A man was murdered
overnight on Chicago's South Side.
Police say it happened
execution style in the...
It was a violent night
in Chicago.
Nine people were shot in just
five hours, one person died.
The victims were all men...
so far this year, one per day...
about the number of Americans
killed during the same period
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are three bullet holes
in his home fired by...
Gregory Robinson is the 28th
Chicago public school student
killed this school year...
...died last Friday,
shot in the back
as he tried to shield
two young children...
Sadly, in another sign
of the times,
members of CeaseFire were also
at today's memorial service,
hoping to stop any thoughts of
retaliation for Greg's murder.
Twelve- and 13-year-olds
are walking around
with bulletproof vests
on up under their clothes.
Give us this day our
daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us,
and lead us not
into temptation...
All right, let's close up.
Everybody that's in the meeting,
this is serious now, okay?
We're in a crisis mode,
and we need people
to step up this table
and go over and beyond.
Guys are getting killed
for just anything.
Have there been any conflicts
mediated on the front end?
From last week to this week?
Two guys was arguing.
One guy threatened to blow
the other guy's wig back.
I got him to calm down,
tell him he didn't shoot you,
he was just talking.
We stopped that one
on the front end.
I have the
dirty dozen at the table.
We've always had
outreach workers,
but the violence was not
necessarily going down
at that point.
So in the year 2004,
we began a new concept called
the violence interrupters.
Most of the violence
interrupters
come from the hierarchy
in some of these gangs.
Because can't no anybody come in
and tell a guy
to put his gun down.
The violence
interrupters have one goal in mind:
To stop killings.
They're not trying
to dismantle gangs.
What they're trying to do
is save a life.
I might get shot.
Ice cold.
After what happened a week and a
half ago, nobody's been changed.
Nobody's come
through shooting.
Ameena.
What happened?
By the time we got out there,
the fight had just ended.
The cops pulled up and pulled off.
Y'all missed that shit.
The cops pulled up
and they left.
They're scared.
They're scared of the community.
One group of guys
said the young man threatened
that he had a gun,
and that he was gonna kill him.
So he started fighting
and ended up getting
his teeth knocked out.
He needs to go to a doctor.
So you want to go
to the emergency room?
Let's take him,
come on.
Cobe got him off location.
And I asked Cobe to take him
to the hospital.
These bitch-ass niggas...
I'm gonna pop when I see 'em.
The block got quiet,
and I'm looking down the street,
and here comes the sisters
of the guy
that got his tooth knocked out.
They came to defend
their brother's honor.
With a butcher knife.
The sister calls one
of the guys a bitch ass, punk ass.
The little four-
and five-year-old baby
was doing the same thing.
I'm a knock
your bitch ass out.
Run up, then.
You going to
never knock me out!
You respecting yourself.
She ain't respecting herself.
But still.
The story about sticks
and stones may break your bones
but words can never hurt you?
Words'll get you killed.
All of the sudden, the sister
ran up with a piece of concrete.
One of the girls was about
to stab one of the guys.
Her cousin picked up
the butcher knife.
Dee, who's in
the heat of the moment,
that adrenaline was still going,
that, "I'm gonna fuck them up.
I'm gonna get them back. "
She just hit my man with a rock.
I picked up Dee.
I said you need to get off
the block for a minute.
He was out of line.
He was out of pocket.
He was very disrespectful.
And I know how many people
I got out here
that are willing
to take care of business.
We fittin' to do this
and all this and that.
His family kept calling him.
You know, what's
taking you so long
so we can come back over there
and set that block off.
'Cause if his family
would have came to get him...
maybe it would have been
a death behind it.
I know you got some
damn fools for family.
About you.
And... and they ready over here.
Because I know
you just come home.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
You ain't going no problem
in going back.
I saw that you, wasn't,
you know, you was walking away,
to defend you
and your family.
But, and I really, man...
Man, I thank you.
I mean, for real.
For real, that's what gangster
is about right there.
I... I definitely
don't want to go back.
Wasn't that gangster?
Didn't them girls square
up like Joe Frazier?
Shoot.
I took him over
to his cousin's house.
We were talking about
how he got hit.
And he tumbled over.
Like a cartoon character.
Woo!
So if you get them
to laugh at themselves,
give them a moment to pause,
and think about really
how crazy and funny that it was,
find that soft spot
in that person.
Not weak, but soft spot.
And you just ride on that.
Ameena Matthews
as a violence interrupter,
she's the golden girl.
She gets in where a lot of guys
can't get in.
She knows how to talk
to these high-risk young men.
And a lot of guys that
I know that have
a lot of murder in they
background, they respect her.
So, he all right?
The life that I
lived, being in shootouts,
looking at the devil
face to face...
And I look at my sisters and my
brothers today, you know,
that was once me.
Her father was Jeff Fort,
one of the biggest gang leaders
in the history of Chicago
outside of Al Capone.
Fort is serving a life sentence
for allegedly conspiring
with Bolivians
to commit acts of terrorism
here in the United States.
I understand the fact that
we got polices in here.
There is not going to be any
killing without killing.
Jeff Fort stood
up against the police.
He was definitely a feared
and very revered man
in his community.
But she never lived
off that name.
Ameena made her own name
on the streets.
Growing up, it wasn't his
influence that influenced me
to do anything.
You know, my dad was not there.
When I was conceived,
he was 16 years old.
So when I got older, I was
in a mob with a bunch of guys,
and I was like the only female
that was the lieutenant.
That took care of the business.
It was drug selling, hustling.
You know, one crew was
on the pimping tip.
One crew was on the stickup tip.
Drugs, guns, party, fun.
That was it.
My dad wasn't around, and...
when he got wind of that
I was a part of that team,
he was kind of hurt.
But he couldn't be too hurt.
Because look at what precedent
that he started.
Ceasefire.
Ceasefire.
Ceasefire.
Stop the shooting.
Stop the killing.
I said stop it right now.
Stop it right now.
Young man got shot 22 times.
That's sad.
This is a state of emergency.
This is what
the war zone looks like.
We're sick and tired
of our babies being killed.
This man here
lost a son.
We can't be
quiet no more.
My son has
been killed right here
and we're standing here
with cameras right here
where my son been slain at?
Come on now.
I don't think that's right.
We could have did
this somewhere else.
I have to sit here and try
to say something to you guys.
Who does that?
Would you say that
there's still a code of silence
going on in the neighborhood,
that people aren't
coming forward?
I can't walk around,
go up to people's houses
and say, "Who killed my son?"
I'm not a police officer,
and I'm not a doctor.
You know, I don't know how many
times my son, they tell me 22,
I don't know how many times
my son's been shot.
See, somebody in the background
saying 22.
You a doctor, baby?
That's my son, baby,
you didn't make him.
You his auntie.
We're going to move this on past.
What you mean, you,
watch you don't get what?
You better shut up, don't know
what you're talking about.
Let me just say this,
we just had another homicide.
Just now, while we're marching.
Another homicide.
It's a war zone.
It's a war zone
and an epidemic.
People, we must come together.
He was sticking people up.
The guys caught him
in a walkway.
Shameful.
You know, we got some guys
over on the next block.
Some inroads over there.
It ain't gonna be
no retaliation from it.
It's just so
crazy, man, because it's like,
every time you come outside,
somebody getting killed.
I don't know what this world
coming to.
We got to be out here, man.
Before things happen.
All my life,
I knew right from wrong.
I knew if I do this,
I'll get in trouble.
But, you know, at the time,
I just didn't care, though.
I always wanted to be
like my dad.
You know, he was my role model,
because he used to always
dress slick.
Wear big hats and suits
and, you know, all that.
And, I just, you know,
wanted to be like him.
I was 11 years old
when my father got killed.
He got beat
with some baseball bats.
And that just messed me up.
I used to be out there in the
streets all through the night.
I used to be in jails,
fighting, kicking off riots, and
doing all crazy stuff.
Just gangbanging.
Oh, what up boy?
Man, come holler at me, man!
What's up?
Ricardo Cobe Williams,
he's a younger interrupter,
which is a good thing.
Once he came on board
at CeaseFire,
he began to really
turn the heat on.
Cobe knows how to get in,
he talks the language.
And he knows what to say,
when to say it.
You two guys, man,
you all been around
here on a lot of bullshit,
both of you all.
Robbing people, breaking
in windows, all kinds of stuff.
Man, whenever I gotta do
what I gotta do,
I gotta do what I gotta do,
you know.
Don't get it
all twisted.
Once upon a time this man
was out here too,
doing the same thing
we done and did...
Cobe has big-time credibility
with the gang members out there.
...we gonna wait for
the heat to come to us.
Breaking out...
look at them.
What's going on?
A friend of mine called
me, very concerned about her two kids.
The streets is
taking a toll.
They stay in the same house.
And they be at each other
because both of them are
in two different cliques.
Just threatening
to kill one another.
Shooting at each other,
it's just crazy.
I can't keep
coming off the road.
You know, because
I work for Amtrak,
and not knowing if somebody's
gonna kick the door in
because of this
gang's violence.
I just packed up
and left, yes.
So...
I left the apartment in my name
so they don't be homeless.
So this my little
honeycomb hideout.
They don't know
where I live, either.
Your kids don't?
Nope.
Your youngest son's
still locked up, right?
Yup.
He don't get out 'til 2016
for attempted murder.
And he was 17
when they got him.
One thing, you still
have all three of your kids.
It's some people...
Yep, I thank God for that.
People say I'm crazy
because I always say,
"If I lose one of my sons,
I don't want no funeral. "
I don't want nobody to come,
you know, give me condolences.
Because I want
to remember them...
the last decent time
I seen them.
And they say that's mean of me,
but that's how I feel.
So just stay strong
and keep your head up.
I'm a try to reach out
to them myself.
Well, I wish you luck
in finding them.
Yeah, just I'll see
what I can do.
Because I know if they
have a strong person
that's lived that life,
I think they could be saved.
Because I... I just
can't do it anymore.
Violence is like
the great infectious diseases
of all history.
We used to look at people
with plague, leprosy,
TB as bad and evil people,
and something needs
to be done about them.
And they were put in dungeons.
What perpetuates violence
can be as invisible today
as the microorganisms
of the past were.
I had been overseas for about
ten years at World Health
working on infectious diseases.
Coming back to the U.S.,
the violence is unavoidable.
But I saw it as behavior,
not as bad people.
You can judge it, but it's
not what we do in science.
I never had nothing against
Poot and them... nothing.
When I came up, like I said,
they shot at my car.
For the young
people in these neighborhoods,
they see violence
as their disease.
What they expect
to die of is this.
Don't tell me you gonna
squash something
then go back
and do something else,
and then you done made me
look like an ass.
And if that's
what you want to do,
then you put on big boy shoes,
then you play big boy games.
Violence is a two-step process.
The first thought is,
"I have a grievance.
"He looked at my girl,
he called me a name,
"he disrespected me,
he owes me money.
