États Unis : Les nouveaux Ghettos de la peur

États Unis : Les nouveaux Ghettos de la peur

Los Angeles, the capital of cinema, with its glitter, its palm trees and its billionaires A concentrate of luxury that dream the whole earth. But it’s at dusk that behind the scenes appears. Howard knows him well. Los Angeles Nights, this is his hunting ground. Lying in his car, scanning connected to police frequencies

And eyes glued to the map from the ghettos of Los Angeles. Howard looks like a policeman and yet not at all. He is a TV journalist, a scoop hunter, who tracks down the facts every night various in the ghettos. 8 p.m., first alert.

– We’re going to follow the police car. It’s that way, straight ahead. Los Angeles police officers just reported a stolen car. At the wheel, an armed man that they want to intercept. No way for Howard to miss the arrest, 180 km/h on the streets of Los Angeles.

– Fortunately, there are not many traffic at that time. His business, it’s violence in the ghettos. The more spectacular the images, the more expensive he resells them to local TV channels. And tonight, the device is impressive. Around thirty police vehicles. But not only. – Here are the helicopters.

Two helicopters, enough to locate a vehicle, several kilometers around. And precisely, the fugitive’s car, this white 4×4 has just been spotted in a residential area. The area is surrounded, the fugitive trapped. Howard then takes all the risks. The 4×4 is stuck in a street And now, the police open fire.

120 rounds fired in less than a minute. The suspect is removed from the 4×4, 4 bullets in the body, but alive. No sign of emotion from Howard. The journalist is used to here, it’s almost a banal scene. – Back off! Clear the way. The injured man is taken to emergencies.

Howard will continue his hunt for the scoop. Every night it covers up to three cases in the ghettos. – It’s a very dangerous job. And of course I’m not saying to my parents everything I do. Yes, it’s really very dangerous. I film a lot of fights between gangs, lots of shootings,

That go in all directions and I often get very close. I drive very fast, that too is risky. It is enough for an elderly person crosses in front of you and you kill it. You have to be very careful. Being careful has long been the leitmotif of the inhabitants of Los Angeles,

When they speak inner-city ghettos. A lawless zone big like Paris, where they pile up and oppose each other violently two communities, Hispanics and blacks. Neighborhoods that Howard, the journalist knows it well. – There are so many coastal ghettos side by side than when crossing a street,

We can find ourselves in the opposing territory and get killed. Immediately, this leads to retaliation and this is the beginning of the gear between rival gangs. And paradox, these ghettos were formed, around the rich business districts, downtown. – You see, here is the heart from downtown Los Angeles.

It’s crazy, the day is a Business District. At night, that’s it. Many homeless people, a lot of problems. This neighborhood is nicknamed cowboy town. Amazing ! It’s another world. A world where the police identifies each year, 250,000 crimes and misdemeanors. Permanent tension in what has become, the kingdom of America’s forgotten.

It’s the new face that’s hard to believe of the world’s leading power. A crime and exploding poverty. In Los Angeles, but also here in Cleveland, in the north of the country. A ghost town that holds the world record for expulsions. Entire families pushed onto the streets. Just like in New Orleans,

Where the authorities let it rot the situation of thousands of inhabitants, since the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Dive into the heart of these new ghettos, discovering the face hidden from America. On the banks of the Mississippi, New Orleans. A city cut in two. On one side the city center with its postcard decor,

Its colonial houses and its vintage tram. Those who live here are mostly rich and white, descendants of the first immigrants French and Europeans in Louisiana. Black people are languishing on the other side of the bridge that spans the Mississippi, in an area closed to the public. This is the ninth district,

The neighborhood of Robert Greens, 52 years old. This father was a financial advisor. A life shattered two years ago by Hurricane Katrina. – At the end of the street, there it was the house of a childhood friend. It was August 29, 2005. A cyclone of rare violence falls on Louisiana.

