A detective calls it “death alley.” The two miles of South Vermont Avenue that stretch north from Imperial Highway are home to churches, liquor stores, mortuaries and one of the highest rates of homicide in L.A. County.
And per chance,
what are the demographics of this neighborhood?
Black alone - 16,015 (51.8%)
Hispanic - 14,178 (45.9%)
White alone - 341 (1.1%)
Two or more races - 151 (0.5%)
American Indian alone - 89 (0.3%)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 72 (0.2%)
Other race alone - 65 (0.2%)
Asian alone - 4 (0.01%)
I'm sure that someone is going to blame white folks somewhere, anywhere for this.
In a county of 10 million people, Westmont is among the deadliest places to live. In the last seven years, 100 people — nearly all of them male — have been killed in the 1.8 square miles wedged between the city of Los Angeles and Inglewood.
That's that Black Male Privilege yo.
Westmont’s neighbor to the east, Vermont Vista, shares “death alley” as a boundary. But the L.A. city neighborhood, similar in size and demographics, has had a little more than half as many homicides, 57, over the same period.
Similar? Well actually there are
less black folks on that side of the street with the black population below 40% in most of the neighborhoods.
Men account for nearly 85% of homicide victims. One of every three males killed is between the ages of 17 and 25. Latinos, about half of the county’s population, account for nearly half of all killings since 2007.
Blacks, just 8% of the county’s residents, remain disproportionately affected, accounting for 32% of homicides. Last year, black people in L.A. County were killed at more than seven times the rate of all other racial and ethnic groups combined. The homicide rate for blacks has remained stubbornly high even as homicides have plummeted in the county from 941 the year Homicide Report began to 594 last year.
I have already discussed how far out of proportion the murder rates are of African-Americans nation wide so I won't repeat it here.
On a recent evening, Deputies Branden Williams and Lisa Moya drove down West 105th Street between Normandie and Denker avenues. As the two flashed a bright light into the dark, men automatically lifted up their shirts to reveal their waistbands — proof that they weren’t carrying a gun.[my emphasis]
I suppose it's more efficient than stop and frisk.
