GANG FIGHTING LEGISLATION RAISES CONCERNS AT TACOMA TOWN HALL >>>

Last Wednesday night, Feb. 16, Tacoma residents of all ages and ethnicities gathered for a town hall meeting at The Evergreen State College Tacoma to discuss House Bill (HB) 1126, a piece of proposed legislation that seeks to modify the way communities deal with gangs. The meeting, which was planned by a number of local community groups including The Conversation - self described as, "a group of Tacoma and South Sound residents committed to the building of a diverse, critically engaged, social justice community for the task of procuring for ourselves and our communities a better life" - addressed the possible negative ramifications the bill could have on youth, families, and our community as a whole.

The bill would allow for Civil Injunctions - going as far as making it illegal for an alleged criminal to wear certain clothing or visit certain neighborhoods. It calls for stricter penalties for youth, notably changing the conditions of community custody and making it more difficult to divert juveniles from jail, as well as creating harsher sentencing by defining certain criminal offenses as ‘street gang-related." The bill also would authorize law enforcement to seize property where multiple criminal street gang-related offenses have occurred or are alleged to have occurred. 

The meeting began with an address by Terrance Hamilton, a 20-year-old AmeriCorps worker and former gang member and drug dealer. Hamilton began nervously, speaking his first few sentences in a mumbled whisper, but after encouraging words were shouted up at him by the audience (one woman yelled "just speak from your heart, young man"), Hamilton found his confidence and voice. He explained how his limited options as a youth led him to find acceptance and income as a gang member. Having lost or been abandoned by both of his parents, Hamilton said he joined a gang for a sense of belonging. "If you don't have parents, who can you turn to?" he asked the audience. 

Two years ago Hamilton decided to come clean. He joined AmeriCorps and began writing raps to reflect on his experiences. "A banger is not who I am," he said. "I enjoy helping my community."  Hamilton now works with local youth and thinks it's for kids growing up in situations similar to his to also have role models with backgrounds similar to his. "The youth need to hear from people who made mistakes," he explains. "From people they can relate to, people like me."

Attorney Andre Penalver explains legal terms to the audience.

Next on the agenda was local attorney Andre Penalver, who framed HB Bill 1126 in legal terms. Mrs. Jesse Miller, a local activist, who framed the bill in what the program described as "street terms", followed him.

The audience then broke into small groups to talk about different elements of HB 1126. The stipulations creating stricter penalties for youth affect graffiti artists, so my hip-hop sensibilities led me to that circle. Volcano BFF Eddie Sumlin led the group through a thoughtful discussion about alternatives to HB 1126 and why African-American youth seem to be targeted by the language of the bill. I was moved by an observation made by a young organizer. "There're trying to save drug addicts and prostitutes, but only punish gang members," she said.

Dr. Dexter Gordon

The last leg of the meeting was an animated address by UPS Professor Dr. Dexter Gordon on "the Prison Industrial Syndrome" and the racially oppressive nature of the government's "War on Drugs"' Gordon ran through a series of staggering statistics illustrating the entrapment of African-American men in the legal system.

Dr. Gordon explained that the harsher penalties and other stipulations of HB 1126 are, in his opinion, aimed at one demographic only - African-American young men. "We know who the people are who are most likely to be swept up and put in jail," he told the crowd.

Gordon also used statistics to show that white youth are more likely to use both marijuana and serious drugs than African-American youth and that white-majority college campuses, not African-American neighborhoods, are the communities in America with the highest concentration of drug-use. "I'm still waiting for a police sweep of UPS," he mused.

The meeting ended with Gordon and event organizers encouraging the audience to voice their concerns about House Bill 1126 by emailing their state representatives.

I left inspired, both to raise awareness about the shortcomings of HB 1126 and to attend more town hall meetings in Tacoma. In addition to being fed free spaghetti, citizens had been educated, encouraged to speak, and empowered to act. In just two hours I was more informed, had made new friends, and was even more thankful to live Tacoma.