Talking With Our Favorite Superhero; #CapBlack

Talking With Our Favorite Superhero; #CapBlack

http://www.neworleanshealingcenter.org/captain_black/

Visit:

 #CapBlack #RLSH blog

504 214 3082

capblackrlsh.wordpress.com

Vote Yes For a Free #Nola Police Monitor

Early voting is coming up! Please join #CapBlack in voting YES to keep New Orleans Office of Independent Police Monitor permanantly off the political plantation of the Inspector Generals office ( IG ). 

Frankly, the IG is a clear and present danger to our community! If you want real civilian oversight and constitutional policing, YES is the ONLY vote on this Home Rule Charter Amendment! 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, RLSH: Real Life Superhero for Folks Feeling Like Zeroes! SWS: Security Within Self Urban Fellowship. Founder. @nadraenzi on twitter.

You Keep Saying the Same Thing

Yesterday, at New Orleans Youth Studies Center ( a euphemism for juvenile detention center ), SWS Chaplin and Mentor Bro Al Mims was told by a female participant that he-and by extension, I-" keep saying the same thing " weekly to them. 

His heartfelt message unfailingly hammers respect for adults and being law abiding- period. My message, less compassionate but just as relavant, is that they can't afford the cost of crime and are flirting with becoming statistics. Her complaint recieved a chorus of affirmative head nods, confirmation of collective entitlement mentality. They feel they should be entertained with varied subject matter. 

The fact that they are in a diversion program operated by the district attorney failed to disabuse them of this notion. 

I address participants as a stakeholder indifferent to opinion and mobilized against wrong doing. Relished visible discomfort during presentation happens while addressing their disproportinate murder rate. When young people on the cusp of becoming career criminals allege we're saying the same thing, it means a nerve worth striking has been struck. 

We will continue striking it! 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within Self Urban Fellowship. @nadraenzi on twitter.

#CapBlack's You Can't Afford Trouble Talk.

I'm not the mentor type. I'm not warm and approachable, just ask teens I talk to at New Orleans Youth Study Center. The title is a nice way of saying it's our juvenile detention center and business is booming. I've avoided these pow-wows with Millennials the criminal justice system because, as I told them on Day One, " You don't give a *blank* and I don't give a *blank* either. " 

Trademark indifference to adult sympathy had me draft this talk entitled, " You Can't Afford Trouble " many moons ago. It was filed away in my mind, never to be used. Bro Al Mims, New Orleans #1 Crime fighter and Mentor, is also chaplin of my organization, SWS: Security Within Self Urban Fellowship. He asked me to accompany him to the Youth Study Center. Since uniting prevention advocacy with protection ( my preferred posture ) is SWS goal, intellectual honesty demanded I go. 

I see a circle of smart, some very smart, teens who may succumb to their generation's love of confrontation, annihiliation and incarceration. I remind them to discuss burial insurance with their mothers- a weekly hint about the untimely end bad attitudes lead to. 

From bail, lawyer and supervision fees to frantic fundraisers for funerals of unruly youth, my blunt message is, they can't afford trouble. 

I told you I'm not the mentor type but today is a time for tough love- minus the love! We can't afford to baby urban youth already turned against us. When they realize they can't afford their attitudes is when real reform, from within, begins. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. @nadraenzi on twitter.

*Donate*

#CapBlack Called #WBOK Today

This morning I called in on WBOK's AM1230 the Conscious Hour, hosted by Chuck Perkins and responded to his audience question, " What's Your Purpose? " 

Mine promotes self-management by uniting protection and prevention advocates; conservative and conscious members of the community as a two-part, united front. We've been managed by others long enough to realize that's a dead end.

 Urban death and poverty, moral and material, cry out for internal counseling and securing. Otherwise, our misery continues being a cash cow for outsiders. i closed my comments by stating Black people arguing politics and ideology is a profound waste of time. 

It's the premise of SWS: SECURITY WITHIN SELF URBAN FELLOWSHIP. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist & SWS founder. @nadraenzi on twitter.

