CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Alliance helps end life of crime

Twenty-two-year-old Brandon Forrest was an unlikely panelist at the Alliance of Concerned Men’s conference on how to reduce crime and gang violence among young people in the District.

At age 11, he began his criminal career as a robber. It was his crime of choice because it brought him instant reward.

“I could never have been a drug dealer,” Mr. Forrest told an audience of 300 social activists at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 10. “There is too much waiting involved.”

The alliance was formed by a group of six men - Tyrone Parker, James Alsobrooks, Rahim Jenkins, Eric Johnson, Joe Nelson and Arthur “Rico” Rush - who saw the need to address the violence that was destroying the lives of young people in the District.

Established in 1991, the alliance provides support services for youths and families at risk of becoming black dots on a statistician’s chart.

“We didn’t really have a plan,” Mr. Rush said. “We just knew we had to do something.”

The alliance has taken its 19 years of experience and produced a gang mediation manual to share its methods with other groups fighting gang violence. The manual details the alliance’s successful approach to mediating gang truce and preventing violence.

The relationship of the men dates back 40 years when they were students at Eastern High School.

Mr. Parker, now executive director of the alliance, and Mr. Rush, president of the alliance, have had their share of trouble with law enforcement. Both have served time in prison.

Their street smarts, however, help them to make a difference in the lives of other people who are trying to beat the odds of living a life of poverty and despair.

Mr. Forrest had grown weary of waiting, especially for Mom and Dad. Growing up in Benning Terrace, the housing project known as Simple City in Southeast Washington, Mr. Forrest was left to fend for himself, his younger brother and his two elder sisters.

“I fed and clothed my brother and sisters,” he said, “I got it done.” The ways he got it done were purse snatching and armed robbery.

Mr. Forrest grew up without a father and remembers meeting him only once, when he was 13. Relatives have told Mr. Forrest that his father is in California, but he’s not sure. His mother frequently stayed away from home for days at a time. “She was never there,” he said. “That dime rock took my mother away from me.” She was out on the street looking for the next high while her children were home alone, longing for Mom, Mr. Forrest said. He was out there, too, getting it done.

During his short-lived career as a robber and purse snatcher, he roamed the D.C. streets looking for his next victim. He was arrested more times than he cares to remember, and ultimately was convicted and sentenced to prison after barely reaching his 16th birthday.

After serving four years in prison, Mr. Forrest was released in 2007. Since his release, he has fathered two children, Breonye, 2, and Jhay, 4 months. Though he and the mother of his two children are no longer together, he plays an active role in his children’s lives, he said. He acknowledges that he does not pay child support.

Story Continues →