Racist Black Gangs Terrorize White Chicago-Area Neighborhoods During Their Funerals, with Support from Black Pastor and Chicago Tribune “Reporter” (Updated)

By Nicholas Stix

Reader-researcher A.L. sent along the story, “Rowdy, gang-related funerals upset residents. Police cleared out the services of one recent funeral after the crowd nearly knocked over the casket of the 18-year-old shooting victim.”

A.L. writes,

Danger, danger, Blackstone Ranger.

Those of you that used to live in Beverly or Mt. Greenwood will be interested in this Tribune article from today.

Seems the numerous funeral cortege [up to six miles long in some instances!!!] of the gangbangers when burying the recently departed from the drive-by shooting are cruising the Beverly and Mt. Greenwood area en route to the nearby Mt. Hope cemetery in unincorporated Cook County and raising a ruckus. Frightening the decent citizens of the area.

In Chicago Tribune operative Jeremy Gorner’s supportive, accompanying video, he lets Pastor Corey Brooks, who officiated at gangbanger Joseph “Lil Jojo” Coleman’s funeral, speechify. Pastor Brooks tells us that the problem is “gun violence,” and that we need “to gang up on the problem, and not on each other.”

In other words, he supports the gangs.

Pastor Brooks tells us that Coleman had a talent that now will not be shared with the world, and that many “inner city” youth are talented. On what does he base his claim? The constant shootings? There is no evidence that Coleman had talent. He has been referred to as “an aspiring rapper,” which is little more than a euphemism for gangbanger. Next, we’ll learn that he was an honor student.

And what if he had been a “rapper”? “Rapping” is what people typically do who have no musical talent.

P.S. (6:09 a.m.): The story's accompanying video is misleadingly entitled, "Fuenral held for gunned down rapper L'il Jojo." Below the title one reads, "Family and friends are arriving for a funeral of rapper Joseph Coleman, known as L'il Jojo at..."

Clearly, an editor or Gorner is trying to confuse readers into thinking that Coleman was not a gangbanger.

* * *Gang-related funeral processions upset residents of Beverly, Mount Greenwood
Hundreds of protesters cite safety problems, want funeral homes and nearby cemeteries to take more responsibility
By Jeremy Gorner
September 25, 2012
Chicago Tribune

As the funeral procession headed through Chicago's Far Southwest Side, mourners weaved in and out of traffic, leaned out of car windows as they sang to music blaring from their stereos and flashed gang signs, a video on YouTube showed.

These rowdy processions for slain street gang members have upset many residents of Mount Greenwood and Beverly, who say they create a public safety problem. There have even been reports of shots fired, police say.

Neighbors want a number of cemeteries in the area as well as funeral homes to take more responsibility for the mayhem, but the businesses say there is only so much they can do to try to control the misbehavior.

Paul Stewart, spokesman for Mount Hope Cemetery, acknowledged it is a popular spot for gang funerals in large part because of its "reasonable" rates — as low as $1,200 for a burial. Though aware of residents' concerns, Stewart said, the cemetery's mission has to be to provide services to a grieving family even if the deceased is a gang member.

[Why should the gangs be such cheapskates? They have lots of money.]

"If a mother has a child in a gang, the services we're providing is for the mother of the child," Stewart said. "The mother is working with the funeral director, and they just want to bury their child."

[No. The mother supported her son’s gangbanging, which is why he’s dead, and likewise supports her son’s gang’s terrorizing of the neighborhood during his funeral procession. Don’ let the mothers off!]

About 200 residents took to the streets on a recent Saturday to show their anger over the issue, marching from Kennedy Park about five blocks to Mount Hope at 11500 S. Fairfield Ave. in unincorporated Cook County. Many hoisted signs saying "Respect the living and the dead."

Barbara Mowatt and other residents in the mostly white neighborhoods were adamant that race is not at play in the protests. The demonstration drew a number of African-Americans as well.

"If you've never seen it, you'd never believe it," Mowatt said. "It's not a black-white thing at all. Have respect for the neighborhood."

[Why would Barbara Mowatt and the other residents even feel the need to defend themselves against charges of “racism,” as if they were the bad guys? Because Chicago Tribune “reporter” Jeremy Gorner race-baited them. He had to have said something like, ‘Are you just protesting these funerals because the people involved are African-American?’

