Gang Peace Treaty Holds One Year Later
During the one year anniversary celebration of the May 21, 2004 historic ceasefire initiative between the Bloods and Crips in Newark, members of Saving Our Selves (SOS), activists and community and religious leaders, observed the 9th gang set to the sign the list of signatories of the agreement.
Newark, (PRWEB) June 4, 2005 -- Since the age of nine, the only life Machete
has known is that of gangs. In the last 365 days alone, the 24-year-old has lost
no less than four “homies” to gang-related violence. He has had enough.
Following a series of meetings with Saving Our Selves (SOS), he decided it was
time for his set of Bloods to do what they should have done a long time
ago.
During the one year anniversary celebration of the May 21, 2004
historic ceasefire initiative between the Bloods and Crips here, Machete was
joined on stage by members of SOS, activists and community and religious
leaders, as his pen stroke officially added Red Dog Piru gang set to the list of
signatories of the agreement.
His decision was not a difficult one, he
said. In the past year, he has matured to a point where he was able to see that
he was in a no win situation. “We weren’t winning what we were doing,” he
admitted.
From the time the treaty was singed last May, SOS has worked
hard to change the image and perception of gangs throughout the city. Co-Founder
Byron Kelley admits their efforts have been slowly progressing—they’re about
halfway to where they would like to be—but the organization has been able to
make some strides and is headed in the right direction.
To read the
complete article, visit http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2028.shtml
FinalCall.com
News is committed to providing continuing and in depth coverage of the historic
treaty and similiar peace inititiaves which are given scant or no coverage from
mainstream media.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb247411.htm