"He's a Sunni.
"He's a Palestinian.
He's an Israeli. "
The second thought is that
grievance justifies violence.
At the end of the
day, man, nobody gonna win, man.
Our work is about thought, too.
I mean, and your family hurt
behind this shit.
That's why I'm saying
ain't no point in...
you was wrong,
you was wrong.
Fuck all that,
you know what I'm saying?
Motherfuckers just
trying to move on, man.
So the interrupter's role,
like the TB disease control
worker's role,
is to do this initial
interruption of transmission.
Five steps to
effective gang mediation.
A lot of times you gonna
get into them situations
that you gonna have
to weigh it out
and you gonna have to know
when to step it off.
Their experience
around difficult situations
did not begin
with their work with us.
So it's all a matter of
selecting the right people
and training them
and supervising them
and supporting them.
Told the officers
that you ain't
got nothing to say,
you gonna deal
with it yourself.
You got to drown
yourself with the people
and immerse yourself
in the bullshit.
You have to talk as if,
"Man, I understand, man.
"I been there.
I know how it is
to hurt a motherfucker. "
I'm not no punk
or nothing.
Yeah.
Only thing that came
to my mind was retaliate.
They got to know
they did the wrong person.
Yeah.
"I hear you, Jack,
you know, you 100% right.
"And I'm with you man,
"if you gonna take care
of your business,
"take care of your business.
"But check this out.
"If I know you want
to shoot the motherfucker,
"the police know already,
your friends know,
and somebody gonna tell
on your ass. "
Make sure you talk to the
individual that did this to me.
You let 'em know that you
gonna keep this here peace.
You doing this.
Once you make
sense out of the madness,
then you start talking about
the scientific theory.
You start talking about
the change of the behavior.
Then you can give them
a history lesson.
You know,
"Your daddy was violent,
"your granddaddy was fucked up,
he was violent.
"Now all your brothers
are fucked up
"because you misled them.
"It's time to save yourself,
brother.
"Save yourself.
"I'm not preaching to you,
just save yourself.
Does this make sense, brother?"
"Oh man, you know what,
you got a point. "
All right, just give
me time to work it.
I really
understand why it's not easy
for people to back down
for one reason.
Because you've been taught
all your life...
in the community where I grew up
in, you know, like,
you know you got to stand up
no matter what happens.
Death before dishonor.
When I was 14 years old,
this guy beat me down
in the streets.
And my stepfather took his life
right in front of me.
And I felt good about it,
really.
And I was always
a shaky criminal.
I used to sell fake hash to the
sailors down on Michigan Avenue.
I used to steal smoke detectors.
They called us the smoke
detector bandits.
I was playing on women a lot...
you know, women would help me.
I had a lot of girlfriends
that would give me money
because I had a big old afro
back then.
First started working
with CeaseFire in 1999.
I told Gary I had a bachelor's
degree at that time.
And Gary asked me, he's like,
"Where is your
bachelor's degree at?"
I say, "Look, man, hey,
I was just trying to get in. "
But I went back to school.
I got my bachelor's degree,
with my master's degree.
I began to understand that
we've been taught violence.
It's... violence is
learned behavior.
Hear me clearly, young brothers.
I don't mention gang names when
I do my mediations, all right?
At this transitional
home for teenage parolees,
the residents were in conflict
with one another,
and they were
pulling in gang members
from throughout the area.
It was about to blow up
in a major way.
The problem that we have
right now is about some money
that lead to a fight, right?
How much money was it?
Like five dollars.
It was about five
dollars, everybody?
Dude said instead of giving him
five dollars, give him 15.
No, it don't work like that.
You ain't fin a get no more
than what you owed.
Me said, I'm not paying yous...
Right.
Then five minutes later on,
they came up here.
It took me as a woman
to stand in the middle
of the street with 15 guys,
that I knew...
knew nothing of...
And take...
come out of my pocket
and pay $15 to keep peace.
No respect for where
you live at.
You think this could
turn into gun play?
I think so,
because it's gonna escalate.
It's gonna keep
going and going.
If we got to live here, man,
I don't want to bring these
streets over here, man.
I ain't trying to go
back to that life.
I'm one man,
I can't fight all them.
What you think I'm a do?
Like this brother just said,
any time 15 guys
mob up on you,
the first thing that
comes across your mind,
"I need to be strapped
to deal with that. "
If you got to live here
and coexist with each other,
someone has to be big enough
to take the higher road.
It's gonna go through
one ear and out the other.
Look you know what,
the most important thing is
to pay attention
to what they're saying.
Because at this site
where you live at,
if you cause any
kind of trouble,
five-oh will be called.
I'm hearing what they telling me
in there, right.
And to me,
it's like starting off
with a five dollar bag of weed.
It's beyond that.
But wait a minute.
No, no... no no no.
You got to play it
like a big man.
I got to play it
like a big girl.
When I get angry,
I can bring some noise
if I want to.
I go lay it down.
I have to.
Don't make me feel like a punk.
It make feel like,
you know what?
It's fighting my own ego.
I swear to God I wish I had
someone to holler at me
like I'm right here
hollering at you.
I would have not had
the felony on my record.
You understand what I'm saying?
What we gonna do?
We gonna fight about another
five dollar bag of weed?
It ain't worth it.
They feed off
her energy, too.
So what you
gonna do, son?
Tell me.
And I'm a hold you to it.
Make myself better.
You too.
Little Ameena.
Yo, if they want to let it go,
we can let it go.
All right, I want
to see some love.
I just love Englewood.
But it's hard knocks, man.
You know, it's a old saying,
Englewood is all good.
It's where I learned
all my life's lessons.
Ah, I locked my keys in the car.
Ooh, I don't even know
how to do that.
I got a screwdriver
and a wire, a hang...
A screwdriver?
Y'all gonna tear my car up.
What kind of
locks you got?
Whatever.
CeaseFire back
in the hood.
Who scratch your face?
You was out here thumping?
I fight every day.
You fight every day?
You too handsome to be
doing all of that.
Most of our mediations
come through the community here.
They'll tell us that it's
some tension in the air
and need us to come in
and help out.
Quit playing before
I bust your nose.
I'm a pass these out
to everybody and they mama.
Just pass them out
to everybody and they mama,
but I just didn't want
to have to see your drawers
in the process
of passing them out.
Did I have to?
No.
Well, why am I
still seeing them?
But I thought you had got shot
in your shoulders,
but it was in your leg?
It was these guys shooting
at each other in these cars.
So I jumped, 'cause I was trying
to save my cousin.
I had a big old hole in my leg,
like this big.
What your grades like?
A's, B's, and C's.
A's, B's, and C's?
And one D.
What you wanna do...
what's the D in?
It better not be in P.E.
Or I'm a hit you in your throat.
I like those, too.
No, I didn't,
I bought these.
You think you hot, don't you?
When I was
growing up in Englewood,
we still looked out
for one another.
To me, it's like,
there's still some hope left.
You think you hot.
No, no killing.
CeaseFire!
I've been trying to
get up with Toya's two kids, man,
because both of them
in rival cliques.
It was easy to get up with Bud.
Your mama asked me
to try to reach out,
try to sit down and work with
the... you and your brother,
try to talk with you
and all that, too, though.
So, bloodline, thicker
than water, and, like...
But I get into it with him
a lot, though.
Is there any way
we can meet him
and try to talk to both
of y'all at the same time?
Yeah.
Okay then, man.
Just hit me tomorrow.
Okay, I'm a get up
with you.
All right.
Thanks a lot.
I appreciate it.
He do look like
a rough rider, don't he?
It took me a minute to get
up with the older brother, Kenneth.
What's up, boy?
What up?
How you doing, man?
Chilling out.
I might as well
just be straight up on it.
Your mama, she concerned
about you and Bud.
We fight every day.
It's either I knock him out
or he knock me out.
I mean, like...
We upping pistols on
each other over little shit.
And y'all live under
the same roof.
That mean if y'all upping guns
up on each other,
that mean if he go to sleep
and you go to sleep,
y'all got to sleep
with one eye open.
Y'all can't even trust
each other.
Like last year,
my best friend got killed.
I could get
shot tomorrow.
I know it's gonna hurt my mom
more than anybody, you know?
She say she just moved away
because she couldn't take it
no more.
I can't get along
with my mom.
'Cause she, "You act just like
your daddy" and shit.
"Woo woo woo," and...
I... I ain't trying
to hear that, I'm gone.
I'm outside, you know?
My father, he been locked up
since I was three years old.
He get out a little bit
after I turned 18.
My life would be totally
different if my father was here.
You know, if he was in my life,
just being involved.
Checking up on me every day,
and, "How you doing, son?
"What's going on?
I love you, son. "
I can count on one hand
how many times I told my mama
I love her.
So I'm gonna talk
to with Bud and Toya, man,
and see, man, we could try
to get together, man,
just sit down and talk, man.
I ain't trying to point no
finger, who wrong and all that.
Let's just correct this.
Let's just, be a family
and be happy.
So, you up with that?
Yeah, I'm with it.
First and foremost, I want
to thank the young brothers
coming from Calumet City.
Why don't you stand up
in the back, if you don't mind.
What happened last week,
there was a big conflict
with two different groups.
We got a chance to really work
with them young brothers
and a sister.
When I met that sister, she made
it clear to me, she said,
"I'm a sister, brother,
you know what I'm saying?"
I been trying to call you.
When I call your phone,
I expect you to answer,
like, "Yeah, Ameena. "
I'm like, hello?
We've been keeping in contact.
Caprysha is a very loving
young lady
that had not had a chance
to have a childhood.
Substance abuse plays
a huge part of the toxicness
that she was raised around.
I was worried.
I know you wanted
to go see your mother.
Do you want to go?
I'll get mad.
All right, so we just gonna
have to keep it moving.
You gotta get ready to do
you, be a big girl.
You want to go skating
this weekend?
You do?
Okay.
I'm a send a car for you
this weekend,
because it's my
eight-year-old's birthday.
If I got time,
I'll come and get you myself.
All right, baby?
Where is my husband?
Come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on,
come on, come on,
come on, come on, yeah!
Yeah! Yeah!
Today we're celebrating
my daughter's birthday.
We're really sad,
because Caprysha was supposed
to come skating with us.
So then I got the full scoop.
She wanted to get back in touch
with her mom.
And that caused her to feel.
And she acted out
on some old behavior.
She got high.
She violated her parole.
So she's in the county jail.
I need you guys to say
please and thank you.
Right, Maddie?
Okay?
Right, right, right?
So where you
find these strangers at?
These your people, man.
Ah, where y'all
find him at?
Today I finally
reached Toya and her two kids
and we agreed to all sit down
together and work things out.
This morning,
Toya was steaming hot.
She went back to the apartment
she left her kids.
She saw Kenneth's friend
in there bagging up some drugs.
She went back
and changed the locks.
Shit, times hard.
You got to have
a job out here, man.
Yeah, man, or hustle.
