The Antelope Valley Times

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Conference starts dialogue on crime prevention

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Andrea Cano spoke at the Crime Prevention and Intervention conference.

PALMDALE – About 40 residents gathered at the Larry Chimbole Cultural Center Saturday to discuss crime and public safety in the Antelope Valley.

“This is a chance for community leaders and community members to come together to get a better understanding of what we need to do to prevent crime in our community,” said organizer Pharaoh Mitchell.

Panelists at the Crime Prevention and Intervention Conference included Darren Parker, Chairman of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission; Abdul Majeed Askia, community activist and public speaker; Veronica Fields, organizer of the recent “Hoodie March for Solidarity; Cynthia Beverly, CEO of the “One Way Up” youth organization; Stan Muhammad, local director for the Nation of Islam; Xavier Flores, project director for Pueblo Y Salud; and Dr. Miguel Coronado and Jackie Contreras, representatives from the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Before audience members had their say, panelists were given five minutes each to share their perspectives on crime prevention and intervention.

“Crime prevention starts in the home. You do that by hugging, disciplining and paying attention to your kids,” said Dr. Coronado. “If you don’t pay attention to your kids, our community pays the price.”

“So many of the youth, unfortunately, are automatically cast into the category of being enemies,” said Askia, adding that youths are often labeled as being dangerous and wild, based on appearance alone.

Fields, the youngest member on the panel, said she was hoping to establish programs that would bridge the gap between the young and the old, as well as the sheriff’s department and the community.

“The sheriffs have a bad reputation and that’s not right for our community,” said Fields. “We should have more programs that show that the sheriffs don’t just pick on people and kill people for no reason… I think if we bridge the gap between the sheriffs and the community then it will be a lot safer in our community.”

Other panelists said there was a disproportionate number of blacks and Latinos in the prison system.

“Everybody in public office is saying ‘crime is down, crime is down’; guess what folks? People are being put in jail,” Muhammad said. “The question is: what is the percentage of those individuals who really deserve a second chance at life?”

Diann Moskowitz spoke against Section 8.

The first audience member to speak was Diann Moskowitz, and she did not mince words in describing her frustrations with the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.

“I could be the president of the sick and damn tired old white women’s task force,” Moskowitz said. She said the Section 8 program was crippling the Antelope Valley, partly because of a lawsuit that prevented the cities from funding extra investigators to root out fraud in the program. She went on to blame the NAACP for its role in the lawsuit.

“Perhaps by joining those of us who want cheats thrown out of any entitlement program, your organization could actually help the younger generations of all colors to understand that government shouldn’t be paying over and over again for illegal activities,” Moskowitz said.

Her comments prompted a response from another audience member, Andrea Cano, who urged Moskowitz to check out Tim Wise’s “The Pathology of White Privilege”.

“Because we are entitled to everything we don’t have to think about anything else but ourselves…” Cano said. “If we could acknowledge our white privilege and not play black and brown, maybe we could understand and make a change.”

Another audience member, Ace Carter, suggested effective ways for dealing with Sheriff’s deputies. You should always get a business card from deputies or get them to identify themselves and spell their names when you call the station, Carter said.

“You will get an entirely new response from the police if you just identify them and know who they are,” he said. “Then they know you’re not a dope, and they treat you way differently.”

Jonathan Ervin said people were moving to the Antelope Valley because it was cheaper to live here. But because the area lacked jobs, some people were turning to crime to survive, he said.

“The real foundation of the problem that we’re seeing is jobs, and specifically, lack of manufacturing, low-skilled, high-wage jobs,” Ervin said, adding that Morton’s Manufacturing’s relocation to Lancaster would bring the kinds of jobs the community needed.

Other topics included how to deal with gang members and effective ways to reach out to disadvantaged residents.

Organizers said the conference accomplished its mission.

“The purpose was to get the dialogue going and to see how we could start to effectively make changes in our community as far as crime is concerned,” said Mitchell. “Our next step is to focus on getting more community members out to these events so that we can have the full participation of the community.”

