Category Archives: Long Beach attack

Long Beach attack

Bixby Knolls a year later

I know that today is the anniversary of the Bixby Knolls’ Halloween attack. Forgive me for not writing about it sooner — there were all sorts of fires going on and I couldn’t seem to tear myself away. But what could I say that’s not going to be reiterated by the LAT or the Long Beach PT or even my own station? Not much. Except for the fact that maybe I’m the only one willing to take a look at these kids’ Myspace pages to try and discern for myself if the ordeal has had any impact on their lives. As you can see, I provided screen shots of their pages, but not their addresses or the kids’ names. That’s not my job. If you like, you can dig through this article and find their pages on your own.

At first glance, you wouldn’t think so. Especially at this one kid’s page. This is the same Anthony Ross whose page I found last year, thanks to one LAT report. His page is now locked down, as you can see, but his “username” — the title above his picture — is still essentially the same, sporting the same “cc” that prosecutors claimed were characteristic of Crips associates. Interestingly, I found a discussion on this listserv:

Similarly, since the letters ‘CK’ stood for ‘Crip killer’, the Crip gang avoided any use of the letters ‘ck’. If the word, such as ‘kick back’ required a ‘ck’, they would instead write a double ‘cc’, as in ‘kicc bacc’.

Now, most of the pages seem to be pretty tame or simply locked down. But that’s because you didn’t see them last year. I know their pages were way more tricked out. At least two of these kids had the good sense to lock their pages down so curious looky loos like myself can’t try to see in their minds through their Myspace pages anymore.

I’m not entirely sure that there’s much else to say about these kids. They don’t seem remorseful — if their pages are any indication of anything. All these pages feature pictures of them grinning big or posing with friends like nothing ever happened that sent them to juvenile hall for several months. I just don’t understand it. If I were a parent of one of these kids, I would have taken down my kid’s Myspace page as soon as it became a point of attack by a prosecutor, regardless of whether I believed my kid was guilty or not.

I just hope these kids can get themselves straightened out, stop hanging out with the wrong people and focus on school. All of them claim to look at Jesus as a hero, but their actions really don’t seem to support what they claim. Since when did Jesus shy from telling the truth, even when it got Him killed? I don’t believe all these kids participated in the beating, but I know they know who did. It’s just their bad they decided to take the fall for the actions of others.

Is Long Beach finished with the hate?

The last two black kids charged with beating the three white women in Long Beach on Halloween night have pleaded guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon. But the hate crime charges were dropped, they won’t get any jail time, and they’ll still have to attend a race tolerance program.

So basically, on paper, they didn’t hate anybody, but they still have to attend a racial tolerance program.

Here is the LAT and PT take on it.

Of course, one of those kids will still be hanging out at the courtroom for months to come. He was arrested for an unrelated crime a couple of months after the Halloween incident.

The PT offered a couple of other tidbits that I didn’t see in the LAT or AP accounts. One of the boys’ lawyers had requested her client’s ankle monitor be removed, but the judge refused. Why?

Brown also refused Vitale’s request that her client’s ankle monitor be removed until he returns to court on June 15 for sentencing, noting the teen had serious problems with school attendance and his grades until he was placed in the California Department of Probation’s monitoring program. Since then, his grades have risen from Ds and Fs to As, Bs and Cs and his attendance is much better, the court noted.

It’s hard to say that this is over and done with. It’s different for me, since I’m Filipino. But if I were a white woman in Long Beach, I’m not so sure how I would feel about walking around at night after all this. I mean, think about it – a bunch of kids charged and convicted with beating a trio of unarmed women were punished with…..house arrest, probation and attending a racial tolerance program that will likely be just like detention to a teenager.

Sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me — for the victims.

Inspired by and for TV?

I haven’t been following the Long Beach Attacks as maybe I should, but let’s face it – I don’t live in the area, I don’t know any of them personally and I’ve been busy. So sue me. That’s the privilege of simply blogging the news.

So today’s news about the Long Beach was that a) the two remaining boys charged were offered a plea deal and b) the families of the 10 kids convicted of beating the three white women are expected to file a claim against the city of Long Beach for civil rights violations, via both the LAT and PT. What civil rights violations, you ask?

In a statement released Monday, his group alleged that the youths, while in custody, “were injected with an unknown substance and blood was drawn without notification or parental consent.”

