Eyes open

This just in: Rivalry between African American gangs and their Latino counterparts is adding a new and troubling racial element to the epidemic of violence in many of Los Angeles’ neighborhoods. That statement, or versions of it, have appeared in local and national news reports over the last several weeks and were repeated Thursday after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton finally emerged from their period of denial and acknowledged that, yes, there may have been a racial element at play in the recent spate of vicious gang killings.

That statement also could have been made 15 years ago. In fact, it was. The Times reported in 1993 that “black and Latino gangs have begun to clash over turf and drugs, sparking a series of violent interracial battles that authorities say signals an ominous turn in the region’s gang warfare.”

A destructive and paradoxical attitude toward race has long undermined this city’s ability to effectively deal with gang violence. Racial conflict is big news, and media establishments, including The Times, are quick to zero in on the race element of any story dealing with crime or violence. Even when this paper has excelled at coverage that moves beyond race conflict, it has tended to do so in fits and starts.

Race is indeed part of the Los Angeles gang epidemic, but it masks two basic facts: first, that in most neighborhoods, Latinos and African Americans work cooperatively to fight violence, and second, that most Latino gang victims are killed by Latino gang members and most African American victims are killed by African Americans. Despite the best efforts of their parents and neighbors, school-age children and teenagers of all races in many parts of the city live their lives in constant fear. Gangs pit themselves against gangs, and the terror they spread is no less horrendous when victims and perpetrators are of the same race.

But to deny that race is a factor in gang violence is to turn a blind eye to the role of race-based prison gangs in training their foot soldiers, to the inevitable economic struggle between competing demographic groups and to the substandard schools and services that many blacks and Latinos alike must endure.

To effectively deal with gang violence, city leaders -- and editors -- must overcome the dual delusion of racial hyper-focus and racial denial. If race is a part of the problem, common sense dictates that it be included as an integral part of the solution, in a coordinated and monitored city program of expert, well-trained, open-eyed and multiracial gang intervention specialists. It is one piece -- but only one -- of a still-nonexistent city commitment to get children from home to school and back, and through adolescence, without damage or fear.