Always Running DJ #5

Chapter five begins with Luis’s initiation into the gang Los Lomas, one of the two major rival gangs responsible for escalating gang violence in the Valley by taking a beating for a couple of minutes by the existing members of the gang. In the gang, Luis had to drive a screwdriver into a man and the headlines of newspapers covered stories of he terror Los Lomas had been causing but didn't name names. With the heightening violence, community centers began opening to combat the violence. In one of these centers, Luis meets his mentor, Chente Ramirez. Chente possesses the streetwise demeanor that keeps him from being dismissed by gang members while exerting a positive influence. Even with Chente, Luis was still one of Los Lomas, hits on Sangra were still happening and even Luis's little sister Gloria had joined a younger set of Lomas girls. Until this point in Luis’s narrative, he had searched for direction and support in equally misguided friends, substance use, and short-lived youthful sexual relationships. Chente sparks Luis’s passion for social issues which begins to balance the barrage of negative influences that Luis has navigated thus far.