Bo Taylor - Gang Peace activist in LA

I wanted to take a few moments to pay respect to a man who sincerely tried to make a difference in the lives of young men trapped in a world of violence.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Darren "Bo" Taylor, an activist who brokered a truce between warring inner-city gangs after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, has died. He was 42.
Mr. Taylor died of cancer Monday in San Diego, his sister, Adrienne Galloway, said Wednesday.
Mr. Taylor was a member of the Crips street gang as a teenager. He joined the Navy and was honorably discharged before returning to gangs. He said he finally turned away from the thug life after being repeatedly shot at while dealing drugs.
He became a gang peace activist, respected by gangsters for his street credibility and by officials for his success.
He founded UNITY One after the 1992 riots. The group worked to prevent gang violence through intervention and education. One program involved teaching life management skills to thousands of county jail inmates.
Five years ago, Mr. Taylor worked with gang leaders to help quell a series of violent jail brawls between black and Hispanic inmates.
"Bo knew how to change lives for the better. He did it very well," Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday.
Mr. Taylor considered gang members to be disenfranchised youth, he told National Public Radio last year.
"They don't really have all the tools to make the right decisions that's necessary in today's society, and they don't fully understand the system," he said.
Civil rights attorney Connie Rice said Mr. Taylor was extraordinary.
"You don't find many in the gang-intervention world who can be effective in the street, effective in the courtroom, effective at City Hall and effective in the prisons," Rice said. "He could calm everyone down and make us work together."
On April 15, 2007, NPR’s All Things Considered had this report:
April 5, 2007 · In Los Angeles, a former gang member has taken to the airwaves with a radio show that's become a listening post for some of the city's most troubled, gang-plagued neighborhoods. For many, the program has become something resembling 'community therapy' over the airwaves.
Bo Taylor, at 41 bald and tattooed, works as a gang interventionist, motivating young people to get out of trouble through the organization he founded, Unity One. With his new radio show, he invites folks in the community to give him a ring.
Taylor asks God to bless the mike, then lays down a few ground rules, like no cursing, and no hogging the line. He gives a shout out to his friends — like Rocky, Tick, Psyche, Dashe, Tracy, and others. Taylor turns it over to his callers, saying they don't have to give their full names.
Many nights, the talk revolves around gang violence in their neighborhoods.
His work will continue in many forms. Michael Meade is still working in the LA area with youth to help them find a voice in writing. You can learn more about his work at http://www.mosaicvoices.org/.

Funny how the circle turns around
First you’re up and then you’re down again.
Though the circle takes what it may give
Each time around it makes it live again.
Funny how the circle is a wheel
And it can steal someone who is a friend.
Funny how the circle takes you flying
And if it’s right it brings it back again.
Though you always look for what you know
Each time around there is something new again.
- “Full Circle”, The Byrds

[This post was written by Ethan]