Annette John-Hall: Holdup rekindles a quest for peace

As he looks back on that fateful, nearly fatal night last month, Charles "Charlie Mack" Alston admits he had the audacity to believe that no thug living in Philadelphia would mess with him because surely they all knew who he was.

"Philadelphia is water ice, pretzels, and Charlie Mack - in that order," says the entertainment impresario and nonviolence crusader, in all seriousness.

OK, so humility isn't Mack's strong suit. But neither is inertia. Even growing up in Southwest Philly, one of nine in a single-parent home, Mack, 44, never sat around waiting for somebody else to make things happen.

Which probably explains how the high school dropout left behind his drug-dealing life and began promoting concerts for a little-known rap duo named Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. That twosome would blow up musically and on television with the popular NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

As Will Smith's star rose, so did Mack's. He went on to rub shoulders with the rich and famous as personal assistant/confidant to Smith, now one of the most powerful entertainers in Hollywood.

But after 15 years spent globe-trotting as Smith's babysitter, Mack realized his passport was full but his legacy empty. "It's not just about being Will Smith's man," he says definitively over lunch. "It's about what you give back."

Seven years ago, Mack came up with the idea to host Charlie Mack's Party4Peace Celebrity Weekend, a three-day extravaganza that connects black Hollywood with everyday people to stamp out violence. Many of the celebs share their personal stories to show young people that they can fulfill their dreams. This year's event, starting next Friday, will feature rapper/actor T.I. Fresh from prison for gun possession, he's sure to make an impact with his story of redemption.

For Mack, the city's peace ambassador, it was another year of raising awareness about violence. But he never expected just how much his own awareness would be raised.

It happened June 17, a Thursday night. Mack had just watched Kobe and company edge the Celtics in Game 7 for the NBA crown and was headed to his daughter's 21st birthday party when he stopped at the Sunoco on 38th and Girard to fill up.

As he climbed into his BMW 645, he felt the cold, hard barrel of a 9mm gun thrust against his stomach.

"You know what it is," the thief told him. "Give that money up."

"The first thing I thought was, 'I'm being punked,' " Mack says. At the same time, his survival instinct kicked in. In a split second, Mack handed over all of his cash just as he went for the perp's gun.

It was on. "A party for peace - literally," Mack says.

The two grappled. Mack won. "Once I got my hand on the gun, I knew it wasn't his anymore."

And once the 5-foot-10 robber saw Mack rise to his full 6-foot-7, 285 pounds, he reacted, Mack says, the way any hardened criminal would: He screamed.

"All thugs know you do not scream," Mack says, grinning because he lived to tell about it. "That's grounds for immediate dismissal from thug nation right there."

As the perpetrator lay on the ground, Mack tossed the gun into the passenger seat of his car and sped off to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he got stitches, a tetanus shot for a bitten finger, and treatment for a couple of facial scratches.

It could have been much worse: "There were 15 [bullets] in the clip and one in the chamber," Mack says. "And it was cocked."

Mack escaped without his cash, but God left him a lesson that money can't buy.

There he was, planning another Party4Peace weekend and prepared to exhort the community and his celebrity guests to fight violence with passion and purpose.

To do something about the 168 people killed in Philadelphia this year, most of them young, black, and poor. It could have been him back then, too.

But, in truth, his enthusiasm for his yearly event was waning - until that night in June. When, he says, God slapped him upside his head and said, "Pay attention!"

"The whole thing has made me more focused, more disciplined," says Mack. "I feel like I have a short time to complete my mission, so I have to do what God wants me to do now."

To learn more about Charlie Mack's Party4Peace, visit www.charliemack

party4peace.com

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