The 51st State; Youth Gangs in the South Bronx

There's no fun. And then the third. Second and first floor is then turned off. But you know you've got the show. You saw the open bathroom you saw that. The water from that was on maybe they knew you were coming. OK. But. The students are absolutely powerless and. One. Of the things I've noticed in my school is that. Since these guys have. Been affecting. The neighborhood and the school. The kids have a sense a greater sense of power. They're not as frightened as they used to be. And. People who are becoming frightened now. Are the people who have been very repressive in the past. Mr. Weinberger has left. His assistant principal in charge of fear and repression has left. And. I think a lot of the other assistant principals would like to even if they could. And a lot of the teachers are saying that the school is getting terrible. I think they're saying is. That they're losing that kind of control over the kids that they've enjoyed in the past. I think the reason they're losing it. Is because. These young men who are becoming. You know. Full blown men. Are exerting an influence over the people inside the schools.

And the power is going to the people. We've been talking about the schools sound and the energy that these young people have. Commissioner gross could you offer some suggestions as to how that energy could be used. First of all I think that you talk about young people and I heard one of the workers say to themselves is 20 years old and it gets to be a little beyond our young person's age. I mean is that correct. The school does not solve the problem for basically most of the youngsters we have here. I think that what we have here is the failure of our system basically the failure of the job training problem we have to say the economy that we have the low job most of the golfers would like to get a job they possibly can and most of them would like to do something to better their living conditions working on the housing that these things are not available. I think one of the things that the system has to do is beginning to address themselves to those types of needs the needs that they have in that if we have job training

programs that we have a job training program where there's a guaranteed job at the end of it that you're not just training someone to have a trained young person stand on a corner and I think that's one of the basic problems that many of the problems we've instituted. We're also good at it. Another youngster was not good at the answers that we have here. And I think we have to begin to address ourselves to the yells that we have today and start dealing with the deaths of the 1950s. Is that true of the boys club as well as the Youth Services Agency. Mr. Barber Well Boys Clubs of America is a fairly conservative group and I believe that some fairly conservative view mean that there is no room in the Boys Club for youngsters like these actions that the world as a whole an international body. Our boys club has instilled in many new programs the program which I I'm director of is a first of any boys club in the country

working specifically with members of affiliated groups as conventionalized to call again. Our problem lies in the fact that I find that these kids don't want a handout. They don't want something that is given to them. They would like to work if they had the opportunity to get the jobs. Most of the programs the job training programs are leading to nothing. Nowhere in the Boys Club we have a job counselor. This man beats his head against the wall trying to find jobs. I mean you can we have in our program five hundred of the members. What about the I wrote about a program that that young man was a Puerto Rican in the Bronx started several months ago in which he began to renovate and look after apartments. What about the kinds of work that can be created and are there no possibilities to do that.

No I think that this is probably a good answer. We have the manpower we have the mine given the opportunity to establish themselves in businesses of their own given the opportunity as this young man did to be able to I think this goes a long way to solving a lot of our problems. If they can find themselves economically secure I think that then they can begin to deal with the system on the systems level rather than saying I'm a click on a member of something you know and you have to deal with me as that person. Yeah but is it necessarily negative or bad or not a not a good thing for these young people who consider themselves members of families or cliques. No I think this is one of the strong points of the cliques is that they are. They think they are family. They are together. Where is they you know the Ghetto brothers the peacemakers what have you. And they come together they have the machos to be

together to be strong. I think that this is what we should work and not try to destroy the strength to work with district up Watson. You're generally the host here tour some of the best listening with great interest. Let me throw one to Charlie Charlie. Most of the guys here are just that. Yeah. And the guys here dressed like like warriors you know. And I hear you talking about your war lords and your work Council. Who's the enemy. Stablish me that is hilarious. Let's talk about some of the politics of this. We don't want is for some days you just gotta say

