Detroit 300 & citizen activism against crime

**English** · January-24-11, 09:25 AM

Listening to Chief Ralph Godbee's press conference about the catching of the serial rapist, he gives Detroit 300 some of the credit for stopping the attacks on East Side women before the suspect was caught. He expressed gratitude for their presence on the streets. I searched and didn't find any discussion here about this group.

I looked for a website for the group but found none. Some of the leaders include Angelo Henderson and Malik Shabazz. How does DYes feel about the Detroit 300? In my opinion, they are doing what so many of the naysayers here and elsewhere claim that Detroiters never do -- take matters into their own hands and take care of their neighborhoods. What are your thoughts? I believe that their work is just as important as mass transit and new businesses that cater to hipsters...

**mwilbert** · January-24-11, 09:40 AM

I believe that their work is just as important as mass transit and new businesses that cater to hipsters...

I guess it depends upon how sustained it is and how responsible the people involved are. The main reason [[as far as I can tell) that people are so excited about the light rail is that is represents a long-term committment to a more attractive vision of Detroit, and to the Woodward corridor in particular.
Citizen initiatives of this sort [[and I won't pretend to know much about this one in particular) tend to be really hard to sustain over a period of time. If it lasts, it is probably pretty important. If not, not.

**rjk** · January-24-11, 09:50 AM

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...ontinuing-quot

Here's someone's not so great encounter with this group.

As mentioned it could either be very positive of extremely dangerous depending on how level headed the people in the group are.

**ggcanfield** · January-24-11, 10:00 AM

Detroit 300 has a facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Detroi...2654107?v=wall

**Hypestyles** · January-24-11, 10:10 AM

I support their activism, it's a good thing.. I remember when Raphael Johnson ran for a seat on city council, and later was nominated for a position on the Police board of Commissioners by mayor Bing, and there was an uproar about Johnson's past as an ex-felon..

**Carey** · January-24-11, 10:52 AM

One of the leaders is Malik Shabazz, who calls himself a minister and also used to call himself the leader of the local chapter of the New Black Panthers. He loomed large at the chief's press conference today. I'm not sure what to think of him. He's been a community activist for a long time. He and his group members picketed gas stations and party stores where, they claimed, owners or employees disrespected local residents or sold spoiled food.
Shabazz was a huge Kwame supporter until the bitter end. But he also played the Kilpatrick-like role of the corrupt mayor in that cheesy movie that "premiered" earlier this month.

Detroit 300 is an interesting development, but in addition to that scary report by a DY poster, there were reports last summer that D 300 members got a little out of hand when going through the neighborhood where the 90-year-old woman had been raped.

**eno** · January-24-11, 11:02 AM

Why does it take threshold events like the rapes of 90 year-old women and the actions of a serial rapist to rouse the outrage of the community where these events are happening?

**SWMAP** · January-24-11, 11:18 AM

Malik Shabazz also a crony of Reverend David Murray. Murray is entirely Shabazz' creation. Shabazz campaigned for him. He is also often aligned with Horace Sheffield.
Think now Shabazz wants entertainment or internet fame - thinks he's becoming some sort of folk hero.

A few years ago the Metro Times had a profile of Shabazz. You can google it up.

**fryar** · January-24-11, 01:52 PM

This is basically what happened to that citizens patrol that went after the 4 youths who raped the 90-year-old woman, right? As I said at the time, it makes sense to give these guys some kind of recognition, so that they get some training & protocols from DPD. This is going to end badly unless the authorities constructively engage this group. That said, they deserve our thanks & respect for putting in the time and effort.

What has been said on here about Malik Shabazz [[don't have time to google now) raises concerns, but in and of itself doesn't mean the authorities shouldn't be pro-active with regard to these guys.

Again, make them auxiliaries, train them, outfit them, to tide the city over until it gets its house in order.

While I am concerned about some of these issues, I am a big fan of this sweat equity stuff happening in Detroit. That includes not only the Detroit 300, but Spaulding Court and GSCC.

Over the long-term, do you end up with a diffuse shadow government, while the real government continues its corrupt ways?

**DetroitPlanner** · January-24-11, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by fryar

Again, make them auxiliaries, train them, outfit them, to tide the city over until it gets its house in order.

While I am concerned about some of these issues, I am a big fan of this sweat equity stuff happening in Detroit. That includes not only the Detroit 300, but Spaulding Court and GSCC.

I was suspicious of them until this weekend when I read that they refused help from the Guardian Angels because the Guardian Angels see themselves and want to project a para-military image. The 300 see themselves as normal citizens rallied to support the police. While Shabaz is a vocal member of this organization, he is NOT the organization.

I'd be surprised if the Rev Murray was part of Shabaz's group. While both did have shows on WHPR giving them some causal relationship, they are very different people. Malik is very confrontive, while I don't agree with him always, I don't disagree with everything he says or tries to do.

**SWMAP** · January-24-11, 05:12 PM

"I'd be surprised if the Rev Murray was part of Shabaz's group"

See the Church that they minister at together:

First holy Temple Church of god in Christ on Plymouth Road, Detroit. You can see it on google

**English** · January-24-11, 07:14 PM

Thanks everyone for your responses! You've given me a lot to Google tonight, and a lot to think about.

As for this:

Originally Posted by eno

Why does it take threshold events like the rapes of 90 year-old women and the actions of a serial rapist to rouse the outrage of the community where these events are happening?

As someone who grew up in Detroit post-1967, I can say that people have been outraged for years. Anger isn't an emotion that can be sustained forever without any deleterious health effects, though. Recently, I've read a few studies speculating about whether or not kids and teens who grow up in places like Detroit, Chicago's South Side, South Central/East L.A., Oakland, etc. grow up with a low-grade form of PTSD.

