A barbershop view of a rash of murders in L.A.

At Lawrence Tolliver's barber shop, the air buzzes with the sound of electric hair trimmers and voices of vexation.

"Parolees are back on the street, reclaiming their turf," is the explanation given by Eddie Ford, the elder statesman of opinion in this hair emporium, for a frightening murder surge here in South Central Los Angeles.

Tolliver's is a place where people can check the community pulse and get lathered up over the latest lowdown.

Today the topic is a morbid one: slaughter in area streets. As they debate reasons and remedies, virtually all the patrons on this day - ranging in age from 24 to 80 - admit to "packing heat" or keeping a firearm close for safety.

In recent days, five killings have occurred along Western Ave., which cuts by this shop. The problem is so bad - with Los Angeles nearing 600 murders in 2002 - that the mayor and chief of police this week announced a major new initiative and a plea for federal help to combat gangs.

As officials crack down, the concerns of residents here provide a window on the mood of a city that has surpassed New York as America's murder capital.

"Even I am uncomfortable out on the streets," says 24-year-old Kevin Hooks, getting a sideburn trim. "It's getting really dangerous out there."

Los Angeles has unique problems. Among them are: being home to 1 of every 8 gang members in the US (about 120,000); a police department with low morale operating well below the staffing of other large cities; and the recent loss of gang-specific crime units amid corruption charges and budget cuts.

From behind magazines such as Ebony and Vibe, patrons willingly offer up larger reasons for youth attraction to gangs and violence. They range from the glorification of death in gangsta rap songs, videos, and movies, to a breakdown of families and social responsibility.

Nationally, major crimes are up just over 2 percent from a year ago, according to FBI statistics, and Los Angeles is in line with that. But homicides here have jumped 19 percent - police say 75 percent are gang related - causing both consternation and conjecture from City Hall to neighborhood hangouts.

"We are taking a hard look at the entertainment community which is glorifying drugs and gangsters," says Gwyane Collins, a 31-year law-enforcement veteran and father of two, now Inspector General of the Inglewood Unified School District. "Listen to the records, look at the videos ... they have guys holding wads of money and drugs and women who are scantily clothed. They say that it has no relationship to the violence."

At a community breakfast roundtable at Coley's Restaurant just blocks away, author Anthony Asadullah Samad singles out another reason for escalating crime in these tough neighborhoods. He decries a crisis of black leadership in Los Angeles and nationally, compared with decades past. Once-powerful organizations such as the NAACP, the Urban League, and the Southern Leadership Conference don't hold the sway over young people they way they used to, he says, because they don't court them as aggressively as in the past.

One by one, concerned citizens step to the microphone to concur.

"Are we doing anything to get our youth interested in anything else but gangs?" asks Willie Mitchell, executive director of a group called "Anti- Self Destruction."

In part because of the lack of role models, some say youths are more prone to adopt drug trafficking and violence as a legitimate calling card in the world.

Page: 1 | 2