The Dope Busters: Black Men cleaning up their communities

[Chollo Vista]

Drugs do bring crime.

The crime and murder rate in DC is appalling.

First off, why are you refusing to answer post #6?

[Chollo Vista]

Check mate these clowns can’t handle facts

Do you care to answer why the NOI was thwarted at cleaning up their own community?

Or why they are criminalized while decreasing black recidivism rates, promoting education and attempting to stop gun violence?

[aboutfkntime]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...551-story.html






In Washington, D.C., where drug wars have turned our national capital into the world`s murder capital, the most effective anti-drug unit has turned out to be an unusual bunch of volunteers who call themselves ''the dopebusters.''

They have no official connection to the police, the FBI or drug czar William Bennett.


They are Black Muslims, members of Minister Louis Farrakhan`s controversial Nation of Islam.

Armed with walkie-talkies, they patrol certain apartment buildings and housing developments in characteristic Muslim duds: Conservative suits, bow ties, white shirts and clean-shaven heads.


They began patrolling Mayfair Mansions, an all-black, formerly middle-class apartment development, last year after residents invited them to try their luck against local drug dealers.

The results were immediate and decisive. After a few confrontations with Muslim-style rough justice in Mayfair and the Paradise Manor apartments next door, local drug dealers took their trade elsewhere.


Local crime went down. Drug-related killings stopped. Though the District of Columbia police chief criticized the Muslim patrol as vigilantism at first, the support of some District council members brought cooperation. Residents breathed easier. Children again played outdoors. Senior citizens walked in peace.

Requests for more Muslim aid poured in from neighborhood, civic, tenant and religious groups throughout the Washington area. Just as criminal activity feeds on itself, so does community crime-fighting.

Yet the Muslim success has received little coverage outside the D.C. area. We are reluctant to take the Black Muslims seriously, it appears, even when they are making a serious dent in a serious problem.

By ignoring such grass-roots, community-based efforts, we may be cheating ourselves of information that can lead us to more effective solutions, with Muslims or without.

Like others, I have reservations about the use of Muslims as irregular volunteers in the anti-drug war. Their recent history has been riddled as much with controversy as their earlier days were riddled with bullets.

Take their regard for constitutional rights, for example. When a local television camera crew recorded about 10 Muslims meting out their special brand of rough justice on a man wielding a shotgun, the Muslims beat up the camera operator, too.


Then there are the charges of extortion. One apartment building manager said a Muslim representative told her that the Muslims would appreciate a

''donation'' of, say, $5,000 in exchange for dopebusters` security work.

Granted, the Muslims` clean-shaven bruisers can seem intimidating. Then again, good security costs. Public demand has outstripped the Muslims` ability to bear all costs themselves. What price safety?

When his men roughed up the TV crew, Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, the black physician who heads the Nation of Islam`s D.C. mosque, apologized. You have seen us at our worst, he pleaded to news media; now come back and see us at our best. Perhaps we should.

Robert Woodson, the black conservative who heads the Washington-based National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, is dismayed that, as federal officials call for more police and beefed-up security in public housing, they overlook grass-roots crime-fighting efforts like the Muslim ''dopebusters.''

''We would rather risk failure with people with whom we are comfortable than risk success with those who hold unorthodox views,'' Woodson said.

It has become axiomatic among black commentators to wax nostalgic about the old days when those of us who grew up in black neighborhoods (they were not called ''ghettos'' then) looked out for each other, helped each other through hard times and disciplined each other`s children when they misbehaved. Our wealth was in our spirit and our moral network, woven too tight for social decay to eat its way through.

Back then, the Muslims were generally regarded as a quaint, if eccentric, group, selling their newspapers, philosophy and fresh fish door to door. No one would have guessed that now, in an age of unprecedented progress for black Americans, we would be looking to these same Muslims for a semblance of law and order.

Yet, today, with desegregation and upward mobility, our old support network is frayed and tattered, and the black poor find themselves more isolated than ever.

Although whites still outnumber blacks among those whose household income falls below the poverty line, Census Bureau data show most white poor live integrated with better-off whites while almost all black poor live in

''poverty areas,'' the ghettos.

