Comments on: SAVING HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES: The Good & the Bad News

By: Celeste Fremon

Celeste Fremon — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:36:57 +0000

Clever,

“Our shit is no longer our â€œburden,â€ it is our CLAY!”

Well said. I entirely agree.

By: Clever

Clever — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:53:59 +0000

My fellow Homeboy Industries advocates and bandwagoners, why in the world do you continue to pose arguments as if one group of people is “right” and the other is “wrong?” Celeste, thank you for reminding us what a “normal” childhood should look like as well as a “dysfunctional” one. You MUST understand by now that pointing out “what people at the bottom have gone through” is really and old way of thinking. Given the prevailing circumstances the surround the homeboys, it is useless to remind them and the world outside “how bad they have it.” It is a concrete jungle and thus it is WILD! We must work from the inside out. How can you continue to tell someone in the jungle not to act as a person of the jungle? What we need to focus on is on how we can get the homeboys to assume some responsibility and clear choice making regardless of circumstance. Our shit is no longer our “burden,” it is our CLAY! Homeboys can build plenty with what they have. It takes someone to get in there show them all that is available to them, and not what is “unavailable” to them. There are plenty services out there. And yes the power of choice is in their hands. It is the NORM in the hood that you grow up fatherless, motherless, etc. It is not the “abnorm.” If we get this than we will stop measuring the homeboys through our own “NORM,” and will stop pretending that we know “what they need” and “what they are lacking and missing.” I urge all top get out of this old notion and begin realizing the service, “right” ideas, and truth no longer belong to one single individual or group of people but that it is shared through all. I think a lot of us are tired of the same old song…”poor them, poor them, poor them.” They are full of potential if they can simply make one clear choice.

By: what a laugh

what a laugh — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:10:53 +0000

Don Quackers speaking about racism is sarcasm or is it cynicism at it’t finest, the old fool has a hate for people a few shades darker than himself and uses such terms as mayate and chanate to show his true color. Maybe Don Quackers can explain one of his favorite terms of endearment, mayate or “june bug”.

By: Charles Bogle

Charles Bogle — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:20:29 +0000

It’s such a terrible pity that Homeboy Industries would be considered by anyone to be in the least bit controversial. Father Boyle has done what no obscenely funded government agency has ever been able to do: effectively address the latino gang problem in L.A.—and with compassion, no less. He has afforded a great many young people from terrible circumstances a chance to find self-confidence, self-esteem—away from gang context. In the main, it has worked. The mayors, councilpersons, supervisors of the past 30 or 40 years should all be chagrined, if not ashamed, at their colossal failure in a cirumstance where a man of compassion and common sense has done something so constructive.

By: Pokey

Pokey — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:08:57 +0000

DQ,

Yes, we do rejoice when we find the lost sheep, but with one fourth of our flock lost, we will have to decided which sheep to go after first, and second, and third.

Each sheep is just as important as the next, but just a doctor in an emergency room does triage, so must the Sheppard.

By: don quixote

don quixote — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:48:13 +0000

No Gava Joe I’ll have to disagree, the knucklehead “Another Victim” was giving a shout out to his racist tendency’s.
If one is to use sarcasm then it’s their duty to use it fairly and to the point. When numb-nuts resorts to the reactionary jargon we all know and despise like “another victim, whitey, gavacho, bogeymen out to get a homie,” then he is inviting the label “racist”.
If someone wants to call me out then be my guest but sarcasm should contain some humor and intelligence I would think.

PS And thanks for the compliment GJ, the scriptures do contain some current wisdom it seems.

By: Celeste Fremon

Celeste Fremon — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:21:18 +0000

City activist,

Mighty interesting claims there. No doubt you’ve spent lots of time at Homeboy, right?

So you think Homeboy gave to political campaigns? (A notion that is beyond preposterous.) Prove it. If that’s true, it’ll be easy to find. It’s all public record.

As for the GRP (Gang Reduction Plan), funds, Homeboy gets $27K per month to do case management, job placement and pre-release counseling for kids coming out of probation camps—kids who, without help, tend to reoffend, because they go right back into the problem environment that helped create the situation in the first place. But with intervention, statistically juveniles coming out of probation do much, much better.

And we save money when we don’t lock kids up. (You might want to Google the cost of incarcerating a teenager. It’s impressive.) But why look at real costs, right? Once kids have screwed up. Throw ‘em away. We’ve got plenty to spare. Screw the little bastards.

Oh, yeah, AND about those GRPs: the city—here’s the fun part—in all it’s infinite wisdom, is three months behind in its payments. So Homeboy—and presumably—-the other GRP contractors, all of whom we can bet are hurting for funds—are fronting the money for the city to do these programs. (This is something I’ll likely be blogging about tonight.) No one knows when or if that approximately $90 grand will ever get paid back. So, yeah, those Homeboy people, livin’ large on the city’s tab.

Get your facts straight.

Demonizing makes life so much easier. No tough questions to ask. Just a terrific feeling of unassailable, fact-free righteousness. (And our prisons get bigger and bigger and bigger.)

By: Gava Joe

Gava Joe — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:52:05 +0000

Oh Chriminee, now we’re equating Homeboy Inc. with the Illumninati. Yeah that’s it. Father Boyle was establishing a clandestine coven to do the devil’s work. Uh-huh.

Listen the whole damned country, at least those who live like the common man, is facing a world of hurt. We need to hunker down and deal with it. Charity is a good approach. Paranoia, finger pointing, and denial won’t accomplish a thing. Of course if finger pointing and retribution is your stick you can send lumps of coal to the money meisters on Wall St.

By: been there done that

been there done that — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:07:02 +0000

“Father Boyle protects them and like everyone including the Biondiâ€™s make excuses for them. If he wants to help let them live in their neigborhood. Why hasnâ€™t Laura Chick done an audit on this so called non profit? What did they do with the $600,000 they got from the GRP program? Homeboy and Father Boyleâ€™s org. has donated to political campaigns. why is this money being used for campaign donations.”

Dear cityactivist,
I will lay it out for you.

Rule #1. YOU DON’T F*CK WITH THE VATICAN OR THEIR POSSESSION’S.

Rule #2. YOU DON’T F*CK WITH THE JESUIT’S, SEE RULE #1.

By: cityactivist

cityactivist — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:41:37 +0000

You people need a reality check. Hellloo, the guy was working at Homeboy and still got arrested AGAIN. So obviously having a job didn’t do shit for him did it? And don’t give me the story of no parents. Many working mothers raise good decent kids with no help or father in the picture. The community where Homeboy is will tell you that most of the gangbangers at Homeboy are still active and banging. Father Boyle protects them and like everyone including the Biondi’s make excuses for them. If he wants to help let them live in their neigborhood. Why hasn’t Laura Chick done an audit on this so called non profit? What did they do with the $600,000 they got from the GRP program? Homeboy and Father Boyle’s org. has donated to political campaigns. why is this money being used for campaign donations. Talk to people in the community, talk to the victims these gang bangers assault, these gang bangers aren’t as innocent as people think they are.