Bobby Gore and Lawndale

Bobby Gore, the spokesman for the 1960s Conservative Vice Lords (CVL), was convicted more than 30 years ago of a murder he did not commit.  The evidence was fabricated and the main witness against him the likely killer. He was rushed to trial and denied the lawyer of his choice, Eugene Pincham.  He was convicted by an all-white jury,  and did eleven years in Stateville before being paroled after pleas by Jesse Jackson and many others. Now the Northwestern University Center for Wrongful Convictions is taking up his case.

But why was Bobby Gore framed for this murder?  And why does it matter now?

To understand why, we need to recall the amazing history of the 1960s CVL. The CVL began in the late 1950s as one of many tough Lawndale gangs, like the Egyptian Cobras.  CVL membership soared as their leaders Peplo, Alfonso, Cupid, Goat, and Bobby Gore built a 10,000 member strong gang. 

But the 1960s was the era of civil rights, black power, and hope.  By the mid 1960s, the CVL leaders were becoming uncomfortable as negative role models for youth.  They decided to change. They would become CVL, Inc. rejecting the gang label and transforming themselves into a community organization.

The 1960s CVL became an organization all Lawndale — and Chicago — could be proud of.  The started youth programs, drop in centers, built businesses like the African Lion that sold African clothing, and started two Tastee Freez ice cream parlors. They won the good graces of the local Chamber of Commerce, received funding from foundations and millionaires like Republican fundraiser W. Clement Stone and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.  They hired youth to clean up Lawndale, calling their efforts, “Grass not Glass.”

The local police dropped in on their programs, no longer to bust them, but to socialize.  Commander Sims of the Fillmore District sat on the Board of Operation Bootstrap, a jobs and education program they started. They founded a scholarship program for Lawndale youth to go to Dartmouth. They picketed slum lords and fought for jobs.

Difficult to believe? Go to http://gangresearch.net and see the documentation or read David Dawley’s Nation of Lords.

As Bobby Gore said, the CVL thought Mayor Richard J. Daley would greet them with “hugs and kisses” for all their good works. But, as Mike Royko pointed out  in his book, Boss, the mayor “had seen it all before.” Daley was an old gang-banger from Bridgeport and his gang now ran the city. He didn’t want the Black gangs to follow in Irish footsteps.  Daley declared war. Funding was cut off, the police were ordered to withdraw from CVL activities, gang leaders were arrested. A police officer was overheard to say that “the old man,” probably referring to States Attorney Edward Hanrahan, told them to “get Gore.”

Well, that’s ancient history, isn’t it?  No. The legacy of the CVL’s “shattered dreams”  haunts Lawndale and Chicago today. Once the pro-social CVL was destroyed street kids drew the lesson that staying within the system wouldn’t work. They would get theirs by any means necessary. A new Vice Lord gang arose from the ashes of the old, this one based on violence and the drug economy.  The destruction of the 1960s CVL was followed by the not-so-benign neglect of Lawndale. The city struggled as landlords hired arsonists, factories closed, and police looked the other way.  An oasis of hope went dry. 

While Bobby Gore and the CVL’s story is a tragedy, there are powerful lessons in their experience. First, young people today aren’t lost forever. Kids from the streets can unite with their community and work toward a positive future.  Young people need to hear the story of the 1960s CVL and see there is another, constructive path they can follow, an alternative to the dead-end road of gangs, drugs, and violence. Today’s Vice Lords also have to decide which side they are on.

Second, saving the community will not be done without struggle. Bobby Gore and the CVL were dedicated to rebuilding Lawndale for the community. Powerful politicians and business interests did not want them, or Lawndale, to succeed.   Today, some of these same interests appear to want to rebuild Lawndale, but for them, not the community.  The CVL’s ultimate defeat tells us to fight harder, not to sit back and watch our community taken away.

What the 1960s CVL accomplished is one of the most amazing stories in American history.  Yet these proud accomplishments of Lawndale’s youth have been buried by the Official Guardians of History.  What the CVL showed was the power of the people to rise up and say   “This is OUR Community.  We want it to be good place to live for US. Given a little help, we can do it ourselves.”

Bobby Gore’s story, from transformation to despair, to rehabilitation and victory, can be Lawndale’s as well.