Black Leaders Caution Chief

Prominent African American leaders are raising concerns over what they view as overly harsh language used by Police Chief William J. Bratton regarding gang violence in the city.

Since taking the reins of the LAPD, Bratton, long known for being outspoken, has called criminals “mental nitwits”; said of a suspect who fled from police, “hang ‘em high”; and termed the city’s gang members domestic terrorists.

Statements such as these have led several black leaders to express criticism at a meeting with Mayor James K. Hahn, and in conversations with Bratton. The admonishments, the first that Bratton has faced in nearly two months on the job, serve as an indication of the fragile sensitivities that underlie the LAPD’s relations with minority communities.

What has most upset some in the African American community is the perception that the department has declared a war on gangs, a characterization Hahn and Bratton say they have sought to avoid.

Urban League President John Mack and Ken Lombard, the president of Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s development company, voiced their dismay in their recent meeting with the mayor. They took issue with the militaristic terms the chief has used to outline his department’s efforts to combat gangs.

Liberal leaders, including former state Sen. Tom Hayden and Father Gregory J. Boyle, have also expressed concerns about the more fiery aspects of Bratton’s rhetoric, which they say is counterproductive.

At a news conference early this month in South Los Angeles in which Bratton and Hahn announced new anti-gang initiatives, Bratton told reporters that the federal government should help stem gang activity, which he termed “homeland terrorism.” Asked if the war on terrorism might make it difficult to get the attention of the federal government, Bratton responded: “They need to get preoccupied with the internal war on terrorism as well.”

Mack said that while he has no problem with the concept of waging battle against gangs, he fears that excessively tough talk from the chief may lead to overzealous officers on the street.

“The admonishment I shared with [Bratton] and Mayor Hahn in my meetings with them is that it is very important that in the process of making the case against crime in South-Central the case is not over-made,” Mack said.

Other leaders have expressed similar concerns.

“We are not against the police. We are with the police,” said Tony Muhammad, Western regional minister of the Nation of Islam. “But watch your language.”

Muhammad said he has yet to hear an adequate definition of a gang member from top city officials, leading him to believe that they are applying the tag only to “blacks and browns.”

“We are with the police chief when he says: ‘Get angry.’ We are angry,” Muhammad said. “But how do you differentiate between a gang-banger and my brother?”

Bratton, who spent Friday morning at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels being blessed by a cross-section of the city’s religious leaders, said after the service that he takes exception to anyone who says that he has not taken care with his choice of words.

“I think we have been very careful with our language in terms of reaching out to the community,” said Bratton, who plans to meet with Muhammad next week. “We are not going in as they did in the 1980s with Operation Hammer.... The idea that we’re going to go in and fight to the death, we’re not going to do that at all.”

Mayor Hahn, who got a bounce in his approval rating after he selected Bratton, said Friday that he has intentionally not used words such as “war” or “battle” to describe the city’s efforts to stem rising violence.

At the appearance with Bratton in South Los Angeles earlier this month, Hahn said, “We cannot and will not let gang members control the streets.”

Hahn said Friday that when he talks about the toll of gang crime, he has repeatedly stressed the loss of those killed or hurt and those imprisoned.

Hahn said he and Bratton have talked about this issue.

“You learn over the years -- and people let you know -- that sometimes what you say is heard differently based on the context and experience of the listener,” the mayor said in an interview. “Simplistic sound bite phrases like ‘war on gangs’ do not adequately reflect the multi-pronged effort that we have to be very involved in and can be counterproductive.”

Bratton said Friday that he would not “raise gang members to the level of going to war with them.”

In his address to religious and political leaders, Bratton noted that “Gandhi, the great leader of the nonviolence movement, said that to create change, you must become the change. We must all find a way to become part of the change.”

Mack said that much of the message from the new chief has been right on target.

“Some of us in the past have tiptoed around the problem of violence in our community, worried that racists and white supremacists would seize on it and use it against us,” Mack said. “But I think we have to face up to the fact that violence is a serious problem in our community.”

Still, he cautioned the mayor and Bratton that anything said about South-Central Los Angeles will be viewed by residents there through the perspective of history, particularly the long-standing tensions between the African American community and LAPD.

And Mack said he has warned Bratton to be careful not to alienate individuals in the community, such as Muhammad, who have long-standing track records of working with gang members.

Lombard, who was with Mack for the meeting with Hahn, said “everybody still thinks [Bratton is] the right guy for the job.”

“We just need to recognize the differences in language that we’re using.... It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it,” said Lombard, who also serves as president of the Department of Water and Power Commission.

Muhammad said he and others who work to prevent gang involvement are gearing up to do more. He plans to gather 100,000 African American men in Los Angeles for a march for peace this spring, with smaller marches scheduled in the meantime.

Muhammad said he also has asked for 30,000 men in South-Central Los Angeles to step forward, get out on the streets and ask gang members to “settle their differences and lay down their guns.”

Bratton said Friday that he welcomes such help from the community and looks forward to sitting down with Muhammad next week.

“I think he can be a very significant force for change,” Bratton said. “Perhaps we can agree to disagree on a term here and there.”

Hahn said he has been adamant that the department not repeat mistakes that led to the LAPD’s Rampart corruption scandal, which he believes occurred in part when officers broke the law believing they had a mandate to rid the area of crime and gangs.

Hahn also said he believes Bratton understands that he cannot alienate the people he is trying to protect and serve.

Still, the mayor said, it’s easy to get mad.

“You’re standing there looking at a photo of a 14-year-old who’s been killed and holding hands with a mother whose tears are still fresh, you do get angry,” Hahn said.

“We have to be careful about our choice of words here.... That is the bottom line.”