As an African-American women growing up in Central California, I was raised with a wide variety of people from different ethnicities, religions and socioconomic backgrounds. However, when I read the article in the opinion section titled “Reduce Gang Violence by Understanding Race,” written by Harriet Miranda, I was caught off guard. I just assumed that African-Americans and Latinos lived together peacefully.

It seemed improbable that these two ethnic groups be at odds, considering that, as minorities, it would behoove them to ban together to create safer and stronger communities for their children and themselves. It saddens me to know that young men are killing and being killed over such trivial things. At this point, we must begin to understand race in order to curb gang violence.

Jennifer C. Brewer CSUN senior

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