FROM PEACE MARCH PAGE 1 Ringing in ‘a new day’
SAMOHI To mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of Santa Monica High School student Eddie Lopez, his classmates on Wednesday joined family members and the mothers of other victims of gun violence for a peace march through downtown.
Standing in front of the pictures of minority victims, advocates for peace said intervention and prevention efforts need to be funded at the same level as crime suppression and introduced a five-point plan to combat a sense of hopelessness that leads youth into a life of crime.
“I think the one thing we would like to get across is that many people think murders happen to bad people in bad neighborhoods. That’s not the case,” said Marcela Leach, of Justice For Homicide Victims, whose daughter, a graduate of Santa Monica High School, was killed while sleeping in her bedroom in Malibu. “Murders happen everywhere and we want to stop the killing.”
The march comes as prosecutors prepare a case against three men believed responsible for killing Lopez and Miguel Martin, both of whom were shot while walking with friends along Pico Boulevard. Lopez, who was killed on Feb. 28, 2006, and Martin, who was killed Dec. 27, 2006, were not affiliated with gangs and are believed to have been the victims of fate, having been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Sadly, if you are a low income person of color, you are at the wrong place all of the time because they are living in communities that are being neglected,” said Oscar de la To2rre, vice president of the school board and executive director of the Pico Youth & Family Center, which provides after school programs and counseling for children and young adults.
“Wherever poverty and hopelessness exist, we have this problem of young people dying on our streets,” de la Torre added. “It is self-destruction. We have young people killing each other and much of that has too do with social and economic inequality.”
He pointed out that in the last decade, 38 people have been killed in the Pico Neighborhood, a part of the city that de la Torre and others feel has been neglected.
“Today is a new day,” he said. “We need to come together to make things better so young people do not lose hope, so that young people do not risk their lives to take lives, so that young people are not killed for the sake of a street name where they don’t even own a home.”
Councilman Kevin McKeown, who supports hiring a gang czar to help coordinate regional efforts to end gang violence — much like City Hall has done with homelessness — praised police officers for tracking down the alleged killers of Lopez and Martin, and emphasized the need for community members to join together in assisting law enforcement by taking back their streets.
“We are doing a great job on enforcement, but enforcement is only part of it,” McKeown said.“We need prevention and intervention and I call on the community to work very seriously towards that and commit the resources to prevent gangs in Santa Monica. We adults have to show the kids that we care. I don’t want to go to any more funerals.”
One way residents can get involved is to lobby legislators in Sacramento and the governor to pass legislation targeting gangs and guns (see related story). Several bills were introduced recently that gun control advocates hope will stem the tide of violence.
Some of the bills include requiring all semiautomatic handguns to be equipped with microstamping, so that law enforcement would be able to match bullet casings recovered at crime scenes to the firearms and criminals that fired them, and requiring all gun owners to report when a gun has been stolen.
“Firearm violence makes up approximately 80 percent of all homicides,” said Devin Cotter, programs assistant with Women Against Gun Violence.“This package of bills will cut down on the use of illegal guns, which are fueling gang crime and the homicide rate we see here in Santa Monica and throughout California. These bills are anti-crime and with the support of Santa Monica and other cities, we can urge the governor to pass this package.”
As organizers of the march spoke, mothers of victims sobbed in the background, the pain of losing a loved one still fresh as they have been unable to find closure since many of the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.
In the case of Lopez and Martin, Santa Monica police, with the help of the Los Angeles Police Department, were able to make arrests earlier this month that they believe will help bring an end to the killings and drive-by-shootings that have plagued the Pico Neighborhood for years.
While she has found some comfort in the arrests, Lopez’ mother, Arminda Lopez, still struggles with her son’s death, evident on Wednesday as she broke down in tears while gazing at a picture of him when he was a young boy. She said the only thing that has helped her fight through the pain is the love and support she has received from the community, which banded together following Lopez’ death.
That support continues, evident by the scores of students who followed her as she marched along Lincoln Boulevard. Students and faculty at Samohi also held several events ear-lier in the week to pay tribute to Lopez and others who have lost their lives to violence. In addition to holding a moment of silence, students have been working on a peace quilt that they will present to the Lopez family, and are working on a memorial wall with various art projects.
“I don’t know what to say, because so many things have happened in this city,” Arminda Lopez said. “My baby was only 15 years old. I just feel bad because these kids [gang members] don’t know what they are doing. They are taking somebody’s life, hurting their families.
“All I can say is ‘thank you’ to the police for helping me, and thank you to all of the people in Santa Monica who have gave me a lot of support,” Lopez said. “Without them, I would have died too.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 1, 2007. Read the original PDF.