LA City Beat: Too Many Vigils

Too Many Vigils
This time, friends gather to remember Walter Vega~
By MATTHEW MUNDY ~11-22-07
Underneath a single, towering palm tree reaching optimistically for the night sky, nearly 70 people gathered Friday night to plea for peace as they mourned another loss to gang violence. A makeshift shrine to Walter Vega sprouted from the pavement and arched up the tree, with candles, a portrait of Jesus Christ, and a hand-drawn tribute marking the spot of pavement where he was killed. The pavement was still wet from the vivid, spraypainted mural that honored him, the words “Lil’ Silent” gleaming from underneath the shrine.
“We’ve had too many candlelight vigils of late,” said the Rev. Howard Dotson, who organized the gathering – the eighth one for victims of gang violence he’d done in eight weeks. “This was not God’s will. We have free will, and people chose not to follow God’s path.”
The somber ceremony was marked by a number of songs in both English and Spanish – “De Colores,” “Gracias a la Vida,” and “We Shall Overcome” – as the mourners held up candles and comforted the grieving mother of the deceased. Police were on hand to provide protection, and gang injunctions were temporarily lifted so anybody could attend the ceremony.
“This isn’t normal,” said a haggard-looking Carlos Vega, Walter’s father, through a translator, as his wife sobbed in the background. “He was not a bad person – nobody’s a bad person. What else can I say?”
Walter Vega, who had just been released from prison, was hanging out with his friends near the intersection of Eighth and Berendo streets, when two men came up to him on November 12. After a brief confrontation, one of them shot him several times in his chest. The two suspects are still at large. Police say that the victim was an associate of Mara Salvatrucha, one of the largest gangs in the country.
While gang-related homicides are down overall, a recent spike in the area has Dotson organizing more vigils, a disheartening trend for the young First Congregational Church leader. Dotson is a member of the local Clergy Council, which is asked to convene a vigil by the LAPD every time there’s a victim of gang violence. “It’s a sad reality that we’ve done so many of them that you’re not as nervous anymore, and you get desensitized to the logistics,” said Dotson. “But listening to a mother grieve the loss of her child … No parent should have to bury their own child. That’s always hard.”
The recent increase in violence has also stirred up anger among residents, frustrated with what they see as a lack of commitment by the city to stop it. After the service, Chelsey Thomas recounted the first time she met him, at the plaza just down the street from where he was killed. “He was trying to get with me,” she said with a laugh. When asked what he was like, she was quiet for a second. “He was good people.”