Archives for April 2018

One of the sections in my Guardian story on Benny Ivey and white gangs that I’m hearing the most about is when I report near the end about how the former gang leader had a Confederate flag in his garage over his weight set, but had removed it by the time my “partner in crime prevention”—as photographer Imani Khayyam and I call each other—returned with me in December to photograph Benny at his home after we both followed him to church with him and his wife that morning. By then, Imani and Benny had gotten to know each other on a long driving tour of his old haunts in South Jackson and Rankin County, including houses he had broken into and where his friend had killed himself with Benny’s gun and sitting on his bed.

Benny and Imani had hit it off immediately with similar senses of humor. (Both are very funny and sociable.) Benny had talked freely about race within the gangs and prison in front of Imani. Imani had even joked that his mama was gonna be mad because he was going to church with some white guy instead of her. A generation apart in age, they had figured out that Imani grew up in a house in South Jackson after the area had turned mostly black that was near where Benny’s family lived when it was still whiter. (I used to fix white aunts and uncles around there a generation before Benny when it was all-white. We represented several stages of white flight of South Jackson, all in one SUV.)

I hadn’t told Imani about the flag—neither of us are fans of it—and I didn’t mention it when I saw that it was gone on that visit. But later on the phone with Benny, I asked him about it, and he explained why he liked it—it wasn’t about racism, but defiance of all the northerners who look down on rednecks, he said—which I decided to put into the Guardian story. Benny also told me he had taken the flag down when he knew Imani was coming because he didn’t want to hurt him. At first, I didn’t put that into the Guardian draft, but decided to add it just before it went to press. I’m very happy I did, and apparently so is Jessica Reed, my editor, as you can see from her Twitter thread embedded here.

On the morning my Guardian story about  Benny went live, I texted Benny and Imani together to tell them it was live. Benny said he had seen it go up at 5 a.m. and already had it on his Facebook page. Imani said he’d read it, as he hadn’t seen it yet. Soon, after reading what Benny told me about taking the flag down, Imani texted us both back saying, “Benny, thank you, brother, for thinking about me, and taking the flag down. It means a lot.”

Benny texted him back: “Man, you don’t have to thank me for that, bro. I understand the different thoughts/emotions involved with different people about that flag. I just didn’t want you to feel unwelcome at my house at any time.” Benny then added a black and a white hand emoji fist-bumping. Imani responded with black prayer hands, then “my brother forever!”

I don’t offer this story as an easy answer to difficult race questions, but it does illustrate how important building honest, open relationships across divides can be to bridging gaps, I think.

I’ve had a remarkable public response to my Guardian story about Benny Ivey, the Simon City Royals, and the apparent growth of white gangs in Mississippi and America in recent decades, especially in areas outside of major cities such as the Midwest and the South. In the piece I had originally called “Evolution of a Redneck Gangster”—double meaning, get it?—I tell the harrowing story of a former Royals gang leader in Mississippi, and the reasons he joined the gang and got involved in crime in the first place. His reasons can sound very similar to those of the people of color who join the more highly publicized black, Hispanic and ethnic gangs in America: generational poverty, addiction, hopelessness, despair, lack of education and weak role models to teach the basics of life and success.

The story also explains the under-reported fact that white gangs—which include the Royals, white supremacist gangs and white biker “clubs,” all of which can be violent—have increased in many areas of the country outside of the typical urban areas. This is especially true in the South and in states like Mississippi and in the midwest in states like Wisconsin, which drew Royals from Chicago (or the Royals brand through prison and world-of-mouth) decades ago. I also include CUNY law professor Babe Howell explaining that law enforcement may far under-count white gang members in America, with most statistics we hear provided by law enforcement, presenting a circular problem that makes it hard to trust the statistics.

