Caught in The Crossfire: Innocent Victims of Gang Violence.
Barbara Davidson
The Los Angeles Times
In Los Angeles, California, each day brings peril for the innocent victims living in the crossfire of gang violence. No matter where the bullet finds them, no matter what their race or economic status, the trajectory of their lives will change forever. Survivors never recover completely from the bullet wounds and families never get over their loved ones being murdered.
These are communities facing lifelong health problems and psychological trauma. For those left behind - maimed victims, husbands, mothers or best friends of the dead - the aftermath is an ongoing nightmare. They spend years struggling against pain both physical and emotional. When such senseless violence makes the news, it is usually explained as young men killing each other over drugs.
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Often forgotten are the real victims whose stories, rarely told, illustrate the human toll of gang violence. Five-year-old Josue Hercules' blood still stains the sidewalk where the stray bullet hit him. Rose Smith cannot find the strength to tell her children that she will never walk again. Shameka Harris wonders why the bullets did not hit her instead of her young daughter. The struggle bends lives in different ways: some dip into long periods of depression, battling to keep their relationships, jobs and hopes afloat; some become activists and work to change laws; some cannot afford to leave their dangerous neighborhoods and are trapped in view of the crime scene. These victims share a special kind of peril, and, in the most dangerous parts of Los Angeles, this passes for the norm.
Barbara Davidson
