Recap: Meeting To Address The Social Media Threats of Violence

On June 25th rumors of violence against 150 African American and Asian woman from a gang began to surface on the internet. When these rumors started circulating, I had the choice of sharing or not sharing. It was actually not an easy choice. If I did publish it, I may be contributing to the culture of mistrust. And if those rumors are false that's exactly what the person who is spreading them wants. And if they are true, I have failed to protect those who truly need it. I chose not to for a simple reason, I knew nothing of the source. And publishing un-sourced information is akin to tabloid journalism.

Also something about the rumors felt off and the idea of publishing made me increasingly uncomfortable. So if you're wondering why I didn't share those social media threats, that was my reasoning.

There was a meeting tonight at Temple Baptist Church to address the increased violence in Long Beach over the month of June and those social media threats that accompanied them. The person giving that presentation was the East Division's Commander Robert Luman. There were somewhere around 100 people in attendance and the population was pretty diverse, overall a good representation of Central Long Beach's demographics.

In a nutshell, Luman calls the social media treats not credible. The reason cited was that targeting African American and Asian woman would not bolster the gang's reputation. Nor, would it help bring the gang any revenue. So from a practical perspective, the gang has nothing to gain by doing so. This information comes from current gang members, the LA Sheriff's Department and those working with the gang members in prison. One possible alternate explanation is another gang started the rumor to draw attention away from themselves.

What the meeting failed to explain was: "If the social media threats are not credible, why has there been so much more violence in June?" An additional question that remains unanswered was: "if there is no gang involvement, why are women, children and in quite a few cases the homeless being targeted in these crimes?" It was stated there will be additional town hall style meetings where residents of Central Long Beach will be able to ask these kinds of questions.

The community meeting also did very little to quell some people's concerns over recent officer involved shootings. When pressed on the issue Luman said answering questions about specific cases may jeopardize prosecution.

Back to the gang connection, Luman's did explain there is a difference between the crime being motivated by a gang and the crime involving a gang. The implication is of course that while gangs may be involved in some of these shootings, there isn't enough evidence to say that the gang is primary motivation for the shooting.

The end of the meeting involved the host asking members to share possible suggestions on how to bring an end to the violence. Those suggestions included more officers patrolling the sixth district, keeping community centers open later, more summer programs, more coordination between the city, the community and LBUSD, increased support for Long Beach's non profit groups which often intervene with the violence, trying harder to connect with your neighbors and their cultures, better community policing and introducing yourself to your neighborhood police before you need them so you have a better connection to them when you do.

UPDATE: Press Telegram's Article on This Meeting