In those areas, we find less to fear from the Ku Klux Klan and other threats of the past than we do from what Woodson calls ''the enemy within,'' a social decay that has mothers trading children for drugs and youngsters wielding Uzis in urban drug wars.

The Muslims are trying to tell us something. Maybe we should listen.

the story is great..... and a good lesson.....

but that story became dishonest, even suspicious..... when it came to the conclusion..... "see, the muslims know whats up, we just need to listen to them"

we do not need lessons from muslims..... anyone who cared enough to act could have done the same thing..... many neighborhood watch organisations have reported similar success, and they had nothing to do with muslims

there are PLENTY of social problems in muslim communities

[////]

It's pretty weird how Islam accounted for the majority of the African slave trade but black-power Americans are totally into Islam -- while wanting statues associated with between 1-3% of the African slave trade torn down and reparations paid.

What's the logic there? Farrakhan is pretty crazy but he isn't dumb per se. Does he have an official explanation for this paradox?

[Lomasexual]

I'd rather someone was smoking a blunt than marrying a 6 year old.

[Chollo Vista]

It's pretty weird how Islam accounted for the majority of the African slave trade but black-power Americans are totally into Islam -- while wanting statues associated with between 1-3% of the African slave trade torn down and reparations paid.

What's the logic there? Farrakhan is pretty crazy but he isn't dumb per se. Does he have an official explanation for this paradox?

Is it possible to remove the religious factor for one second and look at the big picture?

I don't care if it's Allah, Budha, Ghandi or Jesus.... If Allah can decrease the recidivism rates, gun violence and poverty in the black community all the while increase the education rates, so be it.

It's hilarious how a certain demographic cries that the above needs to happen from within the community all the while dishonestly criminalizing the ones that can actually do it by mobilizing and uniting the community... Essentially, deterring progression.

It almost makes me question, if these outside enti-ties genuinely want to see black progress/unification or if they want to continue to overtly accuse certain people of stereotypes all the while behind the scenes covertly ensuring the status quo

[Chollo Vista]

the story is great..... and a good lesson.....

but that story became dishonest, even suspicious..... when it came to the conclusion..... "see, the muslims know whats up, we just need to listen to them"

we do not need lessons from muslims..... anyone who cared enough to act could have done the same thing..... many neighborhood watch organisations have reported similar success, and they had nothing to do with muslims

there are PLENTY of social problems in muslim communities

At this point, it's not about religion, it's about the big picture.

If Buddha, Allah or Ghandi can tell black Americans what they need to hear to become honest tax paying citizens, business owners, decrease recidivism rates, gun violence and become more academically competitive, then so be it.

There are powers behind the scenes that will see to it that that never happens.

You see, I may not agree with everything NOI says, but for the sake of the big picture, I can easily find common ground.

It's almost like the unwritten agreement white European nations have with each other since WWII. Many European nations may not agree with each other on everything, just like Euro-Americans don't agree with each other on everything. But for the sake of peace, the big picture and common civilization, they can find common ground with each other and not kill each other daily.

I feel we in the black community can have similar success if there weren't so many outside influences with their hands in the cookie jar controlling things covertly.

[aboutfkntime]

At this point, it's not about religion, it's about the big picture.

If Buddha, Allah or Ghandi can tell black Americans what they need to hear to become honest tax paying citizens, business owners, decrease recidivism rates, gun violence and become more academically competitive, then so be it.

There are powers behind the scenes that will see to it that that never happens.

You see, I may not agree with everything NOI says, but for the sake of the big picture, I can easily find common ground.

It's almost like the unwritten agreement white European nations have with each other since WWII. Many European nations may not agree with each other on everything, just like Euro-Americans don't agree with each other on everything. But for the sake of peace, the big picture and common civilization, they can find common ground with each other and not kill each other daily.

I feel we in the black community can have similar success if there weren't so many outside influences with their hands in the cookie jar controlling things covertly.

dayumm !!

good post !

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I’m all for this, the only thing that will fix communities is the communities themselves.

