Muslims At The Mayfair

"Swank," the old Washington Evening Star called it. Forty years ago, Mayfair Mansions in Washington was one of the nation's most desirable housing developments for middle-class blacks. Today it looks more like a wartime concentration camp, with nondescript red barracks buildings and desolate open areas of dirt and patchy grass.

The war analogy is apt because two years ago Mayfair Mansions was invaded by an army of drug dealers who threatened to take over the place. Gangs operated freely behind closed doors as well as in the open, in abandoned apartments and in deserted courtyards. Hallways were littered with syringes, burned matches, cotton balls -- the accoutrements of the drug world. Gunfire was a nightly occurrence, and there were at least a dozen deaths from shootings and overdoses. "We have been under siege for almost two years by drug dealers," Barbara Brown, vice president of the Mayfair Residents Council told TIME's Susan Schindehette. "The dealers took over the playground, so the children couldn't play there."

But in recent days, laughing children are being heard again on the Mayfair playground, and parents even take their young ones out after dark. For Mayfair, help came from an unusual source: the Nation of Islam.

The Mayfair tenants made overtures to the organization at a local mosque several weeks ago, and the Muslims responded with around-the-clock patrols. Known for the fiery black nationalism preached by their leader Louis Farrakhan, the Muslims have transformed the complex. Since the appearance of the guards in their trademark sober suits and bow ties, the drug dealers have made themselves scarce.

The Islamic patrol, drawn from young men known as the Fruit of Islam, got off to a rough start. On their first day, a group of Muslims beat up a suspected drug dealer who was carrying a shotgun, as well as a television cameraman. The local Muslim leader, Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, later apologized to the cameraman.

The police and the Muslims have formed an uneasy truce. D.C. Police Chief Maurice Turner announced that the department was working with the Muslims, saying, "We need all the eyes and ears we can." Although in the past year police have made more than 1,300 arrests in the complex (the entire resident population is only 2,000), they have not been able to stop the drug traffic. The Fruit of Islam is ordered to call the police if trouble begins.

Although the drug dealers have left Mayfair Mansions, most have merely moved next door to another housing project, called Paradise Manor. Residents there also requested help, and on Friday the Muslims went into the adjacent complex with a parade of several hundred people, including city officials and a brass band. As the Muslims marched into Paradise, Mayfair residents were pleased and thankful about the change in their community. Said Glenn French, Mayfair's property manager: "Something good has happened here."