80% of the city flooded, 250,000 people evacuated. – And here there were two houses in this corner. We have to face one of the worst disasters in our history. Thousands of people find themselves on the street, desperate, hungry and helpless. I am a survivor. – We have lost many loved ones,

On every street corner there was a friend’s house, you know. More than 1,500 dead and thousands injured, mainly among the poorest blacks, their small, inexpensive wooden houses were the first to be swallowed up. Like others, that of Robert Greens was wiped off the map.

– My house was right here. He’s staying some stones from the foundation. There was the back door and these steps gave directly on the kitchen. His whole family lived here. – This was my mother’s room. There, the living room. There, another room. And the bathroom was in place of this pipe.

Most of his relatives died drowned, because the dike which was located a few meters from the house, gave way under the storm. A breach of several tens of meters. A still gaping wound in Robert’s heart. – My mother panicked, she fell into the water. She sank for the first time, a second time

And the third time, she stopped breathing. But the most painful memory, It was his daughter he couldn’t save. – She looked at me through the water, she was begging me to catch her. This, truly, haunts me. It is for them both that every day, Robert performs the same ritual.

A flag raised over everything what he has left. A loaned caravan by the government, a few square meters of land and a makeshift grave for Joyce, her mother and Shanai, his granddaughter of three years. – I am proud when people stop, to take a photo of the flag and the grave.

It’s my way of reminding that my mother and daughter lived here. That they are always in my heart and I miss them. Victims and survivors of Katrina, seem to have been forgotten by America. Robert did not receive any assistance. He survives today with his disabled cousin, in just fifteen square meters.

This is my fridge. And there, the cupboard with the little of clothes that I saved. The bathroom, tiny. With toilet which still work. And also a sink. This is my house. Not very comfortable, but much better than being on the street.

Robert Greens keeps his spirits up and the hope of rebuilding one day, even if his neighborhood has become a real ghetto. 13,000 people still housed in caravans. Streets still deprived of drinking water, sewer and electricity, Two years later. We are in the heart of the United States

And we would think we were in a third world city, with his squats and its rampant crime. Here is the neighborhood police station, always installed in prefabs. This is the start of service for Inspector Tommy Felix. – Are you going to the ninth district? – Unfortunately yes. But I don’t like it.

It’s too dangerous there. I’ll try not to hang around too much. Tommy dreads the ninth. This district has become one of most dangerous in the United States, an enclave where poverty and crime break all records. 107 gunshot deaths nothing only for the last six months. Ten times more than the national average.

So here, the slightest control identity is high risk. – Come on, guys, hands up! Tommy is one of the few police officers not to give up. 500 of his colleagues returned their badge since Katrina. Verification done, these are not part, dozens of criminals wanted by the police.

In this left neighborhood abandoned since Katrina, There are so many delinquents that we have went to great lengths to find them. These panels of several meters, with heads put at a price like in the days of the cowboys. Today’s bad boys, these are the traffickers, of d*** and firearms.

A substitute economy which was set up, in the days following the hurricane. We remember these scenes of looting on the front page of the television news, food, clothing, but also 100,000 stolen weapons, in armories. Scenes worthy of the Wild West that only never succeeded in stopping the state of emergency

And the 30,000 soldiers of the guard nationally deployed in Louisiana. Today Tommy took the army relay. – There is someone here. He has a clue for arrest traffickers. – Come closer, my friend, come towards the door. Show me your hands, your f***ing hands! On your knees!

There are some who run away through the back door! After a few minutes chase racing, Tommy caught up with the fugitives. – You are under arrest. A man and a girl visibly drugged. – You are not going to us complicate the task? – Yes, I will tell you all the truth.

– Did we understand each other? – Yes. Result of the operation, six young people who were squatting an abandoned house, are caught in the act. – Unfortunately for them, the d*** and the weapons, were on the living room table. Here is the spoils of the operation, reported immediately to the police station.

