What do you get for someone who has everything? A private jet, a limited edition Porsche, maybe a small island in the South Pacific? Well for those of us with a more modest budget, how about a trip through the heartland of LA gang activity (www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/us/16tour.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print)? For $65 (which includes lunch), ex-gang member Alfred Lomas will lead you through the center of gang activity in the country today, replete with graffiti lessons, a drive by of LA’s biggest jail (“the unofficial home of 20,000 gang members”), four or five gang members on the bus in case you don’t see any “natives” on Saturday morning, and visits to famous sites like Watts. He and backer Kevin Malone (former GM of the Dodgers) did decide against their original plan to have residents shoot water guns at the bus and sell “I got shot in South Central” T-Shirts – but maybe you can still talk one of the locals into shooting you for a few bucks. In fact, the package includes a requisite release form warning of the danger of the tour and the possibility of death.
But is death that big a price to pay to observe these American icons in their native habitat? To be fair, Lomas says he is trying to educate people about gangs and will use the money for microloans to get gang members working. The question is whether exoticizing kids and adults who often turn to gangs to protect themselves and find family in poverty striken inner cities really helps them improve their circumstance. Of course maybe, given our economic prospects, some will take the tour to come up with their own plans to start their own gangs to compete for shrinking economic resources. Wall Street might be a better starting point though.
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