Posted on 10/10/2008 5:19:59 AM PDT by syriacus
[NB: this is from March 19, 1996]
Salim Muwakkil reports on 21st Century Vote, an organization created by former members of Chicago’s largest street gang, Gangster Disciples.
Wallace “Gator” Bradley, a former gang member turned community leader, praises the group for offering a more productive way for disenfranchised youth to channel their energy and take part in the political process.
However, the police and mainstream media claim that the organization is simply an illegitimate front allowing the Gangster Disciples to gain more influence.
Bradley defends 21st Century Vote as a group sincerely working to bring a stop to gang violence from the inside out, and steer young people away from crime. He views denouncement of their efforts from politicians and others as an obstruction to progress.
I remember the Blackstone Rangers (who later renamed themselves the Black P Stone Nation) seemed not much more to me than criminals, but they also had designs on "community organizing", which basically meant controlling the money flow from what really amounted to extorting government agencies, into "community projects". There's a lot more money in extorting government and big business than there is in extorting neighborhood restaurants.
Wallace 'Gator' Bradley Sues Aaron Patterson's Attorneys In Burge Torture Case
The suit seeks compensation of $238,475 owed to Mr. Bradley by the two law firms for his consulting work [snip]The consulting work that Mr. Bradley provided included services as an investigator, urban translator, and public relations advisor.
You are a racist! Offering any opinion or criticism is proof positive!!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-7s2a88o9aY
/s
Bradley claims to have consulted for ....Barack Obama.
And what office will the demonrats be putting this guy up for next year? Or will they wait until 2012 to run him for president (and get his but landslided by Sarah)?
Marxists <3 Obama
A group called 21st Century Vote, which has ties to Chicago's largest gang, the Black Gangster Disciples, is trying to oust Ms. Tillman, who represents the South Side neighborhoods of the Third Ward, and elect Wallace (Gator) Bradley, who has served prison time for armed robbery.[snip]The election is being watched as a test of the political power of street gangs. The 21st Century group mounted a demonstration at City Hall two years ago with thousands of young men, many of them wearing the familiar colors of the Gangster Disciples.[snip]In recent years, the Black Gangster Disciples group claims to have changed its focus -- and its name, to Better Growth and Development.
But the Chicago Crime Commission is skeptical of the gang and its political arm. In a 1994 report, the commission said the board of the 21st Century Vote included "convicted drug dealers and murderers."
Gang leaders such as Jeff Fort--the leader of the Black P Stone Nation--which later became the El Rukns--looked on government as a source of cash.Federal War on Poverty programs of the late 1960s naively earmarked thousands of dollars in grant money to be dispersed through the leadership of Fort's gang and another rising group, the Gangster Disciples.
In the early 1970s, Fort and several other gang members were convicted of misspending nearly $1 million of that money.
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