[megas30]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...551-story.html






In Washington, D.C., where drug wars have turned our national capital into the world`s murder capital, the most effective anti-drug unit has turned out to be an unusual bunch of volunteers who call themselves ''the dopebusters.''

They have no official connection to the police, the FBI or drug czar William Bennett.


They are Black Muslims, members of Minister Louis Farrakhan`s controversial Nation of Islam.

Armed with walkie-talkies, they patrol certain apartment buildings and housing developments in characteristic Muslim duds: Conservative suits, bow ties, white shirts and clean-shaven heads.


They began patrolling Mayfair Mansions, an all-black, formerly middle-class apartment development, last year after residents invited them to try their luck against local drug dealers.

The results were immediate and decisive. After a few confrontations with Muslim-style rough justice in Mayfair and the Paradise Manor apartments next door, local drug dealers took their trade elsewhere.


Local crime went down. Drug-related killings stopped. Though the District of Columbia police chief criticized the Muslim patrol as vigilantism at first, the support of some District council members brought cooperation. Residents breathed easier. Children again played outdoors. Senior citizens walked in peace.

Requests for more Muslim aid poured in from neighborhood, civic, tenant and religious groups throughout the Washington area. Just as criminal activity feeds on itself, so does community crime-fighting.

Yet the Muslim success has received little coverage outside the D.C. area. We are reluctant to take the Black Muslims seriously, it appears, even when they are making a serious dent in a serious problem.

By ignoring such grass-roots, community-based efforts, we may be cheating ourselves of information that can lead us to more effective solutions, with Muslims or without.

Like others, I have reservations about the use of Muslims as irregular volunteers in the anti-drug war. Their recent history has been riddled as much with controversy as their earlier days were riddled with bullets.

Take their regard for constitutional rights, for example. When a local television camera crew recorded about 10 Muslims meting out their special brand of rough justice on a man wielding a shotgun, the Muslims beat up the camera operator, too.


Then there are the charges of extortion. One apartment building manager said a Muslim representative told her that the Muslims would appreciate a

''donation'' of, say, $5,000 in exchange for dopebusters` security work.

Granted, the Muslims` clean-shaven bruisers can seem intimidating. Then again, good security costs. Public demand has outstripped the Muslims` ability to bear all costs themselves. What price safety?

When his men roughed up the TV crew, Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, the black physician who heads the Nation of Islam`s D.C. mosque, apologized. You have seen us at our worst, he pleaded to news media; now come back and see us at our best. Perhaps we should.

Robert Woodson, the black conservative who heads the Washington-based National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, is dismayed that, as federal officials call for more police and beefed-up security in public housing, they overlook grass-roots crime-fighting efforts like the Muslim ''dopebusters.''

''We would rather risk failure with people with whom we are comfortable than risk success with those who hold unorthodox views,'' Woodson said.

It has become axiomatic among black commentators to wax nostalgic about the old days when those of us who grew up in black neighborhoods (they were not called ''ghettos'' then) looked out for each other, helped each other through hard times and disciplined each other`s children when they misbehaved. Our wealth was in our spirit and our moral network, woven too tight for social decay to eat its way through.

Back then, the Muslims were generally regarded as a quaint, if eccentric, group, selling their newspapers, philosophy and fresh fish door to door. No one would have guessed that now, in an age of unprecedented progress for black Americans, we would be looking to these same Muslims for a semblance of law and order.

Yet, today, with desegregation and upward mobility, our old support network is frayed and tattered, and the black poor find themselves more isolated than ever.

Although whites still outnumber blacks among those whose household income falls below the poverty line, Census Bureau data show most white poor live integrated with better-off whites while almost all black poor live in

''poverty areas,'' the ghettos.

In those areas, we find less to fear from the Ku Klux Klan and other threats of the past than we do from what Woodson calls ''the enemy within,'' a social decay that has mothers trading children for drugs and youngsters wielding Uzis in urban drug wars.

The Muslims are trying to tell us something. Maybe we should listen.

The black women are going to call police on them again. There was a group in Detroit, i believe the Detroit 300 and the black women advocated to have them dismantled.