Gorilla Lemonade, Chicago Anti-Violence Crew Find Unity

by Lisa Reisman The New Haven independent

Four members of a Chicago-based group devoted to stopping gun violence gathered with New Haven’s Gorilla Lemonade team on the sidewalk in front of Seven Haven grocery store on Sylvan Avenue to celebrate a new collaboration that will see the local beverage brand expand to the Windy City.

That was the scene on a recent Saturday night, when representatives from the Unity Movement stopped by the Hill.

Spearheaded in Chicago by hip-hop artist, poet, and community activist Qadir “Goalden Chyld” Hakim, the Unity Movement’s mission is to stop gun violence and foster peace and unity in the trenches of that city’s most dangerous neighborhoods.  

The occasion was to mark a new partnership with Gorilla Lemonade, a New Haven beverage line with the tagline community over competition that pours 25 cents from every bottle sold back into the community.

“We connect with individuals that a lot of people are afraid of and have counted out and don’t know how to talk to, those who society has labeled lost causes,” Goalden Chyld, standing alongside Gorilla Lemonade co-founder Kristen Threatt, told the crowd of 50 clad in UNITY skull caps and Gorilla Lemonade garb in the crisp evening air; in July, he brokered a truce between two gangs after a 10-year war. “We’re down in the trenches, we’re recruiting, we’re uplifting.”

Gorilla Lemonade, “Powered by Unity.”

In the Unity Movement, Threatt and co-founder Burkett-Thompson found the Chicago distributor they had been seeking to expand their brand nationally. “You’re looking at someone who’s already put in the footwork, knuckles on the ground, stopping gun violence, who knows the city, the store owners,” Threatt said.

“He’s not just talking about it, he’s doing it, and people are taking notice,” he went on, referring to the support the Unity Movement enjoys from such power players as Snoop Dogg, philanthropist Pamela Joy Blackman, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Jackson, as well as the sheer influence Goalden Chyld wields with his 126,000 Instagram followers. More than anything, it was how their interests align. “Unity,” Threatt said, as a car crawled along, window down, a face peering at the crowd.

Dino from Waterbury in conversation with Goalden Chyld. Credit: Darrell Bellamy Jr. photo.

At that moment, a man, introducing himself as Dino from Waterbury, approached Goalden Chyld. “I came here because I’m frustrated, I’m depressed, the kids in my neighborhood need me, they dying, and I want to help,” he began.

A group drew in, phones up, videotaping the interaction, hanging on his every word.

He wanted to stop them from the feuds over dirt bikes, over perceived slights, from posturing as tough, show them a better way. “I want to be a beacon of light for them, but I don’t know how,” he said.

After thanking Dino for coming forward, Goalden Chyld began. “A lot of the problems we face come from being disconnected,” he said. “When we’ve got Gorilla Lemonade, and Black men coming together, starting businesses, now when we put it out there, it looks good, and it really is good because we really that.”

Near the back of the crowd, Reese McLeod, president of the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee, and Gorilla Lemonade team member, was observing the action. “Anytime Black men are doing things that are positive in the community, I’m there to support and pitch in.”

Isaiah Crowe, another member of the Gorilla Lemonade team, sounded a similar refrain. “Brian and Kris are teaching kids that there are other ways to succeed than sports and music,” he said. “They built their business from scratch as a way to invest in this community, and they’ve brought a lot of people together along the way. This new collaboration will just make it bigger.”

From a few feet away, Burkett-Thompson, the Gorilla Lemonade co-founder, was nodding. “Young people are used to wars and gun violence but our brothers in Chicago are gonna change the game so that generations later on, they ain’t gonna know anything about that,” he said. “They’re gonna make money, and that’s what it’s all about, taking the violence away, and replacing it with opportunities for generational wealth in our community.

“To be one small part of that is everything.”

Goalden Chyld and members of Unity Movement with pallets of Gorilla Lemonade that they’ll drive back to Chicago for distribution. Courtesy: Kristen Threatt.