Reality Check

It's 4:45 pm, a time at which the playground outside is usually filled with churro-devouring children, flying footballs and screams skipping between the school building and open air. But today the atmosphere outside is eerily quiet. The 4:45 church bells are ringing and birds are chirping and the sun is shining but there's a quality in the air that reminds me of the excited nervousness I feel during a potentially imminent emergency, like a tornado warning. It's as if the uncertainty of damage that could be done and injuries that could be sustained is a damp mist that gets sucked into your psyche with each breath. Things are tense around here today, because it's the day of Tim's funeral.

Tim was a member of a prominent gang in our area (a few members of which whose names I know and whose potential I hope to see realized) and was killed in a drive by shooting last week. There's been talk of retaliation on behalf of Tim's fellow gang-bangers and, as far as I know, relatiation doesn't often go unretaliated...

My roommate knocked on my office door a bit ago with a bewildered, flustered look on her face and asked for a ride home. She was going to take the bus but, as she started walking down the street, noticed a huge group of guys congregating around the park area. The police advised the track coaches that they should cancel practice, the after school program let out an hour and a half early, and parents who normally allow their children to walk home from school met them half way.

As staff, we have been asked to be present at the weekly Via Crucis (it's sort of like stations of the cross...we do it every Friday at 5:30 during Lentand then to "provide a calming presence" at the 7 pm funeral.

I'm not even going to act like I'm not a bit nervous about the whole thing. For some reason, walking around "hot" streets right before a funeral of a drive-by shooting victim just doesn't seem like a good idea. But if no one stands up for peace and reclaims the streets as property which belongs to not just certain gangs but to everyone else who lives here, how will it ever come about?

I'm not entirely sure I'll be going to the Via Crucis, but I can show my support by going to the funeral. A lot of the kids I work with knew the guy who died and my presence will say a lot about how much I care about them, even if they don't recognize it.

Until now I've felt pretty secure in where I live and work. However, the events of the last two weeks, combined with all the concern and tension over tonight, have me reevaluating that sense of security and comfort that I have enjoyed.

Please pray for peace, on the streets of Boyle Heights, in our world, and in our own hearts.