Fragile Hopes

Calm is returning to the streets of Venice as a tentative cease-fire holds between two gangs in the area, halting a bloody bout of shootings that left four dead and 10 injured in the last two months.

The neighborhoods scarred by the recent onslaught of violence have been quiet since April 7. Gang outreach workers said they have helped negotiate a cease-fire in a round of meetings with Oakwood’s Shoreline Crips and the Culver City Boys in the Mar Vista area, who have agreed to stay out of each other’s turf. Leaders are now planning a face-to-face meeting to sign a formal truce.

“Things are pretty mellow--we’re right on the verge [of peace],” said Tommy Walker, a gang outreach worker who has been helping broker the truce. “This community has been through a lot. Most of the people around here grew up together. After what they’ve been through, they don’t want that to happen to the neighborhood again.”

Police officials said that despite reports of the cease-fire, they will not reduce their heavy presence in the area until they are sure the gang violence has stopped.

“We will not relax our stance,” said Lt. Otis Dobine of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Division. “We want to be sure the truce is a real truce.”

As quiet replaces the charged atmosphere of recent months, people are returning to the streets. Neighbors chat outside as evening descends over the narrow streets. Children linger on the playgrounds after school.

On Saturday, the sun beat down on the dusty ball field at Oakwood’s recreation center as dozens of youngsters turned out for opening day of Little League.

If the gunfire hadn’t quieted down, these children would not have been swinging bats with gusto under the hot sun. In fact, park directors were considering canceling the entire season.

Even now, some parents are reluctant to let their children out--a handful were missing from the young teams. But those who came out ran and laughed with a lightheartedness many said was absent when the threat of war hung over the community.

“You can see things changing around you,” Walker said. “Summer’s coming, and the kids are coming out. It helps. It helps that kids are doing what they should be doing instead of worrying about a drive-by shooting.”

Deshellia Jones, 28, gazed proudly as her daughter Kashawnda Blockmon stepped up to bat, and with a powerful swing, drove the ball far into center field. “C’mon ‘Shawnda! Yeah, baby!” screamed her mother, as her daughter slid into third base. “You go, girl!”

Jones said she welcomed a return to normalcy after the recent tension, although she still fears one incident could spark another war.

“It was scary out here,” Jones said. “I guess things have calmed down, but I still worry. The kids need a place to play. There should be peace. Now I just hope it lasts.”

Kashawnda said she enjoyed being back playing outside, but added that she understands her mother’s lingering fears. Her stepbrother was shot in the arm in the recent violence.

“I was scared,” said Kashawnda, 12. “A lot of kids wouldn’t go outside. But now, I don’t know. I just play.”

Despite a return to more carefree days of playing outside, many children said it’s hard to get over hearing the whiz of bullets outside.

“I worry about getting killed at a young age,” Robert Shipp Jr., 11, said somberly as he came in from playing center field. His father, an Oakwood minister, is helping to broker the truce.

Community workers said that despite the joviality of the baseball games, scars linger from the violence in the community.

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Now, gang workers and neighborhood leaders are helping residents cope with the aftermath. Local schools have asked students to write essays about how the violence made them feel, and directors of Oakwood’s Pearl White Theater videotaped children talking about the gang war for a project that will be played throughout Venice.

On Monday, law enforcement officials, gang workers and community members met to discuss strategies for dealing with the violence. Another meeting is scheduled for May 12 at 1 p.m. at Venice Library on Abbott Kinney Boulevard.

Some gang workers said that despite the efforts of the community, peace hinges on gangs’ willingness to put down their weapons.

The gang members themselves pushed for the cease-fire in the last few weeks after the recent outbreak of retaliatory shootings made them fear the eruption of an all-out war between Latinos and blacks, gang workers said.

“It’s all up to them to make the peace,” said the Rev. Robert Shipp, an activist in the Oakwood community. “All the gang members are pushing for it--they want it as much as anybody else. They have little brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers that could get hurt if this doesn’t stop.”

Added a member of the Shoreline Crips: “There’s nobody here that really wants to die.”