officers - The Black Vault

FD·350 (Rev. 5·8·81)
(lcate page, name vf
newspaper, city and state.)
Black Forum
Ends Meetings
·With Gates
By ANDREA FORD
TIMES STAFF WRITER
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
~ When a Latino police offi~er
killed a black motorcyclist in Miami
in 1988, the city's African-American
neighborhoods exploded in an-
.ger and riots. .
To prevent a similar tragedy
here, Los Angeles Police 'Chief ·
Daryl F. Gates contacted leaders of
several local civil rights groups the
neXt year in the hopes of beginning
meetings aimed at helping defuse :
potentially explosive situations and
giving blacks greater access to the -
~ Police Department. ..
The group, called the Black
Community Forum, grew to in- ~
elude 25 representatives of black
organizations, businesses and .
churches and began meeting with · .­
Gates bimonthly. · . · ,
But the partnership has fall~n
victim to the controversy surrounding
tP,e beating by police of - .,
Rodney G. King. ·
When tlie forum was tQ bold a
regularly scheduled meeting with
:Gates lasJ Wednesday, the group
instead met without the chief and
decided that he would not be asked .
, to attend. future gatherings. At an
earlier emergency meeting of the
forum, the members told Gates that
he was no longer fit to lead the
Police Department.
Joe Duff, president of the Los
Angeles branch of the National
Assn. for the Advancement of Col-
. ored People, said that .during that · ··
emergency meeting he was told by
. Gates, "I'm disappointed in you, J9e
~Duff."
"The disappointment is·mutual,"
J?uff said he replied.
'
Forum members said they do not
inten~ to disband. They said they
will meet with other high-ranking
memb~rs of the Police Department,
~ Police Commission and Ci~y Coun-
' cil as necessary. ·
· "If we want to speak with some­
~ Qne in the LAPD, they will be there
rat our invitation. There will not be
·· a st,anding invitation," said Mark
Riqley-Thomas, executive director
of the local chapter of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
and a candidate in the 8th District
• City Council race.
Bill Shearer, vice president and
general manager of radio station
KGF J and a forum member, said
the group would like to see Jesse
Brewer, a former assistant chief
who retir~d this month, replace
Gates until a new chief could be
found. .
Despite ·repercussions from the
King beating, Gates bas said he will
not resign. He has not commented
publicly al;>out the break with the
Black Community Forum.
According to Ridley-Thomas,
what Gates did and said in the
wake of the beating convinced the
group that "we hadn't gotten
through to the guy in the two years
we had been talking to him about
the gravity of the problems facing
the African-American community."
Most galling, he said, was· the
· -~hi~f's insistence 'that the King 1
mc1dent was an "aberration." • .
"For two years we have been
telling him about case after'case of
police harassment," Ridley-Thomas
said. "We have criticized him for
the outrageous statements he
:. make~, making it clear that they
were not appropriate for someone
in a position of leadership."
Gates was sometimes defensive
in the face of such criticism, Ridley-Thomas
said, but that for the
inost part Gates s~emed sincere
about ironing out difficulties.
"I must·say that SO% or 90% of
the time he was a very careful
listener and gave us the impression
•that 'he -was ·earnest," .Ridley-
~'fE._o~a~ said. • . . . . .
Date:
Edition:
Title:
Character:
or
Classification:
LOS ANGELES TIMES
MON' 1-1AR 25, 1991
METRO SECTION, PAGE 1
BLACK FORU}1 ENDS MEETING.
V.7ITH GATES
Submitting Office:
IDS ANGELES
Indexing:
CIVIL RIGHTS
8 0-33B
~SE~AR~CH~EOD------~~------
SERIALJ~ED, ___ INDEXED. ___ ._,
-- fiLEO ______
1
MAR 2 :Y 1991
. FBI- LOS ANGELEst
FBI/DOJ