sorry saga I can't hear. Just like you got. Us. How you doing. You got to watch this. I just assumed you guys I'm just going to let you know it. No difference. I mean years ago that window closed. So symbols don't don't mean that you feel like words. We all know what I want to tell you. The FBI around the Bronx now at this very moment is the police. She did a lot of damage around the area. She is as black and Puerto Rican. That's what they look at Understand. We try to communicate with each other communicate with them right. And now you just try to be one of my brothers that has been out not too long ago with a man and a man a guy who got no shoes no weapons. And then if we do something we'll be wrong. Yes this is a war you think. Yes it is. And we're here to

defend our brothers and sisters and because people like them. The very racist of you're going to communicate communicate man you're going to strike it if you're going to strike back. All don't. You do you feel a truce. Do you feel that the peacemaking that we saw taking place in that movie that we all watched together is solid like these guys put together. Not really. Not really. Why not. If the rest of y'all said the same thing. The enemy is the establishment. The enemy is the Hunkies the enemy is the cops. The enemy is me. Why aren't you together. I got it all started. This is the bad guys look at that. I know it was a miracle by the day that my mother came off last ship.

She came here and I pushed her in the ghetto maybe that was because she wanted to go. Or maybe because she had to go it just because she had to go. She had to do a lot as it was last fall over and over and over. Again. We Puerto Ricans were forced to come in to see our parents came here to look for better jobs. You know like a woman because at the time the island you know was fucked up you know and I did see that slogan love it or leave it. I'll leave it if you give me the money. You leave here. I will not leave you definitely I will because I want to do something that I want to see. I come to China to get a job. They say what are you going to have to get. Get a haircut because you know that was not going to do the job that you pay. You can't go because your pants on a man is doing something right. Well you just can't come out. So I'm with my brothers. This is my

family. I do something I'm not going to fuck them out of. What can you do to draw this group closer together so you get stronger. So you're making a case in that communication education to be for men like you and your educators going around in his political parties that have not been the party that lead you to educate you on what's happening now in the United States. You see like it's good to be before Lincoln and Washington what the league can do to my people did not make it free my people you know it was because see right. Or was it George Washington that went out there to fight. Yes. He fought against the British against the Spaniards. That's a big difference because again we might as well call us as Americans we are nothing man or even America we don't know what not America's state what do you what you refer to when you want to be quite what we are we are Puerto Rican

and black black. You know we're here. I like to talk to people. I follow the direction that you know what America is and when they went to Puerto Rico. They tell you America is beautiful America. Then I'll be you know and they say God bless America. It with a beautiful dream. And when we came on those banana boat we did not take that opportunity and we took that to get all the way to push you into the ghetto because they didn't get the job they Boyda. It was like a nightmare. I'm talking about did you want to go back. Well why not. You know why don't. You go back what's going to happen to your black brothers that you've now made an association with. You're beginning to re Puerto Rico Puerto Rico that's. The. Way you came. You know liberated will play. Well I'll

go you know we're pushing we all strive for the same thing that we are blessed people like I said before we get that together every day. I don't know if that's something that has been made clear or not clear. But you just said something if Puerto Rico were liberated in the way that you're talking about it could pat Watson go there. Yeah because I'm not sure that they don't. I mean that's what all these people are doing from the. Time I went to Puerto Rico in 1950. And I went back again in 1971 and I left in disgust wanting to vomit over everything because that island was just caught up and you know this is province by province. Probably. Hard times coming up in hotels.

You know Patrick it's you know it's be you and your wife and your children. No we as I did walk up to the hotel and even with my wife. They were letting us in. So we got to go back there and we got to it out. And then if people such as you come and have something to offer us fine. If I try. Don't take away from us because too much has been taken away from us. Anyway. You know you say that you said that they were warriors guard. Well they might look at you and say that you are wearing warriors too.

