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House of Umoja: Haven of Hope for Gang Members
| Article
# : |
12818 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1995 |
3,536 Words |
| Author
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Sherry Von Ohlsen-Karasik
Sherry Von Ohlsen-Karasik, a freelance writer based in New
Jersey, researched this article while traveling in Norway |
The Fattahs live in West Philadelphia, one of those urban areas in America where children routinely kill children. West Philadelphia reeks of unending decay. Life there moves as if in suspended animation. Trash skips along the sidewalks and the alleyways, among the ruins of redundant row houses. The poverty is palpable.
The ever-present graffiti is a language no one wants to decipher--expressions of rage, threats, symbols of hate. Gang turf. Home-made zip guns rule, exploding the stale breath of the ghetto, leaving dead and wounded. If the victim is a gang member, retaliation will be planned at the funeral.
This is the world the Fattahs entered twenty-five years ago, when they discovered that one of their six sons had joined a five-hundred-member-strong gang.
Saving their son
Journalists, African Americans, visionaries, and dream catchers, David and Falaka Fattah heard the cry of the streets in their own home. "We knew the only way to save our son was to save the lives of the gang," says Falaka, who is now known as Sister Falaka. The Fattahs were aware that hundreds of gang members around the city would consider killing their son a trophy.
Graduates of Temple University, the Fattahs had researched gang life and written about it. David had attended the funerals of gang members and interviewed the street wounded at Philadelphia General Hospital, questioning patients confined to wheelchairs about what had motivated them to join gangs and what their backgrounds
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