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
ghetto in the 50's and 60's
it became The Black American Dream
Open housing paved the way
as middle-class blacks flooded into the city
Whites don't buy houses in Compton anymore
Now with 74percent of the population
black power is the fact of life
From banks to bowling alleys
But the dream that many blacks
thought they were buying has turned sour
Though the mayor
and four out of five city
councilmen are black
they have been unable to solve
the problems of crime and growing
welfare which is slowing turning suburban
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
Juvenile gang activity muggings
small robberies make some blacks want to leave