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Filed Under: Palmdale

71 comments for "Conference starts dialogue on crime prevention"

  1. Mr.Truth i can’t say that i know him to the point that you do.no i didn’t sit at starbucks and have a couple of cups of coffee with him.And no i wasn’t invited to his house to have a breakfast,lunch or dinner whith him,and so i can’t began to say the things that you have said about him. all i can say is what i have heard from him was true.any one could hear that,i mean if he’s not deaf or nieve.I’t sounds like if any body that half way speak out for black america is stupid,dumb, racist,or trying to hustle!! you talk about africa,you say that they hate black america! when they shouldn’t,because they help hand them over to their opressors.obese is not a black problem it is americas problem.Oh and by the way, the african and the blacks of america are making amends,but thats another story!!! But you say that africa can’t provide for black america,thats a lie..they could if certain people take their hands out of the cookie jar,and stop sucking them dry !!TRUTH as you call your self,if you really know the truth you will know that africa is one of the riches countries if not the riches!!and they could do better if a group of people take their hands out of the cookie jar!! and then you talk about black wealth.well understand this,they are only rich the wealth pays them,and when they are done with them they take a great portion of it back.and if your not careful they will take it all !!!! the last thing that i would like to speak on is you said that “he is trying to turn poor blacks against poor whites”.well my man i haven’t been on this earth long,but to trun poor blacks against poor whites is a JOB!!!black folks are way more acceptive than others,i’ve saw,witness and lived to tell the story about how whites are accepted by black neighborhoods.i mean with open arms,for many,many,many of years,with out getting ran out of the neighborhood.but i cant say the same for others..now if blacks buy a house in the other neighborhood it doesn’t always go the same way.i mean not all of them but the mass majority oh yeah.you get the cold shoulder,no waves,funny looks and the whole nine yards..not saying that some blacks are not racist because that will be a bald face lie,but that last statment that you made need to be checked !! It was nice chating with you with out calling you dumb, or stupid as you called me,but all is well…

  2. color,color,color,color !!!!every body what to talk about what the black man is doing,or what the white man is doing ect.ect.ect!!!lets stop pointing the dam finger @ each other, & start doing something about the problem.. blacks was brought over here by ship, and they can’t go back,and the whites was cast out of europe, and sent over here, and they can’t go back!! so now lets face the music, we are all here,and it ain’t a dam thing we can do about it,[IF SO BUST A MOVE] !! i have to live with you, and you have too live with me.the gov’er ment is not going to seprate us,because then he”ll lose do the math !! if we really,really,really,listen to half of what we are saying we sound dumb.. if we worry about cleaning up our selves,our ways and our actions,we wouldn’t have time to worry about the other man, or race !! man listen this [removed] sounds like a war that’s about to leave the computer, and go to the street and blow up !! if we break out in to a real race war in america, because what’s going on here is going on all over the US,it will knock everything off balance,and that will give all other countries that really want to come and bomb our ass their chance,and then we all lose. just a little food for thought!!!

    • Dibo, So are you saying that all we should do is worry about ourselves? Thats how we got into this mess in this valley. I agree first and foremost that we should be responsible for ourselves and in a perfect world that would be the end of it. But what are you supposed to do when your neighbor doesnt do what they are supposed to do, when children run amok in public? Am I supposed to bite my tongue and look the other way? Where does that get us? We cant even have a dialogue about an issue? Tell me your grand idea to better our community? The antelope valley is one of the most integrated communities in the nation, It should be a beautiful thing and in many ways is. I would love to help the black community better its future, but I cant. I find it saddening that you cant even manage to say that I sound racist but I do have a point when it comes to issues like black drop out ratesand fatherless black children. Instead you want to bring out the crutch of black people were brought here so deal with it. Slavery was deplorable and I consider Martin Luther King to be one of the greatest men ever! He would be enraged if he saw that his efforts and idealogy had been cast aside for some of views of the current black leaders. And while we are on the issue of betterment of ourselves you may want to consider taking and english or grammar class!

      • first off i’m not even here to battle with you,and as far as you attacking my english,or grammar save it for some one that profess to be an english and gramar scholar!!! i see where you want this to go Mr.great debate,but i’m not jumping on that train with you.. dude you just attack the part when i said “that blacks came over on a ship” . what about the part i said about whites? that should have shown you that i’m not pointing out one,and leaving out the other.man if you listen to what you are saying it does sound like you racist! man before any body can solve any problem they first have to understand it..thats whats worng with us people today, we hate what we dont understand!we kill what we don’t understand! we destroy what we don’t understand! wow,is that the answer to everything?man you can’t help the black community,because you can’t understand them!man you can’t help the black community, because from the sound of it you don’t want to understand them!! man you can’t help the black community until you help your sick self !! and you talk about Mr KING, not only would he be mad or up set with his people,he would be up set with white people that think, and talk like you as well !! my guy i don’t have all the answers to any thing but that don’t give me the right to bash it,kill it,destroy it!!like i said a race, or nation with out sin cast the first rock!!! go ahead i’m wating- – – – – – – – – – – – -my point as well !!and if i had the answer to the problems, i wouldn’t be here chating on this computer !!!

