Minister Kicks Off 30-City Tour to Address Police Brutality Issue

The Rev. Carl Washington, a minister from Watts, made the 45-mile trip to Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church in San Dimas early Sunday, eager to meet the press.

Washington, who emerged as a community leader after Los Angeles police officers shot 29-year-old Henry Peco at the Imperial Courts housing project last year, had called a morning news conference to kick off a 30-city tour--designed, he said, to share the lessons of how to deal with police misconduct, lessons learned since Peco’s death.

So at the appointed hour, Washington, 27, stood on the church’s front steps and told reporters of his plan to preach in black and Latino churches around the county, spreading the word that grass-roots organizing, not violence, is the best way to express concerns about police.

“We’re not going in with vigilante attitudes,” he said. “We’re saying, if there’s a problem, there’s a way to deal with it effectively. . . . Our whole purpose is to let people know you don’t have to use violence to attack a problem.”

Those who stayed to hear Washington preach, however, heard very little about the power of community activism of the type that has galvanized the Imperial Courts housing project.

Instead, Washington’s rousing half-hour sermon focused on “recapturing lost joy.” AIDS, drug abuse and lying politicians got some attention, too, but police brutality was mentioned only in passing.

And by the time the church’s pastor, the Rev. Shelter T. White, passed the collection plate for Washington’s cause, Peco’s name had not come up once.

“We’re not authorized as ministers to address the issues head on. I just try to put it past (the congregation), without being out of order as it relates to the church,” Washington said later when asked why he had devoted so little time to his stated purpose. His strategy, he explained, is to hook his audience on the first visit, and then return with a stronger message. White invited him to do so next month.

Washington’s tour, which began this weekend with visits to churches in Compton, Hawthorne, Ontario, Pomona and Simi Valley, was only the latest measure undertaken by a group of tenant activists called the Henry Peco Justice Committee since Peco’s death last November.

Police allege that Peco opened fire on officers with an AK-47 rifle, forcing them to fire back. Imperial Courts community leaders--Washington among them--have maintained that Peco was unarmed and was shot without provocation.

The FBI has launched an investigation into the shooting for potential civil rights violations. A U.S. Justice Department mediator has been dispatched to the housing project to soothe tensions.

White said he was moved by Washington’s sermon. But when asked about the anti-brutality theme of Washington’s tour, White said his community is fortunate not to have problems with law enforcement officers.

White says he has lived in the area since 1958 and that he has never been stopped by an officer. “We have a good relationship,” White said, adding that he plays golf with a sheriff’s deputy. “We don’t have any problem here, so far.”