STREET LEVEL : Businesses Need to Make a Bigger Commitment : Economic opportunities of the past are gone and resources scarce, but the community can force change if it stands united.
Street Level features grass-roots commentary on community issues. This week’s column expresses the views of Daniel Rodriguez, 57. Rodriguez, an analyst with the city Department of Transportation and a member of CLEVER, an anti-gang group made up of former gang members and community members, was interviewed by Mary Anne Perez.
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A lot of (gang members) have so much potential. The community knows that when they have jobs, the problems get worked out.
They know them from when they were little, they belong to good families. They know them. We’re trying to work with the corporations to hire people who they might not otherwise hire. We’re asking them to (omit and change things) on their application forms, such as asking about length of employment, whether they have a driver’s license, whether they are a high school graduate or if they have a prison record.
When I was growing up . . . there were no programs like they have now. I was involved in the Chicano movement. I’m involved because I am concerned. I will probably be involved until I die.
The conditions have not changed that much. In this city, we’re very segregated. Everybody has different needs, and we’re never able to socialize and integrate with the other groups--with the Asians, with the blacks.
We can’t consolidate our efforts or our resources. There’s not enough for everybody. Now we don’t have the (economic) opportunities that were available in the ‘70s and ‘60s, but I know it is possible to unite and see a lot of changes.
I think we need to create a community base. There are certain types of corporations that make a living off our community, but they have no commitment to the people of the community. There should be some type of leverage. Government should connect with corporate America to bring more jobs to our community.
The youth feel like they’ve been completely eliminated from the process. What a lot of people do not understand about gangs is (that) the reason for belonging (to gangs) changes as the environment changes. Now it’s strictly a matter of economics, not turf or because they want to have the status.
They need something based in the community where they have something of pride. It’s important to develop (neighborhoods) to cut gang activity. Basically the youth are very lost because we haven’t set up anything for them as part of our community.
I don’t mean programs, I mean a way of life. The kids are afraid to grow up and accept responsibility, so they escape into their own world through the gangs or drugs.