– A nine millimeter. That’s crazy ! Two revolvers, but also the whole range of the perfect dealer. – We can find ***, between €5 and €10 per gram, so many circulating in the street. And since Katrina, new drugs flood the new ghetto, of the ninth district. Thousands of pills like this,

With so many substances harmful chemicals. Even narcotics specialists, need a table to find your way there. – That’s rubbish. – I have 3 children and a wife to feed. It’s to support my family that I sell shit. Barely time to breathe and we have to leave.

Due to lack of staff, Tommy and his teammate, work almost day and night, with only one day of rest. A sacrifice that will not be enough to stem the explosion of crime, according to these police officers. – Since Katrina, the rate poverty has increased,

So more and more people are selling d*** to feed their family. Where it sucks, it’s that the dealers end always killing people. Despite all our sacrifices, we lost the city. I hope that one day, we will manage to save her. On the other side of the bridge, the whites of New Orleans,

They don’t want to lose at all their downtown neighborhood. This is the case for Shawn, 37 years old, a Texas restaurateur settled in Louisiana since 95. News from the black neighborhood, he hates. – There are very few crimes committed by white people. Usually it happens between black people

And it gives a very bad reputation in the city, like a kind of genocide. Shawn’s America, it is that of opulent houses, with well-kept lawns and which proudly flies the Republican flag. A white America that is afraid of the explosion of crime, in neighboring ghettos.

So, to reassure himself, Shawn wears what you need on the belt. A caliber 38 with which he trains hard three times a week. – These are 38mm bullets and I put them all in the center. Apart from one, I’m quite satisfied. If you take the target and imagine that it’s someone’s chest,

He has been dead for a long time. For today, 200 cartridges purchased from the armory. I never spend less than $180. Shawn is not a sniper. Gun sales have increased by 400% since Katrina. The boss of this armory doubled its turnover, notably thanks to record sales of this model for beginners.

– For personal protection, here is the most weapon simple to use. And the most reliable. We can put it in all hands. Even the least experienced. Difficult to make a mistake with this model, it never stops. It’s simple, you load, you close and aim. People realized that they were responsible for their safety.

Since Katrina, it is enough to present a clean criminal record and to have no history psychiatric to buy such a weapon. Regulations have been relaxed by the State of Louisiana. – If someone approaches and threatens you with a weapon, you have the right to shoot him above without warning.

Now it is considered as self-defense. Feeling supported by the authorities, Shawn decided to complete his range with this assault rifle. And he wouldn’t hesitate for a second to use it in the event of an attack. Climate hurricane, but also a financial hurricane,

At the origin of the new ghettos, like here in Cleveland, in the north of the country. The city faces one of the worst economic crises and real estate of its history. A situation so serious that even the middle classes are affected. Result: old neighborhoods rather well-off,

Transformed into ghettos in just a few months. To measure the phenomenon, head to the sheriff’s office in this downtown building. These little yellow papers, eviction notices, who invade the office from Sheriff David Rowe. Behind each name, a human drama. A citizen who was trapped by these famous credits,

The rate of which increased each month. – We’re going to do between 15 and 20 houses today. – And it’s like this every day? – Yes, almost always. And for this dirty work, the sheriff and his deputies, use certain weapons very particular, like insecticide. When you enter a house, you can see fleas,

Jump in all directions, so, we put this product so as not to get bitten. Spray against vermin, but not only. In this war against bad payers, state representatives do not hesitate not to bring out the big calibers. – We take this if we meet dogs or anything that could bite.

We never know. We can always need big artillery. Here we go. This morning, David and his assistant have several expulsions, to be carried out in a neighborhood from the south of the city. Direction Slavic Village, a typical middle-class suburb American in full decline.

A middle class that pays cash years of living on credit. One in ten houses has already been entered here. Doors and windows walled up to prevent squats and vandalism. – It’s this house with a pumpkin in front of the door. The sheriff brought a truck moving on site. He also summoned a locksmith.

They are strong and yet, as with every intervention, It’s the adrenaline rush. – Sheriff’s Office! Here everything seems quiet, but despite its appearance of an abandoned house, it is inhabited. – The cow, it’s all fresh! – It’s really very fresh. – We think they have had to leave in a hurry.

