Garry Powers stands on Alameda Street near the North Vignes Street overpass, across from a smoke shop and a Vietnamese restaurant. He’s on the edge of Chinatown and a couple of miles north of Boyle Heights, a neighborhood once rife with gangs.
The wall behind him is a glowing yellow-gold. Painted on it are outspread blue wings that nearly match the faded tattoo on his neck. He looks swathed in wings. A halo on the wall seems to hover above his head.
Powers grew up in Baldwin Park outside Los Angeles. A member of the Desmadre gang, he was arrested for armed robbery, assault and carrying a concealed weapon and spent most of his teen years in juvenile detention. He spent his 20s in prison for carjacking.
“As a adolescent, I made a lot of poor choices from being in a gang,” he said.
[For more of this story, written by Stell Simonton, go to https://jjie.org/2018/06/18/ho...e-with-jobs-therapy/]
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