“But youth violence in our community affects all of us. This isn’t about one neighborhood, or social group or ethnic group,” said Oscar Delatorre, a Pico neighborhood activist. “If you look around, this group is a cross-section of our entire community.”
After the vigil reached Douglas Park, there was a brief ceremony and the city had organized Big Blue Buses to take marches back to St. Anne’s free of charge.
“This was a grassroots response — the immediate stimulus was a tragic student death at a party, but it’s not just that,” said McTaggart. “It’s a response to all the loss we have experienced in this school district over the past few years.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 18, 2001. Read the original PDF.