An overflow crowd of
several hundred gathered at a community center in South Los Angeles to hear
pleas for peace from current and former gangbangers, entertainers, activists
and preachers from the Nation Of Islam.
Mayor Eric Garcetti
and Police Chief Charlie Beck shook hands with The Game outside the venue in a
show of unity. Beck said the meeting was a "great first step" in the
right direction toward curbing violence, especially considering the police
shootings Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The Game, born
Jayceon Terrell Taylor, fought back tears as he recounted the recent shooting
death of a former gang member he called Spanky. The pair grew up together in
foster care in nearby Compton, he said.
"I'm here to be
his voice," said the multi-platinum selling rapper, 36, adding that
organizing the gathering was also "a decision made for my children."
He said by the time
his 5-year-old daughter turns 18, "I want her to walk out the door, and I
want it to be a little bit ... safer."
The Game put the
word out last week on his active Instagram account, inviting leaders of the
Crips, Bloods and other street gangs to come together for "Time To Unite:
United Hoods + Gangs Nation." Dozens of gang members, some sporting red
and blue colors, heeded the call and filed peacefully into the building to hear
more than a dozen speakers. The neighborhood a few miles south of downtown Los
Angeles has a large black population and has been plagued by random violence.
Aurora Hudson
praised the decision to shine a light on "the brutality in our
neighborhoods." The 25-year-old came to the meet-up from her home just
blocks away and called it a positive experience.
"And if we
unite as a group and end gang violence, I think we can get a lot more things
done in the community as well," she said.
Veteran gang
interventionist Alex Sanchez urged unity between Latino and black community
members.
"If you really
care about creating peace in the neighborhood, you have to reach out your hand
to that brother," he said.
Radio personality
Big Boy, singer will.i.am and rappers Shorty, Problem and Bad Lucc were among
the entertainers in the crowd. Security was provided by the Nation of Islam and
there wasn't a big police presence at the summit.
Men need to have a
"much-needed conversation" about their influence on young people and
how to serve as better role models, The Game wrote on Instagram, where he has
6.6 million followers. He said he hopes to keep the conversation going.
"You know, it's
like a bus going through the city, a bus of love and a bus of positivity,"
he told The Associated Press. "We want to keep the doors open. We want
everybody get on the bus."
Earlier this month,
The Game and fellow rapper Snoop Dogg led a peaceful march to Los Angeles
police headquarters, where they met with the mayor and police chief and urged
improved relations between authorities and minority communities.
The rappers are
among many activists and celebrities calling for change following the
police-related killings of black men nationwide and the shooting deaths of five
police officers in Dallas by a lone gunman motivated by racial hatred.
From 2009 to 2013,
just over 90 percent of black victims were murdered by other blacks, according
to FBI statistics. The figure is 93 percent for the period from 1980 to 2008.
Those numbers are limited to murders with a single victim when the race of both
the victim and offender were known and reported to the FBI. Crime experts say
those numbers are largely because races tend to marry, date and be friends with
people of their own race, and the large majority of murders are between people
who know each other.
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