Who the heck is the Rev. Darrell Scott?

You know, that African-American preacher from Cleveland who started hanging around Donald Trump when he became the Republican presidential nominee. Yeah, that guy who told Trump at a Black History Month breakfast that "top gang thugs" from Chicago had called him up and asked for a meeting.

According to Scott, these gang leaders are interested in "lowering the body count" in Chicago, but they'll only do it for Trump.

Sorry, Barack Obama, a black man who spent his early career working in disadvantaged communities on the South Side just couldn't cut it with these guys. These gang thugs will only listen to an old white guy who learned the little he knows about the South Side from a TV set inside his Manhattan penthouse.

"They believe in this administration," Scott told Trump, who hosted a group of so-called African-American leaders most black people have never heard of. "They didn't believe in the prior administration. They told me this out of their mouth. But they see hope with you."

Seriously? It's a shame that some black folks are using Chicago's violence to get a seat at Trump's table.

Cleveland-area pastor seeks gang meeting on Chicago violence, hopes Trump will attend Annie Sweeney, Jeremy Gorner and Jason Meisner

President Donald Trump responded enthusiastically Wednesday to a Cleveland-area minister's surprise comment that "top gang thugs" wanted to meet in Chicago to help reduce the city's gun violence.

"That's a great idea because Chicago is totally out of control," the president told the Rev. Darrell...

President Donald Trump responded enthusiastically Wednesday to a Cleveland-area minister's surprise comment that "top gang thugs" wanted to meet in Chicago to help reduce the city's gun violence.

"That's a great idea because Chicago is totally out of control," the president told the Rev. Darrell...

(Annie Sweeney, Jeremy Gorner and Jason Meisner)

Obviously, Scott knows very little, if anything, about Chicago's gangs. First of all, there are no "top gang thugs" to speak of. Chicago's former gang hierarchy — folks like Larry Hoover, former leader of the Gangster Disciples, and Jeff Fort, former head of the Blackstone Rangers and El Rukn — have been locked up for decades in federal prisons.

One of the reasons the violence is so hard to control in Chicago is because the gangs are so disorganized. Many of the neighborhood killings, particularly on the South Side, involve a small faction of teenagers on one block feuding with a small faction of teenagers on another block.

It isn't always about controlling the drug market either. Sometimes, someone is killed over something as silly as a Facebook post.

So I'd like to know exactly which "top gang thugs" placed these phone calls to Scott.

Back in the day, Fort and Hoover possibly could have made such a call. They had authority over their rank-in-file and could call a truce whenever they wanted to. They ran their organizations like corporations.

Darrell Scott John Taggart / EPA

Darrell Scott, a pro-Trump pastor from Cleveland, speaks to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 13, 2016.

Darrell Scott, a pro-Trump pastor from Cleveland, speaks to reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 13, 2016.

(John Taggart / EPA)

They weren't always bad guys either. Some Chicago gangs started out in the 1950s with a political and social focus but gradually turned to crime. And they were well-connected. The Blackstone Rangers was awarded a $1 million federal grant in 1967 to fund a teaching program. In 1969, President Richard Nixon invited Fort to his inaugural ball. Fort declined but sent one of his generals instead.

Black street gangs in Chicago are an institution. And institutions are hard to knock down. You have to understand what you're dealing with here in Chicago.

No one is saying that these killings can't be stopped, or at least curbed, but it's going to take more than Trump sending out tweets belittling Chicago in order to make himself appear tough on crime.

His repeated threats to come in and take over if Chicago doesn't fix its homicide problem is beginning to sound like an abusive parent threatening to beat a child if he doesn't make all A's on his report card.

The most effective way to handle that child would be to find out what's keeping him from getting those A's and then give him all the support he needs to make it happen.

President Trump, keep your 'Feds' to yourself Dahleen Glanton

Chicagoans should be livid that President Donald Trump wants to "send in the Feds" to stop the violence in our city.

It's true that we have a serious problem with young men killing each other. But we don't need Trump creating a police state that gives law enforcement free rein to kill more of them.

...

Chicagoans should be livid that President Donald Trump wants to "send in the Feds" to stop the violence in our city.

It's true that we have a serious problem with young men killing each other. But we don't need Trump creating a police state that gives law enforcement free rein to kill more of them.

... (Dahleen Glanton)

Instead of sending in black surrogates looking for a seat at Trump's table, the president should visit Chicago himself and talk to people in the neighborhoods who really know what's going on.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, in a recent Facebook post, invited Trump to St. Sabina Catholic Church in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood "to sit down with the community and listen to our concerns about the violence and what's needed."

Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Illinois, said on her website that she had invited Trump to come to her South Side district and "see the reality up close and personal and work together on solutions." Trump didn't respond.

Apparently, he's more interested in talking about Chicago's problems than helping us solve them.

That's going to require more than a pandering preacher from Cleveland, which has a higher murder rate per 100,000 residents than Chicago, sitting at Trump's feet and feeding his ego.

Scott isn't the first outsider to come into our city and attempt to fix it. The Rev. Al Sharpton tried it in 2013.

Sharpton vowed to spend one night a week on Chicago's West Side for three months, hoping to get to the bottom of the killings. He rented a two-bedroom apartment in West Garfield Park and promised to bring big name celebrities such as rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, director Spike Lee and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker with him.

Violence in Chicago still stubbornly high; Trump reacts again Annie Sweeney and Katherine Skiba

Violence in Chicago remains stubbornly high as the city recorded about the same number of homicides and shootings in January as the year-earlier period, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Police Department.

Much of the violence remains concentrated in three police districts — Englewood...

Violence in Chicago remains stubbornly high as the city recorded about the same number of homicides and shootings in January as the year-earlier period, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Police Department.

Much of the violence remains concentrated in three police districts — Englewood...

(Annie Sweeney and Katherine Skiba)

He said he would visit schools and hold town hall meetings in violent neighborhoods. And like Scott, he planned to talk to gang members directly.

Early on, Sharpton realized that the city's homicide problem was much more complex than he'd thought. It was all tied in with poverty, poor education, segregation and hopelessness. That was just too much to deal with.

No doubt, Scott will make his way to Chicago and spend a few hours talking with gang members. But even if he does, he likely won't hear anything that folks in Chicago don't already know. Gang members, like everyone else, need jobs.

If Trump can find a way to put these guys to work, I'll take a seat at his feet myself.

dglanton@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @dahleeng

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