TOUGH GUYS

The other day, in the L.A. Times, I saw a story that chilled me down to my bones:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tattoo-20110422,0,1399043.story

Here is the photo that first caught my attention:

Look at this kid. Anthony Garcia. Look at his eyes, how innocent he looks. He doesn't look like he has done anything wrong. He doesn't look angry or hostile or guilty or worried or haunted by his past.

Then look at the tattoos across his chest and shoulders. This week, he was convicted of killing a man in front of that liquor store, in those tattoos.

He was carrying around his confession on his chest, only in his case he seems to have been bragging. I guess he killed a man and had the tattoo put on his chest to brag about it.

Good God. Who are these people? What is the world coming to?

This kid looks a lot like the students I was teaching for the last five years, in an adult school in L.A.

One day, I saw a couple young guys who looked like gangbangers on the campus, and I asked them if they were looking for someone. They turned their backs and walked away, as if they had been caught doing something wrong.

I told my students about the two guys, and they said, "Stay away from those people, Mr. Angle."

They were right. We should all stay away from those people. If we can. Thank God for the police, and for this one cop, who figured out what those tattoos meant, and for the others who got him to confess.

But I have to add that I've had former gang members in class who were the most polite, reserved, disciplined and well behaved students you could ever want.

One guy had a tattoo of a teardrop below the corner of one eye. And other tattoos on his arms and hands. I never asked him what they meant. Figured it was none of my business.

But he was a good student. Came to class on time, always did his work on time, did the rewrites and the reading, and did everything I asked him to do. He was always polite. He finished the class, and I think he got a "B."

I don't know what that means. But I'm glad he was in class.

I feel sorry for Anthony Garcia. I wish he'd been in school instead of in the gang.

-- Roger

© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle