January 6, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
Troubled teens are changing the world of Watts
An interview with Jejuana Johnson
by Ellen Bicheler
Jejuana Johnson is just twenty-three years old but that doesn't stop her from moving toward her vision of creating transitional houses with full support for the girls she works with in juvenile hall. A former gang member and troubled teenager herself, Jejuana credits seeing her younger brother's imitation of her gangbanging behavior as the turning point in her life.
Through her continuation high school she arranged an internship with the Drew Child Development Corporation where she trained in health education and began teaching sex education classes at the age of sixteen. From there she joined Americorps, worked for the Amer-I-can organization and in 1999 joined the Community Self-Determination Institute (C.S.D.I). She is a Project Coordinator and Support Clerk at C.S.D.I., writing her own curriculum for the life skills classes she teaches through the probation department's gender specific program.
The executive director of C.S.D.I. is Aqeela Sherrills. He was one of the key negotiators of the historic truce between the Bloods and the Crips in 1992. Aqeela and his staff belief that "Watts is the catalyst for the next major peace movement in this country and C.S.D.I. is the vehicle to carry it. I feel that our efforts to bring an end to urban gang warfare, which has claimed more lives than some international wars, has set a precedent in re-defining what it means to create peace and sustain it over time."
Jejuana's work is crucial to maintaining the peace in Watts. The average per capita income according to Aqeela is $10,000. There are many single parent households headed up by women. Jejuana tries to impact the lives of the girls before they become a statistic in the escalation of female incarceration.
Interview
Ellen: What is the role of women in the peacemaking that's going on in Watts now?
Jejuana: Women are taking more of a supportive role in the peace treaty, since there are more males involved in the gang violence. However, female incarceration is going up and women are being forced into taking a more active role in peace. In the last five years, female incarceration has risen over 40%. I work in the juvenile hall and see the population growing each year. It's not just crimes like shoplifting any more; women are getting involved in more violent crimes. The generation I'm working with now was the generation that grew up when gang violence was on the rise &endash; the 80's and 90's. So many of their parents were affected by drugs or incarcerated. There are a lot of kids in the juvenile foster system because of it.
Ellen: By a supportive role, what do you mean?
Jejuana: A lot of men want to do the work to create programs that are effective but they don't have the basic literacy skills to be effective. The women help start their programs and hold the space for them to have their meetings. Women in Watts are starting to support each other more, being mothers and sisters, establishing meetings, groups and book clubs.
Ellen: What do you see as the biggest challenge for the women in Watts?
Jejuana: Resources, the same challenge as the men, but it's different with the women because they're the ones raising the children. They could do a lot more with the right resources. I'm talking about basic necessities like food and shelter. If these necessities were met; they could do a lot more.
Ellen: Is there still a drug issue?
Jejuana: Drugs aren't on the rise. Oh, they'll always be in existence as long as people have cravings. It's not as bad as it was in the 80's. It's because of awareness. People weren't aware of what crack or cocaine could do to you. People still experiment, but seeing the after-effects has helped people stay away from it. We have to deal with the crack-addicted children who can't focus and can't read at the level they should. They're giving the teachers a whole lot of problems, because the teachers aren't equipped to deal with them, they don't have the resources.
Ellen: What is needed the most in your community?
Jejuana: Better schools -- the schools here are so overcrowded. They have four tracks here; the schools run year-round, one of the tracks is always off.
Ellen: Do the women do a lot of volunteering in the schools?
Jejuana: Yes. Mothers volunteer a whole lot in the schools through our Safe Passage Program. When young people started gangbanging at the elementary school level, women started chaperoning, standing outside the school every morning to make sure the kids took safe routes to school, didn't stop at any stores and didn't stop to talk to any gang members.
Ellen: What's the childcare like?
Jejuana: There are a number of after school programs but they're based more on numbers than actually helping the children. They have to reach a quota to keep funding going. We have a high population of immigrants here, but there aren't a lot of programs to help the immigrant mothers. The children are victims of a system that doesn't work. The mothers can't support a family, especially with the amount of education that they're getting. They only get two years of welfare now, but some of theses women have five or more children and haven't worked for four or five years. Many of them never find jobs and they end up with no money.
Ellen: Are there community programs that pick up the slack?
Jejuana: Not really.
Ellen: What do you see as a solution to welfare reform?
Jejuana: Instead of nine month or one-year educational programs, give them a four-year college program, with money to subsidize their income during that time. A four-year college education will get them a decent job.
Ellen: What else is needed here?
Jejuana: We need to branch out. We're doing more women's workshops and women's conferences. People from Watts need to interact with people from other communities. That's why we give the Wednesday tours so that people can see what's going on. It's been a great experience for us. Doors are being opened. We're developing personal relationships with women from other communities. I know a lot of women that are working on environmental and sexism issues. We're collaborating with other women at the conferences.
Ellen: What are the environmental issues here?
Jejuana: What isn't. Around every housing project is a factory. These incinerators have caused a lot of asthma and bronchitis. There are a lot of sick people and once again no resources. We just want a sanitary environment to live in. Many homes are infested with roaches, rats and mice. They've just started to plant new trees; many trees were killed in the 70s when Malathion was dumped on them.
Ellen: What is your personal vision?
Jejuana: My passion is to work with young women. Women need a whole lot of support and they need positive role models. A lot of them don't have mothers. There isn't a good transition from the juvenile justice system back into the mainstream.
My goal is to create transitional houses for the juveniles making these transitions. They would be group homes with a family model. They would have a large support system where they could learn life skills. I've been dreaming about this house. There are some girls I'm working with right now who would be great candidates to work as staff in these homes in a few years.
I work with many young women who are fourteen or fifteen and support themselves as prostitutes. To hear their stories, it breaks my heart. I want them to be able to live in a place where they don't have to sell their bodies to survive, where everything is taken care of and they get the necessary education to move on with their lives. I'd like to run this program through C.S.D.I.
I had one young lady who had a lot of personal issues. She was suicidal; she shoplifted and was involved in drug dealing. She realized in one of my classes that she was being sexually and physically abused and that other family members were as well. With our support she got the courage to talk to her family and get treatment for her abuse. She's back in school now and with some family members. Her family got the help they needed.
Ellen: Besides monetary contributions, what can other women do to help with your program?
Jejuana: They can volunteer in juvenile hall or if they have informational or support services they think will help our program, they can come and do training for us.
C.S.D.I. offers a Wednesday "Touching the Heart of the Community Tour." It starts at 10a.m. with a documentary entitled "Watts: We Are Taught to Survive." It then takes you on a tour of the communities that C.S.D.I. serves. The two-hour tour encompasses a stop at the Nickerson Gardens and Jordan Downs housing projects. There, individuals get a glimpse at the social dynamics of an area that once was a gang war zone but now has transformed into a community with tremendous untapped economic potential.
You can send tax-free donations or contact C.S.D.I. at 9101 South Hooper Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90002. Their phone number is (323) 586-8793. Their website is www.csdi.com.