![]() It prohibits a student from engaging in what could be considered gang-related behavior and warns that they could face escalating disciplinary measures for breaking the agreement. This language does not appear on the most recent version of the contracts.Ī hard copy of each “Gang Behavior Contract” used by the Morton High School District, which is headquartered in Cicero and serves a predominately Latinx population, is stored in the schools’ deans’ offices. Previous versions of the contract, used as late as 2018, say the contract is part of the superintendent and school board members’ “zero-tolerance stand against gangs.” These contracts included a line for administrators to enter a “suspected gang affiliation,” and at least one version informed signers that a “student’s locker may be subject to occasional searches.” It also explained that an appeal of the contract could be made to a building administrator within 48 hours. The gang contract is a one-page form given to students whom school district administrators have identified as having engaged in behavior interpreted as gang-related. “And they have to have some pretty sharp people skills.As the national spotlight dawns on the predominantly Mexican neighborhood, residents express a complicated mix of emotions about Adam’s killing and what to do next. “Drug dealers are great at math,” he says with the same sly smile. Ward, who has mentored hundreds of student athletes, sees his own story as the clearest evidence that even the most hardcore life in the drug-and-gang scene can be transformed. The point is to put the fires out before they spread.” “In those zones we have relationships with different gangs along with support from gang intervention groups like clergy, civic organizations and law enforcement. “There are 12 geographical war zones that we work in,” Ward says. He has also developed a broad network of relationships to reduce inter-gang violence. “Only now it’s about giving life, not taking it.”Īs the executive director of the Unity One Foundation, Ward oversees character development and leadership training curricula as well as programs to reduce recidivism among former prison inmates who are reentering their communities. “I’ve always been involved in community work,” Ward says with an ironic smile. ![]() How has the Institute for Violence Prevention figured into his efforts to give back? ![]() He’s now the head coach of the football team at Compton College. ![]() Ward was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony against the crooked cops, and he spent the next couple of decades regaining the ground he had lost and building a career as an activist-athlete. “They were caught up in the mess just like me,” Ward says. Just as he was beginning to heed the pleadings of friends and former coaches to get out of the drug scene, he was beaten and arrested by police officers who had a stake in his business. “From the time I was 19 until I was 22,” Ward says, “I was in the streets selling this poison.”Ĭrack addiction claimed the lives of people all around Ward, including three members of his family. “I got into dealing drugs,” says Ward, who became a top lieutenant for Rick Ross, a drug lord who was known as the “King of Crack” during the worst days of the urban cocaine epidemic. Though Ward was raised during hard times in South Central by a single mother whose restless ways meant Ward had to attend seven different elementary schools, the gifted athlete flourished at Los Angeles High School and was named College Football All-American at Compton Community College during his freshman year.īut when his GPA slipped and he had to return to his neighborhood, Ward let the set-back continue to determine his trajectory. “I was a good kid who did something very bad,” says Cornell Ward. ![]()
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