        • I dont want to destroy it and I fail to see how pointing out facts is bashing it. I would love to be a part of the solution but I cant find anyone willing to even say why things are the way they are in the black community. The only person I have heard even attempt to comment on it is Bill Cosby. Maybe I dont understand, but as civilized people cant somebody educate me? It seems it is always silence and diversion. If I were a racist why would I live in this town? If I didnt care why would I even bother with this site? Im not going to get into the differences about how whites and blacks got to America, its 2012 we are here lets deal with our issues we have today? Do you think there is a bigger problem in our community than I stated? If so what is it? You are misinterpreting my statements as hatred when in fact they come from a place of sadness because I see a group of people that could do so much better….

          • This was a speech he gave to an African American audience at the anniversary celebration for the Brown vs Board of Education….

            BILL COSBY: (July 1) You young men and old men, you’ve got to stop beating up your women because you can’t find a job, because you didn’t want to get an education.
            RAY SUAREZ: Speaking to the mostly black audience, Cosby disparaged the casual use of racial slurs by African American entertainers.
            BILL COSBY: When you put on a record and that record is

          • you need to check out Tim Wise “the pathology of white privilege”. this guy is a dam heavy-weight champ in trying to understand the problem !! when you watch him don’t skip no parts just listen !!he is a real heavy-weight,i never heard a white man speak like that WOW !!!!!

          • Tim Wise is a self-hating, self-flagellating piece of dog [removed]! I have more respect for the parasites that feed on dog [removed] than I do for him! He is another liberal who is trying to find a way to make money off of self-hating white people. If he died tomorrow I would try to find out where he was being buried so I could defecate all over his grave site!

          • mr.ungly truth,you mean to tell me that the things that this man is saying is just a lie, and a hustle?

          • I’ll say it again: Tim unWise is a self-hating, self-flagellating piece of dog crap! I actually have more respect for the parasites that feed on dog [removed] than I do for him! He is another liberal who is trying to find a way to make money off of his self hatred.

            And here’s the Ugly Truth: Black Americans benefit from the same so-called “white privilege” they bitch about so much!

            What other nation on earth gives black people the wealth they have here in the U.S.? Show me! If Black America were a separate nation it would be the wealthiest nation of blacks in the entire world — a fact that black activists and people like Tim UnWise like to conveniently forget! Where is the “Oprah” of Africa? Where is the “Shaq” of Africa? The Morgan Freeman? The Danny Glover? The Samuel L. Jackson? The Magic Johnson? The Michael Jordan? All of these black people have made more money IN ONE SINGLE DAY than many poor ass white people in places like Arkansas and West Virginia will see in their entire stinking lives!

            None of the African nations could provide black Americans with even a fraction of you take for granted in this nation…unless of course you have a burning desire to live in a mud hut and swat at flies all day long.

            Black people in the U.S. are fatter than all other blacks in Africa or the Caribbean. Black people have access to social programs and technology and resources that no other black population in the world has, but you black activists whine like spoiled children! Talk to black people from Africa and they will tell you how much they HATE and RESENT black Americans because they think you are a spoiled to death bunch of crybabies who dont know what REAL POVERTY truly is!

            If Tim unWise died tomorrow I would try to find out where he was being buried so I could defecate all over his grave site because I believe that he is a dangerous man who is bent on lying to make himself richer! What I hate most about him is that he has stupid people like you convinced that what he says is true when it is nothing but a pack of lies! Tim unWise is a capitalist who makes money lying to black people and gullible white liberals and who capitalizes off of turning poor blacks against poor whites! …and that, my friend, is The Ugly Truth!

          • now i don’t know the guy like you do.i mean, i didn’t get a chance to sit down @ starbucks, and have acouple of cups of coffee with him.i wasn’t invited to his house for breakfast,lunch, or dinner to have long discussion with him. so again, i don’t know him to even begin say those things that you said about him. what i said was,he spoke truth in his message!if you’re not deaf or nieve any man could hear it! now when you talk about being fat, it’s not just blacks,it’s an america problem! the Africans really has no right to dislike black americans,because they are the ones that help hand them over to their opresserors..oh and by the way, they are making amends..and you say that africa can’t provid black america with what america give them,oh yes they could !!! they could do a whole hell of a lot if some people keep their hands out of their country!! if you know the truth as you call your self,you would know that it is the wealthest country!why do you think certain people have their hands in it sucking it dry?? now you said that he is turnning “poor blacks against poor whites”.come on, come on, come on,i’m not saying that there is no racist blacks out there,because it very well is,but black are more acceptive [if thats a word] then most.i haven’t been on this earth long,but i have seen for many of years where blacks have accepted whites in there neighhood,and not get ran out.and when i say accepted, i mean with open arms.now i can’t say the same for others.if they let you stay you better be quiet as a mouse,and kept to you self, cause we are watching you.no we are not going to speak,now just cause we don’t speak don’t think that we’re not watching you!! and you talk about blacks being wealthy,no they are rich.the wealthy pay the rich,and when they are done with you if your not careful they will take it!! now i did all of that talking or typing, and never called you dumb, or stupid.. cause it’s just a conversation,with both facts, and opinions…

