Krieger: This battle shouldn't be forgotten

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Three months later, there has been no arrest in the shooting death of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams.

Tacitly admitting the difficulty of investigating street gangs with a documented willingness to target potential witnesses, authorities have turned to a grand jury. Whether it will have more luck than police in getting witnesses to speak up is less certain.

"They're up against all the elements here," said the Rev. Leon Kelly of Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives in northeast Denver. "We've got suspects, but no witnesses. Nobody's willing to come forth to say who was behind the trigger of the gun. That's the frustrating part about it."

Still, the attention Williams' death brought to the problem of gang violence in and around Denver has had an effect.

"Harpo Productions called me last week," said Terrance Roberts of The Prodigal Son Initiative Inc., referring to Oprah Winfrey's production company.

"They're sitting in the studio and they're reading this article that you did on me and called me from the studio. They were like, 'First thing we want to tell you is Oprah does not want to have you on the show, but she wants to know if you need anything, like a vanload of basketballs or something like that.'

"I was like, 'I could use the vanload of basketballs and the van, so please have them leave the keys.'

"They were like, 'You know what, could you send us a list of needs?' So I e-mailed them a list of needs. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I'm just saying . . . "

Among those who fight this battle every day, the Williams slaying is a bit of a paradox. They are amazed, and occasionally horrified, at the disproportionate attention celebrity brings, as if Williams' death mattered more than those of all the other young black men and women who have been victims of gang violence. On the other hand, they are grateful for help, whatever the cause.

"I was just talking to the moms of other kids that were killed in 2006 and they were uplifted when I said focusing on Darrent Williams was just the tip of the iceberg," Kelly said. "Every time people talk about Darrent Williams, I'm always going to speak up for all these other folks."

The numbers remain daunting. Together, Kelly and Roberts provide gang alternatives for a couple hundred kids. The Denver school district alone has thousands of at-risk kids. For now, the challenge is not defeating street gangs; the challenge is slowing their growth. Kelly points out the elephant in the room - the drug trade that finances it all - but that's an issue at somebody else's pay grade.

"To be honest with you, it's obviously not going to stop," Roberts said. "I mean, I'm over here off of Welton (Street) right now where they just shot the people up for no reason at the light rail (station), robbing them. So it's not changing much of anything as far as that's concerned.

"But we are in a battle for the minds of these kids. And when they do see me in the media, when they do see Rev, the same way they see Snoop Doggy Dogg and all these other rappers and other people coming at them with a different message, it kind of evens the playing field. So it helps us have some legitimacy. I think that's the only way it truly helps."

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who has deftly handled so many other issues, has allowed himself to look uninterested and out of touch on this one, constantly explaining that he doesn't talk about the problem because he doesn't want to glamorize gangs.

Still, Roberts gives him credit for showing up at Gilbert Garcia's funeral and a recent meeting of the Metro Gang Coalition.

A couple of professional athletes have taken the initiative to visit Open Door's after-school program - Kenyon Martin of the Nuggets and Jay Cutler of the Broncos - but Kelly admits to some disappointment there hasn't been greater participation, particularly in light of the death of a fellow pro athlete.

Perhaps the most concrete result is the restoration of the Denver D.A. gang unit to its previous strength, although Hickenlooper's odd plan to help fund it with a donation from a secret, private source has left even normally docile city council members scratching their heads.

"For the most part I think people do understand, and nationally, that, hey, there is a significant problem out here," Roberts said. "Now people are starting to remember about Joey Porter. Now people are remembering about Julius Hodge."

Three months later, the question remains: Will Darrent Williams' death be just another on Kelly's long, sad list, or will it, by virtue of his celebrity, bring about change?

"In a way, Darrent was kind of like a sacrifice," Roberts said. "Let's just be honest. In his own way, he was a sacrifice, because it has brought more resources to the table, it has brought a heightened sense of what's going on in the community and therefore it has given a voice and a face to other people in the community that people may not have ever known were even here. That brother was literally a sacrifice, man."

kriegerd@RockyMountainNews.com