And you know they're into physical war because that's what's happening up there because maybe the cops are into physical war too and because when they lose their heads they get into physical world each other ok when the pressure gets too big. But maybe your uniform is is this is another kind of war. It's an economic war. You know you're an economic warrior. OK. And what you want the victory that you want perhaps and people who were you are warriors costume is to gain control over these guys. I won't say yes to that one saying that you know perhaps that's what it is when he says he can't go to work in this country. What you're saying is you want to deal with a judge you've got to put on your costume first and then once we have you control once we have won the war for your mind then we will let you take part in even though the war is costing you 13. Maybe some of them don't recognize that yet but a lot of them do because the Panthers and the Lords has elevated their

consciousness to the fact that you were warriors guard. When we come back to the point the question of mine was meant to bring out and ask you man if you feel that this group is becoming united enough. To get some real strengths out of themselves as a group if the ghetto brothers and savage skulls and the turbans and the Immortals are really at the stage where they can work together on what you think is what you think is gaining control of the schools you think is gain control of the police department who you think is gaining control of so many of the institutions up there. These are the police afraid of why are the police trying to relate to these guys and why are the principals and the assistant principals and teachers suddenly doing the big turnabout.

And they're no longer taking the guys in the office and beat them up because they're afraid of what happens. Happens what happens when when the Ghetto brothers and the suburbs go some other groups out of communities like the South Bronx get control. So they decide they decide what happens in the schools to the children that they have and the younger brothers and sisters they have they just saw the kind of education they're going to have. They need a teacher. OK. So the Benji's friends have said forget about teaching when you teach. Let's talk about the problems in the community. Forget about social studies that tell us hey let's get the hell out of this community. Let's talk about social studies that will make us understand this community that we're in. Benji what's going to keep you from becoming exactly like the people that you say are controlling you. What's going to come of me. No I'm going to keep you from becoming that exactly like you a lot of people today. And like I said again it's a system that even the policeman like I said Manny says that groups like this the Ghetto brothers I was beginning to take over the

schools they go to the police department to effect those institutions. What's going to keep you from becoming exactly the way they are. They just don't know know. This is just my. And I feel this way like this that we feel that we can't get like them because until we do what we want to do we can just get out because I know everybody at one time or another the boss tried to stick him and he said not smack the boss and leaves the job because we're not worried about doing this and about doing that. We want to do what we want. And I'm like you know everything we're thinking about is good but we're not all good study. You only got one alternative and that's to turn around and look at each other. I can't look at I can look at a man up and you know sitting up in the office because I'm down in the South Bronx. So what I do somebody met him. And that's how we fighting each other and the police help us to help my people they come. They beat up brothers. You know you know anybody that anybody has a lot of credit. But it's true. I've seen you

even I didn't believe and I live in the south but they come up and they'll tell you what you're looking at and pushed around you know and saying go back to Puerto Rico. They took this guy with his brothers and just locked him up in the basement. And I guess my soul he feels that he got his little things we didn't do you know a day down there. So he told me you don't push me now this brother you don't got beat up by about 25 people. You know what we got we're going to get him. It was not a rumble. They had their hands on the pieces. Not know what happened. So what we had to do was when they took him away and it almost cracked this code a little bit high maybe was a little bit out of hand. But the problem was you know you know talking to my. I want to grab my brother and I was pulling away you know demanding what to do to my kid. And when big brother went to grab the cop that was going to get him. They all grabbed what we had to do. We are exploring.

Sure. You become like you become like them sometimes you know it's hard for me to tell when I sit here I have to think about what I hear when I see things that are on the television too. I have to think about that occasionally. I think I'm struggling. And then what happens is that I find I'm getting taken off. So I don't really know maybe from your point of view I have become like that. I don't see my point of view. You don't me but you have made it above what some of us here made. And I'm wondering have you become like that too to have in this world does it need to become like. I think that I think that that what you have just described. All right. When you say to have you've left something out because there's a burden of responsibility that you've got to deal with. But I came to you and talked with you yesterday. OK. I talked with you we talked together. That's something that we've got to be able to keep doing. No matter

