LAPD killing lays bare enduring horror of Skid Row
As the country’s homeless districts gentrify, the City of Angels’ has only grown more violent and squalid. What can be done?
A grainy cell-phone video of several LAPD officers shooting and killing an unarmed black man made national headlines Monday, reigniting the debate about race and law enforcement that was sparked last summer by similar incidents took place in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City.
But the sad news from L.A. should also call attention to a systemic, festering problem that devastates more Angelenos, day in and day out, than sporadic police shootings ever could.
It’s called Skid Row, and it’s where the man identified only as “Africa” was shot.
But the sad news from L.A. should also call attention to a systemic, festering problem that devastates more Angelenos, day in and day out, than sporadic police shootings ever could.
It’s called Skid Row, and it’s where the man identified only as “Africa” was shot.
“I think this tragic event is more a reflection of Skid Row itself than a reflection of the police or the man who was killed,” the Rev. Andy Bales tells Yahoo News. (Bales runs the Union Rescue Mission shelter and has worked on Skid Row for 10 years.) “We’re asking the LAPD to maintain peace in a horrible environment. Skid Row is full of people trapped in an untenable living situation — a Twilight Zone they can’t escape.” ...
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