Wallace Bradley (Gator) states..."I use these men (Malik Jeff Fort and Larry Hoover) influence with their permission to help stop this madness because they are speaking as fathers and grandfathers who understand how other parents and grandparents feel. We don't need anyone who don't understand that we are taking a stan...d to help save our children and grandchildren and... all the chilren and grandchildren in our community. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. WHO YOU WIT?!!!!!! Please share this messege with you FBF. Thank you."
Are T's exploitation, or a sign of desperation?
Either way, youth shouldn't be idolizing gang leaders
I don't speak the language that gang members understand. But Wallace "Gator" Bradley, a former gang enforcer, and Jim Allen, a youth pastor who was once in a gang, do.
Recently the men teamed up to create a T-shirt that purportedly carries a message from two of the city's most notorious gang leaders.
On the front of the T-shirt are gang symbols in a circle with the words: "Stop the Violence One Love."
On the back of the shirt is a warning:
"[F]rom Malik Jeff Fort and Larry Hoover: Senseless shooting and killings must stop; raping of our women and children must stop; the robbing and disrespect of our seniors must stop."
Those who do not heed the warning will not "be honored, respected or loved on the streets, in the county jail, state or federal joints," the message proclaims.
I've been unable to verify that the warning actually comes from Fort or Hoover. Both men are confined to a Supermax federal prison in Colorado.
But it isn't the men's words that Bradley is trying to exploit. It is their influence.
Hoover, the leader of the Gangster Disciples, has been behind bars since 1973. He is 59 years old and is serving a life sentence for drug conspiracy and extortion.
And Fort, the enigmatic leader of the Black P. Stones and founder of the El Rukn faction, was convicted of conspiring to commit terrorist acts with Libya against the United States.
Fort, 63, will be 91 years old when he's released from prison.
"People are saying that gangs are not listening to anyone, but the influence that Hoover and Jeff have on individuals, who were maybe 19 years old when they went to jail, are fathers and grandfathers now.
"They know that what is going on in these streets right now is not going to be tolerated,"Bradley said. "People in the community are fed up."
George W. Knox is director of the National Gang Crime Research Center. He is skeptical.
"Jeff Fort and Larry Hoover are not known for their pro-social behavior," Knox said.
''It is like saying a serial killer like Ted Bundy or a serial arsonist is saying: 'Hey we've got to be more careful.'"
However, Knox also acknowledges that both gang leaders have been "institutionalized."
"People still talk about Malik, and you can go to the malls and order Larry Hoover T-shirts," Knox pointed out.
Allen, who came up with the shirt's graphic design, said he is trying to start a movement by reaching out to those who have ever been affiliated with gangs.
"Not everyone involved in gangs is a gang-banger. I am sure you remember the picture of Derrick Rose," he said.
The Chicago Bulls player was captured in a college photo flashing gang signs but said it was a "bad joke."
"Just because someone is affiliated does not mean they are a gang-banger. A gang-banger is somebody who is doing violence under the umbrella of a gang," Allen explained.
Knox called this T-shirt campaign just another "scam."
"[Bradley] is exploiting these names. The fact is, he is promoting the shirt to children. Young gang members will buy anything that elevates their structure of the gang.''
"This is definitely not a scam," Allen countered.
"It is naive to think that you can reduce gang violence without dealing with the current and former gang members. I took a page out of President Obama's book when he was running his campaign and he said he was willing to sit down with America's enemies," the former gang member said.
"I don't see why we can't do the same with gang members."
Most people have someone they idolize.
But it is tragic that young gang members look up to men who will be locked up for the rest of their lives.
Because the real shame of Bradley's warning isn't that he's exploiting Fort and Hoover's gangster image.
The real shame is that the young men who are terrorizing our communities are more than likely the sons of the ordinary men who are wasting away in jails.
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