Living And Dying In Los Angeles

Although black men account for only 6 percent of the nation's population, they constitute 40 percent of its murder victims. In the 2,677 killings of black men in Los Angeles between 1994 and 2006, there were arrests in only 38 percent of the cases. In 1993, right before the crack tsunami ebbed, a young black man in Los Angeles was as likely to die as an American soldier during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At least a solder felled in Sadr City perished in the service of a greater cause. In Athens Park, Los Angeles, black men were murdered for no reason other than a hard basketball foul, the wrong colors, a glance at someone's girl.

Alexander Nazaryan, "The City of Fallen Angels,"newsweek.com, February 7, 2015