We just missed them. A family with children lived here among the rubbish, although it’s hard to believe. – They must have seen the movers arrive and they ran out the door from behind or through this window. Suddenly, the two police officers perceive noise upstairs. – I’m going to the left, okay?

Sheriff’s Office. Show yourself ! They had dogs here. Look how they treat them. In fact, the noise comes from the next door. – It seems that there is flowing water. It’s locked. They have the locksmith on hand, so no hesitation. – Police ! Open! Be careful.

Behind the door, the two tenants of the house, rather harmless. – It’s just a rabbit in a cage. A frightened rabbit and a little puppy, that their masters abandoned during their escape. – It’s good. For the sheriffs, mission accomplished. – It’s an ordinary house. A family’s ordinary house ordinary American.

A human drama, just a yellow paper. The animals are led at the local SPA, furniture moved in a city warehouse. It’s just a seizure more for the sheriff. These men achieved more than 10,000 in the last three months. – I’ve done so many, I can’t tell you how many.

We did it in every street from the city of Cleveland. – How long have you been here? – 6 months, he can still remember, but for me it makes more than a year then… Once cleaned and restored, seized houses are returned in the real estate market by banks. Entire neighborhoods for sale.

Sometimes it happens to the sheriff to meet former owners, whom he expelled. They haven’t changed neighborhoods, but only of social status. Now they are homeless. No neighborhood is spared, even the chicest in town, like Cleveland Heights. – Car 17 17 76. We arrive at 19 05. It’s this house’s turn to be seized.

The owner is still there. It’s this man in shorts. In a few minutes he will have to permanently empty the premises. His neighbors came to support him, because he has lived here for 35 years. His name is Larry Robertson. He is 58 years old. – Hello, Mr. Roberson. The movers will help you.

You are entitled to storage free for a month, okay? You won’t be able to come back but you are free to take, All that you want. With him, no need to take out weapons. – You are angry or are you sad? – Sad, yes. I DIYed everything from the cellar to the attic.

Larry’s story is that of an American nightmare. – I went through a very hard time. And I didn’t even have enough money to take care of my teeth. You will see the photos. My mother is upset. She spent thousands of dollars, to be sure that her children have beautiful teeth. And come see…

On this painting the long descent in the hells of a supermarket boss, fired eight years ago. – There I am, young man, in 1970. And then I became store manager in 72. I was the youngest director that the company has ever had. I even trained assistant directors, store managers and other people,

Who today have positions important in large companies. – What are you keeping? Office ? The chair ? Larry only has a few minutes to saving most of 35 years of life. Everything else will be seized to repay his debts. His debts are a loan taken out with an unscrupulous bank, after his dismissal.

Drowned in the contract, written very small, a clause stipulating that the rate can be revised up to 12%, three times more than the rate practiced at the time. – I signed without thinking, it was in January, it was very dark, there was a pile of paperwork. – Sign what? Sign this loan,

It was dark in a parking lot from a Cleveland Clinic. Initially it was okay. With interest at 7%. But very quickly it rose to 12%. This little clause, a poisoned gift for Larry and millions of Americans who lost everything. What would be considered banking abuse in France,

Is perfectly legal in the United States. Larry and the others are therefore asked to pack their bags. While Larry’s furniture is loaded into the moving truck, the neighbors wonder who will be next on the list. Between sadness and disgust. – I was his neighbor for 30 years. – You are sad ?

– Yes it’s sad. He was such a good neighbor. – He is a wonderful being. He would give you his shirt if you needed it. – My God, yes! – Are you going to come back and see them? – He has to ! I still have business to him in my garage.

We are with you. We hope you come back, Larry. Some clothes thrown in the car, it’s time for Larry to close definitely this chapter, 35 years of his life. – This is the last time that you see it? – Yes, last time… So many memories.