One or the other.
Hustling going to end you up
one of two places.
It really don't matter
right now.
Well, if it don't matter,
why speak on it?
I guess that's
the same as your life.
You not gonna
make no progress.
You just got to
humble yourself.
You thinking like,
you want a handout.
No one's going
to give you anything.
Who you talking to?
Him or me?
I'm talking in general,
and if you listening,
then I'm talking to you, too.
I'm really not listening
to shit you're saying.
That's why you in the
predicament you in now.
I don't have time
for this shit.
What you been
through that's so hard?
What you been through
that's so hard?
So what the fuck
is you saying, B?
You ain't no boss
of me, boy.
Push comes to shove,
whatever I say gonna go.
If I want to... if I don't want
no motherfucker out there,
ain't nobody gonna be
out there, nigger.
Now what?
Now what you gonna say?
And I'm right there.
Then it's on.
Hey, hey.
Hey, Bud and Kenneth,
Kenneth and Bud.
On our way down there I'm
like, "Damn, did I make a mistake?"
You know what I'm saying?
I don't want them to get
to fighting under my watch.
I'm saying, one thing
y'all missing, man.
Y'all is blood brothers, man.
Y'all ain't no bad kids.
Both of y'all
finished school.
Both of y'all ain't been
to motherfucking penitenti...
that's good, man.
I just hate how my own
people just think like,
"Yeah, Kenneth, the type
of crowd he be around... "
Boy, if I wasn't
the parent that I was,
you wouldn't have made it
through school.
I made sure you had
what you needed.
Hey, hey, but Kenneth,
I'm gonna tell you this, though.
She don't want to see shit
happen to y'all, man.
He can't say when he need,
or he need a bond I'm not there.
I always bond him out of jail
for stuff that I don't
even believe in.
I don't need no, no,
no other motherfucker.
I never served for another man,
or none of that shit.
Always been on my own two.
Yes, you have.
Always been on my own two.
If I, if I,
if I had got something
from another motherfucker,
Cobe, I took it.
Plain and simple.
'Cause I feel the
motherfucker owed it.
Go to work.
Yeah, I'm right here
on Roosevelt and Ashland.
Right here.
All right, come to the office,
it's heated right now.
Okay.
All right.
If the clique you are in...
I ain't putting you
on the spot,
but if they came at your
brother, would you stop them?
Yeah.
You would?
Okay.
The clique you in,
if they came at your brother,
would you stop them?
Of course.
And my thing to you, when it
come down to the street game,
the only choices, man, is jails,
deaths, and institutions.
Do you feel you can be in a cell
for 23 hours a day?
A six-by-nine cell?
No, no man could be in that
place for... for that long.
Well, what'll happen
when you're on the streets,
though, little brother,
you'll run into
a situation out there
with your brother's associates,
you mad at your mama,
you mad at your brother,
you not thinking right,
you high on some reefer, bam!
You shoot some
motherfucking body, right?
I ain't that type of guy.
No, you ain't that guy,
but it happens.
Your brother not either,
look where he at.
Hear me clearly.
in the penitentiary
were not them kind of guys.
They were probably sitting
in the same seats
like you're sitting in and never
thought it would happen to 'em.
I bet you.
I love my brother
to death.
He just don't
understand, like,
and it's not really
a problem with him,
it's really a problem with like
my mother and my grandmother.
I just feel like they
really do take sides, man.
I don't got no problems
with my brother.
I love my mama to death,
but she just don't listen
or try to just,
try to relate a little bit,
you know what I'm saying?
And all the shit that she done
while I'm growing up,
you ain't always been peaches
and cream in your life either.
I ain't never said I was.
But at the same time, you
don't have to go down that road
and be the spoiled peach.
I'm really not,
I'm really not.
You gonna have issues
with your mother.
Every damn kid in the United
States, black or white,
got issues with
they parents, man.
This ain't nothing new.
Which one of you
brothers can cook?
Neither one.
I know how to cook,
some of anything.
You cook your mother
a meal one day, man.
Y'all need to sit down
with your mother.
You hear me?
I know it's kind of tough
because you haven't done it,
but you need to sit down
with your mother, man.
Have a family day.
You know, that's kind of,
that's kind of odd to me.
It's not coming
to me, right.
It's just not coming
to me right now.
Man, you know what I'd love
to see though, for real, man?
I'd love to see y'all two
embrace each other, man.
You and your brother, man.
For real.
I'm a let Cobe
handle that one, there.
I'd love to see y'all
embrace each other, man.
And your mother.
And your mama, yeah, man.
Your mom, that's
what's happening right there, bro.
You know, can you handle that,
little brother?
Huh?
I ain't gonna force
you to do it, you know that.
I ain't gonna force
you, brother.
You should embrace your mom
or your brother.
Mmm, not right now.
I was sick behind that shit.
This your mama, man,
I wouldn't care what...
You should still always
hug your mama
and let her know
you love her, man.
Is that Alfreda?
This is my baby.
This is my heart.
I know my mama love me.
I love my mama.
I know she'll do anything
for me.
Hello.
But when my dad got killed,
things really
just went downhill.
My mother done come up,
start using drugs.
After my father died,
she couldn't deal with it.
I'm like...
That shit took a toll on me.
I'm fin a drink me
a cocktail today.
I ain't drinking
no cocktail.
I don't want you
to keep drinking.
That's why, God as my
witness, I'm 38 years old right now.
And I said I wasn't gonna
never use drugs.
I wasn't gonna never drink.
I really started following
in my daddy's footsteps, though.
Selling drugs, hustling, going
back and forth to jail.
What up, Granny?
I know they thought I was
coming in through the back...
Coming up I was
more close to my grandparent.
And my grandmother from day one,
stayed on me.
Look at Granny.
Happy birthday to me!
I called him
Carty, but his name Ricardo.
I love all my grandkids.
But Carty was one I guess
I did do more for
and took under my wing.
When I went to jail,
my grandmother bonded me out.
I was like,
"Grandma, I knew you was going
to get me out, anyway.
I'm your baby. "
She say, "Go back and see. "
I went back.
Grandma didn't do none of that.
I probably have broke her heart
a lot of times,
doing things I shouldn't
have been doing.
But she always remind me
of the good in me.
He saved his life.
Because Carty had been shot at.
Probably was shooting at people.
So something turned him around.
I ain't gonna say it
through me and his granddaddy,
but he lucky.
Hey, my Granny.
Love you.
Love you too, Granny.
# I've seen sunny days that
I thought would never end #
# I've seen the lonely times #
# When I could not
find a friend #
# But I always thought
that I'd see you, baby. #
Ms. Madea's
always shot from both hips.
I was with Madea
from birth to nine,
and from nine to about 15,
I went and I did stay
with my biological mother.
Now we're talking
about my family,
because I'm the mother
of her biological mother.
We need to honor and
respect our children.
We can't just throw 'em out
there and throw 'em away.
Because of the
lifestyle that my mother lived,
I went through
a real rough journey.
Being abused... physically,
emotionally, sexually...
from the age of nine
to the age of 15.
So I just went back to Madea.
My grandmother lived
in a apartment with four of us,
and it was roach-infested.
You know, once I started
learning the game,
my goal was to get Madea
up out of there.
Madea was the type of woman
that... that type of money?
"Don't bring that shit
in my house. "
But I got caught up.
I got caught up in that one more
thousand, one more run.
One more big hit.
I was introduced to Islam
through my father.
It was always
something inside of me
that was constantly saying
that I have to do better.
I wasn't afraid, I just knew
that I had to come on with it.
Allah sent me confirmation
through someone else.
She knew what she wanted.
That's what lead her here.
And so, we believe that,
you know,
it was a heavenly marriage.
Allah, let your blessings and
your peace be upon your servant.
My family keeps
me very, very grounded.
He took your phone?
Noah took your phone?
At the end of the day,
I have to come in, cook dinner,
help with homework.
Tear some ass out the frame
if I have to.
Show him some
Salaam love.
Don't do it no more.
All right.
I'll bust your jaw.
A family is really my real job.
Out there in the community
is a piece of cake for me.
My husband worries about me
more than anyone else.
There are times that I can't be
there physically with her,
but I know that she is fearless
and she will lay it on the line,
and she'll go up against a lion.
She will just stand up
for anyone,
because of experiences
she's had growing up
where someone didn't
stand up for her.
Our mosque is
holding a prayer vigil
for a kid shot
sitting in front of his home
just listening to the radio.
Corey definitely wasn't
in a gang
and he was loved by his block.
When rage sets in, when ego sets
in, when that Hennessy sets in.
Okay, I'm going to walk down
here where Corey's friends are.
You stay right here.
These young guys say,
"Let's go get who we think did it. "
I'm hearing 20 different things
why that brother got changed.
And all of it is stupid.
All of it is stupid.
babies coming home from school,
y'all shooting.
For real?
This is unacceptable for me
to be holding this boy's...
this young man's obituary.
Schools, churches,
your mama's house, your cars,
those are safe zones.
When I was about your age,
I was making some
real stupid decisions
and some stupid calls
that was costing me my life.
Blood on my hands and my head.
Stop.
Who does this baby belong to?
Who does this little
shorty belong to?
He just hanging
around y'all?
He just hanging, this little mo,
this little mo,
he just hanging around y'all,
right?
So he see everything
that you all do, right?
So if this brother right here
catch a case and do 100 years,
whose fault is it?
It's his fault?
Uh-uh.
It's our fault.
Teach him righteous.
Y'all got it?
Yeah.
Y'all got it?
Yeah.
You got it?
All right.
I'm looking to you.
Here's my number, give me
a call, all right?
All right.
This is my, my
little brother, on the left side
and my little cousin
on the right side.
Tyrone Williams
and Percy Day, Jr.
Luis was killed trying
to sign Michael's altar.
I held him to his last breath.
I didn't want to let him go.
I've lost at least 20 guys.
It's no answer to it, you know.
You one of your guys
got killed, fuck it.
I'm gonna kill that nigger
and make his family suffer.
I don't want no shrines,
beer bottles, drinks.
Niggers crying, smoking weed.
Pictures and shit, t-shirts.
I don't want none of that shit.
I don't want to die looking
stupid as hell.
No, fuck that.
Tony Sko and the morning riot
and that's right,
it is the first day of school
for all Chicago public school
students.
That's right
and we want you to hit us up,
be safe out there.
Youth violence in Chicago
has gotten world attention.
student Derrion Albert was attacked
as he walked home from school.
A senseless killing, this time
was caught on videotape,
has put Chicago's deadly
epidemic in the spotlight.
Now there's
debate on a national level
which all basically started with
that viral video that came out,
from the cell phone,
of the clash between the two
gangs outside Fenger High School
that killed Derrion Albert
right in the middle.
See this young man here?
You see him taking this board
from this young man.
And this is the young man that
you're actually going to see
hit the boy
in the back of the head.
Look for the guy
in the red coat.
Watch him.
He took it, and watch him.
