Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny innocent blacks are being targeted

Jesse Lee Peterson is founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny. He says he has family members who live in south central Los Angeles who tell him they are much more fearful of Hispanic gangs than they are of black gangs like the Crips and the Bloods. In fact, says Peterson, those two notorious groups have actually joined forces in a turf war against the Mexican gangs.But according to Peterson, innocent blacks are being targeted. "It is so bad in Canoga Park that the police department sent out a message to black Americans that they should be careful because [blacks] have been shot down at random," he points out.Peterson relates an incident involving a promising 17-year-old south central Los Angeles athlete, who had nothing to do with gangs but was murdered near his own home. "Three doors down from his home, a Mexican gang member walked up to him and [asked if this was his] neighborhood. [When] he didn't respond, they shot him in the chest and the head and killed him ...," he shares.Peterson says in another incident, Mexican gang members drove up to a black family driving on a Sunday afternoon and randomly opened fire, striking a three-year-old child. The situation is getting so bad, he adds, that many black families are being compelled to leave the area.