The 'hood as a tourist attraction

The 'hood as a tourist attraction

Let’s say an individual, employer, or group is interested in doing something that will positively influence another individual or the community, is the input of the party being effected not vital in order to have their best interest in mind? The issue then becomes, how much control will the ones being utilized or effected actually have of the project, plan, or even outcomes?

Alfred Lomas, a former Florencia 13 gang member, is now the front man of tours that will take people around South Los Angeles and give them a first hand look on what the inner city lifestyle and gang life is like, the first of which took place in January. The plan is to reinvest the revenues from these tours into the South Central community in order to foster economic growth, job training, and other opportunities for those living in the community.

If the driving force of this project is to create profit for the community to increase their opportunities to succeed, why is the first sentence of the projects mission “…to provide an unforgettable historical experience for our customers with a customized high-end specialty tour” ? Yes, in the following paragraph they explain the objective, which is to reinvest the money into the community, but what I am stuck on is why cater to your “tourist” audience in your first sentence and mention the community after?

The ceasefire agreement that is said to have been made between rival gangs so that the tour buses are allowed to go through the community at a certain time safely also paints an extremely dramatic picture of the gangs in South Los Angeles. When I hear such thing, I picture British Grenadier Guards standing at the each side of the street just waiting to draw their rifles or I think of the ceasefire agreement that was drawn between North and South Korea after the Korean War, and both of these examples are completely different from the life of gangs in South Central.

As I read more and this topic I find myself becoming more confused and frustrated. I keep trying to remain objective and write this blog from that space in our head we are lead to believe that exist; that place where one can be neutral and detach ourselves from our history and experiences and look at the larger picture, but the more I try the more I miserably fail. I guess I wanted this blog to be one which simply talked about the tours and remained impartial but the voice of an old professor at UCLA keeps playing in me head telling me “The personal is political.” For people who are invested in improving our system and creating a better reality for those around us it is impossible to not think about the things that have brought us to where we are at. Coming from a low-income neighborhood where many of my classmates and childhood friends are either part of a gang, in prison, or even dead, it is extremely trying to not get frustrated when our people are in a sense becoming a commodity for entertainment and their lives are being popularized in the name of “good.”

I am really trying to see how these tours will benefit the South Central community but I keep coming across red flags which make me question the efficacy of their project. Not only are the community and gang members being treated like sideshow freaks but a mockery of our culture is also being created. The fact that the people behind this project considered having kids from the community shoot the tourist with water guns and later have t-shirts that read “I Got Shot in South-Central” is absurd! I mean if they really want to make some people angry then, yes, that is a great idea but if they want to be conscious of the stereotypes they will be perpetuating with such actions then they should definitely lay off the water guns.

If I could talk to Alfred Lomas I would ask him how much input did he and his team actually get from the community before they drafted this project, did they try and use the communities input for potential money making ideas that did not involve tours, and once they decided that the tours were going to be the game plan did they create a space for the community to go in and voice what their thoughts and concerns?

The trick is to not just sit 50 tourists a month down, give them a tour of South Central and a brief history of racist housing laws and practices that created such communities and lead to gangs, it is to truly spread the word and educate the masses. What is a tourist from Australia really going to do to help change the situation of our communities? NOTHING! We need to invest our energy in the people who are not only the most effected by it but who can truly create the change needed. Also, if one of the objectives of the tours is to educate people on the history of racially discriminating laws that created a lot of the injustices our communities face today then why not increase awareness of literature or documentaries that do just that? There is plenty of information out there that can enlighten people on the governmental and societal practices that lead to our current situations; people just need better access and awareness on how to reach those resources.

My thoughts are so convoluted and in some ways I feel that I said so much but at the same time said nothing in this blog but I guess that directly reflects how I feel about these “Hood Tours.”

Tuesday with Mentor and Mentee - Bryan & Marcos

"I thank Bryan for being my mentor because he always told me to not give up on my dream of being a director. He is like a brother because I had someone to talk to when I felt sad. Bryan showed me he cared for me by always trying to come to group sessions and one-on-ones. I also meet his son and we went to a museum together. I liked hanging out with Bryan and his son. One thing I learned in this program that will help me in my life is that you should never give up in life and you should keep fighting for your goals. I also learned to don’t get a job for money but do it because you like it and enjoy it".

-Marcos

Tony’s Blog: If your business could pay people 25% less and double productivity…

…you’d be a non-profit.

So why am I constantly hearing from people that non-profits need to be more businesslike? At a dinner recently with three of my closest and most respected advisors I rejected the notion that non-profits need to become more like for-profit businesses and was met with something just short of shock. It has become “conventional wisdom” (almost a cliché) and we in the “social sector” have meekly and humbly acquiesced.

Do we need to become more disciplined in our approach; more strategic; better planners; better at following up? Yes to all of those, but what business doesn’t need to do the same. I was a business consultant before coming over to the non-profit world and I brought a lot of the practices that I offered my corporate customers with me and a strong focus on outcomes. But I would argue that those practices are not specific to the business sector. There are many exceptionally well run non-profit organizations that we can learn from as well. In my experience most businesses are mediocre at best. Why would I want to bring that kind of thinking into my non-profit where my people are producing results that are off the charts? …and talk about loyal customers. Just follow this blog to hear from the hundreds of mentors and mentees whose lives have been changed by their experience with us.