Anxiety, because Larry doesn’t know where he will sleep tonight. Like him, 500,000 Americans lost their home, these last three months. A sad accounting that keeps every day Sheriff Rowe. According to him, his city holds a very dismal national record. – This neighborhood, the Garfield neighborhood Heights, southeast of Cleveland,

It has become the world capital property foreclosures. The next morning we find Larry Robertson, in a parking lot a few kilometers away from his old house. Tonight, for the first time in his life, he slept in his car. A shame for this veteran, who always strived to be a good American.

– No one to help you? – I’m all alone here. It’s the army. – Have you been a soldier? – 6 years in the United States Army. – In Vietnam ? – Twice. For tonight, Larry found a temporary solution. – These are newspapers for my mother, that. His mother lives in this building,

A home for the elderly. Since his divorce, it’s the only family he has left. At age 58, Larry returns to his mother. Mrs. Robertson is 90 years old and only 30 square meters. A small area than this retired nurse, agrees to share with his son, so he doesn’t sleep outside tonight.

– He lost his job and his pension, his social security, his teeth and he can’t go anymore to the dentist now. Very difficult. Tonight, this is where he will sleep. – It’s small compared to my house. I should be the one hosting my mother and not the other way around!

The problem is that Larry will not be able to stay, because the internal regulations from the retirement home, prohibits his mother from hosting anyone here, including his own son. – Look at mom every day there are expellees in the newspaper. – If they ever realize that he sleeps here, I can be fired!

Bye ! I signed some papers, you know. – I need to find a job and leave here. – You can still come to eat and shower, there is no problem. Last solution for Larry, make classified ads and find a job, to afford a roof over their head. Otherwise he will join soon,

The 4 million homeless Americans. Back to New Orleans, in the new ghetto of the ninth district. We find Robert Greens and its neighborhood that looks like a decor, for a film about the end of the world. A neighborhood that has become a curiosity for tourists. – Hey, this is our group.

A very special group of tourists. – How are you ? They are white, they belong to the works council, from a famous brand of cornflakes. For them, emotion is essential. Today they come to live again Katrina in luxury coaches. The ghetto can be visited like a zoo.

And it is Robert who serves as guide. – Try to imagine that there was over there, on that tree, a man holding on to a branch with all of his strenght, to save his skin. There was eight meters of water here. And as you can see, all the houses were swept away.

For two years, Robert has ensured tours for a few dollars. The ex-financial advisor has nothing found something else to survive. – Was there water in this street? – Yes, all over the street. Those branches over there could have stop the houses that were floating, but the houses passed right by.

There is home of a neighbor with his daughter. I’m a kind of ambassador of the ninth district. I take a lot of time to speaking to tourist groups and to groups of schoolchildren. It’s very important that they know what really happened here. The macabre excursion always ends in front of Robert’s caravan.

– That’s the flag for my daughter and my mother. One last photo of the grave and the flag and it’s already time to go back in air-conditioned buses. – Thanks for coming. – You are courageous. God bless you. – We’re going to try to fight.

Despite the shame, Robert wants to believe that it still belongs, to this America who disappears before his eyes. – I don’t think this be a ghetto here. Because that’s where I live. And I don’t live in a ghetto. But for tourists who want from the ghetto, this is where they come.

And for the white people who have a racist mentality, yes, it’s a ghetto, but all the whites don’t think like that. Like a symbol, these castaways from the ninth district from New Orleans. An open wound that won’t heal. Like a boil on the face radiant America. Night falls on Los Angeles.

It’s time for Howard, the news reporter, to go hunting for the scoop again in the jungle of the ghettos. – It’s a big engine, it consumes a lot of gasoline. And he’s going to need fuel. In a single night he can travel up to 400 kilometers. – I love working at night.

Generally, murders are committed at night. There aren’t many people outside. You can drive faster. I’m having fun. I’m a night owl. The tank is full, the radio is connected on police frequencies. And the first alert message comes. – There was a crime. It seems important. I have to go for it.

