Charles Harris, a founder of Concerned Black Men, dies at 77

BACK IN the '60s and '70s, teenage gang members were slaughtering each other in turf wars that scarred whole neighborhoods in Philadelphia and terrorized honest citizens.

Teenage "wolf packs" roamed the streets, looking for rival gang members who dared cross the arbitrary boundaries of their territory, or simply dissed a brother or stole a girlfriend, which were capital offenses.

Murder was claiming 35 to 40 teenage boys every year.

Charles Harris and other Philadelphia cops were fed up. Something had to be done.

A significant goad to action was when the cops were escorting a march aganst violence by the late Jean Hobson and her North Philadelphia Mothers Concerned and she told them, "You men need to get off your . . . and do something, not just when you're on duty."

"She planted the seed," Harris said.

From that seed grew Concerned Black Men, founded by city police officers in 1975, and which, over the years, spread to other cities and became a national crusade against teen violence.

Charles Harris died Jan. 28 of Parkinson's disease. He rose to lieutenant in the Police Department in a 25-year career, and was an Army veteran, a community activist and a man devoted to his family and church. He was 77 and lived in North Philadelphia.

Harris, the late Charles Patton and Lou Abrams, members of the old civil disobedience squad, founded the Concerned Black Men on the premise that young blacks need positive black role models.

They tried teenage dances with rival gang members in attendance, then branched out to more substantive activities. They awarded college scholarships, arranged tours of black colleges and universities, and sponsored a six-week summer course called "Rites of Passage," that teaches discipline and self-respect.

The group opened a headquarters in West Oak Lane in 1994. It also started a drive to enlist black male teachers, especially for the elementary grades, to act as positive mentors.

Charles Harris was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Bok Vocational High School. He joined the Police Department in 1955, but shortly after was drafted into the Army. He served in the military police until 1958, when he returned to the police force. He retired in 1989.

In 1993, he was named to the Police Advisory Committee, and served as its vice chairman for several years. He was a block captain for the Yorktown Community Organization and was a vestryman at Calvary St. Augustine Episcopal Church in West Philadelphia.

He is survived by his wife, Maureen; a son, Marc; two daughters, Carol Stephens and Maquita Alexander; eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services: Were Saturday. Contributions may be made to the Charles Harris Memorial Scholarship Fund, Concerned Black Men, 7200 N. 21st St., Philadelphia, 19138.