Member-only story
My City was Looted Yesterday
Everything my community taught me about inclusion, healing, and recovery
Van Nuys is a special community. For lack of a better word, I call it my first home. In my later teenage years, when I was a homeless kid with nowhere to live, I found the first landlord willing to take a chance on a kid with very little to offer. That was almost thirteen years ago.
My landlord is an older Russian man. Like most of the community, he’s extremely hardworking, does more work than he needs, and chooses to take care of things himself.
In his free time, he’s heavily involved with the community and is friends with most of the smaller business owners that span the length of Van Nuys Boulevard.
Stores were looted a block away from where I live.
A Boost Mobile store, a 7–11, mostly mom-and-pop shops.
Shattered glass, tagged walls, trashed floors.
Shelves were emptied and destroyed.
When I woke up this morning, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought I’d go down the street to check up on the aftermath of the looting. The previous afternoon, everyone in Los Angeles County had received this Public Safety Alert:
