The City of Seattle has hired a convicted ex-pimp to be their new "Street Czar." For the fine fee of $150,000 per year, Czar Andre Taylor (aka "Gorgeous Dre") will work to develop alternatives to traditional (code for "racist") policing.
He answers critics of his high-price, new gig, saying that he possesses a "particular genius in a particular area," and that he can find rapport with "gang members, pimps and prostitutes" who "won't sit down with anybody else."
Gorge Dre also said:
"Black people are not normally paid for positions nor their organizations but white people with the same positions are paid and this is an ongoing problem not only here but all over this country. White people have been paid for some of the same stuff and nobody has ever said anything about it. But the moment a black man demands respect and you value the work and you want to use my credibility, that should have some value to it."
In addition to his credentials of being a former proprietor of a profitable prostitution posse, Taylor's resumé also boasts having appeared in a 1999 documentary "American Pimp" which explored pimp lifestyle and culture in the US.
Today, he runs an organization called Not This Time, "a community organization focused on reducing fatal police shootings," among other things. According to their website, "We serve communities that are impacted and silenced by systemic violence, especially police violence."
Taylor's Not This Time professes to want to "[rebuild] trust between our communities and the police."
How he plans to do that remains to be seen, given the fact that he organized one of the first rallies in the city following the death of George Floyd, and later suggested milking millions from the city in exchange for the retreat of the CHOP zone occupiers.
According to the Seattle Times:
Taylor told the activists, "So don't just leave. Leave with something ... You gotta get something," he said. "Let me make that happen for you, and then I can bring that back to you. I don't know, we'll ask for $2 million. They might give us $1 million, but let's ask for it. Because the reason why we're holding that space is not only for George Floyd but for the millions of George Floyds."
He later said, according to the report, that there was "nothing wrong" with his approach.
Tell that to the community and police with whom you're trying to "rebuild trust."
