Southeast Queens PRESS

Cover Story

Forum To Fight Violence:
Remembering Southeast Queens'
Victims Of The Street

By UZO AKUJUO

The street life can be cruel and deadly.

The hardships, perils and loss associated with the street lifestyle were the focus of the Queens 2000 Commemoration Celebration — an event held last week at York College to remember the lives lost to Southeast Queens street violence.

At the day-long event at York College, speakers called for action to end street violence while sharing personal stories of how violence has affected them and examining solutions to help curb the number of lives claimed by the streets of Queens each year.

A CALL FOR SOLIDARITY

Greg X of Diamond Entertainment told the audience of close to 250 people at the Dec. 10 event that there are things other than drugs for the youth to be involved in and encouraged the inclusion of love and respect in the community, asking for the formation of "a unified body that cannot be penetrated by anyone."

Code Foundation poster bearing the faces of local victims of street violence.

According to him, the businesses around the area are not owned by black people. "They take our money and leave," he said. "When you see a young brother selling something, try to spend some money with him."

Recounting the story of when his daughter was assaulted by a white person at Queens Center Mall, Greg X said his family was made to look like the ones who had done something wrong.

Black people passed by and did not try to help, he explained stating the incident was indicative of a lack of necessary solidarity among black people.

"When you go to your job, you try to make friends with everyone; we don’t have any friends," he said.

LURED BY THE STREETS

Former prison inmate Jeffrey Copeland, formerly nicknamed "Jazz," said he once was a product of the streets, but God had a purpose for him.

Copeland said that he knew a lot of people on a shirt The Code Foundation, an organization formed to fight street violence, was selling to raise money for a youth center. The shirt contained the pictures of 56 victims of street violence. "I used to live a lifestyle that could’ve landed me on that shirt," he said.

The Kerri Edge
Children Dance Ensemble
performed for peace at the
Queens 2000 Commemoration Celebration.
Photo Courtesy of Keith Raynol

Copeland told the audiece that he spent a "great deal of [his] youth in jail because of [his] choices. I may not have had a lot, but I had enough to head where my parents where leading me; but I thought I needed more," explaining that he chose to deal drugs to get him enough money to satisfy his ego’s needs.

Copeland said that "Jazz" was his disease name because he gave himself the name as part of an ego trip. "Today, I witness many young men changing their names to feed their fantasies."

I want these young people to come back to reality, Copeland said.

Self described as a former street thug who was shot once in the head and twice in the back, Keith "Kilo" Rayner said, "I was Kilo, the god, today I am Kilo, the person."

Rayner said that introspection has changed him. "He who knows others is clever. He who knows himself is intelligent," he said.

Rayner explained that it is not easy to stay straight.

"When you say goodbye to yesterday, you have to say goodbye today and tomorrow because you still get those feelings every now and then," he said.

"The strong ones are the little children who have to live without their parents," he said. Thinking about them and the parents who had been killed, many of them his former friends, made it hard for him to hold back tears.

Rayner joined in the call to action. "Here’s a test to know if your work is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t," he said.

Jeff, another former street tough, who lost his younger brother to street violence at the beginning of the year while he was in jail, talked about when he used to be afraid of Rayner. "But how about those people who liked the respect Kilo was getting?" he asked.

He blamed himself for the lifestyle that led his brother to his death. "I was giving him something to look at," he said.

He expressed his determination to work toward the positive henceforth. "I want to get involved in this," he said. "If we can lose our lives destroying our community, I’m ready to risk mine building our community." He asked people not to allow drug dealers in their neighborhood. "Tell the drug dealers, ‘I live here; you’re not doing this here’," he said.

STAYING OFF THE STREET

"Young people in church get added power. If you go to church, at least you know what’s right and what’s wrong,"said Councilwoman Helen Marshall who added that a church is a good place to hide during a violent occurrence on the streets.

The councilwoman said that adults have to be responsible not only for their children, but for the whole community because "you can’t raise your children in a vacuum."

Marshall said that many young people do not have the same respect today and speak back to adults unlike in the past.

"It starts with respecting yourself," she said.

"The system today is working against our people," Marshall said. "What’s happening today in our courts, it’s enough to bleed."

Marshall called for a stop to capital punishment, saying that some of the court appointed defense counsels are not up to par.

Rep. Gregory Meeks said that the Lord works in mysterious ways, explaining that black people have survived because "we are a strong people and a people who were put here for a reason."

"I get tired when I hear complaints about a school; I pop in at a PTA meeting, and there are two or three parents," he said.

Meeks said that a strong Parent-Teachers Association equals a strong school and stressed the importance of an education in ending violence, pointing out that 80 percent of those in jail do not have a high school diploma.

"We (also) need to teach that it is not stylish or cute to have a baby when you are still a baby," Meeks said. "Anybody can have a baby. Being a man is being a role model, providing for your baby, taking care of your baby," Meeks added.

Meeks said that being from the streets does not have to be a disadvantage. "I am a graduate of UCLA—University at the Corner of Lenox Avenue," the congressman said.

ESTABLISHING A CODE

The Queens 2000 event was sponsored in part by The Code Foundation Inc.

The Code Foundation, Inc. was founded by Matu Shakur, father of late rapper Tupac Shakur while he was in prison for Black Panther activities.

Shakur gave a charge to his son and Erica Ford to form an organization that would instill morals among black youth that he noticed were missing in young people coming into jail.

It was launched in 1994 by a concert at Jamaica’s Roy Wilkins Park.

Code co-founder Erica Ford defined violence as more than just a shooting. "Violence is a lack of quality health care. Violence is a lack of quality education. Violence is a lack of quality housing. Selfishness is violence because it impedes on another individual’s life," she said.

WHERE TO TURN FOR HELP

For more information on the fight against youth violence call:

• The Code Foundation: 399-8532,

• Jamaica Branch NAACP: 723-3653,

• Mothers Against Guns: 276-5802.