But last week, when jurors failed to convict a white Inglewood, Calif. police officer in a case where an African-American 16-year old boy was beaten during a routine traffic stop, the scene was quite different. This time, an army of “peace ambassadors” dressed in yellow t-shirts fanned out through Inglewood, an inner-city neighborhood southwest of downtown Los Angeles, with a message they hoped would be far less incendiary: Peace after the verdict.
It seems to have worked. When, on July 29, the jury was found deadlocked in a 7-5 split in favor of the officer’s conviction, tempers failed to boil over. The officer’s colleague, who was on trial for filing a false report, was found not guilty.
What changed? Law-enforcement officials credit a year-long campaign by the Inglewood Peace and Fairness Coalition, a grass-roots group comprised of law-enforcement officials, community groups, local businesses, former gang members and area residents, with keeping the calm. Anticipating that an acquittal would touch off violence, the group posted signs in local businesses urging peace. Members also went door-to-door with thousands of flyers, reminding people that they could better channel their anger through the courts. The complexities of the court case-and how even seemingly explicit video footage of the incident may not guarantee a conviction-were explained on local radio programs. And gangs were prompted to stay home or air their frustrations at a prayer vigil on the day of the verdict. Many did. “Our position was that what happened to this kid was wrong and that it was okay to be angry,” says Khalid Shah, who heads the coalition. “But you try and turn down as much of the flame as you can.”
With nary an incident following the verdict, other cities are inquiring about implementing the program. Bill Burgess, a former Inglewood gang member who headed up a small army of “peace ambassadors” affiliated with the coalition, remembers watching L.A. burn in 1992 from a friend’s house in Arkansas, where he’d gone to “do illegal things.” The news anchors, he noticed, were tracking the violent reaction to the King verdict city by city, marking each outburst with a blue dot on a map. He decided that Arkansas should have its own dot and tried to set some small fires, to little effect.
Burgess, now a wheelchair-bound gang-outreach coordinator, says he has put the remnants of that frustration to good use. This week, he appealed to Inglewood gang members for peace. “[This time] we were proactive,” he says. “We don’t know if we prevented anything but we do know that nothing happened and we’re very satisfied with that.” With prosecutors vowing to retry the case, his work may not be finished yet.
