Guardian Angels in America's murder capital

The American Thinker ^ | Feb. 26, 2005 | Bob Weir

[Kitten Festival]

When I pulled my car into a parking space at Dallas City Hall, I looked over to my left, and there was the man in the red jacket and matching beret, talking on his cell phone as he paced slowly on the concrete strip. I had a 4 PM meeting with the leader of the legendary crime fighting group that has become an adjunct to the justice system in America.

He had just emerged from a meeting with Mayor Laura Miller, who, he told me later, was very negative about his presence in “her” city. Curtis Sliwa, the founder and leader of the Guardian Angels, was the victim of a stickup in the late 1970’s when he was a manager at a McDonald’s Restaurant in New York’s South Bronx. Fed up with the virulent crime that had become pandemic in the city, he organized residents, trained them to assist the police in dealing with street crime, and soon became a national symbol for victims who wanted to take back their neighborhoods. When Rudolph Giuliani became mayor, he directed officers to cooperate with the group, and crime in the Big Apple plummeted. Since those early days, Mr. Sliwa organized chapters of the Angels in dozens of cities across the country and in a few foreign countries.

[Kitten Festival]

A glimpse back at the Guardian Angels and why they are still necessary.

[ViLaLuz]

Wow, what an amazing story. I had no idea Sliwa had gone through this.

[Kitten Festival]

It was news to me, too! And right when he had retired to his own radio show - I guess an Angel's work is never done!

[Read2Know]

I remember when I was a kid in NYC, learning of the Guardian Angels and thinking, "these guys are crazy!"
They began by patrolling the NYC subways. Crime on in the city's rail system was spiraling out of control. They received little love from the police and city government. The subway riders welcomed and accepted them.

[jocon307]

Curtis Sliwa bump!

I love him, he's a real character.