In my humble opinion, if you want to find "Homies" you need to travel to south LA and be careful to move quickly so you can dodge any stray bullet that might be fired between two groups of folks who prefer to wear different color handkerchiefs. Suburbia is NOT the place to find Homies! As a matter of fact, I have invested the last eight years of my life to rid our school of any illusion of "hominess."
Artist, Dave Gonzalez, has created a cute line of characters named "Homies" to celebrate street life. (http://www.homies.tv/homies2008/) These cute characters however are not allowed to adorn the notebooks of our students! Hard as I may try, there has always been a sub-group of the herd who are referred to as "the Homies" right along with the Jocks, Punks, and Skaters. Unfortunately, last week the "Homies" fell under some poor leadership and decided to "jump" a couple cop's kids for mad dogging them. NOT GOOD FOR THE HOMIES!
It is a pretty good rule of thumb, if you are going to assault someone, make sure that they are not related to the "Po Po." Needless to say, before the school day ended there were four "Homies" in handcuffs headed for juvenile hall. After a failed attempt earlier to disperse the group, they thought they could beat the system and settle the score by throwing the cop's kids on the ground and kicking them in front of their lockers. One of the boys ended up in the hospital.
INCIDENT REPORT:
XXXXX HIGH SCHOOL
STATEMENT OF
Pam Castleman, Assistant Principal
Re: Leader Homie, Smiley Homie, Angry Homie, and I Didn't Do It Homie
On February 13, 2008 at the beginning of 1st lunch (approximately 11:45 a.m.) I was alerted by Campus Supervisor, XXXXX, that Leader Homie and Cop's Son had faced off. According to the report, Leader Homie and his friends walked by Cop's Son and “mad-dogged” him. Cop's Son asked Leader Homie why they were giving him (and his friends) dirty looks and a verbal confrontation followed which the Campus Supervisor broke up and sent Leader Homie and his friends away.
A few minutes after I noticed Leader Homie and a large group of Latino males who were all wearing black and white begin walking south in the direction of Cop's Son and his friends, who were standing on the west side of the 8-building. The boys positioned themselves along the wall next to Cop's Sons' friends. I pulled the cart up in front of them so they knew they were being watched. When the bell sounded, I directed the boys to move to class. The group then dispersed.
Following lunch, I entered the Administration building and saw three students visibly injured sitting on the discipline bench. I later identified the boys as Cop's Son #1, Good Friend in Wrong Place, and Cop's Son #2. Cop's Son was unable to speak due to being kicked and hit in the stomach. During individual interviews the boys stated that Smiley Homie and Angry Homie approached them at their lockers on the west side of the 5-building and challenged them to fight after school. At that time Leader Homie and other Latino males approached, threw them on the ground and began hitting and kicking them. Teacher, XXXXXX and Campus Supervisors broke up the fight and escorted some of the students to the office.
We immediately called the police who arrested Leader Homie, Smiley Homie, Angry Homie and I Didn't Do It Homie who were identified by witnesses as those responsible for the boys’ injuries. the Police later transported the Homies to Juvenile Hall.
Respectfully Submitted,
Pam Castleman
Now as scary as this incident was, the humor of it all actually surfaced this week when we realized everyone was OK. My colleague walked by three lone Homies who were not incarcerated or suspended before school Tuesday and over heard one say, "I gonna mess him up." This was followed by his buddy stating the obvious, "You better not, or there won't be any Homies left"!!!! This one phrase has been my source of entertainment for the entire week! My boss was not at all amused when I asked if I could begin the expulsion hearing with a round of "Where have all the Homies gone... when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn"?
During lunch supervision today we were as jumpy as chihuahuas on caffeine when we couldn't find our three remaining Homies. We looked high and low, but could not find them anywhere. Their prime real estate (corner of Library) was as deserted as a ghost town. Now after a good laugh, I concluded that today must have been "Homie Ditch Day." I know I should not laugh at these young men's plight, however their ability to constantly raise my blood pressure coupled with their poor decision-making skills has left me a bit jaded for their well-being. I have no idea how I will spend my time now that we are "Homieless." But, hopefully I can find something to do... perhaps some "INSTRUCTUAL LEADERSHIP"?
(This one is for you Ana!)
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