what I've got no matter what you got I don't know what you got. There's something else going on here. Is this third world that stupid death. Isn't that a race of people like you like us you know getting high and still having that responsibility to our own. I hope so. If you're going to do to get out of bed doesn't mean to be like that. I hope not. What are we fighting back. Get any responses I something I have it seems to me that we were taught a lot of stories here and I gotta go. I'm you but our president Manny. He been up and on county by county for five months already on charges of robbery where he didn't commit but they're

holding on because I say the Tovan said. Now when the turbans got organized for the second time people got scared to go around killing mugging and doing all the things that maybe in the past. Few gangs had done before. But we didn't because we all wanted to do was have our place back live with the people drawing the people and fighting against the people not with us or against us. And Manny was picked up because they said that Turbin robbed a supermarket and they still got them up there without any charges to prove that he was in it. It's like listen let me tell you about Manny Manny Rojo they they they arrest him they busted him for suspicion of armed robbery and they have sufficient evidence to convict the guy from $50000 to Will.

Now we got the community a man who had a lot of pool in the community. He had the people together. He had the kids in school together. He had the community by the $50000. Well that's a fishing area for suspicion armed robbery. They posted up to $20000 bail. Now this is one guy they say so he started the table. He got the people together. He got the majority of the store the people that all the stores around the world to back it up. I mean we began to start off with we started to clean the street. We stayed up a breakfast program we started a whole lot of things. My nanny had a whole lot of pool. And when they found out that Manny was a type in the daily news in all these paper take it was a label like gangs. And there we are again. But we're not we are all going to say you know we're a club type in ghetto. And the other

organizations from the South Bronx. We are all going to station to help the community we help the community. This one guy. Mike I will I will give my last drop of blood for him. But the brother of my only goal is to get this guy out my life. We're going to keep on pushing for this guy. And I don't care if I got to get my leg up that but managed to get him out. My question is what's what's your best estimate for the what's your prognosis for the use of the song. Frost first of all let me say something I think that before we forget what these young people are saying they have no organization because there's a need. They have a need that we adults whether we are parents or just having to live in the community and not fulfilling to them we haven't fulfilled today. Right. They have a need to name this organization trying to do the things that we have failed to do. I think that we have that other obligation that

once we see them moving in a positive way to do everything we possibly can to help them to move in a very positive way. And I think the prognosis is good. What do you mean by positive vein Mr. Gross. Fitting into your patterns in terms of not established not my body but fitting within the boundaries of the state. Let's face it file that extension it sets up a very big problem. Time got people like you with other people. You know what the money is coming down the road for the PC group. The figures money and the biggest part of the for you because we're taking a stand. They have pushed it so far and we're taking a stand now. You know and the biggest problem we have all the big money that's coming down. You have people like you and other people that are supposed to help the community. You're using that money and you putting that money in your pocket. Wait wait. You know you know you got a good point. You know like a few months ago you know my mother kept me getting to see

my brother just came from the sea. You know how much time he had to do with my eight months. He just got up. Let me tell you. You know and you know long took me two weeks. You don't want me to get power in the. That's what really get all the money that Rockefellers get proper for what methadone are you going to get to get hooked on it again. Get the drug later on you know. That's what they say and they could they say and if you feel rehabilitation you know why that's a concentration camp because you go in there you're locked up like a dog like the animal. I would put my own dog behind the barn they put it into the air like they say Rockefeller it could use that you know with next elections are coming up Rockefeller the NAACP. I donated 10 million dollars for this bullshit. You know he makes that old Rockefeller style and he gets a name for them. He's doing something for the community. He's helping me out. But now the biggest problem with the use of all the money is