On Behalf of Reborn Brothers.

( New Orleans ): Headlines about brothers protesting police fill the airwaves. Outsiders could easily conclude most urban men mistrust or hate law enforcement and love crime. 
Behind the protests and away from cameras are reborn brothers, who aren't anti-law enforcement but aren't featured nearly as much as agitators. Discipline and devotion to godly conduct is their message. They have escaped past criminal lives to such an extent that the only similarity with past selves is in name only. 

Bringing attention to such men is key since they represent realistic resurrection, instead of sensationalism. Recently, I talked again with former Tulane football stand out Toney Converse, someone whose rise, fall due to a drug trafficking conviction and return personify what reborn brothers strive to accomplish. Street-level, face-to-face intervention, done as a personal calling instead of job description, are what reborn brothers like Converse provide peers treading the same valley of decision. 

The most effective reentry and rehabilitation must be produced and led by urban men, reborn and resolute ( never incarcerated ) because we have 24/7 access to the most discussed, least empowered factor in modern public safety and corrections. We have access to boys and men whose misdeeds are best addressed internally.Where internal engagement fails, external arrest and prosecution prevails. 

It is on behalf of reborn brothers like Toney Converse that I share their soulful effort to renew minds away from crime and moral decline. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: SECURITY WITHIN SELF URBAN FELLOWSHIP FOUNDER.

#AbrahamVenson & SWB ( Selfdefense While Black )

73 year old Upper 9th Ward New Orleans hostage who fought back!



Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist.

@nadraenzi on twitter.

#AbrahamVenson: Hostage Who Fought Back

Civilian use of force is one of the yardsticks by which groups can assess how government views them. New Orleans view of Black self-defense claims is troubling to say the least. 

A 73 year old crime hostage named Abraham Venson was recently charged with aggravated battery by shooting, for shooting a now deceased burglar who reached for his waistband, which in the inner city is a life threatening gesture indicating a hidden gun. Despite the low bond set, $10,000, it's troubling that a nearly 80 year old law abiding inner citizen, alerted by his alarm company to a break-in, stands charged with defending himself against burglars. 

One of my favorite local crime reporters called the burglars " trespassers " in a September 29th, 2016 New Orleans Advocate front page story. If these burglars were walking across the victim's readily accessible front yard or drive way ( seen in the story photo ), then the term trespasser would be appropriate. 

Since they tripped a silent alarm after breaking into the victims shed, they were burglars. Had the victim not been armed, these burglars could have added aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, manslaughter, or one of two degrees of murder to their charges. These are the high stakes facing local inner city hostages of crime, a fact not lost upon city council, NOPD and the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office. 

Urban safety advocates and concerned citizens in all zip codes must create safety with local government where hostages like Abraham Venson aren't victimized for stopping a threat holding communities captive that can't afford security patrols and can't gamble on slow police response. Lest we forget- directly across from his home 17 hostages were wounded in Bunny Friend Park, none by law abiding citizens like Abraham Venson.

He is a hostage who fought back, within what the law ( though not what local politics ) permits.
-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within Self Urban Fellowship founder. @nadraenzi on twitter.

#IUniteWithBlue Tour Creator. 

Is there Security without Self?

My urban fellowship, SWS: Security Within Self, operates on the premise that free security and mentoring should come from within the community. Awaiting rationed protection and prevention services from elsewhere means allowing conditions to worsen. 

Our members live this realization and individually, along with SWS, provide these services on the spot. We aren't five star hotel advocates. Our advocacy happens on the sidewalks where the action occurs. 

Some of us lean toward self-defense, citizens on patrol and private security as urban crime solutions. Others favor counseling, mentorship and addressing systemic causes of crime. 

Together, we unite these approaches and select appropriate ones on a case-by-case basis. We understand that regardless of how you define it, either as protection or prevention, there's no security without self. 

