I hate it here. Everything's so—' She searches for a word that will tell Mama how violent it always is or how much she hates having to hide in the closet every time it even looks like gangbangers might roll through...
-- Ella (Part I paragraph 1)

Importance: This quote provides context for the setting of South Central, where Ella is living with her mother and the woman she calls Grandma at the beginning of the novel when she is a child. The neighborhood is rife with gang violence, which upsets Ella, especially when she has to hide in a closet for safety. Ella voices a similar complaint to Grandma, who remarks of the gang members, "They're not angry at each other" (21), implying that they are actually angry at the racist institutions that oppress them.

The Devil is busy here...The gangs, the drugs, all the evil that men do to each other here. Sometimes even...
-- Elaine (Part I paragraph 4)