Grateful for Help Out of Gang Life

May 4, 2005

Dear Editor,

I am a former Santa Monica gang member with a police record that dates back to 1989. I am a recovering alcoholic/drug addict and was also addicted to the gang lifestyle. I have been the victim of three drive-by shootings that occurred in the City of Santa Monica. It is only by the grace of GOD that I am here today able to write this letter. Many with my past are dead or incarcerated.

Currently I am a father of three and a volunteer little league coach in my community. Today I am free from a negative past and grateful that there are people like Steven Luciano and Oscar De La Torre, who I believe and know in my heart are committed to helping at-risk youth.

Steven Luciano was one of the gentlemen who was demonized by the SMPD when he attempted to promote peace at the Samohi campus. (“Police Threaten to Arrest School Board Member,” April 23, 2005)

Steven Luciano has been a great influence, and support factor in my year and a half of sobriety. He has also been a messenger carrying the message of peace and change for a better way in my life. I believe he can do the same for others.

Oscar De La Torrre was another gentleman who was publicly attacked for his efforts to promote peace. Oscar and I attended Santa Monica High School and grew up in the same neighborhood and because of that he had the chance to see me deep in my addictions.

When I came to the Pico Youth & Family Center with a year of sobriety and a “fine print” of what drugs and gangs really do to young men and women, Oscar made me feel important enough to help young men and women steer away from gangs and drugs.

He asked me to share my life of struggle and change with today’s youth in hopes that by sharing my story we could help prevent gang violence and drug addiction. I would like to thank Oscar De La Torre and Steven Luciano for their support in the changes I have made in my life. The city should also thank them.

It is people like them that help individuals like me change and stay on the right path to keep our community safe. I pray that one day we will all work together as one (black, brown, white, police, ex gang members, old and young etc.) to create a peaceful world that is based on principle and not personalities.

Arturo Arce