We provide the self! 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS founder. 
" Uniting Protection & Prevention Advocates! "
@nadraenzi on twitter

*Donate*

#CapBlack & #BroAlMims at Central City March

" Mims now works with Nadra Enzi, known as "Captain Black," to promote community safety and work against violence. The duo co-host an online radio show, "Hostages That Fight Back," at NewOrleansTalkNetwork.com from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesdays. "

Read whole Nola.com story about this anti-violence march we partcipated in,
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/09/anti-violence_march.html 

Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist & SWS: Urban Fellowship founder. 
" Uniting Protection & Prevention Advocates! "
@nadraenzi on twitter.

*Donate* to keep us great ;).

#BroAlMIms is Expected to be Quiet Hostage

Once again, Bro Al Mims found himself ( and his son ) threatened by an angry felon/drug dealer- this time last night, by an unneighborly next door neighbor. 

He called 911 twice and the non-emergency number. When a unit finally arrived, officers asked could he " work it out " with the aforementioned career criminal. 

If Bro Al, in besieged Central City, were Sidney Torres, unofficial chief of an off duty French Quarter force, would threats be brushed off? Urban stakeholders are expected to be quiet hostages to thugs surrounding us. 

Bro Al's number is 504 914-1622 if anyone in office, media or advocacy would like check on him. 

I have. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist & SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. . @nadraenzi on twitter.

Don't Expect Urban Miracles.

I've watched moral arguments bounce off hard urban heads and cold hearts. My wing of the community, the protection one, faces an amoral vacuum where being a criminal is not only the norm- it's the ideal! We respond by doubling down on self-defense and creating safety with like-minded hostages. Against those refusing to change direction, we practice protection. 

I watch pastors, missionaries,mentors, and advocates try to reboot software invulnerable to values and compassion. They are our prevention wing. In their eyes, thugs and derelict parents can somehow be changed by the right sermon or outreach. 

I stand with these true believers, but see precious few of those approached change their ways. Deevolution has gone too far and penetrated too deeply in too many cases. Unless the individual performs the Samsonian feat of dead lifting old creaturehood out of body and soul, the prevention wing won't get a new convert. New creaturehood comes with acceptance and not many want to open up to recieve He who brings it. 

I assist select prevention wing members whose rare character deserves securing and support. Unlike them, I don't expect urban miracles. While miraculous change is possible, it just isn't likely. Captive communities choose misery they see for majesty yet unseen. Still, you have to admire the prevention wing's dogged optimism. 

I do. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. @nadraenzi on twitter.

Updates @ GoFundMe

Do Blacks Need Separate Police Departments?

I periodically float this thought experiment after high profile racial flare ups. Political homicide targeting police departments in Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana lend it new urgency. I begin the experiment by asking police reformers this question: Do Black areas need separate police departments in order to end profiling allegations; brutality claims; federal consent decrees, riots and recently, mass murder of officers? 

The question often offends active and retired members of law enforcement, which isn't its intention. The question is intended to show how heavy governance is-policing is an executive function-as compared to grievance and protesting. 

Imagine Black Lives Matter, the ACLU and inner city neighborhood associations forming and supervising urban safety agencies, or USAs for short. How would USAs differ from conventional departments regarding hot button issues like diversity; training; use of force; public information requests; civilian oversight and other headline-making topics? 

I think assorted advocates would rapidly concede it's far easier to criticize police than it is to supervise and bear responsibility for them. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist & SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. @nadraenzi on twitter. Bro Al Mims, chaplin.

Updates @ GoFundMe

Black Flight from Urban Decline

This morning, I was on Think Tank with Garland Robinette,  a leading New Orleans radio show, discussing Black flight from urban decline. It's a rarely discussed topic, overshadowed by the White version. An article written by Ed Pratt, a writer for the Advocate, a flagship Louisiana newspaper, initiated the episode. Pratt articulated middle class angst felt by Black expatriates who flew away to escape urban decline. It was a short interview for a lengthy subject, but I did hit a few salient points:

* Black flight is a direct response to ( shhh! ) inner city crime. This fact isn't openly admitted but often quoted as the number one reason why those who can afford it sprout proverbial wings and escape the Hood. 

