Cops and Gangs

I teach in the basement of a church. Outside it has a grassy courtyard and across the street is a high school. The football field is right there so it is a large open area all around. Next to the church is the parish house and behind it is several rows of public housing.

The boys would like to venture out to photograph other places but they are too afraid to cross gang boundaries. Yesterday when we were shooting in the courtyard the cops kept driving by. They finally stopped and asked to talk to us. The class has a mentor from their restorative justice program so he explained who the boys were and what my class was about. They asked if we have had any problems which we haven't. They were worried because we were out there with cameras.

One of the boys said the gangs have already seen us and our cameras and it is only a matter of time before they try to jump us. That's why they want to shoot at other locations. Since it is a wide open area we can see when someone is walking in the area. As soon as we see someone all of the boys put their cameras down and look at the ground. They stop talking and wait for the people to leave. A lot of times these people are way across the football field so there is no way they could hear them or even see them clearly, but the boys are afraid. Even the little neighborhood boys will suddenly take off on their bikes down the alleys.

The boys all want to be rappers and YouTube stars. The pastor has an Escalade parked at the parish house so they took turns recording their rap videos in front of it. They wanted me to be in the video. Can you imagine this white girl trying to dance and ruin it! Haha!