      • And whats wrong with my grammar?I might misspell some words,i might not put my punctuation in the right places all the time.I might not put caps in the begining of my sentences,or on names all the time,but who do? it’s not like right now i’m trying to get a job or something.I’m talking to a guy that has a problem with black people from the sounds of it.man if i went over what you read, i could find the same errors!!!!

      • You too. I’m sure he was saying we need to come together. Why can’t we just get along!(RIP Rodney King) Color doesn’t matter. Quit being so racist AND quit pulling out the race card(A waste of time). He’s saying we sound like we may be at war with each other some day. Maybe there is more black people than white so it seems like there is more crime committed by black people. Setting these things aside and working together may just be a positive solution, instead of pointing a finger(worrying about the other negatively).

  4. Ace, you said you were named after your grandfather Asa… as in the author Asa Earl Carter?

  5. Googler, Really, Facts and hmr (from the other article) could not have said it better. Why in the hell would the sheriff’s dept come to yet ANOTHER “community meeting?” Its bad enough chief neal tyler came to your last one, or that any sheriffs official gives you any credibility. Here is the agenda for all those meetings: 1. Blame the cops 2. Blame whitey 3. Blame the cops for not having more programs to raise your kids while you breed and smoke dope 4. Blame the gov’t, except obama, for not giving you enough free stuff 5. Blame the cops 6. Blame section 8 investigators for being too mean.
    In the meantime, we have groups of young black males running around this valley terrorizing innocent folks. Black males with no daddy in sight, and a mama, if she knows the daddy, who doesn’t give a $hit either. Too busy at the salon getting nails and horsehair applied. It could have been a very short meeting. Tell all the black and hispanic parents to start raising their kids instead of letting them grow into gangbangers!! Silence, learn some English before you post your nonsense again. Ace, you are a nutjob, no-factor. A bit jealous of the cops are you?

  6. Googler,facts on and all the rest of the critics I am sitting in the smallest room in my house with your comments in front of me soon they will be behind me. The Sheriff’s Department and Palmdale was invited to this event it was their choice not to show up however they did get their invitation. You can best believe that both Lancaster and Palmdale sheriff departments will be invited to the next event. However be careful your sheet is showing these are the cowards that I was talking about hiding behind a keyboard in their mommy or daddy spare room instead of coming out and making a difference in their community. By the way Facts on she is a beautiful woman but I don’t think I’m her type and I’m quite happy with my girlfriend.

  7. Ace thank you for coming out and being a part of this conference you have proven yourself a man of honor by coming out and supporting a community. A lot of people are hiding behind keyboards and complaining you have proven that you’re willing to get out there and fight for your community. You’ve taught me a lot with your words at this event. That I am truly thankful for. Thank you.

  8. I would like to address certain factors within this scenerio. About three months ago, sheriffs arrive at my location. I was informes without faces nor badges presented.They specified they recieved a domestic violence scenerio in my location. I have no problem with letting you in. Due to the fact of crime in Lancaster, as well as all women in the household. I refused to open the door until I seen a badge. I seen no badge, as well as no sheriffs to evaluate. They informed me, they will kick my door in if I refuse to open. In return, I einformed them ( if I do not see a badge you will have to kick in the door. I am not quite sure of what one of the sheriffs intentions were,he went around my rail in which I seen his uniform. This is when I opened my door, and was asked to step out of my house. For them to focus a search. When the Deputies completed their moment, they left very quickly with an apology.

      • I can tell English is not your first language so I’m sure what you were trying to convey to the Deputies was lost in translation.

          • 4 degrees mean nothing! especially in today’s era of dumbed down & watered down educational standards and the fact you can go to a shyster place like University of Phoenixxx and practically pay for your degree.

          • Did not mean to hurt your feelings. Do not take it personal. You should focus on some type of educatinal status. You are a very ignorant individual.

          • Ummm… Excuse me, Mr. “4 degrees,” but shouldn’t that have been spelled, ‘comma,’ not ‘coma?’

          • …and “4” should have been spelled out as “four” since it is below a numeric value of 10.

            See what I mean about dumbed down standards these days!

            Go to Univ. of Phoenixxx and pick a degree from our catalog of 500!!!!! If you cant find one then we will make one up for you, just Pay Up! Cha-ching!

          • I only have two degrees, so I hope I’m allowed to post here.

            Silence.. do re-read your original post describing some confrontation you had with the police at your house. Yes, it was full of misspellings, and sentences that were poorly written. I do understand why JBird suggested English wasn’t your first language. Your post was difficult to understand. All JBird was suggesting was that if English wasn’t your first language, perhaps the police didn’t understand what you were trying to say to them.

            Then again, maybe you were just plinking out that post using a small cell phone keyboard. Who knows.

          • Maybe you should major in English and take a ELS class. I can also bet that with four degrees you do not work and you got those degrees from a diploma mill such as UAV.

    • Whats your point? They showed up regarding a call, when u saw they were deputies you opened the door, they looked around saw nothing was wrong, apologized for the inconvenience then left. They have a duty to ensure there was no crime at the location and once they did so they left.

  10. This is what irks me…it sounds as though some good things were talked about, however how does a productive meeting about crime prevention trail off into a conversation about white privelidge and having cops give you a business card…. the group also didnt do its homework because the sheriffs dept does have many programs that work with kids.

    • You are absolutely right the Sheriff’s Department has some fantastic programs but they can’t do it alone we have to create more programs like the successful ones they have. We have to come from the perspective that each and every one of us is responsible for our community and our children. There’s only one AV that all of us is responsible for. It takes a village to raise a child however you have to be part of that village.

      • I agree 100%, however were the sheriffs invited to this event? were city officials invited? And how can you expect collaboration with these groups when you are suing them? It is unfathomable that people would protect criminals who deserve to be kicked off of section 8. By doing this you create a safe haven for criminals and deprive assistance from people who really need and deserve it. I didnt show up because I vigorously oppose your ideology and methods. However I respect you enough to not show up and argue about our differences… And when people at that meeting talk about white privelige it infuriates me.. I am not racist, however I am labeled as one simply because i am not afraid to say that the black community has a huge problem with young black males having no father figure and that this population is responsible for a huge portion of this communities crime.

        • Regardless of ethnicity, crime is active. The point is, every parent is responsible for their sibblings actions. Lancaster and Palmdale need to focus more on activities, as well as jobs for the adolescence. They fous on keeping funding within the Av, Keep the jobs within the Av as well.

          • so Quanisha has more kids than she can handle and now its the citys job to make sure they are taken care of???????????

            give me a f—ing break!!!!!!

          • Silence, So if you are a parent you are responsible for your brother and sisters actions? I think you meant children. You are right, accountability is key! How does this meeting and others like it increase accountabilty? It doesnt, these groups operate based on the idea that someone has wronged them and that government needs to implement a solution, that minimizes accountability and allows people to shirk their responsibilities as parents and human beings. These probs wont be addressed,, did the NAACP guy talk about ways to curtail the epidemic of black youth growing up without a father? I doubt it but those are the conversations that have to take place for change to occur…

      • Mr Mitchell-why don’t you stop blaming white people for problems of the black community. Do you really think that unemployment is the reason for so much crime? No,maybe some young people need to stop getting tattoos,piercings,maybe they need to pull up their pants and learn how to speak and how to act. Maybe criminal behavior needs to stop being glorified and glamorized. Maybe you need to tell young people to stop smoking weed,and tell the females to stop having children out of werlock. Oh,and I am black.

        • Congratulations Monique!! Seems you got the validation you so desperately seek. Too bad we all look the same from 50 feet away… Before you jump on me, I’m just parroting a comment I saw right here on this site.
          And just so you know, I’m black too.

    • I told you this is what would happen at that meeting, did i not?

      I told you they were going to find a way to blame white people for all of their problems instead of taking responsibility for themselves and for the fact that they produced kids, neglected them and then they turned out to be hoodlums.

      Its always the “white mans” fault no matter what.

      • Easy Pharaoh, that picture of you drooling over and lusting after Andrea along with your comment above are exposing your true colors. Don’t fall into the stereotype. You can’t have that blond white woman! :-)

        • Facts, you’re disgusting. Go take a shower and wash your privates real fast. and wash your mouth out with soap while you’re at it. Can’t do anyting about fixing “stupid”.

    • Thanks for what? Parroting a self loathing idiot like Tim Wise? hahahahahahaha!!!!!