Black, Latino Men Join Fight Against Drug Violence

The scent of scrambled eggs and coffee--and of unity--was in the air as blacks and Latinos joined Saturday in Inglewood to fight a pair of common enemies: drugs and violence.

About 150 men helping launch a group called MAD DADS said they intend to take to the streets in Inglewood, Lennox and Ladera Heights to confront gang members and drug dealers.

Lawbreakers who cannot be steered into things like job-training programs will end up in jail, vowed organizers of Men Against Destruction, Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder.

“It’s time to take our position as men. It’s time to take back our streets,” said Javier Camargo, an insurance adjuster.

Agreed the Rev. Ronald Wright, an African American: “It’s time to combine forces.”

The Inglewood group is the fourth Los Angeles-area chapter of MAD DADS. Created in 1989 by an Omaha father upset over a gang attack on his son, the nonprofit organization boasts about 25,000 members in 14 states.

Organizers in Inglewood said they are prepared to help youngsters find drug treatment programs and gang-intervention services.

They said MAD DADS members will attempt to be “surrogate fathers and big brothers” to youths growing up in homes without a male head of household.

Those attending Saturday’s kickoff--a breakfast served at the Veterans’ Memorial Building in Centinela Park--included private citizens and police from several agencies.

Representatives of dozens of Inglewood-area community groups were also there. They were told that the time has come to set aside group competitiveness.

Wright, minister at Emmanuel AME Church in Inglewood, said so much is at stake on neighborhood streets that personalities and egos must take a back seat.

“Many of us are duplicating our efforts. Let’s exchange names and phone numbers. The challenge is to join forces and network,” Wright said.

Those at the breakfast made it clear that it also means blacks and Latinos joining together.

“I think people will see this as a first step in building understanding between the African American community and the Chicano community,” said Saul Figueroa, a case manager for an Inglewood youth and family center.

Once the MAD DADS program is set up, street patrols will be formed to work with block clubs to create “safe zones” in neighborhoods, organizers said. The patrols may also become involved in escorting children who have had problems with gang members at school.

Men from MAD DADS will become “visible and active participants” in their communities and surrogate parents when necessary, they said.

“We’re not here to be vigilantes,” said Ken Riley, founder of the Los Angeles MAD DADS chapter.

Added Gerald Thompson, director of the new Inglewood chapter: “We’re taking back our community, not through violence, but through our presence.”

Daniel Tabor, a governmental relations consultant who is the new chapter’s assistant director, said a zero-tolerance policy on violence and drug activity will be the rule in neighborhoods targeted by MAD DADS.

And he said the men are prepared to personally deliver that news to gang members.

“We’re not challenging their masculinity. We’re saying we aren’t taking it anymore and we’ll help them change,” Tabor said.