Car Clubs and Community Stewardship

Monday, May 16, 2011

18-year-old Shaquille Hingkson, a member of the lowrider car club "Brooklyn Attitude", says cops love the hydraulic suspension in his electric blue Cadillac that makes it go up and down. (Kateri Jochum/WNYC)

Tough guys, fast cars — you may tell your children to stay away from such a crowd, but there are actually numerous car clubs that defy that stereotype. Dr. Brenda Gross-Nixon, aka "The Church Lady," is part of the Lady Ryderz, who along many other clubs hold fundraisers in Brooklyn to better the community. This past weekend, Circuit Family Police and Clergy held a fundraiser to raise $25,000 for a gun buy-back program.

This year marks Chevrolet's 100th anniversary -- all the more reason for "Them Chevy Boyz" to flaunt their rides.
Kateri Jochum/WNYC
Dr. Brenda Gross-Nixon, a.k.a. "The Church Lady", is a member of The Lady Ryderz SUV Club and the spiritual minister for 1,000 members of "the circuit" of car and truck clubs in Brooklyn.
Kateri Jochum/WNYC
Raymond Williams, president of the car club Swagga Like Us

Raymond Williams, president of the car club Swagga Like Us, sells dinner tickets at an event in Brownsville, N.Y. Members of dozens of clubs came to raise money for a gun buy-back program, to get weapons off the streets of New York's worst crime neighborhood. 

Kateri Jochum/WNYC

All club members have leather vests with their club insignia on the back, their name over their heart and the names of close friends and family members who have died on the front. But not many have as much "bling" as Scott "Skee" Killiebrew though.

Kateri Jochum/WNYC

Andrea McCarthy (right front) says her name in the Ladee Vixenz Social Club is "Ju' C Fruit" - like the gum. McCarthy's older brother was shot by a friend when she was just 9 years old, here in the neighborhood, and she wants to prevent the same thing from happening to her three daughters.

Kateri Jochum/WNYC
"Big Mike" is Michael Haley, founder of Them Chevy Boyz with his pride and joy - a 1995 Chevy Caprice with a custom orange and metallic paint job. When Haley was a child, he says he blackened the windows of his remote control car and put a stereo speaker on the top -  pretending he had wheels just like the bad boys in the neighborhood."
Kateri Jochum/WNYC

The windshield of "Big Mike's" 1995 Chevy Caprice reads "Orange You Jealous?". He says people stop him on the street in Manhattan to take pictures of his orange and silver chrome dream. It is his sixth Chevy.

Guests:

Brenda Gross-Nixon

Produced by:

David J Fazekas and Kateri Jochum

Leave a Comment

Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.