Cleveland Heights Pastor Postpones Chicago 'Gang Summit'

CHICAGO, IL —A Cleveland Heights pastor and member of President Donald Trump's transition team has postponed a "gang summit" he had organized Tuesday at a hotel near O'Hare International Airport, a little more than a month after claiming the city's gang leaders wanted to meet with the chief executive to discuss ways of curbing Chicago's rampant gun violence, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Rev. Darrell Scott, a pastor at Cleveland Heights' New Spirit Revival Church who has a long association with Trump, announced the summit Monday, but he canceled the event later that day after some speakers were unable to attend, the report stated. Scott said the event would be rescheduled, the report added.

Initially, Scott claimed gang members would talk with experts in housing, education and employment to try to work out "an immediate ceasefire" among gangs as a way to combat Chicago's epidemic of violence, the report stated.

The pastor, however, backed down from any promises of a gang ceasefire when the Tribune asked him about it Monday.

I think they [the people who released the summit's announcement] went a little bit overboard," Scott told the newspaper. "What is this, Israel and Palestine?"

Related: Ohio Pastor Says President Trump Wants Chicago Gang Sit-Down

Scott broached the idea of a meeting between Chicago gangs and the federal officials during a Feb. 1 White House listening session to kick off Black History Month.

"They said we gotta lower that body count," the pastor said about a potential gang summit last month. "They don't want to talk about anything but getting that body count down, and they agreed on principles that can do it. These are guys straight from the streets — no politicians, straight street guys — but they're going to commit that if they lower that body count, we can come in with some social programs."

Trump will not be attending Tuesday's meeting — "The president's busy right now. This is not about him right now. If he comes, it's automatically about him," the pastor told the Tribune concerning the president's absence — and Scott did not indicate if city leaders, such as Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson or Mayor Rahm Emanuel, had been invited to the event, which will be Tuesday afternoon at the O'Hare Marriott, the Tribune reports.

Torrence Cooks, a Chicago anti-violence activist and former high-ranking gang member, told the Tribune he was planning on bringing 15 to 20 people from around the city — including around 10 kids from the South and West sides, as well as a handful of high school coaches and local Boys and Girls Club counselors — to Tuesday's event. Cooks was one of the Chicago residents with gang ties who had reached out to Scott concerning the city's gun violence, a discussion that grew out of Cooks' original intent of organizing a Washington, D.C., field trip for around 90 black kids from Chicago, the report added.

Despite Chicago gangs and gang-related violence being the impetus for Tuesday's sit-down, both Cooks and Scott were quick to downplay local gang involvement.

"These kids are not in gangs," Cooks told the Tribune on Monday. "They're in seven- to 10-man cliques."

Scott added: "These will be people that have influence … in the community. And I believe they are able to influence those in the community to act differently than they've been acting."

The pastor also hopes increasing job options for Chicago's youth could be a major step from keeping them out of gangs, the report stated. Increased employment opportunities and other non-law enforcement tactics, such as federally funding mentor programs, are solutions that civic leaders like Emanuel and Johnson have been advocating.

"I'm just trying to bring some people that can help," Scott told the Tribune. "One of the major sources of crime is unemployment. If I can bring some people that can help [with] employment, maybe that'll help."

Related: Don King Uses Racial Slur At Cleveland Heights Trump Rally

No matter the outcome of Tuesday's meeting, the event marks the first follow-through actions by the Trump administration since the president has been shining a national spotlight on Chicago's continuing epidemic of shootings. After taking office in January, Trump threatened via Twitter that he would "send in the Feds" if municipal leaders couldn't solve the city's crime problems.

More via the Chicago Tribune

Written by Joe Vince, Patch

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