Compton was the American dream. Sunny California with a palm tree in the front yard, the camper, the boat.
Temptingly close to the Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s, it became ' The Black American Dream'. Open housing paved a way as middle class black flooded into the city. Whites don't buy houses in Compton anymore. Now with 74% of the population black power is the fact of life From banks to bowling alleys, Once a dream many black thought they've been buying has turned sour. Though the mayor and 4 out of 5 consul men are black, they have been unable to solve the problems of crime and growing welfare, which is slowing suburban turning Compton into an extension of the black innercity. Crime is now as high as the ghetto. 47 homicides last year gave Compton one of the highest per capital rates in the country. Juvenal activity, muggings, and small robberies make some blacks off to leave