Guerrilla Artist Joins Call for Gang Peace : New Posters Give a Blunt Message: ‘Stop the Killing’

‘This kind of thing is way overdue. . . . There were 425 people killed (countywide) in gang-banging last year. If it keeps going, they won’t have to worry about banging because there won’t be nobody left.’

--Ex-gang member John Hunter

On the urban battlegrounds of South-Central Los Angeles, a plea for peace has appeared amid the graffiti of gang war.

Posters put up last weekend by ex-gang members depict hands clasped in a handshake over a background divided into Crip blue and Blood red. The message is simple: “We’re all one color. Stop the killing.”

The posters result from an unlikely partnership between two men: Frederick Jones, an airline worker from Inglewood, and Robbie Conal, the guerrilla artist of Venice, who has used Los Angeles streets as a gallery for political posters commenting on such issues as the Iran-Contra affair.

Conal’s most recent agitprop assault was a portrait of then-Vice President Bush accompanied by the caption “It can’t happen,” with the word “here” stamped across Bush’s forehead. It earned him another run-in with city authorities, who told Conal in October he would be billed for the cost of removing the posters. Conal said he has not yet received a bill and has not decided whether to pay.

Official reaction to the unveiling of Conal’s new anti-gang poster Saturday was decidedly less antagonistic, and volunteers tried to keep the posters off public property.

There was police protection for the ex-gang members, anti-gang workers and representatives of community groups who gathered at Community Presbyterian Church on South Vermont Avenue. As police and curious residents watched, the small group walked for several blocks, covering walls with posters and handing them out to owners of businesses and people on the street.

John Hunter, who identified himself as an ex-gang member, peered over his sunglasses at a poster he had plastered to a wall. He said: “This kind of thing is way overdue. It’s telling blacks in general just to wake up. There were 425 people killed (countywide) in gang-banging last year. If it keeps going, they won’t have to worry about banging because there won’t be nobody left.”

Los Angeles Police Capt. Eric Lillo, who was on hand to make sure the unveiling of the posters did not lead to trouble, also said he approved of the message.

Jones, the man behind the message, is not an artist or a guerrilla. He lives in a middle-class neighborhood in Inglewood, a city where the gang problem is not as extreme as that of nearby communities.

Admired Guerrilla Artist

But Jones decided several months ago that he wanted to express his despair about the whirlwind of gang violence in south Los Angeles County. He did not know Conal, but he admired his art. He called Conal and persuaded him to design and produce the poster.

“I want to convey a direct message to the kids,” Jones said. “I want it to make the gang member think. I want it to raise his consciousness. It’s an overt subliminal message in that sense: I’m hoping for a longe-range effect.”

The poster represents a foray into unfamiliar artistic turf for Conal. The earnest tone differs considerably from the barbed, satirical edge of his previous work, which has been more visible in West Los Angeles and Mid-Wilshire than South-Central Los Angeles.

At first, Conal says he resisted Jones’ request, saying he did not know enough about gangs and suggesting that a black artist might better express Jones’ statement of solidarity. But Jones persisted.

“To me, art doesn’t have a color,” Jones said. “I liked his art. His color didn’t make a difference to me.”

Conal said: “Part of my reluctance at first was that I wasn’t sure I could do it. It’s not the easiest issue, especially because it’s not satirical. . . . It’s the community talking to the community. It’s a public service message. The beauty of it is the simplicity. Me and Fred just did it.”

Conal and collaborator Debbie Ross came up with the design. Jones’ nephews, Tim and Edward, posed for photos shaking hands and wearing clothes and jewelry of the type favored by high-rolling gang members.

Posters will be effective, Jones said, because gang members also communicate through a street medium: graffiti.

Jones says he has paid about $3,000 for the production and printing of about 3,000 copies. In the coming weeks, he hopes to distribute them to businesses, churches, community groups and anyone else who wants one.

On the corner of 53rd Street and Vermont Avenue, a teen-ager wearing a gold chain, blue clothes and a baseball cap unrolled and studied a poster.

“It’s a good idea,” said the youth, who declined to give his name. “Especially for the people who been chasing me.”