manicure than, say, school governance. (And, no, that isn’t a metaphor.)
Conspicuously absent, was recently reelected board member Marguerite LaMotte, whose antagonism toward the mayor (she likened his school takeover attempt to the “Tuskegee experiments”) and the burgeoning charter school movement are often breathtaking in their virulence.
At the event, the mayor and the board members talked cheerily of “common goals,” … smaller, safer schools ….parent involvement …increased input from teachers….yadda, yadda, yadda. It was nothing that we hadn’t heard….oh…a zillion times.
(Did I say I was optimistic about the future effect of the newly Antonio-tilting Los Angeles school board? My bad. I’m over it.)
ON THAT SAME DAY, there was, however, one genuinely promising development on the LA public school front: THE GROWING PARENT REVOLT.
You see, Friday was also the day that a group called the Courage Campaign, along with the 2006-formed LA Parents Union, sent out a mass email urging all LA parents and any other concerned parties to sign a petition demanding that the school board start breaking up the district’s big, failing schools into smaller more manageable ones. And to do it now. Not later.
Interestingly, the petition isn’t just another passive plea. It carries with it an unstated threat: IF YOU WON’T DO IT, WE WILL. You don’t think so? Take a look at Locke High School, babe.
As threats go, it’s a pretty good one. And, in terms of pure drama the unfolding Locke High School saga is definitely the best show in town.
In case you’ve forgotten, here’s a quick rundown of the details….
Yesterday morning, Liam Rector, the director of Bennington College’s MFA Writing program, sent out links to this article to those he thought might be interested, myself included. It’s a thoughtful and sobering piece from Higher Ed Magazine, that talks about what happens when creative writing teachers come across unusually violent content in the writing of their students. It pertains, obviously, to the writing of Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech shooter, who was also an English major, but it goes much further, into the issue in general. It’s called, “When Creative Writing Provides a Clue,” and it’s a worthwhile read, comments included.
When something truly terrible happens, as it did at Virginia Tech yesterday, there are bound to be collateral effects that unfold later on in ways that we can’t at the time imagine.
I’ll give you an example of what I mean that relates specifically to Los Angeles.
The incident occurred nearly two years ago, in July of 2005. A 19-month old little girl named Suzie Pena died when her dad, Raul Pena, was pumped up on Tequila and cocaine, plus a night of fighting with his common-law wife and stepdaughter. Then, for reasons no one entirely understands, he got into a shootout with the Los Angeles Police Department. After hours of standoff, a department SWAT team blew through the back doors of the used car dealership where Pena was holed up inside a small interior office with his gun and his toddler daughter and, in an attempt to take out the dad, the cops shot the little girl too. The SWAT guys found her amid the smoke and debris curled in her dead father’s arms.
I was asked to report on the story, and so spent a great deal of time deconstructing the actions of the police, most specifically SWAT. At some point when I was talking to then LAPD Assistant Chief, George Gascon, trying to yank apart how everything happened, he brought up the school shootings at Columbine . Read the rest of this entry »
It’s very difficult to post about anything else today with the story of the shooting on Virginia Tech’s campus still unfolding. We fear for the wounded students, grieve for the 2231 32….33 dead. I can think of nothing on earth more terrible than losing a child. Nothing.
As the news unspools itself in the days and weeks to come, I hope that kind and cool heads will prevail. When something awful like this occurs, the feelings of helplessness and grief we all feel for the individuals and families affected often turns to rage, and then to a desire to DO SOMETHING.
When that something is done, may it be wise, not reactive, practical, not a result of politicians’ posturing.
April 3rd, 2009 by 
Celeste Fremon
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