In an effort to raise student awareness about the recent spate of violence in East Palo Alto, four student groups invited City Council member Ruben Abrica M.A. ‘78 and Police Department representative Kathy Samuels to participate in “Stop the Violence in East Palo Alto,” a panel discussion yesterday at noon in the El Centro Chicano lounge.

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Shams Shaikh

City Council member Ruben Abrica M.A. ‘78 and police dept. representative Kathy Samuels speak to students and community members in El Centro lounge yesterday.

Students and a few community members attended the event — which was co-sponsored by El Centro Chicano, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), the Black Student Union (BSU) and the NAACP — in which Abrica and Samuels talked about their strategy to respond to the increase in gang-related violence. From Jan. 1 to Jan. 22, the city has seen three homicides and 15 shootings.

“In the last two weeks, we have made 25 arrests, done three search warrants where we have recovered numerous guns, done 13 parole searches and 18 probation searches,” Samuels said. “And in a week we did 137 field contacts, identifying each person.”

Samuels added that assaults are down 60 percent from 2005, but she asked the community for help.

“More guns are out there than there are people. It is a way of life, and that is what we are combating,” she said, “but it is going to require collaboration and cooperation.”

This past Monday, Abrica and other City Council members held a meeting with parents and some of East Palo Alto’s youth. He declared that the objective of such meetings was to appeal to different communities within the city to organize and eventually work together.

On Saturday, more than 1,200 people marched from East Palo Alto’s Home Depot to a local park as a way to protest the surge in violence. The large turnout, according to Samuels, is an indicator of the community’s desire to eliminate violence.

Abrica and Samuels explained that much of the violence in the city is within ethnic communities and usually stems from fights over “turfs, villages and gardens” in the city.

Aton Gutierrez ‘07, technology coordinator of El Centro Chicano, stressed that University students can make a difference.

“We need to really look into the situation and evaluate what we can do to help a community that has always been linked to Stanford,” he said. “East Palo Alto is across a bridge. It is really right next door. We as Stanford students easily turn a blind eye. I really want you guys to leave with that impression that there is something that you can do.”

Stanford student involvement in aiding the East Palo Alto community was a major topic of discussion at the event.

“We had to mobilize ourselves,” said Marjorie Soto ‘09, outreach coordinator for El Centro Chicano. “Stanford is a great resource, right across the bridge. [We wanted to] inform Stanford students about what is going on and talk to them about different ways in which they can get involved with the community.”

Some students said that a lack of information on the issue of violence in the nearby city prompted them to attend.

The event’s sponsors provided audience members with fliers listing Stanford organizations who send volunteers into East Palo Alto. One of the programs featured on the flier was Ravenswood Tutors, a program that allows students to tutor elementary school students in literacy and language.

Abrica expressed hope that the tide of violence would soon be reversed.

“There is no reason why we can’t eventually catch up with every young man,” he said, “and help them find another way to project their identity and who they are.”