We aren't a monolith and consequently all don't support the vile, violent place which is now the inner city. Black flight says more about the current inner city than all the pundits from outside our community. I cited the SWS method of addressing this inconvenient truth by uniting prevention and protection perspectives as the necessary first step for real change.

* Black flight is a state of mind. Geographic relocation doesn't equal ethnic dislocation unless one chooses so. Mentor programs abound where Black men who've escaped the Hood unite with youth to fill in much-needed developmental blanks. New Orleans has the Fatherhood Roundtable, among many other organizations, which daily fulfill this strategic role.

National Black male-led mentoring programs include: Concerned Black Men; Mad Dads; PeaceKeepers and 100 Black Men. The same social media and automobiles which allow virtual mobility and transportation enable these brothers to " fly back "at will to communities which need them.

* Often, Black flight participants need look no further than family for inner city hostages to help.  Taking flight from urban decline is a highly individualized matter. Your income doesn't magically share itself with less advantaged family left in your wake. The only barrier to this most intimate outreach is in ones mind.

I stated on air that I don't criticize those escaping urban decline. My long held position is there's no special obligation upon individuals to help the community. It must be freely chosen or else is doomed to fail. 

The right to be safe is the most basic human right and includes American Blacks too. The inner city is a profoundly unsafe place. Admitting this inconvenient truth is the first step in truly helping its hostages. I commend Garland for his usual prescience in having a conversation few dare openly discuss.

Black flight proves urban decline has forever divided a group once involuntarily united by segregation.

Admitting that violent crime prompts Black flight from urban decline is the only way to honestly address it.

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. @nadraenzi on twitter. Bro Al Mims, chaplin.

Updates on GoFundMe

Uniting Urban Protection & Prevention.

The SWS: Security Within SELF method seeks unity between urban stakeholders whose methods differ. The violence and values crisis in the inner city demands whose who defend to work beside embattled counselors and mentors. SWS leaves Left/Right debate over gun rights or mass incarceration to dueling cable tv pundits. Daily death and poverty of principle cheapens even the most well intentioned philosophical differences. The weaponization of urban youth simultaneously challenges protection and prevention advocates to confront it together. I recall how Coach Frank, leading education reformer and math instructor, always cited public school failure as the root cause. He also calls the roll of stakeholders bribed to maintain this toxic process.While supporting his assessment at protests and as a co-host on his radio show, I also addressed discipline and security shortfalls at home and within New Orleans majority charter school systems. I didn't have to abandon urbansafetyism to support a legitimate proponent of prevention. This type of cooperation strengthens both wings of the community by providing much-needed reinforcements. Uniting urban protection and prevention advocates isn't a publicity exercise. It's the grim recognition that there are too few urban stakeholders involved in either advocacy. Pooling precious human resources is the only choice as violence and vulgarity cause more erosion of once high community standards. Disunited urban protection and prevention are a united front awaiting creation. The other united front, of violence and vulgarity,ruthlessly exploits disunity among hostages. -Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. @nadraenzi on twitter. Bro Al Mims, chaplin. Updates @ GoFundMe

The OIPM is Our Last Chance.

New Orleans Office of Independent Police Monitor ( OIPM ) has an August meeting with the Ethics Review Board, its regulatory body. At issue will be making the OIPM's emancipation from the city's Office of Inspector General ( OIG ) permanent, along with other critical issues. Supporting the OIPM, especially in a season of political homicide targeting police officers, offers a solution as communities reel under officer-involved shootings and violent public disruption. Unlike elitist office holders and appointees, the OIPM validates the poor and progressive as readily as others cater to the rich and conservative. 

This office, under the leadership of Independent Police Monitor Susan Hutson, has deep bonds with urban stakeholders normally ignored by the political class. Civilian oversight of police is the last chance to bind together a social order fracturing before our very eyes. If local urban stakeholders fail to support the OIPM, it's only a matter of time before New Orleans becomes the next Fergueson, Baltimore or more recently, Dallas and Baton Rouge. The stakes are that high. 

