Hey, that is great that you are doing your school project.
You must be in high school or in middle school. Anyways, first, I want to begin to tell you to stay in school and give it the best you got. Second, I want to tell you that you would be getting the answers from a person that have live in Compton for almost all his childhood life. Third, the person above that have reply to your questions and say that white people would not make it passing the first street entering Compton, well they are wrong!
Questions:
Could a white guy move to Compton without getting killed or robbed?
Well it depends, would a Latino would get killed or experience racial comments if he moves to a white town? I think that anyone, no matter your color, beliefs could live in Compton. I say it depends, if you are not involve in any illegal activities, you would be fine. You could get rob if you see scared or if you go to the wrong areas of Compton or walk in a dark street in the night.
What should he do to survive? In order to survive Compton he or she should get a job so he or she could support himself or his or her family. Also, moving to the nice areas of Compton, would be better, Lastly, knowing your neighbors would help.
Would it be safest to live in Compton if you were a member of the gang in you neighborhood, than if you weren't? If you are not a gangster, you would not be bother. Gangsters don't bother people who usually don't mess with them, If you say "hi" or "Good Morning" every time you see them, if you see them (rare to see them) they would also respect you.
How bad is the violence there? Shootings every day? Getting robbed in the middle of the day?
The gang violence has dramatically decrease. You could hear gun shoots every know and then(more likely like every 5 months or so). About getting robbed in the middle of the day, well it could happen, it happen to me. But, it also happens in Beverly Hills and in Malibu.
Would it be a good idea to buy a bulletproof west, and a gun?
You are coming to Compton in 2009. You are not coming to Compton in 1990 or you are not going to a Iraq. Why would you want a bulletproof vest?
To conclude, Compton is not how the media or songs portrays it to be. You see white people in Compton all the time. We have a court house, which many judges are white, many lawyers are white, many juror are white. We have Los Angeles County Sheriff, white people work in the LASD. Also, we have our own school district and a college(Compton College), white teachers work in Compton, white professors and students come to Compton each day. Also, there are Latino gangs in Compton.
Below, I would post some websites that are related with the city of Compton or with the life of Compton.
Good Luck with your project.
Websites:
http://dominguezrancho.org/about/
http://www.comptoncity.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compton,_California
www.compton.edu
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/urban_youth.jsp
http://www.celebheli.com/
One more thing, George Bush lived in Compton, Von Dutch lived in Compton, the animators of Tom and Jerry and The Flintstones lived also in Comtpon.