Crenshaw, Los Angeles

I watched Boyz N Da Hood the other week. The guys all hung out at Crenshaw - a big bar/club/car park place. Tupac also mentions crenshaw in his song, "To Live and Die in LA":

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=vVPtZywtwwo

I was forever wondering where Inglewood, South Central, Compton, Crenshaw, et al. were. We hear about these places in movies and music but few of us actually know where they are in Los Angeles.

I looked up Crenshaw on Google maps:

http://www.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=crenshaw+los+angeles&ie=UTF8&ll=33.986592,-118.370218&spn=0.041491,0.090637&z=14

Then I found out there was a Crenshaw high school as well. Home of the "Crenshaw Cougars". Actually I saw an image of a football player from Crenshaw high school on Google images when searching for "Crenshaw". That led to me discovering the high school. Anyways. This all leads somewhere.

The Crenshaw high school agenda for 2005:

http://www.crenshawhs.org/pdf/student_handbook.pdf?rn=7461927

It's really interesting to see the differences in a student agenda written for a high school in a disadvantaged area - to be politically correct - compared to the student agenda of my largely white, middle class, high school in a mid-sized prairie town. Issues such as HIV/Aids are discussed - do parents want to sign such and such a form to allow their children to take part in the safe sex program at school and be given access to free condoms. The dress code: no gang wear, red or blue shoelaces (the colours of the Bloods and Crips respectively). Stiff truancy penalties. And so on.

I think we need to pay more attention to the disenfranchised people in North American society. Tupac was quite poetic at times and spoke of the plight of poor, black Americans. There are some issues that need to be addressed. I hope that the next US President will deal with poverty in the US. Unfortunately, the looming economic recession will likely overshadow social issues such as these and with the economy front and centre, it will be middle and upper class Americans who are focused on as they are the ones who the government feels is in the best position to turn the economy around. Give me some time to do some research and see whether or not poor, disadvantaged black Americans in Los Angeles can contribute to America's economic well-being. Stay tuned.