Civic activist Alonzo Washington has a few new catch phrases to reflect his focus and goals.
"I want to encourage people to "snitch for riches," Washington said."Snitch for riches" means sharing information about homicides and drug crimes with law enforcement agencies.
Washington also is campaigning to "melt the snowman," meaning getting rid of T-shirts and other items that depict a cocaine snowman, which is popular among youth in the black community, he said.
On Wednesday, Washington visited Bunny's Hair Supplies, a store at 37th Street and State Avenue, to ask the store managers to pull items that depict the snowman. Washington was successful in removing the snowman T-shirts at Harold Pener's Man of Fashion stores, in KCK, earlier this week. At his request, David Pener pulled the T-shirts from the store and shipped them back to the vender. Washington said Bunny's is a store that sells grooming supplies to the black community and never reinvests within the community that they sell to. As Washington visited the store, looking for the manager and followed by the media, he pointed out to hats on the check stand counters that have the snowman art.Washington said the Asian store owners may or may not know what the snowman symbol represents.
Tai Jo, the general manager of the store, told Washington that the symbol is one made popular by music rappers on TV. He did not know the snowman, known also as Young Jeezy, represents cocaine usage.Jo thanked Washington for pointing that out and said he did not believe in encouraging drug use. He told Washington he would discuss it with the owners. "I wanted them to pull the items and let them know that these items represent the sale of cocaine," Washington said. Washington, who is renowned in the metro area for taking on civic projects, has adopted this as his next focus.
Many credit Washington for getting the information from an individual that helped identify Precious Doe, a little girl whose headless body was found in Kansas City, Mo. A phone call to Washington from the girl's relative helped to identify her as Erica Michelle Maria Green, a child who was just shy of her fourth birthday when she was killed. Officers were searching for a missing elderly man when they found her body in a wooded area near a church on April 28, 2001. Her head, wrapped in a trash bag, was found nearby a few days later. Police, unable to identify the child, named her Precious Doe.
Law enforcement and the community banded together to solve the case.Washington worked for four years, appearing on national media, trying to find information about a child that was "discarded like trash." After four years, Green's mother, Michelle Johnson, and stepfather, Harrell Johnson, were each charged with second-degree felony murder and with endangering the welfare of a child.
Washington is a publisher who has created African American characters like "Omega Man" and other crime fighting figures who carry messages against gangs, crime, drug use, and about HIV. His characters are designed to raise consciousness and address political issues, much like Alonzo himself.
Fighting "Jeezy" will take a lot of effort because the snowman is a character that is also sold on the Internet, according to Washington.
He hopes to fight fire with fire, promoting his own t-shirts with anti-crime and anti-drug messages. "I am promoting 'start snitching,' t-shirts and we are going to be giving those t-shirts away," Washington said.
Washington avails himself to people who have information about the 116 homicides in Kansas City, MO., and the 35 in KCK, but who may not want to report it, not even to the Tips Hotline for fear of retaliation by gang members or drug dealers. "A lot of people are fearful. If they can't trust the police or are afraid of retaliation," he said. "They'll still get the reward, just tell me if you can't tell anyone else. I'm offering a way for these people to reach out.
More tips have been coming. People are afraid; others don't want to get their circle of friends in trouble. "In time, friends stop being friends, he said. Girlfriends break up with boyfriends and then decide that circle of friends is not so magical. "That's when they decide to come forward, snitch and then get rich," he said.
He said many young people are angry with the police because of racial profiling. "I tell them that you have to have honor and morals," he said. "I help the police and they have no respect for me. The Kansas City, Mo., police did not want to invite me to the final burial for Precious Doe. Still, I gave information to the police and I don't expect them to like me."
