From Trouble to Triumph

The San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County was a vibrant citrusand-nut growing area for much of the twentieth century before it became a suburban and industrial sprawl east of Los Angeles. Hidden among Mexican migrant camps and barrios were street gangs that from the 1960s to the present made this area known as “The Valley of Death.” Gang injunctions—where law enforcement targeted select gangs for curfews, stop-and-frisks, database gathering, arrests, and more—were first initiated here. By the 1980s, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and other Asians with money bought out whole neighborhoods. Streets with shacks and unpaved roads now have mansions and town houses. Poorer residents were pushed further east—to the Inland Empire, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and the deserts.

This book tells stories of six former gang members, drug addicts, and incarcerated men who lived through intense incidents of violence as well as shifts in populations, industry, and means—and how they overcame the odds. Good for use in prisons, juvenile lockups, schools, and community organizations to show that change is always possible, it is an argument for restorative justice, drug treatment, mental health services, spiritual practices, jobs training, and the arts instead of mass incarceration.