The Death of Black Benjie
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 มิ.ย. 2012
- Excerpts from the documentary "Flyin' Cut Sleeves" by Henry Chalfant and Rita Fecher, 1994 and "Ain't Gonna Eat My Mind" by Tony Batten.
Benjy Melendez discusses the death of one of his fellow gang members and the repercussions for the gang community in 1971. In the 1990s, the directors of "Flying Cut Sleeves" filmed a group of gang leaders from the 1970s about their current lives and their reflections on the past. Rita Fecher had been a teacher in the Bronx during the early '70s and videotaped some of the gang members at that time.
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City Lore, Urban Folklore, Oral History 11, video 186
At least the old school gangs at some level cared about peace and improving the community. And thanks to our own government who flooded the ghettos with drugs and other atrocities made the neighborhoods move in negative directions. My belief is, if gang meetings of peace can be done back then,... it could be done again now.
The welfare state hadn't taken full grip of those communities at the time. It enticed mothers to accept free money from the state, so long as no man resided in the household. With no fathers to raise young boys, real men have been pushed to near extinction.
These dudes were men. You can hear how they take ownership and action over the problems of their community instead to blaming others and expecting the government aka daddy to come in and fix everything. Most adult males today have the mindset of their mothers who sold the manhood of their children for a chump change from the welfare office because they married the state instead of the fathers of their own children.
@@markrobertson2052 Speak for YOURSELF..PLENTY adult males are out here being responsible for all theyre actions..but neglect is neglect..if people dont want in your neighborhood they wont..until they are ready..thats what happened to DC..Its a boom town in CERTAIN areas..ONLY
Doubt it.
Mark, its still a choice. You couldn't offer me "free" money (chump change anyway) to not be in and or raise my son or daughter. Shouldn't have accepted welfare, its enslaving people who accept it. Sure it's free money as you put it, but there's a very low ceiling. You're better off rolling the dice working and the ceiling is limitless. I would agree that there is a "control" intention by the gov't to all those on welfare, i'm simply saying it might look good short term, but there's absolutely no future in it
Gangs have always claimed to be standing up for the people while they work with elites to keep the community in line
Inspired and hopeful , im chicano on the west coast . A moment of silence for the brothers and sisters that had the courage to stand for peace and died for the audacious vision of unity . Wake up my people , our moment is upon us .
How did Robert mosses accomplish his goals?
That brothers words at the end and Hollywoods words were powerful and resonates even today!
R.I.P. to my uncle Cornell(Black Benji) Benjamin….
🙏🏾💐🌹
Was he Puerto Rican 🇵🇷?
@@aferrer74 NOPE
@@md358 the group was mainly Puerto Rican tho?
Brother my uncle was black born and raised in 535 jackson ave # 11B my mother was the oldest of all believe me.
Rest In Peace Black Benjie🙏
If only the next generation honored their politics.
I was there! (The famous Hoe ave boys club gang meeting) At first I was like “ are you stupid? You think I’m going to the Hoe Avenue Boys Club and be around all the guys we had beef with all year?” But it was a real good thing. Most of us were tired of gang life. It kinda broke the spell that gangin had over us. Plus, now that peace was in the air you could party in other neighborhoods more. We then created hip hop culture. Which is the most dominant music worldwide in 2021. Yeah that’s right! Me and my friends and kids from that bronx era created this whole sht. My gang was number 8 on that list. An all black gang called the slics! Grandmaster flash was in the “Jr slics” when he was about 13, You should have been there it was the most exciting adventure that a kid could’ve lived through. Dangerous? Yeah but if you survived it you had ridiculous fun. We laughed at danger every single day. Today’s gangbanging has no relation to how it was back then.
