Thread: Racial tensions flare in CA: racist targeting.

RIVERSIDE - As city officials, police and more than 100 community members gathered at an Eastside restaurant Monday night to discuss the recent spate of gang violence, someone was in the parking lot slashing tires.
illegal immigration, immigrants, gangs, crimes, drugs, government, ms13, ms-13, zetas

By SARAH BURGE / The Press-Enterprise
8/9/2005

Susan Medina, owner of Zacatecas Restaurant on University Avenue, hosted the community meeting to discuss the shootings that have terrorized the Eastside this summer. The Eastside Think Tank, a grass-roots community organization, planned the event.

Medina said two cars' tires were slashed in her parking lot, and she had received an anonymous call earlier in the day telling her to cancel the event.

"They said this is not neutral ground," Medina said.

Over the past few months, at least a dozen people, not all of them gang members, have been shot in suspected black vs. Latino gang violence. On Saturday, four people were shot in two incidents.

A Nigerian man visiting from Oklahoma was in critical condition after he was shot without provocation across the street from the restaurant, police said.

At Monday's meeting, Mayor Ron Loveridge said, "Too often we've gathered here with the same kind of anger. I'm not sure what thinking out of the box is. But it's probably time to do that."

Loveridge and Deputy Chief Andy Pytlak assured the crowd that the Police Department has a suppression effort in the works.

Pytlak acknowledged that the violence had risen to an unconscionable level. He said the department has concentrated its patrols by uniformed officers in the area. Such a high-visibility crackdown, he said, should help to "keep gang members' heads down for a while."

Pytlak said the extra patrols will continue for at least a month.

"There are people on the Eastside who are even afraid to come out of their doors," said Woodie Rucker-Hughes, president of the Riverside branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a Think Tank member.

Another Think Tank member, Riverside Community College Trustee Mary Figueroa, said, "It doesn't matter now whether you're involved in a gang." What matters, Figueroa said, "is the color of our skin."

She and others at the meeting blasted city leaders for displaying "selective outrage." Figueroa said the Wednesday shooting of an 11-year-old neighborhood girl caught in gang crossfire wasn't quite enough to generate widespread anger. It took a tourist getting shot on the Eastside to really get people's attention, Figueroa said.

"What I don't want to hear is 'the community needs to step up to the plate,' " Figueroa said. "We do," she added, demanding more action from the city.

Lifelong Eastside resident Valerie Silva said she wonders whether there's really anything that residents can do.

"Do you get involved?" she asked. "Do you not get involved? Is it too dangerous?"

Lt. Alex Tortes, the Eastside area commander, said Monday morning, "It's the wild, wild West out there."

Tortes said the community will have to share information with police if they want to catch the shooters.

"They're not people coming from outside the community," Tortes said. "They're family members."

http://www.alipac.us/article-607-thread-1-0.html

Another Think Tank member, Riverside Community College Trustee Mary Figueroa, said, "It doesn't matter now whether you're involved in a gang." What matters, Figueroa said, "is the color of our skin."

"Another Think Tank member" =

( I think their tank is on half empty)