Damn.
That was a two-by-four,
wasn't it?
They still doin'... oh wow.
Man.
Ameena is gonna
assist us with the family,
because we got to get them
to the site
where they're gonna do
the memorial.
'Cause this is what
the family wants, okay?
Which way does that go?
It goes that way,
the arrow?
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, go that way.
I seen the video.
And I said, "Aw man, I hope
his mother does not see this. "
It's a lot of people here
for your brother.
You know that, right?
It's a lot of people, okay?
Stay in that circle.
We got security
on both sides of you.
Anjanette needed
help getting him a funeral.
She needed help trying
to make sense
of what just happened
to her son.
I got resources for Anjanette
to put Derrion in a mausoleum
next to her mother.
Only the family.
Nobody else.
Ameena's very,
very important to us.
Everything I went through,
she was right there with me.
We're praying for this family.
We're praying that God
will heal their hurts.
And I'm praying for all of you,
my brothers and my sisters.
This is a problem
in our community.
It's a problem in our city.
It's a problem in our nation.
Once the media has gone
back to wherever they came from,
we have to step up to the plate
and make something happen
over there.
...year after year,
who are not doing anything
about this problem.
I'm talking about
the police department.
I'm talking about all those
who are doing nothing...
The person that was videotaping
the goddamn beating
was saying,
"Zoom in, zoom in,
put that nigger to sleep. "
That's what you heard the people
saying in the background.
So that goes to show you
the mindset.
'Cause I know Ameena,
she's spending a lot of time
with the family still,
they trying to fix his face
so they can have a open casket.
I heard some interviews
from the young brothers.
They say they don't know why
the hell they fighting.
They just hate each other.
So somebody tell me what
they fighting for, then.
We grew up gangbanging.
It don't make a difference
what we fighting for.
You ain't with me,
you against me,
and that's just how
it's always been, Tio.
The guys from Altgeld Gardens,
they were attending
Carver School.
Which was turned into
a military school.
A lot of guys didn't want
to go to a military school,
so they transferred
the guys to Fenger.
So now you got these guys coming
from a whole other neighborhood.
When they laid there and closed
down Carver High School,
and started letting these guys
get to school
any kind of way they can,
riding on the bus, walking,
or what have you,
you left it to them that
they had to defend themselves.
And the Ville is fighting
Altgeld Gardens.
They've been doing that
since the '60s, man.
We up against history.
Yeah, and we gotta
respect history,
but it shouldn't play
a big factor in this table.
Man, we got over 500 years
of prison time at this table.
That's a lot
of fucking wisdom.
How the hell are we gonna
let these kids school us,
that we were schooling them?
We're gonna try
and work this conflict out.
Because right now
they just had another big fight
up at Fenger while we talking.
The beat goes on.
That's that brother
right there, man?
They put him in the,
that's the body?
Damn, that's fucked up, man.
This young brother
that we just finished
doing some mediating with,
his close friend
just got killed.
The possibility of retaliation
at that moment
was very, very likely.
That cop was just looking
at me all crazy, too,
like she got a
fucking problem.
They just right now shot
on 30th and Kedville, again.
Right now.
Get the fuck out of here;
again, right now?
Right now, a couple
of minutes ago.
Police are going to be
harassing a lot of guys over here
whether they're affiliated
or not.
I think the police
should enforce the laws
but I think it's the way
they go about it.
There's a reason why people
in the community
don't really like talking
to the police.
They see other guys:
They see their nephews,
they see their brothers
and their sisters, you know,
being harassed.
Just because there's a high
presence of police right now,
that doesn't mean nothing
for these guys, man.
Within 30 hours there was
about seven shootings.
Eddie always presents himself
as a preppy, school-going,
collegiate type of guy.
I said, look man, there
ain't nothing shaking, man,
When you talk to
him about his street past,
"Oh no, we don't want
to go there man.
We don't want to go there. "
But at the same time,
he came from the lifestyle
with the Latino gangs.
And he wasn't no
low-level member.
He was right there
with the leader.
They called him Bandit,
because he would end up
taking something from you.
My nickname...
Well, I was pretty good
at stealing cars.
I was... give me a screwdriver
and less than a minute,
and I'm gone with your car.
Well, this is the block
in Little Village
that I actually grew up in.
I have a lot of memories here.
Right hand to God, I had about
almost half of this parking lot
full of stolen cars at one time.
But one day, the city, I guess,
found all the stolen cars.
So there was about seven,
eight tow trucks,
just lined up,
taking these cars out.
Most of our parents,
immigrants from Mexico.
Worked two jobs.
We were out here in the street,
running around.
My dad was a hardworking person.
He fixed cars.
And I would see my dad's hands,
and they'd be full
of calluses, you know,
and you know, cuts all over
his arm, burn marks,
you know, from the blow torches.
From day one, I told myself,
"I am never going
to be fixing cars. "
It wasn't me.
I didn't feel it.
It lit up in me, when I saw some
things in the neighborhood.
And I'd see these guys hanging
out, a lot older than I was.
They had the nice cars,
they had the girls,
flashing their colors.
What it was they had a pride
of who they really were.
They had an identity and they
were proud of that identity.
Half of my life I was in prison.
That's why I do what I do now.
To me it's a personal thing.
How you've been feeling?
You've been moving around
a little more or not, or what?
Before I couldn't even walk.
This dressing, this is what
I got to clean.
You know I got to take a dump
right here in a bag...
How much of
an impact are we making?
If we stop one shooting tonight,
we did good.
Where the bullet
went through?
But how do we stop
maybe the same person
shooting somebody the next day?
Has anybody been here to visit?
A couple of my friends.
They've been cool, or
they've been like, "Oh man, fuck that"?
Am I really helping?
Some people I can't.
Even as much as I want to,
they don't want the help.
The needless and
brutal violence
that continues to take our
children from us is an outrage.
Youth violence is not
a Chicago problem.
It is something that affects
communities big and small,
and people of all races
and all colors.
It is an American problem.
I promise to work
as long as necessary
to rid our country
of this plague.
Secretary Duncan, I've heard
you say those things many times.
What's different now?
What's different that it takes
capturing Derrion Albert's death
on video to wake the country.
We were dealing with children
being shot every single day.
I never saw a crowd
like this, ever.
Now the professionals
working in this field,
they knew about
the hostilities
coming out of the
Altgeld Gardens projects
and the young men
around Fenger.
So there was no way
in the world
that should have really
occurred, to be real with you.
I talked to the mayor's
office today.
We're gonna bring together the
guys that are in the conflict.
And they've agreed
to meet with us,
and we're gonna process
with them.
We have a
five-hour agenda.
I think we can get all
the brothers we need.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
If they willing to come sit
down here and talk with us,
you know, people need
to talk to them,
Come to see what's on they mind,
the kids' mind.
Right.
What's up, Tay?
You just got kicked
out of Fenger, man.
You want to go
back to Fenger?
Yeah, you know I do.
So how you feel
about them people
come from Altgeld Gardens
out there?
I used to get into it with them
a lot though, but...
That's what
it is though, man.
Either fighting
or shooting.
That's how got to solve y'all
prob... these problems nowadays,
'cause if you don't do it,
they gonna try and do it to you.
If you don't go hard,
it's your life.
Me and my wife
was looking for a house.
I didn't want the kids
to grow up
and really experience the things
I've experienced all my life.
We way out here, man.
Way out yonder, man.
Instead of gun violence,
we probably have to worry
about rabbits and deer,
and I'm okay with that.
Man, my wife came
from the streets.
She used to be around
rough riders,
people who lived the same
lifestyle I lived.
I end up getting pregnant at
about 16, and did a 360, so...
I met my wife in 2002.
And she already had three kids.
It wasn't love at first sight.
Probably not even love
at second sight.
He's very nerdy.
Very, very nerdy person.
Man, my wife a mess.
But, like most wives.
No, no, but I love my wife.
That's short.
He at the 30.
Cobe as a dad, he's really good.
He's there for every
football game.
My kids really enjoy him,
especially my daughter.
That's... that's her everything,
her Cobe.
Cobe.
Ooh-hoo!
Jake.
What really
made me start thinking more
about doing the right thing,
I started thinking about my son.
I remember I was in jail,
and they brought me out
with handcuffs
till the judge called us.
My son, he ran up to me
and hugged and kissed me
and grabbed me
and started crying.
So instantly I got so emotional
and, like,
I think tears was coming,
you know what I'm saying.
And, like "Dad, Dad, I love you,
I love you. "
As I'm going back to the back,
my son just like
broke down in front of
everybody, just crying.
"I want my daddy,
I want my daddy. "
I started thinking more
about him.
Wanted to change my life because
I wanted to be there for him.
It was so much
that they had to do.
To get you released?
Yeah, to get me released.
Caprysha had to stay
in the jail for almost a month.
I was the first call
on her way home.
And that experience was just
such an eye-opener for her.
She said she didn't
want to do it again.
My mom had just
went to court.
They talking about taking
her last four kids.
She's been in
over 15 different homes.
She's raised herself
and her sisters and brothers
while her mom was out doing
whatever her mom was doing.
The money that I get,
I'll go buy my drugs and start
selling drugs out on the block,
just to make money
for my sisters and brothers,
for them to have
what they wanted.
I blame myself for my
sisters and them being in DCFS.
I blame myself
for a lot of stuff
that I know that
it wasn't my fault.
What's your goal?
To get my high
school diploma,
go to college
to be a pediatrician,
and, like,
take care of, like,
and then with like,
my free time,
take care of my...
go get my sisters and them.
And her saying
what her goals and dreams are,
who am I to say,
"You can't do that.
Look at your record. "
Look at Ameena's record!
Being a violence interrupter,
nothing surprises me.
But being a mother,
and seeing this 18-year-old
never riding on a carousel,
kind of blew my mind.
It's true that it's only
so much that I can do.
And that's just one Caprysha.
But it's hundreds of thousands
of Capryshas out there.
Pick out another color.
I like green.
Let her be, let her be.
If she got green,
leave it green.
She got like that
lizard green.
Now, this is a very
expensive manicure.
If I see you out there
biting your nails,
we gonna be on the ground,
boxing.
You better be worried.
How does it feel?
Nice, right?
Yeah.
Don't slap him, don't hit him.
Enjoy it.
So, where are you from?
Rockford.
What made you move
all the way out here?
'Cause I was
getting in trouble.
I used to fight every day
at school.
Where does
that get you?
Huh?
Where does that get you,
fighting?
Nowhere.
Finally figured
that out, huh?
Yeah.
Only for one brief second
you become the winner.
Mm-hmm.
But then, the only thing
you win is your own pride.
But, but, where's that gonna
take you anywhere in life?
I don't go out and start trouble
with everybody.
When she bring it,
she bring it hard.
We were doing a
conflict mediation and...
Just happened to be the
only girl standing outside.
And when you came
to the house, what you thought?
It was different.
Because like, you actually
was talking to me.
