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So yeah, I work in the "ghetto". And no, not ghetto in the sense that there's graffiti and a fruit man at every corner - we have that too and I believe both have artistic value - but ghetto meaning that gangs run the streets ‘round here. Our offices are in Glassell Park, a northeast L.A. ‘hood that's become a staple on the nightly news this week after 500 federal agents and 10 SWAT teams invaded Drew Street at 4 a.m., arresting 28 Latinos in an attempt to root out the Avenues gang members who live here. The U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien called the sweep "the largest gang take-down in L.A. history."

To keep it real, my first reaction after reading the front-page article in the L.A. Times yesterday was ‘Damn, the po po's lockin' up more brown folks to solve the gang problem.' But after attending the press conference at the Glassell Park Community Center last night, I had a major change of heart. First of all, the site of kids and youngsters with their families made it clear that people who actually live in the neighborhood got the memo and were being fed a Spanish translation through a supplied headset to avoid miscommunication. The message of the night, although aggressive and straight from the cops and politicians, was to stop innocent people from getting shot.

For most, the mood was celebratory, but for others who knew the people who were arrested it was angry. The young Latina sitting next to me lives in the Drew Street apartment building that was raided and spoke out that more police on the streets meant more interrogation and intimidation. She was pissed that cops shine lights into her car every night after a long day of work with her son in tow. She suggested sensitivity training for police officers, which to me sounded like a good idea, but got one cop to respond, ‘We can't afford to have sissy officers on the streets.'

The positive thing that came out of this whole gang crackdown was that the largely first-generation Latino community came together. Education is at the root of all this. Lack of it is the reason why parents raise kids who end up in gangs. Drugs. Poverty. Racism. Oppression. There are so many factors buried beneath our gang problem. I have cousins who are forever tattooed as gangsters. They're good people. They just so happened to be born to an abusive, drug-addicted father who left them when they were young. I had the great experience of working with young women in juvenile hall for two years. I saw first hand why these girls got there: parents weren't around.

The city is promising more outreach programs in Glassell Park, and of course more police presence to arrest the remaining 17 who have yet to be caught. One police had the nerve to say, ‘All those people sitting in the back [referring to the poor Latino families who live on Drew Street] are soon gunna run out of money and leave. This neighborhood is going to change.'

But what is change? Is it evicting the poor and brown to make way for cleaner streets and trendy stores? They did it in Echo Park and I'm sure Glassell Park is next. But what happens to the people who once lived there? They disappear along with gangs, I guess...