An Asheville pastor who says he had gang ties as a young man told Fox News Digital that city leaders ignored his decade-long push for a youth gang-prevention program before recent violence rattled the North Carolina tourist city.
Dr. Ronald Gates first brought the proposal to Asheville officials in 2016, urging them to invest in early intervention for children he believes could otherwise be pulled into dangerous groups and retaliatory violence.
The issue has taken on new urgency after a string of retaliatory shootings left two people dead and seven others wounded. City officials have stopped short of calling the violence gang-related, instead describing it as retaliation between groups of friends.
Gates believes that distinction misses the larger problem.
“They did not want to actually acknowledge that it was gang activity,” Gates told Fox News Digital. “They wanted to make sure that they tried to whitewash the narrative as theyre saying that these are just retaliations between individuals.”
Gates is the senior pastor of Greater Works Church of God in Christ. He also serves as a Buncombe County Sheriffs Office chaplain and describes himself as a community liaison who works with local law enforcement. His work in those roles has heightened his concern about young people drawn to violence by money, territory or a need for belonging.
His proposal centers on Gang Free, a Los Angeles-based program intended to help students in grades four through six understand how gangs recruit children and the consequences of becoming involved.
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Gates learned about the program during a 2016 trip to California and returned determined to bring a similar effort to Asheville before youth violence became more entrenched.
“I said, Man, Ive got to bring this back to Asheville, North Carolina,” he recalled.
Over the past decade, Gates said, he has presented the proposal to mayors, city and county managers, police chiefs and sheriffs officials, urging them to give it a one-year trial.
He questioned why the city had not invested in the program, even temporarily, to see whether it could work locally.
The program, Gates explained, would teach children how gangs operate, including their signs and colors, and explain how older members can use younger people to move drugs, carry weapons or carry out other crimes.
But education alone is not enough, he argued. A prevention model must also provide young people an alternative to the money and status that can make gangs attractive.
“These young men want to
