HOB/D is shorthand for the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies listserv, a place for comment for pecusa bishops and deputies to General Convention. Tom Woodward is an occasional commenter here at the DCNY blog. ed.
[Updated w/More Hobdy Goodness]
from Stand Firm by Greg Griffith
In reference to this story about Luis Barrios, an Episcopal priest whose "blessing in" of children to the Latin Kings street gang we covered here last June, HoB/D denizen Tom Woodward replied:
In a message dated 02/19/09 10:40:24 Mountain Standard Time, _____@gmail.com writes:
Yea Louis, a real hero.......NOT!
"One Episcopal priest who "blessed-in" about 300 children kids into the Association Neta and the Latin Kings said he did not see anything wrong with the ceremony.
"It's not a criminal organization," said the Rev. Luis Barrios, who is also a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Barrios was removed from St. Mary's after tussling with his superiors in the Episcopal church."
Someone posted this Daily News story earlier. I wish Fr. Perschall had done some research before posting it again. I believe it is best characterized as a smear job of the first order. Here is a more recent assessment of the this group (not a gang): "Much of the work by faithful members involves teaching Hispanic culture and education, some of which includes experiences from inside prison and many members claim they are strictly part of an inmate-rights group. . ." The organization was born out of a concern for prisoners' rights and for Puerto Rican independence.
The Daily News article would want us to believe this is a group similar to the Bloods or the Crips, the Nortenos or the Sudenos, but that is not true -- public officials tell us that is not true. The membership of this group is not reflective of a local Chamber of Commerce -- but the two groups do share some goals, including the importance of education and jobs for our young people.
I hope we can do our homework before attacking one another. I'm aware that the Daily News piece reflects the views of some others, but it does so by ignoring a great deal of reality.
Tom Woodward
What Woodward, in his choice of quotes and the way he phrases things, appears to want all the bishops and deputies of the Episcopal Church to believe is that this statement about the Latin Kings is true: "Much of the work by faithful members involves teaching Hispanic culture and education..." and that they are "not a gang."
The one and only one place on the entire Internet where this phrase is found is at that paragon of research integrity, Wikipedia, and while it is in reference to "Association Neta," it certainly doesn't sum up the Latin Kings, which is, by any sane measure... a street gang.
Or is it? [scratches chin]...
Let's do the unfathomably hard work of spending ten minutes on teh intarwebs and see what they can tell us about the Latin Kings.
For starters, a search for the exact phrase "Latin Kings gang" at the New York Times web site alone reveals 542 results. But does that mean the Latin Kings are really a street gang? Is it possible the right-wing knuckledraggers at the New York Times are simply indulging in their bigotry against minorities?
You be the judge:
Here's a story from 1994, in which 16 Latin Kings were recognized for their commitment to entrepreneurship:
Sixteen people said to be members of the Latin Kings gang were arrested today and charged with conspiring to sell cocaine and heroin in Connecticut's largest cities.
The early morning arrests, centered in Bridgeport and New Haven, included the four highest-ranking Latin Kings in the state, said the United States Attorney for Connecticut, Christopher F. Droney. They and the others charged under Federal drug conspiracy laws face 20 years or more in prison if convicted. Described as Self-Help Group
The Latin Kings, with chapters in Connecticut, New York, Illinois and Florida, describe themselves as a Hispanic self-help organization. But authorities have accused them of drug dealing, and of murders associated with the drug trade and with their internal discipline since the chapters were formed in and then spread through state prisons in the late 1980's.
Here's a story from 1995, in which 29 gentlemen were recognized for their many efforts at involving the community in their growing enterprise:
Leaders of one of the city's most notorious criminal gangs, the Latin Kings, were charged yesterday with attempted murder, murder, racketeering, heroin and cocaine trafficking, and other crimes in an 80-count Federal indictment.
Oh sure, boys will be boys:
A Mercer County jury has convicted a member of a local faction of the Latin Kings street gang in the murder of a female gang member and the attempted slaying of her male companion.