You know, you deserve
to be happy.
You know, you 19.
You deserve, like you said,
to be having girly stuff done.
That's a whole
different hand, man.
Why do you feel like you want
to cry but you don't want to?
I don't know.
It's okay.
I cry.
Big girls cry.
Angels make prayer
in your tears,
when you, when you crying
and you grateful.
When you're crying and you're
asking God to help you.
I'm really so glad
I met you, man.
You know?
You guys remember
where we left off last week?
We're working on our what?
Backgrounds.
Backgrounds, right.
It's about using your brush.
Crisscrosses.
C's.
Last year, I had
a hard time going to schools.
I was like, "Hey, look,
I work for the violence
prevention program. "
A lot of them didn't want
to acknowledge
that there was issues
in their schools.
I used the pencil
to sketch it out
and I shaded the background.
Oh, you shaded it, okay.
Namaste contacted CeaseFire.
They were actually focusing
after school about violence
and how they could help
the community and so forth.
And I was like,
"What do you think about the
idea of maybe introducing art
for them to express themselves
about violence?"
Now this one right here,
I kind of really like this one.
And when I was in prison,
painting was my form of dealing
with my issues and my problems
and really discovering myself.
You got this angel,
he's in Hell,
and behind him is like
some demons, taunting him.
Art is kind
of a way to hook the kids
and what they're
thinking about.
What's the one thing
in the neighborhood
that you wish people could
focus on more, to help out?
Spray painting.
What about you?
The shootings
in the neighborhood.
The shootings?
Because my mom's
scared that
there's gonna be a shooting
going on while I'm outside.
I would want them
to help with the shooting,
because that really bothers me.
Why does it bother you?
Because there was this one time
when our neighbors
got into a fight and...
I don't know what else happened,
but somebody started shooting.
And...
I really don't...
And what
you're doing right here,
being part of this program,
that's a great thing,
because it shows that you care
and that you want to do
something about it.
And I just
wish that these kids,
if they ever go through that,
it doesn't affect them
the same way it affected me.
My coping mechanism is keep
going, keep going, keep going.
Keep working.
I think I stay busy just
to stay out of bullshit, and...
try to forget about some
of the things that I've done.
When I was 18, a very close
friend of mine was paralyzed.
I'm feeling this anger,
I'm feeling this rage.
I'm feeling like, they shot one
of our guys, we're going back.
When I pass through that block,
it seems so different.
And I try to kind of rewind.
And no matter how much I try
to remember it,
it just don't come out.
It's hard for me to say
the victim's name,
and... and even the crime.
I guess I really try
to detach myself, like,
not putting a face.
But in reality,
the face is there.
The face is still there.
And I... I had to be careful
as well out here,
because I knew these guys
were packing.
And... I'd say by
the fire hydrant over there.
This dude just kind of
came out the cars.
Shot him pretty much
point blank.
It was a whole bunch
of his friends, too,
that were behind the cars.
And I was trying
to shoot them as well.
But it was more like on the
defensive side by that time.
It was more like,
just to make sure that
they didn't shoot at me.
It's funny because
this block itself
has claimed a lot of lives.
This one particular block
right here.
CeaseFire.
# It's foolish shooting,
it must stop #
# It's getting cruel,
children going to school #
# And gotta duck shots #
# No more bliss,
ignore this we must not #
# Like Latosha Hawlin, she was
murdered on the bus stop #
# Two gunshots
and she just dropped #
# Daily living, I speak
the grief of the streets #
# So they maybe listen
and pay attention #
# Help lead us through this mess
we infested with death #
# And that leaves us
too depressed #
# Like when Derrion Albert
was beaten to his death #
# Had his momma too upset
crying speaking to the press #
# Man, it's too much,
we began to lose touch #
# Jesse Jackson
took every action #
# And rode the school bus. #
Do you all
think we can establish
some type of coexistence or
peace up in Fenger High School
if we all work together?
Fenger can be a better place
if the Gardens won't
come up to there, trying to...
Listen, hear her out.
Hear... give everybody
respect.
Hear her out,
hear her out.
I live in Altgeld Gardens.
And, all this, it's the Gardens,
and they animals.
It's both ways.
You young men
and women have to place
a value and a vision
on your life.
Look at yourself 15 years
down the road.
You will be a full adult.
I cannot believe that I'm
looking at what has happened
to the young people here.
You don't have to
fight anybody.
Everybody don't think
the same way.
Everybody don't
think the same way.
This is not about me
being an old lady
and telling somebody what they
should and should not do.
It's about
you all's life.
And you all need to be heard
all the way through
ends of sentences.
So I'm gonna throw
some scenarios at you,
and I want you all
to just answer honestly.
One of your friends
was just beat up
at a party over the weekend.
You see a couple of kids
that your friend identifies
as the dude
that stole on him.
What do you think
would happen next?
I feel that we gonna fight.
Because it wasn't...
it wasn't no problem
when they jumped on my friend
over the weekend,
so if we see them walking,
we gonna fight.
It ain't like y'all put it.
It's not that easy.
You might walk away
and somebody might put...
hit you in your head
with a bat or something.
Who like to fight?
I don't like to fight,
but I'll fight if I have to.
That's how it is,
but... I'll fight.
I'll fight anybody.
Everybody fighting.
Why you so angry?
Why... why you love to fight?
Because it's just the way
I was brought up.
I just always had to fight.
Always had to fight.
Basically.
It's hard out there.
When I grew up, I used to wake
up wanting to bite somebody.
Just bite somebody.
And I understand a hellraiser
liking to fight.
But walking away
from a fight
ain't always meaning
that you punk.
...not to them.
When they look at it,
they gonna think you a punk
and little bitch and all that.
But...
As I got older and
weighed out my consequences
and saw everybody that I was
raised with that loved to fight
was in the penitentiary
or dead.
Does that mean
you a punk, still?
It's a myth that most
of the violence is gang-related
because a lot of the violence
is interpersonal conflict.
Guys get into it for the most
pettiest reasons out here.
So it's all about respect
and disrespect.
Not being accepted
in the overall society,
a lot of people feel ostracized,
so what they do?
They try to dominate
their surroundings.
I didn't eat this morning.
I'm wearing my niece's clothes.
I just was violated
by my mom's boyfriend.
I go to school and here comes
someone that bumps into me
and don't say excuse me.
You hit zero to rage
within 30 seconds.
And you act out.
Some of these kids,
man, they don't care about tomorrow.
"Fuck tomorrow. "
That's what they gonna tell you.
"I'm trying to survive today,
right now.
"I'm trying to live right now.
"I'm trying to make sure
I don't get shot.
"I'm trying to make sure that my
boy next to me doesn't get shot.
"And if he does, guess what?
I'm gonna go over there
and shoot them too. "
So this is what
violence interrupters do.
Focused like a laser on reducing
shootings and killings.
And then the deeper part of the
whole program is changing norms.
In Chicago,
the interrupters
have interrupted
about 1,400 such events.
We average about a 40% to 45%
drop in shootings and killings
in the areas
where we are put in.
Have you had incidents
where the police feel
that you should have given them
information and you didn't,
and that you were
on the side of the offenders?
If we were to do that,
we would not be effective.
We are trying to keep CeaseFire
neutral, uh, politically,
as far as the relationship
with law enforcement
and the community.
I mean, I'm confused
when you say neutral.
How are you seen as being
a neutral force in that area?
Because there's right
and there's wrong.
It's not about right
and wrong on one side.
We don't want law enforcement
thinking
that we are coddling
these criminals
and we're hiding information
so they can continue
doing negative behavior.
And we don't want
the community thinking
that we're stool pigeons
reporting information
that they give us
to law enforcement.
You know, the right and wrong
of these conflicts
is all point of view.
Whether you're going to take it
back one day or five years
or 200 years.
I mean, everyone
has got a grievance,
and so we just have to say that
no matter what,
the additional violence
isn't going to be helpful.
So we're not in the, um,
the good and bad game.
We're not in that drama.
It's just hard, because
these guys are still, uh,
cut from the code
of the streets.
I've seen the faces
of the Interrupters
when we hear that
a seven-year-old girl got shot.
Interrupters say, "Man,
something needs to be done. "
But it's hard for these brothers
to make that quantum leap
into turning somebody in.
The police support CeaseFire,
but when they first started
down here, I got criticized.
You know, from everybody,
police,
people down here
on CeaseFire staff.
You know, when you are hiring
all these, you know,
go for tough guys.
But how the hell you really
gonna stop the violence?
We was
mediating that situation,
a guy recently was released
from prison,
and he thought the man
was talking about him.
And got out the car and punched
the man and his brother...
China Joe was
known as the Gladiator.
All vice lords had to fight
China Joe to become a vice lord.
How do you think that makes
a young guy feel?
"Man, China Joe just told me
to stand down. "
...all good, he
shook his hand, hugged him,
and we left it at that.
Hey, what's up?
Interrupters, you
know, our intentions are noble,
and they're good.
But sometimes we don't always
go at it the right way.
I'm not in the streets anymore.
You can't take the law
into your own hand, you can't.
As an Interrupter, that has been
one of our greatest challenges.
When Violence Interrupters have
to use the threat of violence
to actually mediate a conflict,
this is where the rubber
meets the road at.
Because in reality,
you cannot mediate conflicts
without confrontation.
First saved message.
He left me a voicemail.
What up there.
I got a call
from a guy I met in jail.
He said this guy sent some
police in his house,
"Someone here's doing
illegal things. "
Said the police kicked
his door in, locked up his brother,
they threw handcuffs
on his mother.
And he talking about he knew
who had sent the police
in his house.
He was looking for 'em.
Fuck that pussy-ass nigger.
What's up, what's up?
My man Flamo,
he'll make you laugh.
But if you fuck with him,
you better bring it on.
These motherfuckers
came here, man.
Had my motherfucking mama
handcuffed.
My little brother handcuffed
and shit, man.
Took my little brother,
the one that got shot.
In a fucking wheelchair, man.
Took him to jail.
But still though man, you got
to try to leave that shit alone.
Man, I ain't leaving shit alone
until I get these motherfuckers.
You already know how I get down.
I mean, but that shit
ain't gonna make no...
Boy, it's gonna make it
better for me.
I'm sorry to hear
about your brother,
but still though,
that don't make shit no right.
Oh damn, I need my phone.
That ain't gonna make shit
no better, though.
Fuck making it better.
I can't, you know...
Man, you crazy man,
be out here like this.
I'm listening to you, man.
It's love, and everything.
But I ain't feeling that,
none of this shit.
And I respect y'all,
you know what I'm saying,
what you doing and everything,
that's cool.
But fuck that.
I'm not with CeaseFire.
Where was y'all at
when these motherfuckers
came kicking my door in?
What I'm saying is, we can't
erase what already happened,
but the whole thing is, you
gotta look at it like, man...
You can't erase what happened.
You right.
And you can't predict
what the fuck I'm finna do.
Shit...
