ISADORE HALL (Compton City Council): These are vicious thugs that we're coming after. Council member Isadore Hall says getting rid of the gangs is a priority. Then came a new mayor and City Council, all of them born-again Christians who promised to clean up the town. A corruption scandal sent the last mayor to prison, the city's troubled police force was finally abolished and Compton hired county deputies to patrol its streets. And one of his friends' enemies, he took out a shank and stabbed him in the neck and in the head.ĭEL BARCO: Many people in Compton lost faith in the system a long time ago. She says she lost her husband on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo.ĪGUILAR: His friends were fighting in the street and, like, he was trying to separate them. He was 19.ĭEL BARCO: Jasmine Aguilar is just 15 years old, a high school student and seven months pregnant. His name was Miguel, Miguel Angel Morales(ph). JASMINE AGUILAR(ph): And my husband, he got killed. With a recent surge in homicides, the city is on the verge of displacing New Orleans as the city with America's biggest per-capita murder rate. NWA: (Rapping) I'm comin' straight out of Compton, Compton, Compton.ĭEL BARCO: This summer, Compton's reality is catching up to its thuggish image. It's a world glorified by gangsta rappers like The Game, Eazy-E and NWA, some of Compton's most notorious boosters. The city of Compton covers only 10 square miles, but living in that small space are 8,000 known gang members and scores of parolees recently released from state prison. As NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports, a recent increase in homicides is creating new fears and worries in the city. Now the Los Angeles suburb is on its way to gaining another claim to fame: America's murder capital. Hip-hop put the city of Compton in the national spotlight.
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