King J (in white shirt) and fellow members of the Latin Kings.
We have been following the peace process that was initiated by King J AKA Jorge Cornell and the North Carolina Latin Kings since the beginning, through all of its trials (literally many trials) and tribulations.
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We at Malcolm-Che have payed a lot of attention to this process because we feel it is one of the most important developments in the streets in all of America. It is not every day that a member of a street organization initiates a peace process between street organizations, but more than that this process has endured many attempts by the establishment to shut it down and has even branched out into important activist fields like pro-immigration and anti-racism work.
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We knew King J was serious about peace when he reiterated his commitment to the peace process even after being shot. So it is with a great deal of solidarity that we report these two most recent developments:
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Greensboro councilman embroiled in conflict with gang
http://www.yesweekly.com/article-6523-news.html
Old wounds transfer into new grievances, while new controversies supplant old ones along familiar battle lines in Greensboro.
The 1979 Klan-Nazi killings and the black police officers’ discrimination claims against the city have steamrolled into a new conflict between District 4 Councilman Mike Barber and the street organization known as the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, or the Latin Kings.
Barber had ended up on the losing side of a vote to issue a statement of regret about the Klan-Nazi killings at a recent Greensboro City Council meeting on June 16, and one of those speaking in favor of the motion was the Rev. Cardes Brown. The pastor had recently hosted a press conference for Officer AJ Blake, one of the plaintiffs in the discrimination lawsuit and a former member of the gang unit assigned to investigate the Latin Kings. Blake is currently suspended while he appeals two convictions for assault on a female. The Rev. Brown has alleged that Barber offered to help Blake get his criminal charges dropped in exchange for withdrawing from the discrimination suit. It was not quite midnight near the end of the council meeting when Barber made public remarks about a house on Keeler Street behind Sedgefield Elementary where neighbors have reportedly complained about gunfire. The house lies in District 5, which is represented by Barber’s colleague, Councilwoman Trudy Wade. “There is an 18-year-old and a 21-yearold that lives in this home, and they are members of the gang the Latin Kings,” Barber said, reading from notes. “They have discharged a firearm in the neighborhood.
They have been investigated by the sheriff’s department — the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department — for internet prostitution, pornography and have committed other bad behavior in the community.”
For good measure, Barber added, “This is the same organization, I’ll just mention, that Cardes Brown is defending currently.”
He continued, “We’ve got our three 18carat gold ministers that are calling press conferences to defend these wonderful citizens of our community that are discharging weapons around children.”
Jorge Cornell, leader of the Latin Kings in North Carolina, responded that he kicked out four Latin Kings who are currently residents at 2809 Keeler St. in late April for doing things “that were not fitting for a king or queen.” As to whether his organization was
involved in prostitution and pornography, Cornell said, “None whatsoever; that’s not even our style.”
Col. Randy Powers, the Guilford County’s Sheriff’s Office’s second in command, contradicted Barber’s statement. “Apparently he must be talking about some other sheriff’s office. It wasn’t ours. I don’t think we’ve got anything going, and we’ve checked pretty deep.” Barber did not return phone calls requesting clarification about the source of his allegations.
Cornell said the neighbors’ complaints about firearms being discharged at the address might be related to shots fired at the house rather than from it. The Latin King leader, who now lives on Kirkman Street, said he had been shot at twice at the Keeler Street house before he moved in February 2008. Greensboro police have made one service call to 2809 Kirkman St. in the past six months. At 2:39 a.m. on June 8, Guilford Metro 911 received a call from a woman saying four or five shots had been fired and her daughter, 21-year-old Ashley Lazo, had received a gunshot wound. The dispatcher summarized the mother’s comments as “This happened now…. The assailant is gone: drive-by shooting. There is serious bleeding.” A police press release later reported that Lazo “sustained nonlife-threatening injuries from the shots fired into the residence.”
The Rev. Johnson, Jorge Cornell and other members of the Latin Kings held a press conference at Faith Community Church on June 18, two days after the councilman’s comments, to decry what they describe as a pattern of harassment by the gang unit and to call on the city council and the police department to dismantle that unit. “I feel the chief is weak,” said Cornell.
“I feel he has no power over any member of his police department. I challenge any city council member to prove that the Latin Kings have any involvement in internet prostitution or internet pornography. We’re not about that. And I challenge any member of the city council to prove to me that I got any member of the ALKQN living on Keeler Street.”
Johnson said he was saddened by the contentious nature of the current council, and asked Barber to consider meeting with them. “If there’s a view that there is violence going on and that we as a group of ministers
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Latin Kings claim harassment, police deny
http://www.carolinapeacemaker.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=97300&sID=4
The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation of Greensboro is accusing the Greensboro Police Department Gang Squad of harassment and calling for the squad to be dismantled. “If we have peace, then there’s no need for a gang unit. They’ve done everything they could to slander our name,” said ALKQN leader Jorge Cornell, also known as King J, during a press conference held last week at the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro.
In June 2008, ALKQN proposed and signed an agreement to promote peace and unity among the area’s street gangs. However, during the past year, the members of the ALKQN stated that they have been wrongly jailed numerous times, kept under constant surveillance and harassed at their homes and jobs by the gang unit. Greensboro’s gang unit has been formally in operation since September 2008.
Assistant Chief of Police Dwight Crotts said that the gang unit is not targeting the ALKQN and that they have received numerous calls requesting service at a residence where the group frequents. “I have not seen or heard what is being alleged by the group, but the only thing I can say is that there is not a targeting. The gang unit deals with many criminals and many street gangs,” he added, “The next important factor is helping people who want to get out of gangs.”