You know, we just try
to work shit out.
We try to offer you
options and solutions to the problem.
Man, fuck this shit.
Fuck a problem.
Fuck a solution.
These motherfuckers
trying to take my shit.
You ain't just crossed me,
you crossed my fucking mama.
For my mama, nigga,
I come in your crib
and kill every
motherfucking body.
Two of your brothers gone.
If you be gone, that ain't gonna
do nothing but hurt your mama.
She'll be all right.
How many kids you got?
I'm claiming four, that's it.
All right,
I'm just saying,
so if you go to jail, who gonna
take care of your kids?
That's the thing.
God taking care of us now.
He gonna take care of them.
Just like when I do
what I'm gonna do.
He gonna take care of me too.
But you was locked up before
for the same shit though.
Man, I been...
I'm 32 years old.
I been locked up
What that mean?
What the fuck that mean?
That's where I grew up at.
God damnit.
Ain't no shame,
ain't no secret.
Shit.
I'm tired of being out here
any motherfucking ways.
It's boring as hell,
soft-ass niggers out here
ain't doing shit but tricking.
That ain't the police, is it?
What's that on the corner?
I know these punk ass police
still want me.
Motherfuckers gonna have
to kill me.
Now that shit crazy, man.
How can you help me?
Right now.
How can you help me?
I mean, the only thing,
like I say,
the only thing I can do is try
to get to know you more,
spend a little time with you,
and try to work with you, man.
So that mean you would
take me out to dinner, then?
We can go to lunch right now.
And we can sit down,
we can talk about this
motherfucking problem.
That's what you telling me?
Yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna hold you to that
goddamn shit.
Yeah, we could go out
if that's what you wanna do.
When? When?
We could go out now.
Right now? Yeah.
Let me go put my pistol up.
Shit, I don't know.
We'll just see.
Hot Rod, make sure though, man,
he ain't got shit on him.
I'm... I'm good.
I ain't got nothing.
It's a rough one.
I think that's one of
the worst ones I had.
He kept coming
and going with us.
One minute I think I'm reaching
him, he calmed down.
And then he blow right back up.
Anytime you got a person who
stay there and talk with you,
you got a chance of working
it out with them.
Melvin, these... this is
the time of the month
we go over the conflicts
that we turn in once a month.
Before the meeting started,
Tio talked to him
for a nice little minute.
Tio was telling him,
"Just come listen.
"Just check it out.
If you don't like it,
you can walk out right away. "
I'm gonna shift the agenda
to just bring up
a hypothetical problem
that's taking place
somewhere in our town.
Let's say somebody tricked
on your brother.
And somebody called the police
and said that he has
some guns in the house.
And the police came
and locked your brother up.
They found two guns,
and they put your mother
in handcuffs.
And you know who the guy is
that told on your brothers.
Now, how would we resolve
a conflict like that?
If we gonna keep
it 100, that's real real hard.
When you put mama into
somebody else's business,
that's... that's
super duper hard.
We're not
gonna be able to be effective
in all interventions.
Okay.
There's gonna be some that gonna
slip through the cracks.
I let him know that,
"Hey, you get messed up,
you add to the burden. "
So what you gotta do is
you gotta put your little
personal pride aside
and start dealing
with this thing
on a realistic,
responsible way
to start trying to figure out
a way to get your brother
from up out of that drama
and ease your mother.
You wanna be tough to be a hero,
going to be like the rest
of our guys who's locked up.
I think that's good for now.
Got some solid feedback.
Leave it alone at that.
All right, so this is what's
happening right now.
We got a situation over at
Michelle Clark High School.
I think when you
first started meeting with him,
he was on ten.
Right.
And now I think he's at,
like, a level five.
Okay.
The only problem now, Cobe, if
he was to see this guy tonight,
there's gonna be a problem.
What's gonna happen now,
you gotta babysit him.
You and Hot Rod
gonna have to take turns.
Okay.
I know you tired of waiting.
Let's get out of here, man.
CeaseFire for life.
Man, about time.
Cobe is one of the
best Violence Interrupters,
but he knows how to walk away.
That's very important,
because if you don't know
how to walk away,
you can end up getting hurt.
We've had some close calls.
Several Violence Interrupters
have been shot at.
Brother Joel.
Still in a lot of pain?
This is the first time
one of our Violence Interrupters
ever got shot.
I came up here to tell you
we appreciate you.
And, uh, everything you did
to try to mediate
that particular conflict.
I'm just glad
you, uh, survived.
You know?
Yeah.
You stumbled across this coming
out of your father's house.
There was a couple guys
down the block
arguing over some money.
As I was approaching them, I had
like, something telling me,
like, it wasn't even the right
moment to even interrupt them.
Right.
I'm just trying to,
you know, do my job.
One of them said,
"Who are you?
You ain't from around here. "
So I go talk
to his other friend.
And then, um, and that's when
he shot me up.
When you turned
your back?
Yeah, when I turned my back.
So you got shot in the ankle
and in the back, right?
They opened my whole stomach
open.
Yeah, that's tough
little brother.
Um, because the day
you got shot
there were like 16 shootings
in six hours.
Because I need you to know, all
the guys came up here Friday.
All the brothers
were here.
Yeah, Zale was telling me.
Yeah, we were here,
you know.
And, uh, hmm...
It's... it's just kinda tough,
that's all.
I understand.
Right.
When I thought about you,
uh, getting shot
and your father
was there...
because I have sons, you know,
got a son who's, like, 24,
got another son that's, like,
believe it or not...
So when I thought about it...
I gotta collect myself,
that's all.
Yep.
And I'm only human,
you know.
Yep, we be good,
we be all right though.
You know, we just gotta
keep on pushing.
Okay?
Appreciate you,
little brother.
All right.
Okay, I'm gonna
get on up out of here.
And I'll be back Wednesday.
All right.
Yep.
Oh man.
Yeah.
I'm begging you, my
brothers, I'm begging you, my sisters,
let God do what God needs to do
for Duke.
Once we lay this brother down in
the ground, we got work to do.
Jesse Smith
got shot in a retaliation
for another student
that got shot.
But it wasn't Jesse
that did the shooting.
The family has to heal,
and we have work to do.
I'm just seeing
in the last ten, 15 years,
random violence like I've never
seen it before.
Last year, of the 125 homicides
where we serviced
those families,
about 90% were young people.
These children don't expect
to live past 30.
They come to these funerals, and
I watch them and they represent,
and they put themselves
in the place of the person
in the casket.
These young people are,
in reality, saying,
"This is what I want to happen
when I'm killed. "
Affectionately known as Duke...
I heard little buzzes in the air
that they were coming
to shoot the funeral up
to get the person that
they were intending to get.
I called for all hands on deck.
Left behind his loving mother,
Lanea Smith.
The mother got
in touch with CeaseFire.
I've never met
this mother before.
She said, "I need you
to be there, Ameena. "
I just would want somebody
to do that for my son.
A lot of y'all
might not know me, but...
They woke me out of my sleep
and said my baby was gone.
That's my baby, that's my heart.
Rest in peace, baby,
I love you.
I need everybody from the ages
of 13 to 24 to stand up.
Go ahead, go ahead.
I'm the second oldest daughter
to Jeff Fort.
To ones that call Malik Chief.
And I'm fed up.
Because each and every one of
you all can be Duke right here.
I'm gonna be real honest
with you all, because see,
we real talking up in here,
because Duke is real,
laying right in front of us.
And it's a reason why
this brother is here.
I see these red caps.
My brothers.
I know we hurt
because we love Duke.
But we got a responsibility
to bring up our community
to be vibrant.
Whatever it is that's going on,
cease the fire, call a truce.
I was the chauffeur
for Dr. Martin Luther King
when SCLC made their first
venture into the north
by way of Chicago.
The black community,
we were the nobodies.
And the Civil Rights era gave us
hope that we could be somebody.
How can the president of the
United States be a black man?
I never thought I'd see that
in my lifetime.
But while I'm seeing
the president on television
and the images of him
leading the free world,
I'm still burying black kids.
It just doesn't
make sense to me.
Oh, I'm gonna
get stuck in this snow.
Where my man at?
Where he at?
Where Flamo?
How you doing, sir?
I'm all right.
Hold on.
Okay.
What's up, what's up, Flamo?
How you feeling today, man?
Yeah. You all right?
How things been
going for you?
Well, you know, I
can't sell drugs right now,
so I got to gamble.
Man, I just lost.
You talking
about the Super Bowl?
Yeah, man.
I'm a sore loser.
I'm ready to get my money back,
but you know I ain't come
with the game, man.
I'm just so happy, man,
you calmed down though,
man, you know?
You been thinking
in another way,
and that's...
that's very good, man.
Man...
It's hard.
I wanna stop doing what I'm
doing, but shit, don't push me.
Right.
And you know the good thing?
I stopped a little commotion
on the block a little while ago.
You stopped something today?
Yeah.
As I'm talking to him,
I see they want somebody
to intervene and stop him
and tell him to go his way
and he go his way.
You intervened and stopped
all that from happening?
Yeah.
So how do you feel about
what you did?
Personally, at the time,
I just felt like these
motherfuckers were making noise
and I'm upstairs watching TV
and trying to get high.
And they made a big-ass scene
in front of the crib.
So shit, I tell them
to move on
or I'm gonna get in there,
fuck them both up.
Oh, Flamo,
nonviolence, nonviolence.
I'm gonna be waiting right here
on the side, Rodney.
Okay?
Oh!
What's that in your hand?
It's a blunt, man.
Hey man, but Flamo, man,
let me tell you,
I don't ride like that,
you know, I don't ride with no
blunts and shit in here, man.
I know, man, that's why
I ain't tell you, see?
Well, I'm saying you should have
enough respect for me,
don't do that though.
Police pull up, everybody
in here gonna go to jail.
Let me get rid of
the evidence.
Hell, man,
that ain't cool at all.
I wasn't thinking.
You weren't thinking?
That's why I'm trying
to get into the mode
of doing what's right, man.
I know I got a little screws
missing on the attitude side.
I used to want
to get in tune
with the gang bangers
and gun slingers.
Like, wasn't none
of that worth it.
Because out all the stuff
I had to do and done back then,
I ain't got nothing
to show for.
None that I done, negative.
My friends in jail.
My friends, drug addicts
or whatever.
It seemed like you know how
life repeat itself as a cycle.
You just be one the persons
that telling the story.
I'm trying to be one of the ones
telling the story.
I don't wanna be the one
just living lifestyle
on these streets, struggling
and, you know, gotta keep
harming, doing wrong
and all this other nonsense.
All right, man,
I'm gonna holler at you, boy.
All right,
CeaseFire brother.
CeaseFire.
Today I brought this
young man home from prison.
He'd been gone for like two or
three years for armed robbery.
I've been knowing him
and his family for a long time
and the only thing
he kept saying,
he wanna see his little brother
and his two sisters.
What's up, C?
It's gonna be all right.
