Of Bibles, Crips and Bloods

One-by-one, last Thursday, they filed out of a van and into the doors of Rehoboth Cathedral on MacDougal Street in Bed-Stuy.

On first glance, it might have seemed heartwarming: Fourteen, bright-eyed and playful teenagers -- mostly boys and one girl – marching right into a church, after school.

But this was no teen Bible study group. In fact, Bible scriptures were the last things on their minds.

They were Crips, Bloods and Brower Gang members from Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, East New York and Brownsville, headed into a rare sit-down meeting with a group of neighborhood clergy.

The “secret” gathering had been arranged by Bishop Gerald G. Seabrooks of Rehoboth and included four other local ministers, Reverend David Craig, Dr. Cheryl Anthony, Bishop Riley and a handful of community leaders.

The agenda: Build a bridge to the neighborhood's most disenfranchised young members, and find a way to stem the growing tide of black-on-black violence.

The invited group ranged in age from 14 to 26. They climbed the stairs inside of the church to reach the community room where chairs had been arranged in a round-robin fashion.

The following are excerpts from that meeting. No pictures were allowed, and the gang members’ names have been changed to honor their privacy.

(“He gave them $200,” whispered the guy sitting behind me, to my left)...

(“Man, why didn’t he tell us we was coming to a church,” mumbled one of the teens)...

(“How long is we supposed to be here?” asked another teen)...

Bishop Seabrooks opened the meeting with prayer. Everyone introduced themselves. Then, he stated the purpose of the gathering.

Bishop Seabrook: "We’re here today because we, as members of this community, are seeing too many of our young people die in the streets. So we are compelled to do something about it. You are precious. You are a gift from God. You are part of the community. And to have your life snuffed out is a problem to us.

“We met with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly the other day. He tells us, that although crime is down in the city overall, it is up 30 percent in our neighborhoods since 2010. Ray Kelly seemed sincerely concerned. And he wanted to know why the African-American community has been so silent about this; Why we are not up in arms, trying to reach the youth and do something about the killings within our own communities.

“We can’t blame the mafia. We can’t blame other races. This is us, doing this to ourselves. And we want to know what is going on. Why is there so much black-on-black crime? Talk to us. What is it that you want? What is it that you need?”

Anthony, 26, the group’s leader: "These dudes, they active, they wild, but really, they’re just looking for something to do. I’m gonna apologize up front for them if you see them laughing or talking or just being silly, but they’re young, they just kids. You ask us what we need. We need some place to go. We need something to keep our minds active. We need jobs."

DeShawn, 17: "I’m gonna speak on behalf of my Brower Park crew. We all grew up together. I mean, I’m talking starting at 5, 6 years old. We didn’t know we were gonna come to this. We were playing together in the park, hanging out at the community centers, you know, whatever programs they had for us. Then, a lot of the activities were taken away from us. People thought those services was no big deal. But for little kids, it left us with nothing to do.

"So we started creating what we called 'Bang Out Fridays,' where we would just go around and punch people in the face and run. I mean, and that was just us. That was just my block. We would move around to other places, other blocks and there was lots more groups like us, all of us bored and trying to prove something, trying to be somebody.

"Then my little cousin got shot in the stomach. I was hurt so bad when he died. And my mother kept pleading with me to not let that happen to me. I got a felony on my hands. But I was lucky. I served some time and was given another chance. A few people told me that I was smart, I was special and had potential. I told myself that if one more person came to me and told me I got potential, I’ma try to do something about it. So, I mean, I’m trying, but what’s out there?"

Bishop Seabrook: "So basically, you’re saying, you need jobs and you need activities, some place to keep you active?"

Anthony: "Yeah, when I wake up each morning, I’m not thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to work.’ I’m thinking, 'What am I going to do today? I don’t know.’ So that means I can get into anything, and it won’t matter to no one."

Ray, 19: "Okay, y’all wanna know why we killers, but look at America-- America is in Iraq, killing innocent people, using guns to kill babies and people they don’t even know."

Bishop Seabrook: "Yes, but the army is defending a country. They are defending your freedoms."

Ray: "And we defending our block. I mean what’s the difference?"

A community leader: "Fellas, you say you’re defending your block, but you’ve got children and elderly people on your block who are getting murdered for no reason. You’re not defending your community. You’re not even defending yourselves if you’re killing each other…"

Ray: "Yeah, but I’m sayin’, how much can you blame us when Americans doing it too, but they excusing it for themselves."

Anthony: "It’s called 'Brownie Points.' People harbor feelings. And that’s the worst thing, when you can’t talk something out. When you don’t know how to talk something out."

A community member: "Can I just speak for these kids? Me coming from the environment that they live… When things go down, there’s no one there to help break it up. Individuals are left to defend themselves. Let’s say an altercation does happen, there’s nobody in the middle to break us up. The police aren’t gonna come. And if they do, I mean, people don’t want to go to jail."

Bishop Seabrook: "So would you say it’s fear? Is it anger? We need to know why it has to escalate to the point where we are killing one another. You tell us, what do you need to see to not feel like you need to kill."

DeShawn: "I wouldn’t call it anger. I call it ignorance. It’s a character. It’s not about Bloods, Crips, whatever, it’s about what block you from these days. I mean, I’m Brower Gang, but he’s a Blood (he nudges the guy next to him, who thumbs a string of blue and white beads from underneath his shirt). We still come together to represent our block. You feel like f*** it, I’m gonna bang out. It’s like, it’s so easy. Somebody puts a gun in your hand, all you have to do is squeeze the trigger. You don’t even have to look if you don’t want to."

Takeem, 23; Went to TCI, then Colombia University; is a certified computer technician. He didn't finish at Columbia, and now, he cannot find a job: "My whole family, we fixed computers. That’s just what we did, so I had no problem getting into a college and getting my license to fix computers. I mean, I found out the corniest people have the best lives.

"But when I ended up back on the streets with my crew, I understood it was about taking a negative situation and turning it positive. I mean we try to be optimists. You start looking at all the negativity day in and day out, like, 'This is all I have going for me? Then let me make it happen. Let me make the best out of the negativity.’ It’s P.O.M.E. It means product of my environment.

"I have all kinds of disorders, so my mind is all over the place. If someone threatens someone I love, it’s going down. When it’s time to buckle up (he turns his baseball hat backwards), heads gettin’ bust."

Bishop Seabrook: "We want to talk about the use of the word ‘nigger.’ Now, we come from a time where we had to struggle for many of the rights you all have today. You cannot understand the pain and the history behind that name and how it’s something we fought for so long to do away with… And to hear you all call each other that, every other word…"

Takeem: "Everything is about trying to take a bad situation and make it good. Like I said before, we try to be optimists. There’s always so much negative. It’s like when you first start using it, you’re told, ‘Yo homie, it’s not NIG-GER, it’s NIG-GAH,' and we like, 'ooooooh, okay.’ So we switch it up. Make it not be a bad thing."

Bishop Seabrook: "So, y’all wanna work with us? Because the only other options you’re leaving for yourselves is death or prison. And you don’t understand, prison is a big business. It’s the new slavery. We’ll give you our phone numbers if you want someone to talk to. We will meet with the mayor, Kelly, whoever it takes and talk about how important it is we bring back some of these recreational centers and how you brothers need training first, and then jobs. We will try to help you get jobs.

"Will you stay in touch with us? Will you meet with us again? I think this is a good start…"