I support the Office of Independent Police Monitor for all these reasons. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. 504 214-3082. Bro Al Mims, chaplin. 

Don't Take the ( Race ) Bait

I'm VERY somber about the ambush of Baton Rouge officers by Gavin Long, and lives lost. Legitimate law enforcement reformers and police supporters must speak in one voice that the solution to alleged bias can't be ambushes and holding a profession hostage. 

A war between Blacks and Blue ( police ) is methodically being rolled out. It's in society's best interests, from the Hood to the Heartland, not to play destructive racial roles being offered. We can't play into the bloody hands of those anxious to destroy everything held dear by law enforcement reformers and police supporters. 

Don't take the ( race ) bait dangled before us. Somebody wants a war between brothers and badges to happen soon as possible.

 -Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. @nadraenzi on twitter. 504 214-3082. Bro Al Mims, SWS chaplin. 

#BroAlMIms Calls For Two Front War on Violence

New Orleans #1 crimefighter & mentor Bro Al Mims ( SWS chaplin ) reminds us daily, personally and in media, that ceasefire isn't declared because White officers occasionally kill Black citizens. What I call the Urban Apocalypse of violent crime and homicide hasn't missed a beat. As Bro Al says, Black lives matter when somebody Black kills us too. To date, his life has been threatened twice in 2016 by those wearing blue jeans and Black skin, not blue uniforms and White skin. 

Let's adopt a two front war against public brutality AND police brutality! -Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS: Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship founder. @nadarenzi on  twitter. 504 214-3082.

SWS FaceBook page 

SWS Statement on Alton Sterling

Security Within SELF Urban Fellowship recognizes acute community concern over the officer-involved death of Baton Rouge resident Alton Sterling.

We also recognize the pressing need to maintain focus on our internal murder and violent crime rate by keeping it on the front burner of community advocacy.

We urge urban stakeholders to join us in a two front approach to lose of life where daily Black-on Black ( and other ) crime gets equal zeal alongside allegations of police brutality.  

SWS Urban Fellowship supports law enforcement and promotes partnerships which create safety for urban officers and citizens alike.

We absolutely promote peaceful protests ( founder Cap Black is a veteran parade marshal of many marches ) and urge participants to leave alcohol, guns and illegal drugs at home. Allow the investigation to proceed minus destructive distractions like event confrontations with police or worse, riots. 

Let's create safety, not excuses, together!

SWS Urban Fellowship FaceBook page.

Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist
SWS Founder
@nadraenzi on twitter
504 214-3082.

Brother Al Mims,
SWS Chaplin

#BroAlMims Nola.com Everyday Hero

July 12th, 2016, Nola.com story on SWS Chaplin Brother Al Mims!

AL MIMS JR. IS FIGHTING NEW ORLEANS CRIME, BARE-KNUCKLE.

by: Diana Samuels, Times-Picayune

Al Mims Jr.'s message is clear from the protest sign he's known for carrying at New Orleans funerals: "No child should be next. Stop the killing."

After serving as a consistent presence at funerals over the last three decades, Mims has put his sign down. The 62-year-old former champion boxer and kickboxer says after attending more than 2,000 funerals, he can't bear to go to more. But Brother Mims, as he's known, is still working to fight crime, a calling he came to after his father was gunned down in 1987. 

Among other efforts, the Central City resident is a vice president at The Fatherhood Roundtable, a mentorship program that promotes better family relationships. He volunteers with Victims & Citizens Against Crime, helping counsel crime victims. He served on the Louisiana Parole Board. And he speaks out against crime at every chance he gets, at schools, churches, and more.

ROOTS: "My daddy had a 6th grade education but he taught us values. He stressed education. He knew the word of God. He had a handshake and he said 'I gave my word.' Now, people sign contracts and they're not worth the paper they're made on. I learned being a man from him. I saw my daddy cry, I saw him pray. I saw him treat my mother with respect."

