Tag Guerrero

http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/detroit-300-black-male-citizen-patrols-the-danger-of-vigilantism
Black men are routinely portrayed as crime figures- not crime fighters! Those choosing criminality and promoting it culturally ( in music; videos; clothing; etc ) now face rising opposition.
Detroit 300 is a very proactive, majority Black male citizen patrol working with police in a no-nonsense manner to get more chocolate Klansmen arrested!
HURRAY! AMEN! ALL PRAISES DUE TO GOD!!! These groups ( MAD DADS also immediately comes to mind ) represent the natural next step in the civil rights movement- opposing inner city violence without excuse nor apology.
We hae a Catch 22 regarding American public safety. Selective silence on Black homicide is seen elsewhere as support of crime.
Conversely too many Black men opposing crime would invariably prompt cries of ” vigilantism” from alarmed White observers more comfortable with perceived inaction.
While operating within the law, some Detroit 300 members and unaffiliated posers have crossed the line. Thankfully no George Zimmermans have emerged from their ranks and I don’t expect one to. They do a good job policing their own and are vital to culture change where they live.
Their legal war against rogue shooters; rapists and thieves is where the mainstream civil rights alphabet soup should be- fighting destructive elements within Inner City America.
WARNING: Black vigilantism is no better than vigilantism classic. Black versions of Byron Dela Beckwith ( activist Medgar Evers murderer ) and Bernhard Goetz ( New York’s Subway Vigilante ) represent horrific steps backward in advocacy.
Black male citizen patrols don’t have the luxury of violating rights or targeting suspects for summary assassination for at least two reasons.
POINT ONE: Vigilantism is wrong- no matter who does it.
POINT TWO: President and Attorney-General aside, we do not have enough clout among police; prosecutors and judges to provide ( illegal ) cover the way White vigilantes have until relatively recently.
Now, accused vigilantes of any color get tough treatment from the criminal justice system.
It’s against this back drop that the Detroit 300 and other Black male citizen patrols navigate with the danger of vigilantism allegations waiting in the wings more than other concerned citizens doing the same thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1M9aZB5iw Detroit 300 initial press conference footage.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK promotes creative crime prevention and homeless outreach. (504) 214-3082
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK
ANTI-CRIME ACTIVIST
CHOCOLATE KLANSMEN ALERT! SPEAKER
http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chocolate-klansmen-alert-speaking-tour
 

Some people just can’t seem to understand the difference between being vigilant and being a vigilante. One is a responsible citizen, doing their part to make their community a better place. The other is a criminal, no better than those they seek to stop.
A vigilante is someone who sets out to take the law into their own hands, to enact justice on their own. When someone steps outside their door fully expecting to use force on another person, that person is premeditated in their use of force. They aren’t just prepared to use force, but are hoping to. They are looking for the opportunity to kick some ass.
If you set out to fight crime through the use of force, then you are going to break the law. Let me clarify this. If you are planning on.. not preparing to use force to defend yourself or others.. but actually planning on the use of force to make criminals pay for their crimes, then you are planning to break the law.
If I am on a neighborhood patrol and I see someone being mugged, and the victim is in danger of harm, then yes, I will step in and use force to protect the innocent. Legally [in my jurisdiction] I am allowed to use whatever force is necessary to stop the criminal. What’s the difference you ask? If I know I may use force against a criminal when I go out on patrol, aren’t I planning on kicking someone’s ass? No.
Just because I acknowledge that there may be a time and place for the application of Hard Power (the use of physical force), does not mean that I am planning ahead of time to go out and stomp a criminal into the pavement. While a vigilante mindset not only sees the need for violence, but is looking for the chance to use it. Where I might seek to use alternative methods to violence, if circumstances allow, a vigilante is already predetermined on their course of action. Their intent is clear. They are out to exact justice and mete out punishment.. and break the law while doing it.
Let me give a very famous and clear example of what I mean by being prepared to use Hard Power (physical violence), but choosing to use Soft Power (non-physical means) to de-escalate a situation. If you watch the video of Dark Guardian as he enters Washington Park and confronts a drug dealer, you are witnessing a true superhero at work, not a vigilante. He confronts the drug dealer, the situation gets tense, the moment could erupt into violence at any moment, but it does not. Even had the drug dealer not backed down and left the park like he did, Dark Guardian did not escalate the situation to where the use of physical force would have been needed. He would have stepped away and called the police. At no time was it Dark Guardian’s intention to jump the dealer and punish his wicked and evil ways. However, during the entire situation, Dark Guardian was prepared to use his martial arts to defend himself if needed.
Without a doubt Dark Guardian’s approach in the video was confrontational. He approached the dealer with the clear intent of forcing the crook out of the park, but he wasn’t planning on putting the boots to him to accomplish his goal. This is different then the vigilante mindset. He wasn’t going to enact his own brand of justice on the dealer, even though he was being confrontational. He wasn’t going in looking to pick a fight.
In the vigilante mindset, one sets out to accomplish their goals through the use of violence to exact punishment. Their goal is not to chase bad guys away, or to call the police to report a crime. Criminals must pay for what they have done, and the vigilante is going to collect on those debts. The vigilante is judge, jury and executioner, even if they leave the punks tied up in front of the police station for the cops to find. They pick fights. They want to engage crooks in combat. They escalate situations unnecessarily. Their ends justify their means. But their ends put them on the wrong side of the law, and they are no more morally superior then the criminals they confront.
Additional-
Yes, it is possible to use force and not be a vigilante. It is the intent that makes a vigilante. A vigilante wants to go out and purposely use force to stop crime.
Someone might break the law unintentionally while stopping a criminal from hurting someone, but that does not make them a vigilante. Nor does it make them morally wrong. Yes, the law was broken (maybe they used too much physical force, or whatever), but just because they broke the law does not make them a vigilante
I can not, nor will I, ever condone the intentional commission of a crime in the fight against criminals.
 