It's been a long time.
Yes.
A lot of changes.
Mm-hmm.
Long time.
You know, two years
and ten months.
Before you went to jail,
I really, like,
noticed you as Lil' Mikey, but
now you not Lil' Mike no more.
Hated it, but I ain't gotta
do that no more.
I missed your graduation.
I ain't gonna miss yours.
And I definitely
ain't gonna miss yours.
What about that role model paper
momma was telling me about?
It's about you and me.
About how I miss you.
I hope you get to see one
sometimes.
Right.
This the old Mikey that you say
was your role model, right?
Mm-hmm.
I don't want him
to be your role model,
because he was a different
person than he was at home
than he was on the block.
Hopefully this Mikey
will be your role model.
Uh-huh.
Your daddy will be
coming home soon, won't he?
How long your daddy
been gone?
I'm here for ya.
I'm here for y'all, now.
Too long.
It's real tough for
people get out of prison, man.
And lot of times
when you get out of prison
when you can't find no job,
you get discouraged
and like, "Man, it's hard
out here, man.
Should I go back to doing
the shit I used to do?"
He sent me a text message.
He got a new phone number?
When he got out,
he tried really hard.
Until he found his job.
A- ha!
Where your boy at,
Stephon?
Even when they laid
him off, he was very active.
I'd be like,
"Why are you going out there,
you're not getting paid. "
It's like, "Because. "
"Eventually they'll get
some funding.
"I have to go, though.
This is what I'm supposed
to be doing. "
And he stuck with it,
and he's back.
Get your Mother's Day gift!
I made that print up,
but it ain't dry yet.
Today's a big day
for, uh, the students at Namaste.
Putting up their artwork
that we worked on
this past couple of months...
Yay, he's here.
You're like, damn, about
time he shows up, right?
How you been?
Good.
How about by the neighborhood?
A kid got shot.
Paralyzed
from the waist down.
Did you know him?
Yeah.
He lived downstairs from us.
Really?
Oh, my gosh.
If anything
like that happens, guys,
now you know you could get
in touch with Eddie.
Especially if you just
want to talk, you know.
You guys can tell me
these things too, you know.
Yeah?
No? No?
Eddie's a little bit more
equipped to deal with it.
'Cause I've got a cousin
I'm afraid of.
Because his mom's
in the hospital
and he started drinking
and smoking.
And he wears a lot
of bad colors.
So, yeah, I just wanted
to talk to you about that.
I think he's
gonna get shot or get killed
because of all
the bad stuff that happened.
My cousin, I know he has
a gun like in his bedroom.
Like, um, I don't know, it's
like I'm really afraid for him,
because, like, I don't know,
he might like, um, I don't know.
You know, I mean your cousin
probably right now
feels kinda hopeless,
feels probably like he's alone.
Why not do these things?
You know.
"Nobody cares if
I get locked up.
Nobody cares if I get shot. "
I think he still can change.
Like, how I know,
like how you told us
about how you were in a gang
and stuff, and how you changed.
But you know also
it takes time.
It took time for me.
It took a long time for me.
You tell me like where he's at,
I'll go, I'll go, I'll go to his
house and I'll talk to him.
I mean, I wish
your cousin was here
just to listen
to what you're saying,
because I'm sure he'd probably
be touched and moved
by how you feel about it, and
how concerned you are about him.
And them guys would love to have
you, you know, in their circle.
But when they see you doing
right, they see you doing good,
it's like they look at that
and they envy that,
because they wish they were
in your shoes.
And these guys keep messing
with you, man,
just call me, bro, call me.
All right?
Yeah.
All right, cool, bro.
All right, man.
We were waiting for you
for the complete set.
It looks great.
So who's doing the
honor of hanging them up now?
Fit sort of in there
and be careful not to poke
a hole through the canvas.
Very creative.
So, yes, what do you think?
Right here?
Line it up?
The words that I painted
are words that they themselves
came up with.
Wounded,
dragged down,
painful, lonely,
shattered, destroyed...
That expressed
what they felt about violence.
Revived, repaired, recovering,
fixing, curing...
And about moving forward.
Rejoice, hope, healed.
What I see
through these paintings is
they actually have a lot
of hope for the future.
The same thing
that we've done in Iraq,
we could do this right here
in our own backyard.
Politicians
say Chicago's a warzone
and they want the military
to fight back.
Some lawmakers
want Governor Quinn
to deploy the National Guard
to Chicago's most dangerous
neighborhoods.
And my conversation
with the National Guard was,
"Is it possible for you
to come in
and assist the Chicago
Police Department?"
"Shoot to kill"
back in '68.
You endangering the lives
of all of us!
He comes to the meeting to talk
about gangs, guns and drugs,
but there's no talk of jobs,
contracts and opportunities.
We got to defend our own people.
We gotta solve our own problems.
He has CeaseFire
and their models
to stop the violence
and in essence, that's just
a band-aid to this big issue
that's going around us.
Every single day,
man, they asking for jobs.
They're like,
"I'm stuck right now, man.
"Like, I don't even know
what to do.
"Like, I'm feeling the pressures
from everywhere.
I'm pretty much gonna be
homeless. "
All these things lead
to violence.
Reducing the violence
is not a band-aid,
it's actually the essential
pathway to a neighborhood
being able to develop,
for the schools to be able
to get better,
for the kids to get rid
of their stress disorders,
for businesses to feel
safe enough and well enough
to be able to come into
these neighborhoods.
We don't have
enough resources to go around,
so the doc really just wants
to change the conversation
around violence.
Let me finish, all right?
If you can't feed
these young guys,
they're not going
to listen to you.
Bottom line.
Look, the
African-American community
and the Latino community
have been beaten down so long
with poor schools,
lack of jobs,
hopelessness, despair.
A lot of people
can't stick with peace
if they don't have a stick
that they can hold on to.
Break the window, that's on you.
Break it.
You going to go to jail.
I'm not worried.
Ain't nobody putting no fear
in my heart.
Get the fuck away
from my window.
You ain't got no life.
This is fucking for real.
This is an everyday,
this is what they do.
This is what they do
everyday, all day,
and me being at this site
and being the only female,
it's not working.
It's not working.
Okay, this what happened
at the site.
He called me a bitch,
and I spit on him.
And he came to my window
and spit on me.
They, they wanna fight me.
They trying to fight me when
I come back to the site.
But I think I'm gonna just go...
I'll call the house right now.
Yes, sir.
You promise me?
Well, let me go ahead and call
my little people from the Greens
and you know, we could go ahead
and do this,
because I'm not worried.
Caprysha, shut up.
He not funna scare me.
And you know, I'm funna hang up,
'cause I'm funna
hang up this phone.
I'm funna hang up.
He's not gonna be good
until I see you.
I'm gonna come out there.
I'm not, I'm not, you know
I'm actually gonna fight them
without no problem.
But why?
Why you gonna risk bustin',
getting cut, all of that,
scratched and all that?
Why?
You too pretty for that.
My baby.
You gotta be tired.
You gotta be tired
of that fighting.
You, they, you,
they 18 and 19, I ain't.
But you can't
spit on nobody.
That can start a war.
That's why I be telling...
Did you know that?
That's why I gonna be telling
people I know you.
But can't be spitting
on nobody though.
So what,
knowing me or not.
Them knowing that you know me,
that don't, it's your actions.
You understand
what I'm saying?
For real, Mommy,
do you for real?
Caprysha has
been through hell and back.
It's tough.
Caprysha.
Trying to process emotions
about not having a mom and dad around.
I have a vision in my head
of my dad on this white horse
riding through
Me getting shot in the game
was God telling me,
you got to make
your own choices.
My family knew exactly
who did it,
and I got a phone call from my
dad while I was in the hospital,
telling me how sorry
he was, he apologized,
it's gonna be some answers
for it.
And why?
Why, Dad?
Leave that boy alone.
That was the last encounter
that I had with the game.
And as I look back,
that was my first mediation.
How's that thing been
doing with you, job searching,
everything else?
It's been hard.
I ain't found no job yet.
But I ain't gonna give up.
I been working
with Lil Mikey for a while.
Even while he was in prison,
he kept stressing
he wanted to apologize
to them people he robbed
at the barber shop.
We don't know how this might
turn out.
We going to talk to them.
If they accept it or not,
it's still like...
I know I made a mistake.
And I'm asking for y'all
forgiveness.
You kinda nervous
going here?
I think I'm gonna start feeling
it when I get in the shop.
How you all doing?
I understand that...
on August 21, 2007,
that me and two other fellas
came in here
and stuck the place up.
I know I'm deeply,
I'm deeply sorry.
I know I made a mistake.
I was 15.
And I was following the crowd,
but now I'm older.
I'm more mature than I was.
And I wanted to let y'all know
that I was sorry
for what I did on my behalf.
I don't know how these two other
brothers feel about themselves.
But I know I made a complete 360
doing my, uh, almost three years
of being incarcerated.
Well, with me, my daughter
was in here and my baby.
And you just don't know the
impact that you put on my life.
Holding us with guns.
I'm nervous right now
even meeting you.
And I thank God that you have
changed your life,
but you just don't know what
that have did to me and my kids.
I deal with this every day.
Every day of my life.
Every day.
You came in here,
you asked for a haircut.
You left back out,
you came back in.
And you did this to my kids.
And Jeremy held my baby
with a gun up to his head.
And then felt on my daughter
with a gun.
And you told my co-worker Rhonda
that you were going to kill her,
because she was calling
the police.
My life was in your hands.
I didn't know if you
was gonna kill me.
My daughter kept saying,
"Mama, we gonna die. "
And I hold my babies and when
you want to tell your kids,
when you want to protect
your kids
and you can't at that moment.
Y'all put up seven people
in the little bathroom.
We didn't even know what was
gonna happen to us.
And right now to this day he
never talk about that robbery.
That was three years ago,
and he just made 13.
He ain't never said nothing.
I don't know
what's on his mind,
but I just praying to ask God
don't let him hold that in.
But I'm just glad that
you are a changed man.
You look better.
But you know what?
I'm... I'm okay,
I'm a better person now.
And I hope that you know,
you be a better man.
That's all I'm saying.
And I hope
that you are sincere.
And that this man right here,
I mean he helping you
and he making you a better man.
You could've been dead and gone,
but God spared your life.
This the father right here?
I would like to see him hug him.
Because you don't owe him
nothin', but you teaching him.
And imagine
what he thinking about.
So it take a lot of gut to walk
back on the surfaces
that you did dirt on.
So many cats
we shake hands with
and they're the same guys
that broke in our house,
we just don't know it.
Same ones raped our sisters,
our mothers, our daughters.
And we know these young guys
today at his age,
they don't come back.
The fact that today you released
something in somebody
and in yourself, you got
to run with that.
All right?
Yes, sir.
It was hard.
Real hard.
Like to just relive
what she went through
just in her, I mean,
in my eyes.
But she went through it.
When you first step in,
did you remember them?
