ABC7 Vs. LAPD -- Race a Factor in Violence?

Reporter Leo Stallworth and Chief Bratton have a difference of opinion and at yesterday's press conference about violence in South LA, the no-nonsense East Coast sensibilites of LAPD's top cop came out in front of everyone... and ABC aired it.

Stallworth asked about racial tensions, maybe in a more speculative way, based off interviews with community members. Bratton did not like that and responded. "We have to work with fact and speculation... You're a one note band on this issue... The rest of you [members of the press], seem to get it."

Daily News' crime blog picked up on the public bickering too and added this fact:

And some have suggested that the city is reluctant to confront race. An AP story quotes Joe Hicks, vice president of Community Advocates Inc. and former executive director of the city's Human Relations Commission, saying that race is part of a complex gang problem. "There seems to be some reticence to talk about what is taking place," Hicks said. "There certainly appears to be a racialized component."

Earlier Today: 75 LA Murders in 2008