Seen “Gang Wars”? Want to question producers?

In part one of the Discovery Channel’s “Gang Wars Oakland,” which aired Monday, viewers saw Oakland streets beset by drugs and violence. From a prison interview with a crime lord named M.A.C. to a ride-along with Oakland PD’s Gang Unit, the program depicted a cycle of murder and retaliation that, filmmakers say, “keeps on spinning faster.”

The emotional core of the story came during the funeral of Ronnie Grier, a 16-year-old who was found shot to death near a 580 on-ramp last year. Grier was an 11th-grader at East Oakland’s Rudsdale Academy.

A woman answered the office phone at Rudsdale this afternoon. Asked if anyone at the school saw the film, she paused.

“Everyone did,” she said.

We’ve been hearing from readers who were watching on Monday, and it’s clear that this program created reverberations throughout Oakland. We are interested in learning what readers think and what questions they have about the program.

We contacted Discovery Channel this week, and a representative has tentatively agreed to have the filmmakers field your questions.

If you have thoughts or reactions to share, we will be collecting questions and passing them along this week, before the broadcast of the second part of the program, at 9PM on Monday.

If you have a question you would like to put to the filmmakers, please send it to kate.mclean@oaklandnorth.net