Can't Stop, Won't Stop, Chapter 3

Blood and Fire, with Occasional Music

by: Ellen Eichner and Iriny Faltas

This chapter focused on gang activity in the Bronx in the early 1970s. The Black Panthers originally governed the area in the 1960s, but after the assassinations of King and Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover decided this organization was a threat and had them put in jail. It was the Panthers who had provided a social organizational structure and necessary social services to the area when the city government did not, and without them, there was a gaping hole in the Bronx. Youth street gangs filled this void. Gangs originally started to protect members from junkies and provide some social services, but these conflicts were usually mediated through violence. Gangs started to turn against one another- one gang would violently killing members of another for simply wearing colors on their turf. One of the most prominent gangs was the Ghetto Brothers, formed by the Melendezes, Charlie Suarez, and Cornell Benjamin aka “Black Benjie”, who had a unique role as a peace counselor. The conflict came to a head when “Black Benjie” was murdered while proposing peace to conflicting gangs. In light of his death, The Ghetto Brothers called a meeting of the gangs and signed a peace treaty. Although the publicity of the treaty led to a police crackdown, the treaty turned gangs into something positive- music. The Ghetto Brothers lead the way as they began to create and produce their own music influenced by their Puerto Rican roots, which paved the way for the creation of hip-hop.