Originally posted: http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/24/local/me-25798
Campaign: Taking inspiration from cartoon crime stoppers and wrestling stars, a string of social activists is donning outlandish costumes to fight for worthy causes.
October 24, 1999|MICHELLE RAY ORTIZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Faster than a bolt of lightning? Doubtful. Able to leap tall buildings? Not a chance.
Mexico’s newest superhero rushes into his headquarters, the office of the Union of Electrical Workers, flustered and breathing heavily under his leather and nylon mask after jogging from his car.
Even Super Luz–Super Light–can have trouble finding a parking space.
But when duty calls, this mere mortal slips into tights and cape to campaign against the government’s plan to privatize the power industry and to defend the interests of his fellow pole-climbers and linemen.
Just what compels a grown man reared in a macho culture to dress up like a cartoon character–and do it with a straight face?
“Precisely that the human being, the Mexican . . . needs the existence of heroes to be able to continue enduring a common and ordinary life,” Super Luz says.
Putting up with years of rampant crime and widespread government wrongdoing has left many Mexicans exhausted and cynical. But the sight of Super Luz thrusting his fist into the air can cause weathered electricians to crack a smile.
“Go, Super Luz!” one man cheers when the masked man bounds through–not over–the union building in downtown Mexico City.
Super Luz is just the latest in a string of Mexican social activists who have taken inspiration from comic book crime fighters and stars from the country’s unique genre of professional wrestling movies.
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They trace their origin to El Santo (The Saint), a wrestler named Rodolfo Guzman whose silver mask propelled him to fame on the silver screen starting in 1958.
Guzman starred in dozens of films battling criminals, demons, witches and zombies before his death in 1984. “El Santo Against the Vampire Women” of 1962 is a kitsch classic, and his character continues to inspire a cult following as well as lyrics in Mexican rock music.
The passage from screen to streets came in the wake of Mexico City’s horrendous 1985 earthquake, when an incarnate superhero sprang to life to rally support for the thousands of homeless neglected by the city’s overwhelmed government.
He was Super Barrio, a paunchy figure in red and yellow spandex who became a cult idol for his attacks on the administration of the dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party. He led protest marches and rallies and helped form the Assembly of Barrios–a neighborhood coalition that defended the rights of the poor.
Super Barrio has kept a low profile since the leftist opposition won control of the city government in 1997, and he declined to be interviewed.
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Other masked heroes have followed his path: Super Universal Ecologist fought to save the environment; Super Puppy explained the need to treat pets humanely; Super Policeman railed against corruption; Super Woman cheered women’s rights; and Super Gay denounced homophobia.
One of the longest lasting has been Super Animal. Like El Santo films in which the bare-chested, masked hero met desperate clients in his bookshelf-lined office, Super Animal welcomes visitors in costume from behind his desk in a disturbingly normal middle-class neighborhood.
The costume, he explains, is a sure-fire means of attracting attention to his cause: fighting for the rights and lives of animals–a battle he admits is difficult in a society enamored of bullfights, cockfights and meat-filled tacos.
But the mask and outfit are not only attention-getters, he says. They are a necessity for Mexicans who adore ritual.
“If they were to go to a church and see a priest come out for Mass in a T-shirt and jeans, would they like it or would they ask, ‘What’s going on, Father?’ He has to put on his vestments to reach the faithful,” Super Animal says.
“Here in Latin America people really like characters–professional wrestling, the films of El Santo. People like the masks.”
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Super Animal and Super Luz, both of whom ask to have their real names kept secret, say they have taken the common man’s love of entertainment–specifically, professional wrestling–and sharpened it into a means of attacking a government they contend is intent on keeping the masses sated with bread and circuses.
Mexican television, with its history of state control, has been used to divert public attention from real problems, Super Luz says.
“What the mass media have given us is simply trash,” he says. “We are saying: Fight! Fight for economic stability for your families. Don’t remain asleep because the federal government is trying to bombard us so that the people will be stupid, conquered and forgetful of problems while they are focused on wrestling, soccer and soap operas.”
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For Super Luz, Mexico could use even more superheroes–with or without masks.
“I believe everyone has an important fight because in Mexico there are many things that should be done,” he says. “And if there isn’t someone who says, ‘Here I am to do it,’ then no one will.”