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Erasing Evidence of Life in a Gang
Above, Morales works on a Jesus face on the arm of Jose Cabezas, 28, who did not belong to a gang but wanted to get rid of a tattoo that might be mistaken for a gang's. Below, she burns away a gang symbol on the back of Guillermo Orellana, 16, no relation to Abelina Orellana.
(Photos By N.c. Aizenman -- The Washington Post)
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Morales nodded sympathetically. She was not sure how much of Orellana's account she believed, she said later. "But the rapes: I'm sure that's true," she said. "I also live in a neighborhood where the gangs are active, and that is how they do it."
More than an hour had gone by. The "1" on Orellana's back was now a mass of raw, bleeding flesh.
"Okay, kid. We've done enough for today," Morales said.
As the girl dressed in a corner, Morales peeked into the waiting area to see who was next.
Two men whose tattoos she had begun removing the week before were seated in plastic chairs, waiting patiently for their follow-up sessions. The first, a tall 31-year-old dressed in pressed pants and a button-down shirt, spoke English more fluently than Spanish. He had been deported from Los Angeles less than a month ago for reasons that he would not divulge and was getting the "Proud to be Salvadoran" tattoo around his neck removed at the panicked urging of his relatives.
The second, a sullen 17-year-old former Eighteen member, was accompanied by an older cousin who said he was there mainly to offer protection but also to make sure that the teenager went through with the removal. Although the youth defected from the gang two years ago, he had resisted erasing his tattoos until now because they reminded him of the close friendships he had made in the gang.
As she contemplated the work ahead of her, Morales suddenly looked tired. Then she laughed it off.
"This is not the job I was praying to God to find for me," she confessed. "But it is very gratifying. I know that I am making a mark in my patients' lives that neither of us will forget."
