Editor’s note: Remembering Cornell ‘Black Benjie’ Benjamin’s sacrifice

Cornell “Black Benjie” Benjamin, a member of the Ghetto Brothers gang, was murdered in the Bronx while brokering peace between warring gang members on Dec. 8, 1971. His slaying almost triggered retaliation among dozens of gangs. However, no violence came after Ghetto Brothers leaders visited Benjamin’s mother to show their respect, according to the 2010 documentary “Rubble Kings.” Benjamin’s mother said: “My son died for peace,” Carlos “Karate Charlie” Suarez, president of the Ghetto Brothers, recalled in the film.

His mother’s comments inspired a historic treaty signed by more than 40 gangs meeting on what was then the Hoe Avenue Boys Club. It was a transformational moment for gang culture of the time, abandoning violence for musical expression that was brought into Bronx communities and helped give birth to hip-hop. Benjamin, not always remembered for his sacrifice, was honored by city officials and community members last week at the corner of 165th Street and Rogers Place in the South Bronx where he was slain. The street was renamed after Benjamin thanks to an effort spearheaded by Bronxite and social worker Bonnie Massey.

“This is more than (the) name of a street. It is about changing the narrative about the Bronx and especially about the Bronx’s Black and Brown young people,” Massey told me after the street naming. “The goal is for today’s young people to claim their power as they currently confront disinvestment and violence. They need to know that people who were just like them used a peacemaking, restorative and community justice approach to change the world in the ’70s. They have a right to that legacy.”