It's really difficult to channel anger into sustained efforts for change. People tend to channel anger inward [[depression) or outward. People need to be taught to feel an entire range of feelings, including anger, but also sadness, frustration, fatigue, etc. Maybe logic and reason are what helps us move beyond our immediate gut reactions to enact change.

**SWMAP** · January-24-11, 07:50 PM

Wouln't it be more correct to say that kids who grow up in a certain kind of home might suffer from a low grade PTSD? How exactly might the City figure into it except that it contains many unhealthy homes?

**Motor City Sam** · January-24-11, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by eno

Why does it take threshold events like the rapes of 90 year-old women and the actions of a serial rapist to rouse the outrage of the community where these events are happening?

Eno, there have been Neighorhood Watches, Citizen Patrols, and all sorts of efforts in Detroit for decades. Most of them were not born out of events so heinous as the ones you mention above; they started because citizens organized in response to rising crime and a lack of police protection/response. A group like Detroit 300 gets a lot of publicity, but there are neighbors volunteering to patrol their streets quietly all over the City.

**English** · January-24-11, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by SWMAP

Wouln't it be more correct to say that kids who grow up in a certain kind of home might suffer from a low grade PTSD? How exactly might the City figure into it except that it contains many unhealthy homes?

This is true, but look, if you grow up in Detroit and have generally good parents, you are still stressed in ways that kids just aren't in other places. We have statistical and anecdotal evidence to that effect.

I had good parents who raised us well. I am living a good life. However, my housemate can attest to the fact that I used to go off on her when she left doors unlocked and windows open/uncovered, that a car's backfire will make me hit the ground, that what she considered to be a "dirty" grocery store [[that recently shut) was one that I thought was perfectly fine [[and clean and convenient by Detroit standards), and that I think the girl has a death wish by running at night and tripping blithely in at 2 in the morning.

5 minutes with us will prove to you that she was raised without fear, and I was raised to know that you are an idiot if you're not vigilant. Yes, my good parents taught me to be afraid. My housemate's parents taught her that the world was her oyster. I've learned how to be a little less uptight and to relax to enjoy life from her, her fiance, and my other friends from school... in turn, I hope they've learned how to be a bit more aware of the world around them from me.

One telling anecdote: The housemate called me when there was the rash of armed robberies this fall in Ann Arbor, while I was at work down here. She was shocked and said she would stop running at night. I shrugged and was just glad I wasn't in any of those banks. I've gone to those ATMs at night all the time; all of the robberies happened during the day, and no one was shot. The news didn't cause me to alter my routine or change my life, but there's a growing awareness of crime and taking steps to avoid being a victim on her part.

**socks_mahoney** · January-25-11, 01:33 AM

Detroit — Police Chief Ralph Godbee said his department plans to unite with citizen groups like Detroit 300 and other agencies to bring down criminals like the suspected east side serial rapist, calling it a new era of crime-fighting in Detroit.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110125/...#ixzz1C1eNkDbQ

The fact of the matter is, Detroit cannot and will not move forward until its citizens are willing to take risks to build themselves a better life. The best entrepreneur or idea might as well be chicken shit if it is constantly in a state of fear. A human being does not function properly in a state of fear, neither do societies.

Its incumbent on us all to proactively and collectively create an environment of law and order. If public demonstrations of unity and strength against crime is what it takes, then we should be up for it. It looks like the city may finally see the light on community policing. though I'm hesitant to hold my breath...I am keeping my fingers crossed.

**English** · January-25-11, 08:06 AM

Well, I just learned that the husband of my sorority sisters, a community activist [[my soror is also someone you might recognize) was robbed at gunpoint last night just as he was leaving a meeting about developing a new program for disenfranchised young men in Detroit.

There are THOUSANDS of us in Detroit who have, as you say "taken risks to build themselves a better live", who are GOOD people, who have ALWAYS been good people, but who are absolutely invisible because we're not out there beating a drum every time we do something for Detroit. But everyone has their breaking point. Last year, my cousin reached his after his third carjacking in his Rosedale Park driveway. He took early retirement from the DPD and is moving out West.

Today, I will not go anywhere where I'll have to walk alone and back to my car late at night. Many places in my city are simply no go zones when I am by myself... something that's changed for me from even 3 years ago.

Sure, lots of people will tell you that you're being scary and "nothing will happen," then choose to judge you. But I am a woman, and it only takes ONE time. When it comes to my survival and safety, I really couldn't care less about what anyone thinks.

**DetroitPlanner** · January-25-11, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by SWMAP

"I'd be surprised if the Rev Murray was part of Shabaz's group"

See the Church that they minister at together:

First holy Temple Church of god in Christ on Plymouth Road, Detroit. You can see it on google

My google search came up with this at that address:
Spirit Filled Ministries 15100 Plymouth Road, Detroit, MI 48227
Phone: [[313) 272-3104 Pastor Thomasyne Petty Faulkner

**ragnarok1981** · January-27-11, 01:06 PM

Detroit has gotten to the point where I find myself wishing that we had superheroes like Batman or someone like that to deal with the criminals around here. We really cannot rely on the cops to protect us when the criminal element has no fear of the police. When citizens try to stand up against an encroaching criminal element in their neighborhoods they are often attacked and have been killed or intimidated to the point where they either move away or cower in fear. Someone or something really needs to put the "fear of god" into these thugs that are taking over the city. While I know it is sort of fanciful thinking to wish for that, I have seen more and more stories of people actually dressing up as heroes and patrolling cities. Yes we may question their sanity if we saw someone doing that, but in my opinion it shows a commitment to their area that so many Detroiters seem to lack.