Dear La Peña community,

Last weekend, an unidentified shooter fired shots near La Peña Cultural Center while La Peña was holding a Hip Hop show. Luckily no one was hurt. The center had 3 security guards for the event making sure that all was under control. I myself was present and responded to texts from our immediate neighbors. We are very concerned about violence in the area, particularly for our patrons walking at night to their cars and BART. La Peña has striven to be a force for positive change in the area for over 40 years and we regularly communicate with local authorities to improve the safety and upkeep of our sidewalks and streets.

While the Hip Hop show on Saturday did not convey La Peña’s political message and focused more on materialist concerns important to the young people at the show, La Peña continues to be an intergenerational cultural center that features Hip Hop dances for teens and young adults. For teen events, we require parent chaperones and for adult concerts, security. At least one staff member is always present.

A few of La Peña’s neighbors blamed La Peña and the young black and brown men who were at the center, despite the fact that police have not identified the shooter(s). There has been a lively debate on Nextdoor.com and La Peña staff has been fielding calls and texts from anxious neighbors. To summarize the themes discussed, does Hip Hop music cause violence? Are young black and brown men seen as more dangerous to the South Berkeley community than other young people? Should La Peña continue to book Hip Hop shows? As of yesterday, over 60 neighbors had expressed a diversity of opinions that can be found on nextdoor.com. To add context to this debate, the October 7th article on the front page of the East Bay Express examines this question from the perspective of Racial Profiling and suggests that white residents are using nextdoor.com to call the police on their neighbors and their children, always perceiving them as dangerous outsiders. http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/racial-profiling-via-nextdoorcom/Content?oid=4526919

My personal belief is that there are very few venues where local teens and young adults can come together in safe spaces. We work very hard at La Peña to create a safe intergenerational space for youth, adults and seniors. Gunshot violence is a serious problem in the United States and Latin America, and has exploded since the 1980s due to the liberalization of small arms restrictions in many countries and the war for the control of contraband drugs. We invite community members to foster constructive dialogue in a spirit of community-building, problem-solving, and compañerismo both on Nextdoor.com, on our FB page and at La Peña Cultural Center during one of our discussion series.

Sincerely,

Aaron Lorenz

Executive Director

La Peña Cultural Center