CAREER: "I fought in nightclubs, barrooms, wherever they wanted a fight I'd give a fight. Most of the opponents I fought were white. I was the token. Wherever I could make money, I went. We had to run after we'd get our check, but it was fun."

FIGHTS: "It wasn't no shooting, it wasn't no knives, it was like Walker, Texas Ranger. We had good fights. I went to the dentist the other day. I got 29 of my regular teeth. I'm 62 years old and I've had over 70 fights not counting the barrooms and the nightclubs. Do you know how many people coldcocked me, hit me with barstools? You had to fight your way out of the place."

MURDER: "My dad was my coach, he was my trainer, he was my friend. I was at the top of my game at the time when he got killed on Bienville and North Galvez. There were 20 people who saw my father get killed. It was an argument and he was walking away and the guy shot him in the back four times."

WHY: "People die for foolishness. Most of the shootings are nothing worth killing nobody. In over 2,000 funerals, 99.5 percent of the killings were about nothing."

AFTER: "I lost the desire to fight anymore. The killer instinct. Part of me was missing. It was God's message to me that I'm going to let you fight for people that can't fight for themselves. Murder victims, children that have been abused, people who are being killed."

LESSON: "Life doesn't put pads on you. We got to be ready to fight and get down knuckles to fight for our children and for what you want." 

HERO: "I met Muhammad Ali in '83, at the Landmark Hotel in Metairie. I was in awe. He was cocky, he was confident, but he stood for something. He knew my name. When we went into the room he said 'Mims, come here.' He would say the fight in the ring is nothing compared to the fight in life. It's amazing how something that somebody said to you stays in your mind. He changed my life."

FUNERALS: "It became a calling to me. 'We're doing this funeral, but this should never happen again. We've got to learn something from this.' A lot of times I stood by myself. I was telling the truth and a sometimes the truth hurts. How many times are we doing this over and over. I was a reminder, a conscience of what's going on."

NEED: "My heart hurts. I see things and I say 'Lord, you gave me a heart and it's breaking. I'm not a prophet but I don't know how some of these kids are going to wind up if they keep doing like they're doing" 

PRISON: "I've got a grandson in the federal penitentiary. He robbed a bank. He was the getaway car. He was an honors student but didn't listen. I could have gotten him on probation, but he wouldn't have learned anything. Three more years he'll get out, now he'll know something."

PAROLE BOARD: "I was there with geniuses. They have ABC degrees and I have a high school education and a couple of years of college in construction. But I was in my element because I knew about crime. Most of the people that came before us looked like me. There were a lot of things I didn't like because the system didn't play the way it ought to have. There were people in jail who wouldn't kill a roach. They let some bad guys out that shouldn't get out."

US-ISM: "Everything ain't racism. We've got some problems with us. We don't want to see anybody get ahead. We don't want to see anybody get any credit. We can do better."

FAMILY: "When I talk to churches and schools I say my son is not going to call me Al. He better call me 'daddy' or 'father.' I love him to death but he's got to have respect for me. That's what my father taught me. You've got homes where the child's running the house."

SUCCESS:  "There was a young man that is in college now. He got in a little trouble and I spoke up for him and he got on probation. He's advocating now, telling people about 'friends' or 'so-called friends.' I've had a lot of good stories over the last 30 years. I've had some hard things happen, I've had some disappointments. But I'd do it again."

MOTTO: "Do something. When you've done all you can do, do some more."

SHOUT-OUT: From Nadra Enzi, who works with Mims through the crime prevention group Security Within SELF. "Since the unsolved murder of his father decades ago, Brother Mims has relentlessly championed personal responsibility, mentorship and support of law enforcement in places where the lack of such advocacy is a literal matter of life or death. He has shouldered this burden gracefully and energetically with the help of faith and family."

