Original Homies Gang Tapes Iraqi Cards Download Gang Articles Trace Tupac's Murder Some Gangs Get Sued

National Leaders at Gang Truce Meet Los Angeles Sentinel; 11/10/1993; Malaika Brown Los Angeles Sentinel 11-10-1993 National Leaders at Gang Truce Meet. Jesse Jackson told members of street gangs meeting in a national truce summit in Chicago two Sundays ago that they represent the "new frontier" of the civil rights struggle. But Jackson left town before a hoped-for meeting of national black leaders. Jackson and other civil rights leaders addressed summit participants from 28 cities, including youths from rival gangs that have been killing each other for years. NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Chavis and Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, who also participated in the summit, said they would go forward with plans to meet over differences that have separated factions of the civil rights movement in the past, even though Jackson would not attend. In a rare display of unity at a Washington forum last month, Jackson, Chavis, Farrakhan and Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Kweisi Mfume, identified ending gang violence as an issue on which they could work together. Mfume, who contacted summit organizers about participating and was scheduled to conduct a session on political unity, did not show up at all during the weekend. In a speech to gang members, Jackson stressed the need for unity, but he later said he could not attend a meeting with Farrakhan and Chavis because he had to give speeches later in the day in New York for the reelection campaign of Mayor David Dinkins. Jackson said he was not aware of any planned meeting with Farrakhan and Chavis, although both of the other leaders indicated they had hoped to hold such a meeting. "There will be attempts to discredit you," Jackson said. "There will be an attempt to separate you. But you are on the cutting-edge issue of our day." He told gang members they represent "the new frontier of the civil rights struggle." "No one is losing their organizational identity. We're just coming together for one purpose," Jackson said in a speech at Operation PUSH, the civil rights organization he founded 20 years ago. Jackson returned to Washington later in the day. About 2,500 people attended a later session in Farrakhan's Mosque Maryam. Farrakhan followers and NAACP members in business suits and African-styled clothing mingled with casually attired gang members in the mosque. Elsewhere in Chicago, Rep. Mel Reynolds addressed an "anti-gang summit," which he said was intended to "show another face of the African American male." Reynolds called the gang summit "posturing and profiling" and said he would like to see it produce apologies to society and a declaration that "gangbanging is not an acceptable lifestyle, gangs will no longer sell drugs and destroy lives, gangbanging is wrong, gangs will no longer kill people and will turn in those gang members who do kill, and gangs will no longer exist." Chavis said he hoped Jackson would join him and Farrakhan in a follow-up meeting to their earlier declaration of unity. "Minister Farrakhan is here. I'm here. We're going to meet," Chavis said. "It is a necessity. The biggest chain of all is the chain of disunity. It will make us sink down." Farrakhan had stinging criticism of leaders who speak unity but do not practice it. He said, "I know I can unite with Dr. Chavis. Our unity is not a sham. It's real. But there are certain people God does not want at the table." He did not mention Jackson by name except to say, "We can't deny that Reverend Jackson is loved. ... If we can sit together, look at what hope it would send to the people." Leaders of the gang truce effort said it was made clear to the national leaders that the Chicago meeting was a grassroots effort, and that they were invited as observers and advisers. "We have conflict resolution going on," said Earl King, founder of No Dope Express Foundation. "It is our obligation and our responsibility to show the old guard we have respect for them, too." The September meeting of Jackson, Chavis, Farrakhan and Mfume was considered the first step by civil rights activists to bring Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, into the mainstream of the civil rights movement. News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

Copyright © Streetgangs.com, All RIGHTS RESERVED. Disclaimer
All trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.