Chicago: What if They Held an Anti-Gang Summit, and No Gang Members Showed Up?

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Black Chicagoans just love their gangs. Some comments from the thread follow. Hey, whaddaya know? The Tribune let the people talk!
 

Michelle Neuzerling Buestrin

You can write off the current gang members....they're as good as dead. The "summit" should have been bringing in every parent with a young child...before they end up in gangs. And it's nice they asked for Al's endorsement...but he only shows when white on black crime is involved
 

Chuck Whitted • Top Commenter

The last time Al showed, it wasn't a crime, it was self-defense. He objected to a white victim defending himself against a violent black attacker. Apparently, Al finds that whites have no right to defend themselves against violent blacks. Fortunately, the jury wasn't racist like Al.
 

Angelo Darden

Chuck Whitted I know you're a half witted troll, but I'll give it a try anyway: That night, when George Zimmerman engaged with Trayvon Martin, how would he have known if indeed he was a "violent Black attacker"? Remember he was in his vehicle in contact with the police, who advised him to not chase after him. Now think about this, let''s say for argument's sake, that young man was indeed a violent attacker, why would you leave the safety of your car to engage him. For indeed he was a violent attacker, George Zimmerman would be dead, because real thugs don't travel unarmed. So let me assure you, if it had been ANYBODY but a young boy that he attacked, Zimmerman as weak as he was would never have reached his gun because he would have been dead before he got the chance. So keep dreaming.

 
I responded to Darden thusly:

“That night, when George Zimmerman engaged with Trayvon Martin, how would he have known if indeed he was a "violent Black attacker"?”

“Engaged with”? What the h-e-c-k is that supposed to mean?

You gave yourself away. You know that Zimmerman didn’t attack Martin, so you come up with some phony phrase, “engaged with.” Are you a liar, er, lawyer?

“[H]ow would he have known if indeed he was a ‘violent Black [sic] attacker’?”

How about when the obsessively violent, racist thug Martin sucker punched him?

“[W]hy would you leave the safety of your car to engage him.”

Zimmerman didn’t “engage” him, he left his car to briefly follow him. He did so, because he was a courageous citizen on whom the entire community—excepting the criminals within—relied.

“For indeed he was a violent attacker, George Zimmerman would be dead, because real thugs don't travel unarmed.”

You just made the same false assumption as the late racist, aspiring murderer, Trayvon Martin.

By the way, how can Chuck Whitted be a “troll,” when his comment is tied for the most “likes,” while yours has zero? Project much?

[Two other favorite comments follow:]
 

Robert Johnson
That's some crazy mess 'gang summit' get real We need to round their cowardly butts up and put them before a firing squad...this got to be a joke...right?

 
Rory Trausch

The "bangers" probably lost interest, when Capt. Furillo told them the "Bloods", "Diablos", and "Shamrocks" , would be unable to attend, due to a scheduling "conflict".
 

Gang summit attracts few gang members
National Unity Summit attended mostly by relatives of victims, anti-violence activists


Aaron D. Wright Sr., a former gang member, now a motivational speaker, came to this first ever National Unity Summit on Chicago's south side wanting to turn young minds away from gangs and violence and onto a new path, by listening.

By Jeremy Gorner
September 28, 2013, 11:19 p.m. CDT
Chicago Tribune

When ex-gang member Robert White addressed about 20 people Saturday at a Far South Side church, he spoke animatedly about his days as a Black P Stone and how he turned his life around after spending a chunk of it in prison.

But to White's chagrin, the audience comprised mostly grieving relatives of Chicago's homicide victims and representatives from anti-violence groups — not the troubled youths he mentors.

"Disappointed is an extreme understatement. I'm pissed off," said White, 43, outside the 10,000-seat House of Hope sanctuary at Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, 752 E. 114th St. "How you addressing a gang summit and no gang members are here?"

Billed as a "National Unity Summit" for gang members from across the city, hardly any showed up to Saturday's event, a gathering endorsed by the likes of the Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights activists and clergy. Sharpton did not attend the event.

The Rev. Gregory Tatum, a Los Angeles-based minister originally from Chicago, and his wife paid for the summit. He said he tried to provide busing for 200 to 300 gang members from around the city, but the event drew no more than a couple of dozen gang members.

Tatum said he's not surprised by the poor attendance.

"I think people kind of have this wait-and-see mentality — even politicians, some clergy people, some gang members," said Tatum, who grew up in crime-plagued Cabrini-Green, the former housing project on Chicago's Near North Side. "They want to see if this is the same-old, same-old. And I understand that. I think they want to see some real change."

Tatum said he was inspired to organize the summit after speaking with a former gang leader in California last year. Tatum plans to organize similar events in Detroit, Kansas City, Mo., and possibly Cleveland because "God put it in my heart to go to these cities."

Chicago, Cleveland and Kansas City were the sites of highly publicized gang peace summits in 1993 where civic leaders and gang members met to find solutions to violence. Chicago's summit that year brought together several hundred gang members.

One of Saturday's speakers, Tio Hardiman, noted the 1993 gathering happened at a time when being in a gang was like a "badge of honor." Hardiman, a Democratic candidate for governor and former director of the anti-violence group CeaseFire Illinois, said youths today are more likely to be hesitant to admit their gang affiliations publicly, one reason he said few attended Saturday's event.

Hardiman also said attendance Saturday was low because many gang members sleep until the late morning or early afternoon. Saturday's program ran from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The summit kicked off with a vigil Friday night in honor of Chicago's homicide victims.

Tatum said he plans to schedule another summit in Chicago.

jgorner@tribune.com