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

• Look for opportunities to mentor others in the community
• Find out more about Security Within Self
• Contact Victims & Citizens Against Crime 

Original link:

http://www.nola.com/heroes/2016/07/al_mims_violence_baton_rouge_f.html 

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PeaceKeepers Counsel SWS Chaplin #BroAlMims

As SWS founder, I recently had a ringside seat to observe a conflict resolution session between New Orleans Peace Keepers and our number one crimefighter and mentor, Bro Al Mims. Let me openly confess that I support conflict between urban stakeholders and urban strangleholders, but that's no secret. 

The trio interviewed Bro Al and his wife about their issue with a career community criminal and drug addict. They also peeled back layers of stress and worry common to anyone bearing the cross of promoting lawfulness in the inner city. The dialogue was as much about healing Bro Al as seeking unlikely reconciliation with the other party. The session highlighted the need for internal mediation where we resolve disputes before they escalate. 

While I remain a proponent of self-defense and security solutions, the PeaceKeepers model is one that works. Just ask Bro Al Mims, who smiled from ear to ear after the session ended. The PeaceKeepers counseled a great peacemaker in a community long overdue for more peace! 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS founder. 504 214-3082. @nadraenzi on twitter. 

#BroAlMims Responds to Threat

SWS Chaplin Bro Al Mims pays a price for standing up to thugs and standing up for police in besieged Central City, arguably New Orleans most violent area. Someone who lives near him has recently made repeated threats. A vendetta has been on low boil since a six month jail term after their last encounter years ago. 

Unlike suburbs or high priority enclaves like the French Quarter, urban stakeholders don't have city attorneys, politicians and police executives undivided attention. Despite our lives being far more at risk, threats against stakeholders like Bro Al are ignored until either he or the aggressor are injured. Since that outcome isn't acceptable, Bro Al is going to attempt mediation to deescalate this matter. 

I am mobilizing attention and potential intervention- meaning going to the threatener, if need be. I will not stand idly by and watch an avoidable threat injure a good man and his family because they aren't the favored color downtown. Mediation; peace bonds and prudence are Bro Al's response to this latest threat on his life. 

Frankly, were he a White advocate facing this, the mayor; police superintendent and city attorney would rush to his side. The fact that they don't speaks volumes- none of it good. 

If anyone is interested, Bro Al's number is 504 914-1622. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist. & SWS founder. 504 214-3082. @nadraenzi on twitter. 

#BroAlMims Talks Assault Rifles.

SWS Urban Fellowship Statement: 

As he always does, our chaplin Bro Al Mims, former Louisiana Parole Board member, recently offered a compassionate policy recommendation.

Monday, on New Orleans WWL TV, he-a 2nd Amendment supporter-called for an assault weapons ban, citing their routine illegal use in urban areas like his besieged Central City community. 

We support Bro Mims placing ignored urban safety at the center of the re-ignited assault weapons debate. We further support the Orleans Parish District Attorney in his effort to rein in gun crime. 

SWS; sEcurity Within SELF Urban Fellowship is a common ground where protection and prevention advocates work together. Bro Al Mims number is 504 914-1622. 

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, SWS founder. 504 214-3082. @nadraenzi on twitter. 

Updates @ http://www.gofundme.com/swsbros 

SWS Attended Natasha Hunter Vigil

 

I attended a vigil yesterday for New Orleans Police Department officer Natasha Hunter, who was killed this weekend by a drunk driver. I accompanied Brother Al Mims, New Orleans # 1 crimefighter & mentor.

Held in front of police headquarters, it hosted an unlikely cross section of urban residents, officers from various agencies and elected officials. Tragedy unites until agendas once more divide. We will see how far this case progresses.

Ironically, being a female officer is a tradition in her family. She left behind a 5 year old child and alot of adult grief. It underscored the need, which can't be stressed enough, for crime plagued communites to find common ground with law enforcement- before tragedy strikes!

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, Your UrbanSafetyist and SWS Urban Fellowship founder. 504 214-3082. @nadraenzi on twitter.