I also cite research by law professor Jordan Blair Woods showing that gang members are usually divided into separate categories than the “criminal street gang” group where most black and Hispanic gangs land, tending to populate gang databases. One study, cited in my article, attributed this to systemic racism and under-reporting by media, often encouraged in whiter areas that could suffer economically from reports of gangs. As a result, that researcher found, white gang members may not be either prosecuted as strongly as black and Hispanic gang members or offered needed interventions.

I can’t over-state how important I think Woods’ gang-categories point is. I talked to gang and violence experts in the U.S. who had never heard of the Simon City Royals, despite their deep roots in Chicago and as a member of the Folk Nation gang alliance alongside the Black Gangster Disciples. In a quote that didn’t make it into the story, Howell told me she thinks the fact that law enforcement under-count white gang members in general means that even the experts may not know enough about them.

Also, I think it’s important that much of the growth in white gangs seems to be in the middle of the country and in the South where national media, let’s be honest, historically has paid far too little attention and where local crime reporting often means quoting the cops and leaving it there with no context, causes or potential solutions making it into the stories. This information from the National Gang Center was in an earlier draft of my Guardian piece, but had to be cut for space. It’s interesting to note that the center cites the law enforcement data in graphs, but also states the following (my emphasis added):

The National Gang Center reports that middle America exploded with new gang cities from 1970 through 1995, increasing 32 percent in the South and 26 percent in the Midwest, compared to 6 percent in the Northeast, and 3 percent in the West. The Royals are now one of the largest and most violent gangs in Mississippi and growing in others, but without a direct connection back to Chicago.

The National Gang Center reports a similar racial disparity between police and youth gang identification, concluding that a local gang population reflects the racial-ethnic composition of the community combined with socioeconomic conditions. “Gangs tend to emerge in the most disadvantaged areas and thus naturally attract the disadvantaged youth residing in those areas,” it states.

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Since early 2017, I and JFP state reporter Arielle Dreher have paid close attention to the Mississippi Association of Gang Investigators’ efforts to get an expanded gang law in Mississippi. They have an existing Streetgang Law, which is fairly standard and an apparent effort to be able to charge groups of gang members for collectively committing crime. But MAGI wants an expanded gang law that has failed the last two sessions. It’s a serious concern in Mississippi that news outlets, including The Clarion-Ledger and the Sun-Herald on the Gulf Coast do very PR-ish news stories that seem designed to prove the need to lock up gang members for pretty much just being a gang member—which is very different from being prosecuted for the crime that the gang member commits, which already happens often in Mississippi.

In 2017, we learned near the end of the legislative session that the supporters of the new gang law, which hadn’t passed earlier in the session, tried to insert the whole thing again into an amendment in another bill to try to get it passed. They were using reasons that didn’t make sense, citing violent crimes where there wasn’t evidence of it being gang-related and that were successfully prosecuted. The point seemed to be to prove gangs exist in Mississippi, which can easily be stipulated. MAGI members also pushed that they needed the new gang law to go after white gang members, who are increasing in the state, especially the Simon City Royals. They told The Clarion-Ledger in August 2017 that 53 percent of verified gang members in the state are white, in fact. Probably because of the JFP’s more critical coverage of the gang law, MAGI has not returned our call or honored our request for a breakdown of that figure.

Since then, multiple stories have appeared in those media outlets, usually quoting only prosecutors and law enforcement who support expanding the law. During the 2018 session, the Jackson Free Press did several stories about the proposed gang law, including a cover story I did about MAGI, the gang law and experts’ reasons why the new gang law would actually make crime worse.

The gang law failed again in 2018, but after that I learned from state public defender André de Gruy that all people prosecuted under the existing gang law since 2010 are black. I revealed that information in the context of MAGA pushing that 53 percent of verified gang members are white. MAGI has not returned calls to address the apparent disparity between only prosecuting black people under the gang law, while pushing the 53-percent number in order to build support for the expanded gang law.

And remember, gang databases are controversial and are often accused of containing false and dated information. See this NYU report as well.

Needless to say, this is an ongoing investigation for us.