A crime on the other side of town, no time to waste. Its goal is to arrive before help, to be free to film as you wish. The world of the ghetto, its crimes, his suicides, his accidents, it’s his daily life, his adrenaline. A lawless zone where he was the actor of scenes,

Which can only happen here, like this one which still haunts his memory. August 2007, a car comes to hit a safety wall, on this six-lane highway. As usual, Howard is here, in the front row. Cars parading at more than 100 km/h. But the driver does not hesitate, he slaloms. The driver is shocked.

But not only. The man is a drug addict, he consumed ***. – Get out of the way! Come this way! Howard, the reporter, Don’t let go of your camera. Moreover, for him, It’s only a beginning. A car has just hit the damaged wreck. – Get out of the way!

Howls for keep the addict away. – How are you ? And one objective, to help to this woman in shock. He puts down his camera and tries to free the victim. The highway is located in such a dangerous ghetto, that no motorist stops to help Howard.

In Los Angeles, it’s the law every man for himself. No one left to help their neighbor, apart from the police, the firefighters. And Howard. – This is one of my memories the strongest. And I’ve been doing this job for 11 years. A crazy evening. I really almost went there.

Eventually, the driver will escape. Back to the present. Tonight, Howard goes after a scoop of another kind. A crime scene in a ghetto in the north of the city. – There are so many adventures different. I adore ! It gives me the energy to sleep only 3 hours per night.

I need that adrenaline. I could never work in an office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now it remains to be found the right street, the right address. – It’s approximately 1.5 km from here. Every night, in this ghetto, several homicides. Even the police avoid the area.

– It’s going to be on the right. There is a victim on the ground in front of the gas station. It’s one of the Latino neighborhoods. On the ground, a black man riddled with bullets. – He is dead. I don’t know the circumstances yet,

But there will be many witnesses, it’s a gas station. He’s a gang member, that’s for sure. One more victim in the war what Hispanics engage in and black communities to dominate the ghetto. One murder among others. No crowds here either, nor crowd movement.

It’s just Howard and the police to take an interest in the scene. Looks like there’s a suspect in the police car. Here is the alleged culprit, a Hispanic, probably a gang member. There would be more than 500 in Los Angeles, according to police. Many people grow up in places where rents are cheap.

They must stay here, because they have no can’t afford to go anywhere else. And the families who live in these ghettos coexist with gangs. Some are part of it. Unfortunately, there is also the bad guys who live here. These bad guys, Howard knows them well.

He also knows their rules and respects them to the letter. Required to stay alive in the ghetto. – Never look at a member of a gang in the eyes. Never honk someone in a car, nor give him a fishtail. Never shout. In fact, it is always necessary look behind you, lock the doors.

Because they can come from anywhere and even on bicycles. They can cling to you or shoot you and leave in seconds. It’s gang war which explodes, the figures of violence in Los Angeles. No less than 900 rapes and 500 murders last year. The authorities are worried of this situation,

Who does every year innocent victims. Yet by day, the streets from the Los Angeles ghetto, seem almost peaceful, even if poverty spread out there in broad daylight. A false truth. As proof, the story of Louisa. This woman’s life has come to an end one evening in November 2006. His mixed-race son, Anthony, 28,

Was executed by a gang of Latinos. – I am strong, I try to do my best, but my child is still there in my heart. I don’t need to think about him, He is always there. He’s talking to me. He is always there. Today, this 47-year-old mother lives in fear

And goes to look for her every evening second son just out of high school. He is fifteen years old, but she protects him, because Michael is the only son which remains to him. – I didn’t warn you that we had company. Hard to explain to Michael that his brother died for no reason,

Simply a victim of its color of skin and ghetto bosses. – He was sleeping and then they put a pillow on their head. That’s it ? – They broke the door. It woke him up because he was sleeping. – Yes, he was in bed and sleeping.

– He was an innocent boy. He was not armed. They are cowards. They forced the door and they entered. They killed an innocent man. And who can do such a thing? Since the tragedy, Louisa has invested all his savings, to move to this pavilion, far from the ghetto. Nevertheless, she is always worried.

