Joe Aleman, one of those featured in the film, “Father G and the Homeboys,” was shot in the eye, saw his young son killed in front of him, sought revenge, and went to prison. Added together, he’s spent 18 years in some kind of lock-up, juvenile and adult. When he was finally released, he found Homeboy Industries…and what he hoped would be a way out of the violent, dead-end life he’d been living.
SUNDAY – UPDATE: Laemmle’s was way past sold out today for the showing of “Father G and the Homeboys” so the Dances With Films folks have added a second screening: next Thursday, July 12, at 12:30—at the Laemmle’s 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd. (Just east of Crescent Heights.)
Some time in 2003, a smart and idealistic second grade teacher by the name of John Bohm decided he wanted to make a documentary film about troubled kids struggling against all the problems that come with living in the the poorest neighborhoods of LA’s inner city. Then somebody told him, if he really wanted a story about inner city kids wrestling with the odds, the guy he ought to see was Father Greg Boyle.
So Bohm went to see the priest and, like many people who’ve wandered, for one reason or another, through the doors of Homeboy Industries, Bohm walked in, and never entirely walked out again. The result is a terrific documentary film called Father G and the Homeboys. The LA Weekly gives the film a good mini review—and erroneously bills it as being as based on my book, “G-Dog and Homeboys.” But, while I’m featured as a passing talking head in the film, the project—narrated by Martin Sheen—is entirely entirely Bohm’s own creation…and accomplishment.
Bohm made the film on a shoestring-–$103,000 squeezed from a combination of sources: his LAUSD teacher’s salary, some Cal Teacher’s Credit Union loans, plus one small fund raiser that netted about $6 grand. Yet, as he continued to gather footage and to do various rough cuts, he gradually attracted the attention of supporters like Sheen. Father G has already won multiple regional prizes, including awards from the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, and another from the Worldfest International Film Festival.
You can see it this Sunday, July 8, at 12:30 pm at the “Dances With Films” Festival, Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Tickets at: www.danceswithfilms.com
A lot of the guys and young women from Homeboy will be there. (I’ll be there too. Find me and say, hi, okay?.) Obviously, I have a vested interest here—emotionally speaking—because I know everyone featured in the film. But if you go, you won’t be sorry. I promise.
What happened to the guys who shot Aleman and killed his son? Did he get them or did the justice system take proper care of those non-humans? That’s a footnote to the story that I would like to see.
Pokey, you live in CA, right? Are you very far from LA? I nominate you to go check out this Celeste Fremon person. Make sure she looks like her photographs. Woody is too far away to make the trip, and I’m in Colorado… so that leaves you. If you go, check out this Alan Mittelstaedt person, too. Make sure he’s real. Maybe you could give us a report on these two. And, see if that Steve Nopez person shows up. Been wondering who he is, also. Make sure the homeboys are real Homeboy and not out-of-work-actors. It be good for one of ‘us’ to get a sense of these folks. 😉
[disclaimer: In case there is any doubt, file this under ‘humor.’]
Well, blast it to beans. Meant to write:
[disclaimer: In case there is any doubt, file this under *humor*.] Sometimes my brain and my keyboard have a communication problem.
Now why do they have to show this all the way in West Hollywood? I’m in the 909! Do you know if it will be shown in any other venues? I’d love to see the film but hauling all the way to the westside is out of the question.
In addition to being a Homeboy fan, I’m also a Celeste Fremon fan, read the American Family series rabidly, and can’t wait to buy the book.
Hi HF, Thanks for the kind words.
I just talked to the film maker, and the next two festivals he’s signed up for are in Europe. (Which is…er… a bit of a drive for all of us.) But the next time there’s a So Cal showing, I’ll post it here.
Ref Comment #1. What happened to the real bad guys?
Hi Woody,
The shooting that resulted in Joe’s son’s death, wasn’t out of the blue, but was a consequence of gang rivalry.