Note that Gorner doesn’t publish what he said to Mowatt. “Reporters” or their editors typically edit out the former’s race-baiting. Occasionally, however, they slip. During the 1990s’, in a New York City TV news story about racist black thugs’ clubhopping in the wealthy Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, white residents were complaining about the ungodly noise the blacks were making on the street in the wee hours of the morning. Despicable, professional Chinese “reporter” Ti-Hua Chang was accidentally (on purpose?) shown on camera racially haranguing a resident for complaining about the noise.

(Then again, Chelsea is so full of despicable lefties that maybe it was poetic justice for them to have to deal with Chang’s race-baiting.)

Besides, it is a race thing. Blacks make a point of disrespecting whites. Making so much noise is a big part of it.]

Chicago police and Cook County sheriff's deputies appear to have heard the residents' complaints. Officers have been out in force for at least two gang funerals this month. At both, officers were stationed at points along the procession, while a Chicago police helicopter hovered over the long motorcade of dozens of vehicles, on the lookout for signs of trouble.

At a funeral Saturday for Christopher McGowan, a reputed Black Disciple gang associate who was fatally shot when police say he pointed a gun at an officer, the police helicopter followed the six-mile procession from a church in Harvey to Mount Hope Cemetery. But police reported no trouble.

Earlier this month, gunshots reportedly were fired from a car as the funeral procession for Lil Jojo, an aspiring rapper with alleged gang ties whose real name was Joseph Coleman, moved from the South Side to Mount Hope. Police made two arrests after finding a .45-caliber handgun in vehicle as the procession neared the cemetery.

Police have made several arrests during other alleged gang funeral processions in the area. In a couple of incidents over the summer, mourners drove erratically, including once in July when cars were forced off the road near 107th Street and Western Avenue.

Last May, while responding to numerous reports of cars in a funeral procession driving recklessly, Chicago police spotted a 9 mm handgun in a car stopped by the entrance to Mount Hope. After a high-speed car chase through Beverly, police made two arrests.

Peggy Kerrigan, who lives about three blocks from Mount Hope, said she worries that the gang processions could draw the attention of rivals and increase hazards for motorists and children outside playing.

"You get that worry there is going to be a gang war out there," she said during the recent weekend protest.

Virginia Rowan, a neighbor, suspects that the fallout over the scandal at Burr Oak Cemetery might have led to more gang processions in her area in recent years. Workers at the cemetery in nearby Alsip dug up hundreds of graves as part of a scheme to resell the burial plots, authorities said.

To try to deal with residents' concerns, state legislators from the Far Southwest Side are pushing legislation to limit the number of funerals at cemeteries with a single entrance such as Mount Hope to 10 a day. The idea could limit the number of potential gang funerals.

State Rep. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, whose constituents live near Mount Hope and four other cemeteries in the area, estimated that there are about one or two gang funerals a week at the cemeteries.

"It's a public safety issue, (and) neighbors are rightfully upset," he said.

Over the last five years, Stewart, the Mount Hope spokesman, said the cemetery has averaged about 2,900 burials a year, among the highest in the state. Most occur on Fridays and Saturdays, he said.

Mount Hope hires off-duty Cook County sheriff's deputies to work traffic control during funerals, Stewart said. The cemetery also is trying to work with local police and elected officials to possibly open a second gate a half-mile away at 119th Street. However, some residents said that could raise additional problems because the route could be too narrow to handle a high volume of funeral traffic.

A better idea, some residents said, would be to impound the vehicles of motorists driving erratically during processions and to hold funeral directors accountable if they fail to notify police in advance about holding services for slain gang members.

Isaiah Jones, who owns the Southwest Side funeral home where services were held for Lil Jojo, said he always lets police know in advance of gang-related funerals.

The several hundred mourners at Lil Jojo's funeral were the most unruly he has ever seen, said Jones, who has held many services for slain gang members in his 47 years in the mortuary business. Police cleared out the services after the crowd nearly knocked over the casket of the 18-year-old shooting victim.

"You're in the business to make money," Jones said. "But if I had known something like this was going to happen, I would've turned it down."

[Apparently, Gorner didn’t race-bait funeral director Isaiah Jones. I wonder why.]

jgorner@tribune.com