– I’m not afraid, but you see what I mean? Do not film in front of the house. You know, I have a younger son. Who knows… Someone could hurt him. We never know ! Here, Louisa lives in memory. – That’s a card that sent me other relatives, upon Anthony’s death.

This is Anthony at his high school diploma. And there, when he was a baby. I love these two photos. And there it is him, little, at two years old. Here we see that he was very spiritual. He believed in God. Impossible for her to accept the drama. In this new house,

She recreated the universe of his missing son and kept all his belongings. – That’s always available as he had done. And I kept his old CDs to show them. I’m still angry, but hey, these are stupidities, because there are people on earth who kill other people. And for nothing!

Today she never returns in the ghetto where she lived. Except once a month, like today. A Latino neighborhood that carries everywhere the mark of gangs. – You see, there, 43, That’s the mark of a gang. They mark their territory like dogs! A neighborhood where clashes For years,

Several rival bands with a rap background. On one side the Blacks, on the other, Latinos. For Louisa, heading to his old house. – This is where my son lived. Also where he was murdered. – Today is his commemoration. I should have put his name on it.

A kind of morbid pilgrimage to ease his pain. It’s sad all these murderers who run the streets! It’s sad, all these racists! It’s this door. I’m leaving the flowers here for Anthony. Our old house is just behind. Don’t film the address. It’s November 27, he has to celebrate his birthday in Paradise.

Come on, I’ll show you this way. The crime scenario, she plays over and over in his head, as if she could still rewrite history. – You see, there are two nearby buildings there. The guys went through this roof to reach my son’s room. The new owners have took their precautions.

– There are gangs everywhere in Los Angeles, everywhere! You may have a family that lives in a nice neighborhood and yet, one of the sons belongs to a gang. Gangs are everywhere. Difficult to ease his pain. So, once a week, Louisa participates in a discussion group. She finds mothers who, like her,

Have all lost a child in the hell of the ghetto. – My son’s name was Karl Gibson Smith and he was 19 when he was killed. – My son was killed on January 1, 2005. He was 26 years old. – The murder of my son has still not been resolved.

– Mine was 19 years old when he was killed. Group therapy for these fifteen mothers, who all experienced the same tragedy. Moms shipwrecked by life, who gather to exorcise their pain. My son left me two twins. These are my two grandchildren. It’s hard for me. I too have photos of Anthony.

When I look at them, It’s like he’s saying hello to me. What a beautiful family ! Look ! – This is the last image that I have from my baby. And I can’t get her out of my head. It’s horrible ! – Babies with guns Between hands !

Matilda lost her son two years ago. Today, she no longer cries. His grief turned to anger. – But this problem is not new. It has always existed. Today, everyone is killing each other, because all young people are more or less linked to a gang. All gang members are murderers.

Looking for a murderer and you find him in a gang. You know what I mean ? When a child is killed, gets stabbed, should we let it happen? Let’s get up and let’s do something. We must save our babies! Dozens of miners are murdered every year on the streets of Los Angeles.

This morning, Louisa celebrates her late son’s birthday. His ashes were scattered at sea. No tears today, but a will. Never lose the memory of his son and those that America has forgotten. – We love you, Anthony.

La criminalité, en baisse aux États-Unis depuis 1993, est en constante augmentation depuis environ trois ans. A la Nouvelle- Orléans, le passage de l’ouragan Katrina, a transformé certains quartiers précaires en zones de non-droit ? Dans le ghetto de Highland Park, au nord de Los Angeles, les gangs s’opposent pour le contrôle des trafics de drogues et d’armes ? A Cleveland, dans l’Ohio, de nombreuses familles ont dû quitter leur maison parce qu’elles ne peuvent plus payer leurs dettes, pour s’installer dans des quartiers où l’insécurité règne.
Réalisateur : Nicolas Moscara, Daniel Lainé, V. Mauduy