coming down with a huge program. Now everybody wants a piece of the pie. And I know what you mean. But I just want to say you know one of the brothers a while ago talked about communication as being it's just you just saw so how are you going to use the communication and well so what you want me to tell you how you think. Now I just want to say this is the last thing I want to say because we're just about out of it for the night. But I think that we've had a lot of communication here tonight think you guys coming down here have told the world on a pretty big world for a whole lot they didn't know before that movie told the world. I didn't know before I you know I hope some of us are listening and I want to say thanks for coming here and no one listens. I'm hearing well not missing sources I would like to say something to Canada. France has been the worst there yet you have given us the least jobs for young people. You have given two other areas the bronze is hot to fight fight and fight for the few

jobs that we get. Now all of a sudden because there was a death and because there are certain problems you have decided that perhaps a few jobs might be let loose and perhaps. Under supervision you would open a storefront for them. You still do not trust them. I am. Not an. Easy on me. Promises made promises broken. Yes so what he did was take it back with his buddies. He took a step. You know that we can't be getting too hot on the man because he took a step. You know the minute you know anybody saying first is the same way we can put labels on nobody then you're saying when you're pointing your finger at him. Well that should have happen to be like you said you did it. It was everything that happened from the moment they came to school they were being pushed around pushed around. Now you begin to put your

finger people and when you make big mistakes because a man has tried not because he tried maybe somebody sniff it maybe somebody said the same and they'll have a little bit of he'll cut his moves. All right. He turned out to be all right but then we told the man a man say you got a good day here and another man maybe people what you say. Well if he comes out. What do you mean. Well let me explain something let me explain something please. Good night everybody. The man who you say he got was a flirt. So what. What was it. But no one is going to get taken away from us. Like I said you know I should do something to help them get away in seven months. I don't know what to say. I guess they say I don't know anything about the job which I know will last and when given to other areas.

Yeah. No it doesn't know what he's going to do. Yeah but is it the youth services agency that controls the job. Would you go. Yes. They do control it. We have less than anybody in the city. It is Thursday. It was called controlled youth. One of the things that we use which is a poll which was based on the poverty and that's based on the 90s comedy and it's not based on that column at the same time you're not going to come up for stopping it because you're giving us less and less each year. I don't know what it has been South Bronx so that you can give more jobs to our young people. Mr. Gross response is based on the poverty that was there when I first came. It was a poverty which I said was unfair. I said that when I found another formula I would utilize that which it does have any advice for my son

man. It's really strange to hear government supported gangs coming down from each other. Just a minute. It's really strange to see economic gangs killing each other and you know what I'm talking about is it's really funny to see two groups. That's why I'm going to buy you my exceptionally high I could use it to my Because of what I'm saying. Yeah it's really funny to see you. Wait a minute wait wait. You're fighting the same way the system is making a mistake. No way. Hey I've got a point about fighting. All I think was spinning our wheels a little bit. Yeah.

You know like let me tell you about something like a brother to bring up the form of of them both Charlie whether he agrees or not. There was put in to try to control costs. Are you going to say yes he was right. Why is he was paying the rent. Right. But at the same time kind of demanded try to control this too. Because like I said the opposite forces are killing each other. Why weren't you jumping up from there. There's a lot of people freaking other thereafter methane or kids who got no clothes. I know. So you stand there and if you you know I'm going to take you right out. I think that you're going to have to take it away because we're going to get black people knocking me. You see it happened to turn you out. I wonder if that's the way he's going to be let it be. I don't want to get the second shift for a second my fiance for people before anything else because we could always get a face that night and a basement is like when we started because we weren't going to end up again because like I said in

seven months we're probably just stuck. I don't give a fuck. I don't get it but I still exist. How much are they going to lose the center and seven months after that. Let me know when that decision is mine. It is. I want to. I just want to say that we're out of time now. I want to thank the folks for coming slowly and with an eye on what you're doing. We'd like to hear more from you. Tony I'll be in contact with you I hope I will. And within a year from now let's see where we all are. Do we have one more. We've got one for you are light statements like they say when you go to school they know for sure because if you stand up they tell you to sit on you touched on they tell you not to touch you. So what you. Get here.

Just. Like the. Me.

I