SARAH SCHERFF
Photo Editor
A young Hispanic 12-year-old carries his AK-47 to the street corner, takes aim, and guns down a black man he doesn’t like because they are not the same ethnicity. A mile away a young mother and her child, both HIV positive, shiver in bed starving and hopeless, unable to afford or even access medications necessary to prolong their lives. In the same area, an 18-year-old lives in a box in an alley stealing to get what food he needs, never having the security of living in a stable family.
This might seem like another heart-wrenching story from a Third World country on the other side of the world, but this scene plays out every day in the United States’ second largest city, Los Angeles.
In places like Pepperdine, students wear t-shirts supporting causes like the Red Campaign or Save Darfur, but no one wears a t-shirt for the homeless in Los Angeles or to end the gang and racial violence in Harbor Gateway or Florence-Firestone, both 35 miles from campus. It is not that one cause is more or less important; the problem is we ignore what is happening in our own backyard.
Everyone knows who the Invisible Children are because of film artists who travelled to Uganda in search of a story. What people do not realize is that California has its own invisible children. There are 150,000 gang members in Los Angeles alone. Operation Safe Streets, an anti-gang program run by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, states that one fourth of them are younger than18 years. There are 250,000 children who live in gang violent areas who walk to school in fear of their lives. Countless gang members are initiated into gangs because they believe there is nothing else for them. They are being forced into violent lifestyles by their peers.
Every year Pepperdine has an AIDS awareness week. Throughout the week, participants wear Orphans shirts to show the percentage of children who are orphaned from AIDS in Africa. It is a very powerful week, but the problem with this is that no one talks about AIDS in the United States.
According to the L.A. Department of Health, there are 52,000 cases of AIDS in the city. Half of the babies born with HIV are black. Unfortunately, AIDS is the number one killer of black women between 25 and 34 years. These are only in Los Angeles. AIDS is not a disease only found in Third World countries. In South Central Los Angeles, there is one hospital and a handful of clinics that deal with HIV/AIDS patients, far fewer clinics for AIDS patients than in African countries.
The biggest problem with the AIDS craze is exactly that. It is not an epidemic anymore it’s a craze. There are so many organizations that deal with AIDS in Africa. The United States sends enough antiretroviral drugs to Africa to aid 1.3 million people, but forgets to educate those affected about the virus and how to stay protected. There is no cure for AIDS, so AIDS patients become guinea pigs for the cure.
There is also an overwhelming push for adopting children overseas. People like Madonna, Meg Ryan and Angelina Jolie are leading this trend. Everyone is sympathetic to orphans in undeveloped countries, but ignore those in foster care in the United States. They are the unwanted children.
There are 27,000 children in foster care in Los Angeles; of which, only 1,500 will be adopted, according to the court appointed special advocates for L.A. County. When the other children become adults, 45 percent will be in constant unemployment, 25 percent will be homeless, and 26 percent will be imprisoned. This situation is either ignored or forgotten. This is happening in Pepperdine’s backyard.
Genocide in those other countries is talked about everywhere, but Americans turn a blind eye to the discrimination that occurs in the states. It is inconceivable, so Americans deny its existence. Several districts are being investigated about the war going on in Los Angeles between blacks and Hispanics. There are places in this free country where blacks and Hispanics fear being shot while walking around certain places. It is hard to believe this stuff is happening in such a liberated and free country.
It is not that any of the problems mentioned before are more or less important than others. The frustration in all of this is that people get so caught up in the mysterious and far-away undeveloped countries that they gloss over the evils happening in the United States. The L.A. County Sheriffs Department is cracking down on gang violence. The county itself is doing research on crimes ignited by racial discrimination. The PVC has a weekly trip to Skid Row to feed the homeless. We need to get our hands dirty, instead of just throwing money at the problem, much like those taking action now. When you reach out to people you realize just how human they are. You can make a difference in their lives. Pepperdine is preparing your life for purpose, service, and leadership. Serve with purpose and lead those who need your guidance, whether they are far or near.
11-08-2007