After 70 minutes of deliberations, the jury on Wednesday found the gang member, Angel Hernandez, 22, guilty in the 2004 shooting death of Jeri-Lynn Dotson, 23, who was killed in front of her 2-year-old daughter.
Louie Crew, in a message to the HoB/D on February 19, wrote this about Fr. Barrios:
Luis Barrios is one of the bravest persons I know.
Crew appears to be referring to Fr. Barrios having recently been sentenced to 60 days in prison on charges stemming from this protest at the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, GA, but one can never be sure.
Now, I'm prepared to give Fr. Woodward the benefit of the doubt, that perhaps he was writing hastily, and meant to characterize only the Netas, and not the Latin Kings, as a harmless "inmates-rights group," and if that's the case, I look forward to his setting the record straight here.
However, even if it is the case, and even if the Netas are a harmless social service club (founded by separatist Puerto Rican convicts) we're still left with the fact that Fr. Luis Barrios "blessed into" the violent, drug-dealing, murderous Latin Kings street gangs tiny children as young as two years old and perhaps even younger. Is this the bravery to which Louie Crew refers? Is this the kind of behavior Tom Woodward wants to leap to defend? And if so... why?
UPDATE:Heh: Don Perschall, to whom Woodward's carpet-calling was directed, responds on the list:
Tom+
IF you had bothered to look a little further into Association Neta you would have found that in fact they are a group as violent and as dangerous as the Bloods or the Crips, the Nortenos or the Sudenos:
"During the late 1980's, members of Asociacion Ñeta or Ñetas migrated to the United States. Most of these Ñetas settled in the Tri-State New York area (NY, NJ, and CT). They brought with them the rhetoric of their gang. These Ñetas taught young Puerto Rican inner city youth about the injustice of the system in the prisons of Puerto Rico, the United States and the cities in which they lived. One of the first major leaders of the Asociacion Ñeta was a woman who was called La Madrina (The Godmother). This woman was a middle aged woman and thus gave the Ñetas a gentler image. She formed several chapters in Brooklyn and Bronx, New York. She showed Asocaicion Ñeta as an inmate's rights group (Pro derecho del confinado). By 1992, several street Chapters were forming throughout New York City. Within a short period of time, Ñeta members were being arrested for drug dealing, shootings, robberies and assaults. By 1993, the Ñetas joined the Latin Kings as a dominant force in the prison systems in the New York area. By 1994, the New Jersey Department of Corrections identifies several members of the Netas within their prison system and begins monitoring their criminal activities with the system.
In 1995, Ñetas commence a massive image polishing campaign by becoming involved in community projects and youth outreach programs. Such programs became a recruitment ground for the Ñetas whose main business remained drug dealing. By 1996, Ñetas are found throughout the East Coast in inner city neighborhoods and prison systems. By the year 2000, several successful investigations were conducted against the Ñetas and their presence in the streets of the East Coast greatly diminished while their presence in the local, state and federal prisons increased. Within the Ñetas, males and females have equal roles. This is maintained to present a softer image. The Ñetas membership is culturally diverse but the majority of their members are of Puerto Rican descent."
You can read more about this vicious and violent gang at: http://www.gripe4rkids.org/neta.html
As far the the other 'folks' Barrios "blessed-in" children to - the Latin Kings:"The Latin King gang is one of the most violent gangs in the United States today, with leaders unafraid to order "hits" on correctional officers and followers unashamed to obey their orders. The history of this gang is written in blood, with episodes so bizarre that they read like chapters from a pulp fiction novel."
more can be found NATIONAL GANG CRIME RESEARCH CENTER:http://www.ngcrc.com/ngcrc/page15.htm
Tom+, you wrote: "I hope we can do our homework before attacking one another" - I did, I wish you had. I know you love his anti-war activities, but that does not excuse his endorsement of violent criminal enterprise, and I would have hoped that you would have also condemned it. Blessings. D+
Sorry, Fr. Perschall, but the extent of Tom Woodward's "research" appears to have been Wikipedia, where anyone - and I mean anyone - can edit entries, adding whatever propaganda they wish - and Fr. Barrios' own assertions that one of the most violent street gangs in America is in fact just a group of high-spirited choirboys.
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