ism between a substantial portion of the Negro community and the police department." The Webster report stated that, "There is much deep-seated hostility, mistrust and suspicion in this relationship that calls for change." This is a theme that came up constantly throughout Anna Deavere Smith's book. One of the problems is that the police do not make an adequate effort in community policing. They do not try to understand what is going on and get along with the minorities in the neighborhoods they are policing. They stand back and let things happen and then they deal with it. This unwillingness to intervene in the violence occurring in LA streets is evidenced by the instance in which Los Angeles Police Commission President Stanley Sheinbaum went into a gang meeting at Nickerson Gardens to talk with the young men involved in these violent gangs. He was making an effort to stop the violence and learn what was really going on. After he did this, his fellow officers were angry and they chastised him for wanting to talk to the gang members. When in reality, what he did was good. The Los Angeles Police Department must change its ideals that they should wait for violence to occur between minorities rather than making efforts to stop it. It must also get back to the idea that minorities are part of the community and they must be "Protected and served as well." Many of those interviewed in Twilight by Anna Deavere Smith complained of problems with the police. However, it was only minorities who complained of injustice and brutality on the part of the police. Rudy Salas complained of being taken into a room with four police officers and being kicked in the head and his eardrum being fractured because he is Mexican back in the forties. Then his son, who goes to Stanford, came home recently for the weekend and had a gun put to his head by a police officer. The same problems with the police have been going on for decades and people do ...