@UNC ~ I was just talking to a childhood friend of mine yesterday (6/3/23) and he was telling me how The Bronx Community Board 2 agreed to sign a letter of support to re-named E. 165th St & Rogers Place (Cornell “Black Benjie” Benjamin). I was only 5 years old when this gentleman died, but living in Harlem, I'm very intrigued and interested in learning about what he was trying to do for his community. May he Rest in Peace 🙏🏾
I don't think many people really understand how profound this peace really is, what it means to the world. BIG UP! 💪🏿♥️👊🏾
This is actually quite an amazing time in urban lore. You have to admire and respect what these ghetto kids tried to accomplish 👏. No other city in the United States, past or present, came together for the sake of peace on such a large scale. Hip Hop rose out of the ashes of this peace accord✌
It was an amazing time! Something had to be done it was just too crazy in NYC. New York is really a dense big town. Every 2 or 3 blocks that you walked you entered another gangs turf and you’d better know the layout. Some gangs were not as brutal as others. Some blocks you just avoided completely unless you were stupid. Which I was on one occasion. I got caught and was taken to the roof to be thrown off. God was with me that day. After that meeting we created hip hop! Because you could travel safer and go to parties outside your turf. I saw the whole movement happening day by day before my eyes. In 2021, when I see rappers I’m like “ looka these guys! They don’t even realize they’re imitating us!” All the swag, all that street life, comes from Bronx cats like me! Me and my dudes talk about it all the time. It’s now a trillion dollar genre that makes uneducated poor kids millionaires. From pretending to be us lol.
@@unc1589 it’s seems like you want so much credit… when you says they imitating us… trying to be like me is me us🤣🤣🤣
@@unc1589 yeah I always say that - Rap ruined itself. The origins were about "escape" from street life. Now rap music promotes it.
R.I.P Black Benjie
LOVED MY UNCLE…
Never forget Black Benjie
The very foundation of hip hop itself
Benjy Melendez, My mentor.
Sadly Yellow Benji…aka Benji Melendez the man with the yamulke (?) passed away in May 2017. Karate Charlie aka Carlos Suarez/Melendez passed away in 2016.
THE REAL CYRUS
Word
True
not really cyrus was all of NYC gangs ...this was just the BX
5hut yo a55 up, sucka! @@oochiewally2783
there was a book written on hip hop...maybe 2000 or 2001 that covered the meeting and I remember reading that black Benji's killers were there and after the cameras were turned off they had the real meeting
From what I've heard from some of those who were there is that the gangs addressed a lot of the issues they had with each other from incidents that had happen. What they found out was that a lot of the violent attacks they were victims of that they were blaming on rival gangs and retaliating for it, was that it was really the police who had done it and were making it look like it was done by rival gangs.
Its a shame the film Warriors didnt potray the same message at the end of the film. The Riffs chose vengeance and reprisals instead of peace
Wow! This is the first time I have seen any picture of my uncle. As far as I know my family does not have any pictures of him.
th-cam.com/video/0xVbjDR86LQ/w-d-xo.html
Cornell is also my uncle my moms brother can i ask who is your parent?
Cornell was my mother first Cousin. Gwendolyn benjamin is his mother and his father was David Benjamin. Gwendolyn was Davids 2nd wife. Cornell had 5 siblings and total of 6 children from that union. Aunt Gwennie only sister my grandmother, Carmen. She had 5 children (one being my mother) from her union Ernest Joseph Wallace. He was not PR or Boriqua. They are 1000% black.
RIP Black Benji GB legend
RIP BlackBenji and Yellow Benji 💯
I've uploaded the whole documentary on my channel.
Cornell was my mother’s first cousin his parents were Gwendolyn And David Benjamin (Aunt Gwenie was my uncles second wife. Cornell and his 5 siblings lived together with my Grandparents and their 5 children on Southern Blvd. my family was very close they always did things together (Aunt Gwenie was the older sister of my Grandmother)
This was why the C.I.A. Invented Ganga Rap
I lived on 163 and prospect ave i never join a gang but i chill with alot of these brother i knew benji cool dude there help the block and respect help the kids and older forks rip my bro
Hollywood loved benjy with all his heart
This is when hip-hop really started
Rip 🪦 Benji
As a little kid, I used to take Karate with....
