Police violence against Black people was intensifying, and there was a housing shortage in the city. Jobs started leaving Compton and South LA. And it was kind of, like, the thing to do, too.ĬHANG: This is around the time when the crack epidemic hit. MEHTA: Why? What went through your head at 13, 14 that made you think, I need a pistol? It was the kind of environment where I bought my first pistol at 13, 14 years old. That's how I grew up, and that was magical. Man, you coming down the street? No, yeah. ROSS: It was magical, and it was incredibly challenging. He grew up there in the '80s and early '90s, and memories of Compton still bring up conflicted feelings for him. MEHTA: Where Ross came from is Compton, once a majority Black city south of downtown LA. ROSS: It looks and feels safe, and I think that's what a lot of people are looking for, people especially who jump ship from places like where I came from. What would you say is the character, the identity of the Inland Empire? We stopped in front of some kids playing on a swing set. MEHTA: Ross, who's 45, lives here now just walking distance from this local park in a city called Rancho Cucamonga.
These houses were built, like, '06, '07, '08. JONAKI MEHTA, BYLINE: When Billy Ross would come visit his cousins in the Inland Empire back in the 1980s, it was mostly desert and vineyards.īILLY ROSS: I remember, you know, coming out here, and none of this existed. Producer Janaki Mehta and I travel east of Los Angeles to the Inland Empire. You see as Black residents streamed out of that city for safer neighborhoods and more space, many turned to a region that promised a new start only to become targets of predatory schemes. Today we pick up where we left off yesterday - the flight out of Compton, Calif.
TARGET COMPTON ROAD SERIES
All week, as part of our series on American democracy called We Hold These Truths, we've been looking at property ownership in this country and the structural barriers facing Black homebuyers.
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