Will the drama never stop? Whoever heard of anyone ever being injected with anything (save for medical reasons, like needing insulin) while being arrested? And blood being drawn without notification or parental consent? I find it hard to believe, in such a politically charged case that has drawn such scrutiny, that the city of Long Beach would even dare. I mean, bureaucracy can sometimes break down into stupid, but I highly doubt it. I think these kids have been so enamored with Heroes that they may have projected it into their own predicament.

Hey, I think I stumbled on to something here. Humor me: Remember when I said before that this whole deal feels eerily similar to a CSI episode called “Fannysmacking,” in which a mob of Las Vegas teens roam around, beating on tourists? OK, well, a storyline in Heroes is that The Company is literally bags and tags the heroes they can get their hands on by injecting them with a radioactive isotope, which is evidenced by two, small parallel lines on the neck.

I think we know who the real culprit is here, people. TV. Hollywood. Throw the book at ’em!

By the way, I love it that they’ve nicknamed themselves. The Long Beach 10? I’m surprised that none of the TV news stations thought that one up. But then again, they’ve been treating this story with kid gloves, so I guess its no wonder.

Ripples from the Long Beach attacks

Long Beach continues to be a subject that everyone wants to know about, but few people want to talk about. How do I know this? A Google search for “Long Beach attacks” brings up my site second, after the L.A. Times article. That’s pretty sad – not sad that the LAT article comes up first and me second, but that so few other blogs and news outlets are talking about what happened.

I don’t know how to feel about the whole situation. I continue to feel like the teens convicted, but given probation, know who really did what, but have closed ranks to protect the whole group. I also don’t know what the teens themselves have to say, but I can tell you I did not like what their parents had to say.

I think the thing that makes me angriest about the whole situation is how the parents have acted in this whole situation. As most psychologists would agree, children follow — oft-times unconsciously — their parents’ leads. And these parents have shown no sign of humility, remorse or regret. It’s as if they forgot that three women trying to mind their own business were beaten for no reason other than being white. To my knowledge, only one parent has apologized and expressed any regret for what happened. That’s one out of presumably 10 pairs of parents. That’s sad.

Right now, it seems as if the teens who would have had strikes on their permanent records won’t get struck after all — at least, according to a ruling by the court of appeals.

Convictions, but no celebration*

Judge Convicts 9 Teens In Halloween Hate Crime, including video.

Nine Guilty In Halloween Attacks, plus videos, comments, photo galleries prior to verdicts. Plus this interesting comment:

“There’s a double standard in the whole system,” said Tony Muhammad, regional minister for the Nation of Islam. “I’m saying I don’t think all of them are guilty.”

Eight guilty of hate crime in Long Beach beating, including video, message board, and gallery.

Halloween night beating trial verdicts – just a small blurb at the top of their page.

I knew this was coming last night, but didn’t blog about it. I admit I was shocked to hear about the convictions on the radio. I suppose no one outside of the trial really knew what to expect. I’ll expand on how I feel a little later.

*I picked out Tony Muhammad’s quote on purpose. Honestly, I think these kids got more consideration than they probably deserved. Each of them got their own personal lawyers, who each helped make the trial that much more complicated (how many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Never mind, bad joke). All of their identities were protected by the courts and even by the newspapers and media outlets that covered the trial – at least, most of them, while they were minors. Plus, even if not all of them are guilty, as Mr. Muhammad believes – then why not say what you saw? The truth shall set everyone free, as one defendant’s relative said. One poster on the LAT message board said it perfectly:

Its quite simple really. Some or all of those kids are guilty. Why not own up to it? Why don’t some of these kids just flat out tell the truth about themselves or the others. Instead, saving their own backs probably got a couple of innocent ones in trouble.

If anything, I think the witnesses in this trial got the shortest end of the stick. Obviously there’s sympathy for the three victims (but, not enough in my opinion), and there’s outrage on behalf of the defendants – but for the witnesses? What a thankless role. If this were the only trial I ever saw or knew about and was my basis for the justice system, I would never want to be a trial witness. Ugh. I need my car, thank you very much.

I also heard on the radio earlier that the NAACP plans to represent some or all of the defendants in an appeal. I have no idea if this is correct, but if it is, let me know. I’d be surprised if they would make such a move, considering every other black activist worth his/her salt doesn’t seem to want to touch this case with a 10-foot-pole.