Contrast that to some of the examples of what business has brought us as a society and it becomes even harder to worship at the altar of “business-like”. The problem is that we exist within a culture that has blindly followed a pseudo-libertarian notion that market forces are the answer to everything. Then we end up with Enron, Halliburton, Countrywide, Bernie Madoff, taxpayers bailing out General Motors and extorted by the financial industry to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. One could argue that this is a result of becoming too business-like, where dispassionate calculations about Return On Investment, quarterly profits and shareholder equity have replaced a true sense that business exists to provide value to the lives of human-beings. If you think I’m going too far afield here, note that a couple of years ago an influential donor advised me to cut one of our most successful programs because it wasn’t “running at a profit”, arguing that if it were that good it would have attracted more funding. It’s just not that simple when the people benefitting from your services are not the ones paying for them...and when the benefits are measured in human lives and not bottom line dollars.

Perhaps we should turn the equation around. Maybe corporations need to adopt more of the mindset of the social sector. Maybe the passion and purpose that drive many non-profits could help transform the business-sector so that people are happier, more fulfilled and more productive on the job. I wonder if that were the pervasive mindset if we would see as many abuses spurred by unregulated, “free market” ideology. I wonder if the human suffering that resulted from our economy careening off a cliff might have been prevented.

What do you think?

respectfully,

Tony

Tony LoRe
Founder/CEO
Youth Mentoring Connection

Friday's Follow-Up

"And as he spoke of understanding, I looked up and saw the rainbow leap with flames of many colors over me." Black Elk

Tony's Blog: Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that
Tony talks about the current trend toward violent discourse. He suggests that through mentoring we can all learn how to exercise power with love and respect, honoring even those that disagree with us.

Tuesday with Mentor & Mentee-Vickie & Dineisha
Dineisha thanks Vickie for opening up to her and not just listening to her problems but giving her advice and ideas.

From a Mentor
A mentor from the Adams Yabos program, during the Mentee Summit, shared her reaction to listening to the real and honest emotions coming from the youth. She was amazed at the gritty experiences the kids had already endured. She felt priveldged to be a part of this mentoring program. The facilfacilitator Hoolie asked the mentees what it was like to have adults listen to them. The overwhelming response was that it felt awesome, and that it felt new. For one night, mission accomplished.

Rainy weekend ahead, Super Bowl Sunday and thank you Lakers Organization for allowing our kids go to a game.
La Judy

Adams II -- Meet & Greet

From a Mentor

Last Thursday, our Adams Yabos participated in a session called "Mentee Summit." Mentees form a panel, and mentors listen as the youth discuss topics that the group has voted on. One of our mentors, Fara Phillips, was kind enough to let us share her experience of the session:

"I found last night’s session to be a really powerful experience, especially the talk about gangs. The world these kids live in is so different from any I’ve ever known. I mean, we know these things already but hearing it from a kid sitting across from you has a much stronger impact than seeing it on TV or reading it in the paper. It’s so frustrating to hear middle and upper class folks sitting in their comfortable suburban homes who so often blame the kids, having no idea what their lives are like, the pressures and the sometimes subtle (and understandable) slide into hopelessness that leads to giving in. The percentage of kids who have been directly exposed to violence, seen folks die, and who know repeat offenders is staggering – again, we know it but now we KNOW it.

"It’s so easy to armchair coach someone else’s life. The fact that these kids are so young and are already facing such issues is a powerful social commentary. The experience will stay with me a long time. The kids seemed to enjoy having the chance to speak out as well. I was happy to see that at least for now Victoria [Fara's mentee] wasn’t one of those kids raising their hand."

At YMC, mentoring is half of what we do. According to our mission statement, "our vision is of a community where young people are truly seen and not just watched, where society understands and accepts its responsibility in meeting the needs of all young people." Through bringing diverse adults and youth together, we have aspirations of social and cultural change.

At the end of the session, our facilitator Hoolie asked the mentees what it was like to have adults listen to them. The overwhelming response was that it felt awesome, and that it felt new. For one night, mission accomplished.

Tuesday with Mentor and Mentee - Vickie & Dineisha

"My mentor Vickie means a lot to me. She has been there for me since we first met. She listened to every problem I had and I love her for it. She opens up to me and I open up to her and it feels so good because I trust her with everything. I thank Vickie for opening up to me and not just listening to my problems but giving me advice and ideas. I thank her for loving and caring for me all the time".
Thank you!

I love you Vickie!
-Dineisha

Tony's Blog: Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that

I have been mourning the lack of civil discourse lately and thinking about how our political process risks turning us into a nation of verbally violent people. People sitting at traditional seats of power at our highest levels of government sew hatred in order to incite the masses so that a political party can win some kind of advantage. They use fear to turn the gullible masses into tea bagger crowds demonizing and labeling their rivals.

Young people learn about power from adults. So, how can we sit in judgment of them as they form gangs and toss epithets at their rivals. Power without conscience is their cultural heritage if they look to the greater culture. So they take it to extremes. Their other alternative is to reject it altogether and check out in hundreds of different ways (apathy, cutting, mind-numbing drugs, alcohol, etc.).

Griselda, our beautiful young intern at YMC, attended a "Non-Violence Training" over the weekend and came back to tell me of people fighting for the same cause but fighting with each other in the process. "They were disagreeing on so many levels with such animosity towards each other that the whole thing turned me off." She described heated arguments over non-violent tactics ranging from total passivity to militantly taking it to the streets. She was looking for a different kind of imagination. There is a Buddhist concept of non-violent language which states that any language that divides us is violent.

Dr. Martin Luther King said: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

What if adults were to exercise power with love and respect, honoring even those that disagree with us? I happen to like (peaceful) protests, but I have learned that what we need more is mentoring. Where are the elders who will cultivate a different kind of wisdom in our lives and offer it as an alternative example for the youth? I know that I have the privilege of working with many of them, hundreds of mentors, as well as our amazing staff at Youth Mentoring Connection. They number thousands of adults who have come into the lives of young people to try to create a different reality--one where respect and consideration replace judgment and blame.

yours in peace,

Tony