Within four months the original 13 grew to almost guardian angel [adjən eindəl] - skytsengel The Guardian Angels a hundred, and more young people are joining 'subway (am) - undergrundsbane all the time, so now there are about a thousand beret [berit, berei] - alpehue A group of young people who call themselves ‘Angels’. They are in their late teens or early noisy - støjende the ‘Guardian Angels’ try to keep the peace in 20s. Most of them have been soldiers, and all of Sliwa udtales ’Sleever’ the New York subway. They are easy to them are used to the streets and to street- violent [vaiələnt] - voldelig recognize as they all wear red berets and white fighting. magnificent [mnifisnt] - storslået, fantastisk T-shirts. 'garbage [abid] - affald All the Angels come from working-class Every night of the week between 8 pm and 4 am backgrounds and they are as racially mixed as 'violence - vold [əridinəl] they go by the noisy trains on the worst routes, the city they defend. Sliwa says it is to show that original - oprindelig through the darkest stations and the poorest they have no prejudice and that they wish to join - slutte sig til parts of New York. It is an unpaid and very protect everybody. During the day they work in 'racially mixed - racemæssigt blandet dangerous job. places like Fish and Chip shops, and a few go to de'fend - forsvare college. During the long nights they prejudice [predudis] - fordom Their leader is called Curtis Sliwa. He was 21 spend their own money on subway fares. pro'tect - beskytte years old when the group started. He grew up in college - universitet the streets of the Bronx, which is one of the most So far none of the members has left the group, fare [fεə] billet violent districts in New York. He and 12 other but they are critical when they accept new present - nuværende young people started the group in 1977. At the members. A person cannot walk in and ask recommend - anbefale beginning they called themselves the if he can become a member. One of the present prove oneself - bevise, at man kan Magnificent Thirteen, and they would clean up members must recommend him for the job. Then headquarters - hovedkvarter the garbage of the Bronx to make it a better he will have to prove himself on a dozen patrols clutter [kltə] - virvar place to live in. before he is allowed to wear the red beret. Six filing cabinet [failiŋ] - arkivskab out of ten are not accepted. They junk [dŋk] – ragelse They began patrolling in February 1979 when are either too prejudiced or too aggressive. violence grew in the subway, and people had The Angels have their headquarters in the Bronx begun to panic. The city sent in more uniformed in a small shop. The shop-office is a clutter of policemen, but Curtis Sliwa and his ‘dirty dozen’ broken chairs, an old typewriter, a filing cabinet, had already gone into the underworld to keep an American flag, and all sorts of junk. the peace. To be continued ...

The Guardian Angels ...continued (2)

They go out every night, dressed in white When a train stops at a station, the boys move T-shirts and red berets. A normal petrol is three towards the doors and look down the platform, or four people per train; the first shift is from looking for each other’s red berets. If one is 8 pm to midnight, the second from midnight to 4 missing, it means trouble, and they will hurry am. The police finish at 2 am, so before the down the platform to the scene of action. Guardian Angels started patrolling, the The passengers say that the kids are doing a dangerous small hours went unpoliced. great job, and a policeman who has been patrolling the subway for 13 years says that the 2 Angels are doing well. In fact, they have often One of the groups go by the No 4 train, which been more successful than the police. runs from the Bronx via Manhattan to Brooklyn, To be continued ... from battle-zone to battle-zone, but also through one of the richest districts on earth. Sliwa and shift - skift his friends wait on the platform until they hear a unpoliced - uden politivagt train coming. battle-zone - kampzone platform - perron A heavily armed policeman stands near the armed - bevæbnet entrance. He is weighted down with a double 'entrance - indgang belt on which hang a revolver, several bullets, weighted down [weitid] - tynget radio, keys, night-stick, handcuffs and torch. The night-stick - politistav boys, in contrast, carry no weapons. They rely handcuffs - håndjern on their quick wits, experience from streetfights torch - lygte and what they call their ‘presence’. »The beret re'ly on - stole på The red berets and white T-shirts show people and the T-shirt show people who we are,« Sliwa who they are. They carry no weapons, but the quick wits - hurtig opfattelse explains. »We've got no weapons. The muggers muggers know that they are very good fighters ex'perience - erfaring know that. But they also know we ain't going to and that they won't step backwards 'presence - tilstedeværelse step backwards.« mugger [mə] - voldsmand scene of 'action - sted, hvor der er ballade

The Guardian Angels ...continued (3) flat out, still holding Keith by the neck. We lit - oplyst shouted to the woman to run, but she was too 'whether - hvad enten In Brownsville, Brooklyn they leave the train and scared. She began to move when we were pro'voke - provokere get out at a station which is very badly lit. fighting the other guys; but then one of them 'narrow - smal walkway - bro Nobody seems to be about. The platform looks pulled out a sawn-off shotgun from under his battlefield - slagmark like a scene from a war film. Outside the station coat and pointed it at her. Another yelled: »Kill guy - fyr people live and, as Sliwa says, they have to the bitch, shoot her.« He raised the gun, and I rape [reip] - voldtage travel on the subway whether they like it or not. kicked again, but I was off balance. The kick giant [daiənt] - kæmpe

made the gun go up and hit him in the face. The neck - hals The young men walk down the platform. Some woman ran off, and I went through the wire fence 'strangle - kvæle men hanging about on the corner watch and and fell 20 feet onto the street below. The guys kick - sparke shout at them, but the Angels have learnt not to ran away and I finished up in hospital, but I was groin [rɔin] - skridt let words provoke them. They go up some steps lucky - just some bruises and cuts.« fold up - knække sammen at the other end of the platform and walk along a sawn-off [sɔn ɔf] - oversavet narrow walkway that leads to the next station. At 12.30 am they walk back to the shop in the shotgun - jagtgevær There are street-lamps, but no lights. Water Bronx. It is quiet, although groups of men hang bitch - mær drips, footsteps make a ghostly sound, around on the streetcorners. Sliwa and his wire fence [waiə] - ståltrådshegn conversation dies. A battlefield would be a more number two, Arnaldo Salinal, an 18-year-old [bruz] friendly place. The police never patrol this Puerto Rican boxer and street-fighter, are clear bruise - blåt mærke walkway between the two stations. They have a targets in their red berets as they walk along, but 'target - skydeskive very good reason - it is too dangerous. nobody tries to attack them. hooligan [huliən] - bølle

Sliwa explains about a fight they had in the same Sliwa's plan for the future is to make Central walkway two months ago: Park safe again for people, even after the sun »Keith and Philip (two of his best friends one goes down. »We have started to move in some black, the other Chinese) and me were coming of our guys. We are patrolling in groups of three, along here about midnight. We saw six guys with some of them hiding up in the trees. We use trying to rape a woman. We went in. One of walkie-talkies and handcuffs and, of course, our them, a giant, took Keith by the neck, trying to presence. And now. . . «, he grins as he says it, strangle him. I kicked him in the head, but it »all them hooligans have fear in their hearts.« didn't stop him. Philip kicked him in the groin. He didn't fold up the normal way, he just went down Adapted from The OBSERVER 15 July 1979