After Joe’s kid got shot, Joe didn’t tell the police who’d done the shooting but—in that he was quite the hard ass back then— went to seek revenge himself. When he did so, the guys he shot at, shot back and chased him into the street, where he was shot multiple times in the head, including the bullet above his eye. He collapsed in the middle of the street and was declared dead.; sheet over his head, the whole nine yards. Then the paramedics saw his hand twitch. I don’t know if they caught any of the shooters, but Joe went to prison after that for fourteen years. (He’d already spent another four years in and out of jail and various juvenile facilities.)
To give you and idea of how and why Joe ended up a gang member, as a child, Joe had family that was hideously messed up. His mother was a maid, and a looker. His father was the husband in one of the families for whom she cleaned house. His uncle, who lived with his mom, was a heroin addict who used to ask Joe to tie off his arm every day whenever the uncle shot up. When the uncle died of an overdose, the kid—who was around 7,8, or 9 at the time (I can’t remember)—blamed himself. Joe was also repeatedly sexually abused as a child by another man in his family.
I met Joe for the first time when he got out of prison and came to Homeboy in, I think it was 2003. He’s smart, funny and a natural public speaker, and has a heart the size of Wyoming. But carries a bigger load emotionally, than most people I’ve ever met.
He’s in a federal jail right now because he was picked up for an “immigration violation,” and was set to be deported. In reality, he’s an American citizen because his dad’s an citizen (see above). Yet, he was never able to prove it. (Not that he tried all that hard since he’s been locked up for so much of his adult life.) His public defender, however, is a good person who’s really working hard in his behalf. I just talked yesterday to the local chaplain who works inside both LA County jail and the federal lock up, and he’s optimistic that Joe’s immigration status may get straightened around through DNA tests and the like.
Joe was part of a writing project this past year (of which I was the co-director) called the Homeboy Stories project. The publication of the anthology that resulted from the project will be launched in an event this Saturday. (I’ll post about it later this week.) Unfortunately, someone else will be reading the poetry Joe wrote for the project.
Long answer for a short question. 😉
Thanks, Celeste. That does make the story more complete. Now, here’s where things went wrong.
After Joe’s kid got shot, Joe didn’t tell the police who’d done the shooting butâ€â€in that he was quite the hard ass back thenâ€â€went to seek revenge himself.
And, here’s something that really bothers me. I hope justice was served somehow here.
I don’t know if they caught any of the shooters….
Then, this surprise:
He’s in a federal jail right now because he was picked up for an “immigration violation,†and was set to be deported.
He must be one of about eleven in this situation.
I was out of town this past weekend, and a friend of a friend there had been hit in his car by a drunken illegal Mexican with no insurance. The police couldn’t do anything except hold him until the INS picked him up, which would be never, and the city didn’t want to pick up his lodging expense, so he was released. And, so it goes on and so he goes.
Sorry about your buddy. I sympathize in that I have occasionally envied the Mafia, which didn’t have to wait for the slow wheels of justice to move, which I do.
How different this may have turned out if he had sought the help of the police in the first place..or, would it?
Woody, obviously he should have gone to the police. But if he was behaving sensibly, he wouldn’t have been in a gang in the first place. At the time he joined, Joe was a young, desperately disaffected kid and the gang was the first “family” that had every truly wanted him—as is often the case.
But about the immigration thing, if you’ll note, Joe is a citizen in that his father’s a citizen. He’s lived in this country all his life, (although I think he was born when his mom had briefly gone back to Mexico.) Unfortunately, however, he has to prove his citizenship since his father (the citizen) was a horn dog A-hole who took no responsibility for his son’s existence.
Just for the record, Joe’s not a buddy. I’ve become an auntie of sorts to a lot of young men and women whom I’ve met in the course of my reporting—Joe among them. (And my life is a gazillion times richer as a result of it.)
[…] after fourteen years, and came to Homeboy in, I think it was 2003. [He’s the one pictured here.] He’s smart, funny and a natural public speaker, and has a heart the size of Wyoming. But […]