Cornell stated at the press conference, “They (gang unit) have been attempting to destroy the peace process which I announced back in June of 2008…The gang unit has also attacked us personally.” Cornell believes there are many racist attitudes within the gang unit.
In response to the gang unit trying to stop the peace and unity work which ALKQN is trying to accomplish, Crotts says, “That’s ludicrous. I think the opposite would be true. The gang unit has been very effective to date and the difference between the Latin Kings and other street gangs is that the Latin Kings try to draw attention to themselves, whereas others do not.”
During the press conference, Cornell recounted an incident in June 2008, in which he was informed there was a warrant out for his arrest, however after going to the police station to turn himself in, no arrest warrant could be found on file. Days later, there was a warrant issued for Cornell’s arrest. He was charged with knowingly allowing a minor (16-year-old) drive his car without a license. According to Cornell, ALKQN has been charged more than 80 times by the police department, yet none of the charges were upheld in court.
Reverend Nelson Johnson of Beloved Community Center said, “If there are over 20 felony charges on one person, and none of them are upheld in court, then on what basis are these charges made? The main question is ‘what do we need a gang squad for?”’ Johnson is one person that has been very supportive of the gang’s peace attempts and believes it is in the community’s hands to stop the gang unit from abusing their power. “I think we need discussions all over town to get to the bottom of this.”
Reverend Gregory Headen, president of the Pulpit Forum of Clergy of Greensboro added, “So much of the power rests with the people. This is not just the Latin Kings’ problem; this is all of our problem. It’s going to take the whole community to say this is not acceptable.”
Press conference holders also stated their displeasure at remarks made by Greensboro City Councilman Mike Barber to the public, accusing the ALKQN members of internet prostitution, pornography and discharging firearms in the neighborhood. “I challenge any council member to find any of my members involved with those things,” said Cornell.
Phone calls made to Barber by the Peacemaker were not returned.
The ALKQN said they are going to continue their promotion of safe communities by trying to bring the street gangs together for unity.
Peace and unity is also what the police department claims to want. Crotts said, “Absent criminal activity, the gang unit wouldn’t be paying attention to this group. The focuses of the gang unit’s efforts are criminal activity related to street gangs.”
are aiding and abetting that violence, instead of helping to get it out, then that should be stated clearly and some kind of way of stating what that is,” Johnson said. “And I’d love to meet with Mr. Barber, and anybody else on the council to discuss that out. What’s sad is when that becomes a political platform to play to the historically accumulated prejudices and fears of people. And it has nothing to do with the reality. Nobody ever talked to you about it. Nobody wants to meet with you about it.” Johnson added that he understood Barber’s statement about “our three 18-carat gold ministers” to be a reference to himself, Rev. Brown and Rev. Gregory Headen, and dismissed the councilman’s slight as an attempt to shift attention away from his own troubles.
“At a press conference held two weeks ago, the brother of AJ Blake accused Councilman Barber of saying that he could get [AJ Blake] off if he would drop out of the suit of 39 African-American and people-of-color officers against the city,” Johnson said. “And Mr. Barber vehemently denies that. We actually believe it and know it’s true. And proper time will probably demonstrate that it’s true. I think Mr. Barber’s statement was more about deflecting that improper conduct that could result in his losing his [law] license than it was any truth related to what he said.” Johnson said the pastors’ condemnation of the gang squad should not be interpreted as an effort to detract from the police department’s legitimate mandate to protect public safety.
“We need good law enforcement,” the pastor said. “We need a good strong police department, but those parts of the police department whose behavior can be documented — and just arresting people and having it be thrown out of court — they have forfeited their right to exist as a contributing part of the community. And in no way should that be related to a relaxation or any lack of appreciation for safety in the community.”
The pastors presented a written proposal to then-City Manager Mitchell Johnson, Mayor Yvonne Johnson and the city’s human relations commission earlier this year that “asked the police for a space for this group to work with other groups and to hold meetings that are not surrounded by the police and people are afraid to come to the meeting,” the pastor said, adding that the city manager “took an interest in it,” but was fired (for unrelated reasons) before he could take action on it. The pastors have also met on several occasions with Chief Bellamy. The Rev. Johnson said the chief told them gang violence was falling in Greensboro.
The call to disband the gang unit and to open new dialogue has been met mostly with rejection. Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat said the Latin Kings were pursuing the proper course by filing complaints with the city’s human relations commission, and that she was not interested in meeting with the pastors or the street organization “at this time.” She conceded that “the talk and probably the presence of gangs was more active and more prominent before,” but argued that perceived trend made a case for the gang unit’s effectiveness.
“At some point we may have to make a decision,” Groat said, “but not right now.” At-large Councilman Robbie Perkins said, “We aren’t negotiating with the head of the
Latin Kings,” adding that they were welcome like any other residents to speak from the floor during council meetings.
“We formed a gang unit for a reason, and I’m not sure the reason we formed it has disappeared,” he said. “Certainly we welcome dialogue with anybody to make Greensboro a safer place.”
District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny said there was “not a chance in hell” that he would support disbanding the gang unit. “Our police gang unit is doing a great job,” he said. “This is just another typical Cardes Brown and Nelson Johnson deal. They won something on Tuesday night, and they’re trying to throw stones and rile feathers. No, I have absolutely no desire to take down a police gang unit that is being successful.”
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