Black Gang Members in 38 Cities Have Signed Up with Local Organizing Committees to Clean Up Black Communities
Chicago, Illinois – Black gang members across America are being asked to lay down their weapons and their illegal activities for at least one day and to help clean up Black America. In many Black communities, street gangs are one of the strongest institutions in the community. On April 16, 2016, thousands of Black Americans in at least 38 cities will join the Red, Black, Clean and Green day sponsored by Chicago’s Justice Or Else Local Organizing Committee, with support from the War on Filth and Fear and The Black Star Project.
In Chicago, a few of the gang members that clean-up will be paid a small stipend. Last year, Chicago Police spent $116 million on overtime. A fraction of that money for overtime could have been used for a jobs’ program for gang members to clean up their communities and to make our city safer during a summer jobs’ program. A University of Chicago study says that each gunshot wound in Chicago (about 2,600 last year) cost the city $1 million each or about $2.6 billion total. A year round jobs program for 10,000 gang members cleaning up the city would only cost $20,000 per year per gang member or would only cost $200 million per year, less than 1/10 of what we are currently paying for gang violence and violence reduction.
Activities during the Red, Black, Clean and Green clean-up day include:
- Picking up paper and trash
- Cleaning streets and alleys
- Cleaning vacant lots
- Cleaning away graffiti
- Cleansing the spirits of our children
- Planting flowers, vegetable garden, trees and grass
- Reporting dangerous and open abandoned houses
- Reporting abandoned cars and trucks
- Painting fences and street poles
- Establishing block clubs
- Saying “Hello” to neighbors, other Black Americans and other Americans
There are more than 100 Justice Or Else Local Organizing Committees across America, which are an outgrowth of the Justice or Else Million Man March. Men returning from the Million Man March were charged with getting into actions cleaning, saving and protecting their communities. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has said, “Look, men! We must make our community decent for our women, children and the elderly. We can do it better than the police. If we clean up our communities, we will be able to walk the streets in peace and security.”
Sel Dunlap, General Manager of the Campaign on Filth and Fear says, “We’re saying Red, Black, Clean and Green because our purpose is to encourage a sense of responsibility to self, family, the community. The effort isn’t solely about picking up paper and trash, it is also to plant the seeds of transformation in our people. We don’t have to tolerate the filth and fear that is crippling our spirit. The cleansing starts from the inside out.”
Please call 773.285.9600 for more information or to register your city and community for Red, Black, Clean and Green or Click Here to register your community and your city for this campaign.
