This past Tuesday, the neighborhood of Santa Monica  lost Richard Juarez, age 20 years old. The neighborhood I grew in mourns. When the big homey Lucks told me about “Gizmo” getting shot at the park I had no idea who he was talking about, until I saw the photo. I knew Richard as “Richard”. Since the days of middle school, and throughout high school he adopted the lifestyle. And then it hits again, the empty air sucking out of your chest and the thought of her.

It wasn’t Richard who was a homey,  and a good soul lost that bothered me. It wasn’t the fact that gang violence is overlooked in the bright white light of Santa Monica or even the fact that the shooting happened literally–directly in FRONT of the Police Station that was built to prevent those same shootings that hit the spot…. It ’s the fact that the woman who gave birth to Richard is going to to have to bury her child, and  has to endure the dark place she’s experiencing at this very moment. Alot of people who ask about these paintings, illustrations and  subject matter, always want to understand the motive for all these mothers and kids,  this is one answer.

No parent should have to bury their child. The look in the eyes, scream and sound of a woman looking at the corpse of her child is the deepest pain on this planet and is indescribable. The loss and devastation is the foundation to this inspiration, and gives conviction to let viewer’s who are outside looking in to understand that this is not a game. LA mothers have suffered the streets to these kids in a specific way that’s always overlooked. It’s time you hear their screams, and you feel the conviction to change.

Only when these boys begin to really act like men and learn to sacrifice and put in work for their mothers and family, and not a street block, will streets change. We have to thank men like Lalo Marquez, Big Lucky, Arturo Arce, Cartoon, Oscar Delatorre, Alex Aldana, and youth centers nationwide who continue to outreach, and contribute to change these lives. Until then we bless and salute all the mothers out there who continue on like soldiers and may Richard ride in peace.

To my fellow 20 year old’s, how many more signs do you need? WAKE UP.