LEGISLATORS ADDRESS 'HOMETOWN TERRORISM'

October 11-17, 2007

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Gangs and drugs are terrorizing communities of
color and it is up to government at all levels to combat it.

That was the general conclusion of a brain trust, "Terrorism at Home:
Breaking the Grip of Gangs and Drugs in Our Communities," sponsored
by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in collaboration with the National
African American Drug Policy Coalition, a consortium of Black
organizations committed to changing the drug laws and culture to the
benefit of Blacks.

Cummings is a proponent of homeland security and "hometown security," he says.

"People in our neighborhoods are not afraid of Osama bin Laden but
are more afraid of people who are sitting next to them," he said.
"Homicides in my city, Baltimore, are on pace to reach record levels
this year. One of the products of this is gang violence.

"But it is not just people in the city but the suburbs. They are
joining gangs, also."

Young people joining gangs has become a major problem today, Frank
Clark of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, Gang
Intervention and Investigation Unit, said.

"More kids are aspiring to become gang members and it is reaching
epidemic proportions," Clark said. "Not only is it the Bloods, the
Crips and MS-13, but it is these neighborhood crews that are causing problems."

Clark said that parents need to be cognizant of the type of people
that there children associate with and if they start wearing certain
colors on a consistent basis.

"People in our neighborhoods are not afraid of Osama bin Laden but
are more afraid of people who are sitting next to them."

Alabama Drug Court Judge Martha Lynn Sherrod said that tattoos,
graffiti, hand signals and colors are strong indicators whether gangs
are in an area. She noted that medium-size cities like hers,
Huntsville, have been targeted by gangs.

"It is no longer the big cities or L.A.," she said. "The new
recruiting grounds are smaller cities where people are struggling to
live. What are fueling gang activity are illegal drugs and it is lucrative.

"Gangs are becoming employers of our youth."

Snitching, or telling law enforcement authorities on the activities
of criminals, has become a problem in many big cities. In Baltimore,
there is a culture on inner-city streets where people who snitch face
retaliation. At its mildest, a snitch is ostracized from his/ her
peers; at its worst, "rats" are beaten or killed.

Cummings has worked with such people as Denver Nuggets star Carmelo
Anthony in trying to stop retaliation for snitching. Rahim Jenkins, a
senior policy advisor for the Office of the Mayor of the District of
Columbia's Ex-offender Affairs Office, said that witnesses do not
come forward because much of America is caught up in a culture of violence.

"You have to understand how these young people look at things," he
said. "They understand that the Bloods and the Crips are gangs, but
they also think that the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Congress are gangs. Why?

"Because to them, they function as a gang. The Senate and the
Congress protects its members and, in their view, act a certain way
and commit crimes to be a part of their gang.

"It is the same way with athletic teams. It does not make sense but
that is the way they think."

Kenneth Barnes, president of ROOTS (Reaching Out to Others Together),
said that gun violence is a problem in Black communities.

"So far this year I have attended 50 funerals this year," he said.
"These were funerals of our youth. These young people have access to
guns too easily. "Something must be done to stop this."

Clarence Edwards, the president of National Black Law Enforcement,
said that the situation was not hopeless.

"I think that we can turn this around in our communities if we work
together," he said. "We should embrace our youngsters and tell them
that we love them."

Edwards said that he has gone to D.C. public schools that had been in
bad shape and has been told by youth that they don't thing that the
adults care about them.

Jenkins said that gangs have gotten so bad in some neighborhoods that
"they have become the new slave masters." Nkechi Taifa, a senior
policy analyst for the Open Society Institute, said that the federal
government should allow cities, counties and states to implement
strategies to fight gangs.

"Sometimes the feds get in the way and it should be a local matter in
order to stop gangs," she said. "The feds should assist the local and
the state governments. Only the local and state government knows the
unique situation that they face."

Howard University School of Law Dean Kurt Schmoke, a former state's
attorney and mayor of Baltimore, said that stronger role models are
needed in the community and the police must play a larger role in
fighting crime.

Schmoke said, "It will take all of us to stop the growth and
proliferation of gangs."