" Sensei Karate Charlie, "
in that little place...May GOD rest them in peace...
Blessings
Hollywood is right I grew up in the South bronx in the 70's we had no heat in the winter because the landlord didn't buy heating oil, water pipes froze we got our water from the fire hydrant, we stayed warm by keeping the stove on all day, we barely had food had to steal to help my family I was 17 years old at the time.
3:51 I believe Marvin "Hollywood" Harper was suppose to be The Real Masai as far as I concern.
Why does he have a yamukah ?
kaisersoze508 Fum ass hes uh JEW.
Because he is Jewish. His faith is an interesting story and he talks about some in the full documentary.
The real Orgins of Hiphop
Hiphop existed before the Ghetto Brothers. Check out MichaelWayneTV youtube channel were he interviews people who were there from the inception of hiphop
No tf they not
LoL hell no they listened to the Beatles and shit. Not that it's bad.
@@intelligencehaswon5714 both can be true...hip hop beginnings n bronxdale ..then able to spread after the peace treaty
@@uptownbladebrown Finally! You admitted the Boricuas🇵🇷🗽in the beginnings of hip hop culture 🗽
Did they imprison Black Benjie's killers?
And they want to act like it was all unity and everybody got along but what they don’t count for these videos to still be around! You can look at the style of dress of the others and then the black Americans style of dress! It’s something special about us I only wish that our youth would know this!
Did he convert to Judaism or is the hat incidental
He discovered his ancestors were Marrano Jews so he reclaimed his heritage.
The warriors movie
Black Benjy the very foundation of hip hop itself
Wish all clubs . Not calling them gangs do something like this . I was born at them times I was a baby . Wish . All clubs now .do what our ppls did. No matter race. . Clubs were mix . Like now. Wish everyone talk peace.
S.I.P Pops 💙 Jose "Playboy" Colon 🙏🇵🇷🙏⚒️🙏
The real cyrus
Who is Cyrus
@@lockandloadlikehell cyrus is from the movie - the warriors.. who was calling a gang peace and they shot him. th-cam.com/video/bTUrWYv2vtU/w-d-xo.html
@@lockandloadlikehell the character from The Warriors & leader of the Riffs who got shot to death by Luther during a peace meeting speech.
Black Benji was half Boricua🇵🇷 and always had his flag🇵🇷on his Jean Jackets🇵🇷🗽
RIP🌹Blac Benji🇵🇷💐🗽
No he was not. He is my mother’s first cousin and his parents were black. His mother is Gwendolyn Benjamin was the second wife to his father David Benjamin. My aunt was the older sister of my grandmother and they had and older brother. Their parents were from Barbados. Cornell had 5 siblings (Craig, Gilbert Adrian Gladys and Annette. They lived on Southern Blvd along with my grandparents and their 5 children one of them being my mother. They were a close knit family and was always together in their younger years
@@nieceysmith2558 hey cuz, this was the comment i was talking about. So im just going to make it clear for future readers. My grandfather David Benjamin is american. He and his wife my grandmother Gwendolyn Benjamin raised an american family and didnt practice or partake in any caribbean culture
@niecy this nyc Bourica chick is all over TH-cam spreading lies about black people claiming that certain people are half Rican she spread the lie about Disco king Mario being Rican now black benji
This girl sounds half retarded
@uptownbladebrown this Rican chick been spreading lies claiming prominent black people are Rican . She’s on all the hip hop channels claiming ricans created hip hop
This was a problem back then? Lol
NEVER TEAM BLACK BENJI😭
My uncle was the best believe that💪🏿💪🏿
How did Hollywoord die in the 80's?
SAIGONDISCO gang violence
?
SAIGONDISCO jumped off a balcony high on crack
@@jmac9327 LMAO