On the day of Whitney Houston’s funeral, several Newark gang members reportedly called for a day of truce, to honor the Newark born pop diva.
Newark gang members call day of truce
It started when Hykaine “HAK” Johnson, a former high-ranking member of the Sex, Money, Murder Blood gang, went on his Facebook Wednesday night calling for city-wide peace on the day of Whitney Houston’s funeral.
“If anyone out there is gang banging lets show Whitney Houston respect by commiting no crimes on saturday ……No shootings No robbing No car jacking basically no crazy (stuff) let us show some respect she helped alot of people in Nj lets show lov,” — NJ Star Ledger
According to the Star Ledger, Johnson now works as an author and filmmaker, who is currently publishing works, intended to show young people the impact of gang life in the city.
His message quickly circulated throughout the community, especially to Newark gang members & community leaders.
Statement
An influential member of the PIRU bloods stated that her crew members would also fall in line for peace.
“We can guarantee there won’t be any violence from our end, and we just wanted to let him know we’re supporting this,” said Jada, a “Big Sis” with MOB PIRU and founder of the non-profit group Nine Women Strong. “I intend on speaking to a couple of the other brothers from the other sets this evening. I believe that it’s gonna be a real quiet day in Newark.”
A member of 135PIRUML Bloods, identified as Jiwe said:
“I wish we could do it every day, but I’m gonna send the word out to some cats on the street, they should really kick up hoping that nothing’s gonna happen,” said Jiwe, whose mother attended New Hope Baptist Church with the Houstons. “I’ll send the word out. It’s crazy that something like this would get us to even do something like this, because obviously what you want is for generally nothing to happen.”
Johnson said he received a lot of calls from other gang leaders who agreed to do the day of truce.
“Whitney Houston did a lot for the community, so I feel as though everybody owes her this at least,” he said. “I don’t condone the violence any other days, but that day right there … If I’m ready to step up, all the other leaders should be ready to step up.”
There were no reports of any gang violence coming from Newark on Saturday.
