[EggsAckley]

Now that they've dropped the little cross off the Los Angeles City Logo, who knows who's watching over them.

[abigail2]

One of the committee members, Project Islamic Hope’s Najee Ali, who made something of a name for himself leading protests during the recent Jeremy Morse-Donovan Jackson racially-charged police brutality case, was quoted as saying, “It’s Rodney King all over again.” Police chief Bratton called Ali “one of the biggest nitwits in Los Angeles” on CNN, just before Ali was named to the citizen’s committee.

After it was publicized that Ali has a trial pending for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident and identity theft, Ali hastily quit the citizen’s committee. Ali is reportedly a former member of the notorious Crips gang who was convicted of armed robbery in 1988 and who spent two years at the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi.

But even more interesting, the Christian Science Monitor interviewed Ali two years ago, and he revealed that he was an active participant in the ’92 L.A. riots! His name was reportedly Todd Eskew (before later changing it to a Muslim name in prison):

Ali can't recall how many windows he broke, or how many fires he and his friends started. They'd light anything in a store that would burn and spread flames quickly -- and then run. Their rage was born of poverty and humiliation, and years of perceived abuse by police and neighborhood Korean stores. ‘I was so angry I wanted to continue. But I stopped after two days out of sheer, physical exhaustion,’ says Mr. Eskew, who goes by the name of Najee Ali today…