Uh-uh.
You didn't remember them?
Not at all.
That'll be $8.25.
All right.
Today, 16 years ago...
These are nice.
I took someone's life
pretty much.
And so...
Hello. Hi.
You know, on this date
in honor of the victim in my case,
I try to do as many good deeds
as I can.
I try to reach out,
to especially strangers.
I've thought
of, hopefully, one day,
going to my victim's family
and really just expressing
to them how deeply sorry I am.
And whether or not
they accept my apology,
which I don't think they will,
I really just want to do this.
It's just that right now,
I don't think it's still right.
The last stop of today,
we're going to the cemetery
to visit the family of Miguel,
a kid who was shot and killed
a few weeks ago.
Hello.
How are you doing?
Doing all right?
I spoke to Vanessa, his sister,
about some of the issues that
are going in her home right now.
Now, I never got to
meet him, you know, to be honest.
I know he was a good kid.
I actually brought,
um, a flower, too,
that I wanted
to drop off, so...
You mind putting this
on there for me?
Miguel, he got shot in the head.
Vanessa was actually there
when this happened.
He pretty much died in her arms.
I think that Vanessa
does feel that
what happened to her brother
was her fault.
But she can't blame herself
because somebody else
was ignorant, had a gun,
and shot her brother.
Man, that lady
goes there every single day.
That's fucked up, man.
So to me on this day, same day
that the victim in my case died.
This is it, man.
This is the end result.
You took a life, now you're
paying with your life.
It's, like, "You dumb-ass. "
When he finally did go
and get locked away, I was like,
in my mind I was like,
"No, this isn't happening. "
My parents were devastated.
I mean, my mom, she needed
to sell the house here
that we had in Chicago to pay
for the lawyer fees and...
It was like a 180, you know.
My dad was already
an alcoholic.
He would get drunk,
you know,
and he'd express, you know,
his sorrow.
PAULA BOCANEGRA:
No!
Lil' Mikey,
he showed some initiative
on getting his own job,
his first real job.
Because if you don't get
that grass up first,
what's it gonna do is come
right through this paper.
So there's a... there's only
one way to do this is
to do it the right way
so we don't have to redo it.
Okay? Okay?
We got
an understanding. Okay.
Thank you.
It don't come up.
She the boss.
Being on the block, you ain't
gotta do this to make money.
Being with my guys all day.
Doing what I wanna do
when I wanna do it
and how I wanna do it.
But as long as I'm keeping busy,
I'm gonna be good.
And as you can tell,
this is keeping me busy.
This is tiring.
But I can't complain.
Life good right now, for me.
I got a job.
All I used to hear,
"You're a class x felon.
You can't do nothing. "
I'm doing something.
You gonna sleep good?
Cuvelle, you don't got this kind
of cover, do you?
That's yours right there.
I got these.
Here you go, Ja'on.
"Oh, we just wanna know
what's the truth.
Like what really happened
to your brother. "
They're just trying to seem like
they care, but they don't.
The way we kind of spoke
about it is like,
Vanessa will, like,
catch them off guard.
You would say something like,
"I know you're asking because
you really care about me"...
which they don't...
"I'm doing great.
Thanks for asking. "
And then...
Walk away.
That's good.
That's a good one.
And that way if any of 'em get
in your face about anything,
then you just tell Eddie.
She's even doing
things, like, in his honor
like the art group, right?
Mm-hmm.
What did he always
want to paint?
He wanted to paint
the Virgin Mary,
but he never got
the chance to do it.
You know.
Well, you can do it
for him.
I don't know.
I dreamt that...
My mom went to pick me up at
school with my little sister.
And then my brother came
from the door and he ran to me.
He gave me a big hug.
He told me, "I'm not dead,
I'm still here with you. "
You think he's with you
right now?
Yeah.
I think so too.
It gets better, believe me.
For some reason,
time kind of heals things.
You know.
Yeah.
So what else are we doing
to make you beautiful today?
I don't know.
I was just going with the flow.
I start school
tomorrow.
Excellent.
And this year's goal
is what?
To graduate. MAN: I got you.
Get my high school diploma.
She was saying that
tomorrow's the first day of school
and I'm so excited,
and I was excited for her.
She's going with
a fresh hairdo.
I went today and found out
school started three weeks ago.
And I did go to school.
You went to school when
you got the fuck ready to.
You didn't go up there when it
was time for them to go in.
Actually, yes, I did, Miss
Ameena, you don't know that.
You don't know that.
Caprysha,
your counselor said
you got there
when you got there.
No, I got there at
Caprysha.
Right.
You didn't fight
hard enough
for you to get up in that school
and do what you need to do.
I ain't
gotta say nothing.
Caprysha, don't nobody have
to kiss your ass
for you to do what you need
to do for you.
I'm still gonna be the same
person at the end of the day.
At the end of the day
doing what?
Getting my life together
takes time.
Time for what?
You did two years
out of your life.
Wasn't that enough time for you
to get your life together?
What you do is you manipulate,
you do this and you do that
and then you so ashamed
and afraid
that when I ask you to be honest
with me, you can't.
Do you wanna be loved?
Absolutely.
Do you deserve to be loved?
No.
Absolutely.
Nope.
First thing,
you gotta love you.
Oh, I love myself.
Caprysha, Caprysha.
When I stopped allowing
the circumstances
to dictate my life,
when I let that
"fuck everybody" go,
then I got real honest
with my feelings,
I'm scared, I'm hurting.
It's okay, though.
Well, I'm not
like you to open up so easy.
Sorry.
I don't open up so easy.
I don't open up
so easy.
I open up as needed for me,
because I wanna get better
and continue to stay healthy.
Why you choose not to?
Because I like my life
how it is now.
You like your life
doing what?
Shit.
All right.
Well, I can't aid
and abet shit.
I flush shit.
You think everything's bullshit.
You know what, you...
You just said it.
You can keep thinking
everything's bullshit though,
real talk.
You know, I remember being 19
and being a scared girl
like that.
You know, me being out there
and doing a lot of things
that I did,
I thought that I really was
getting back at the person
that I thought that
should come and get me.
And tell me you ain't gotta
live like that.
Man, if I could go back
and make that pain go away
for me today...
if I could do that, I would
do it in a heartbeat.
And that's so... so painful
for me for her.
Because she's gonna be
my age someday.
And it's gonna be
a whole bunch of regrets.
I don't even know
why I'm doing this.
I must be glutton
for punishment.
This sucker,
is there a sucker up there?
Now sitting here talking to you,
there was 15 times
that I just wanted to get up
and walk away from you.
But I didn't and I couldn't...
I'm gonna be added on to
the people that fucked her around.
I'm not gonna call her again.
You know, I'm gonna be available
for her at my availability.
I called your mama
last week; she was happy, too.
Saying, "Kenneth called me
and told me he loved me!"
She was happy.
Yeah, I was happy,
but I was rude, too.
When you call and tell me you
love me, I get worried,
but I feel good
at the same time, to hear it.
Oh, so I shouldn't
have called.
No, you should!
'Cause it makes me know that
y'all were thinking about me
just as much as I'm
thinking about y'all.
Cobe made a
difference in their life
by being with them one on one,
because they never really had
a male role model.
But it's all good, man,
just stay focused though.
And I'm here when you need me.
I'll call her,
I call my mama every day.
Not every day.
At least three times
out of the week.
It's every day to me.
You need a haircut.
Lord.
What kind of influence
has Cobe been in your life?
Cobe been bad and good
influences on my life.
Yeah, you know we want you
to become a professional,
young brother.
I'm not close-minded
to the fact that, uh,
if we can get
a younger brother here...
I'm open-minded to that.
Now, I know we ain't never hired
no young people like that.
I mean 18.
You gonna really be a crusader
for peace now, you know.
For those who want
to listen.
So, who's all that
down there?
My sister and me,
my mom and my dad.
That's your brother
up top?
Mm-hmm.
You gonna put it up
in your room?
No, his room.
Her grades are declining.
I'm just wondering, like, if
it has to do with her brother.
She got into a fight,
and she was suspended.
This person made a comment,
she was already enraged,
and that was probably
her boiling point.
That was it.
One day you might have all the
strength you think you have,
and you think, "You know what?
I could go continue on
with my life. "
You guys are
going to the cemetery still?
Mm-hmm.
How often are you guys
going now?
Mmm, like try to go like
three days a week.
But then the next day,
your emotions are triggered
by something,
and it kind of puts them back
to square one.
So, I don't think people
ever get over it.
I did it!
Hey!
Hi!
Hey, hey.
walked off, she was locked up.
She violated her parole,
not going to school,
staying away from the home,
as well as dropping dirty.
This is my mother,
Ms. Ameena.
And these are all the girls,
that's the fabulous females.
Hey, divas!
How are you?
Where's the guard?
It's not guard,
it's security staff.
Oh, okay.
This is our principal.
How are you?
I'm Ameena.
Hi, Sandy Eyebar.
She's pushing me to do school
so I can graduate.
She's gonna graduate.
I'm, you know, that's,
that was our goal.
So you may get
your party after all.
Yep! I get a party.
I didn't think
that she wasn't gonna come,
but when I seen her at the door,
I was happy to see her.
And I felt that...
I don't know.
She wasn't in the play today.
She got kicked out
because of her behavior.
# A chance to make amends #
# A chance to be someone #
# Please give me what
I need the most... #
When she gets out,
what awaits Caprysha is her.
It's gonna be a rough road.
The hand that life
dealt her... me too...
there were all two's in it.
She just has to learn
how to play those two's
as if it was a Boston.
# To see my grandson smile... #
Oh, look at my man!
Huh, look at my main man!
Flamo, last time I saw you,
you didn't have no uniform on.
You had other things
on your mind.
Look at you, man,
you got your whole outfit.
How you doing?
How you feel, man?
I'm all right.
But shit, you look like
you doing great.
Trying to do stuff positive
and seeing how it working.
And I ain't been to jail, and I
ain't been arguing and fighting.
I ain't been having
to shoot nobody.
Man, I'm just
so happy for you.
I promise you,
I'm so happy for you, man.
I hope you do feel good
about yourself.
Because to keep it real
with you, man,
I had like three,
four people lined up.
And I was really plotting
on how to get them.
But you was just in my ear,
you know what I'm saying?
You constantly in my ear.
You bugging me for a minute,
you know what I'm saying?
Like a bug?
You know how that be,
like I'm sleeping,
the fly keep landing on you,
you know what I'm saying?
You's bugging me 'til
eventually I had to get up
and attend to that fly.
Flamo!
I'm gonna get up with you.
# If I fall short #
# If I don't make the grade #
# If your expectations
aren't met in me today... #
# There's always tomorrow #
# Or tomorrow night #
# Hang in there, baby #
# Sooner or later,
I know I'll get it right #
# Please don't give up on me #
# Oh, please don't give up
on me #
# I know it's late #
# Late in the game #
# But my feelin's,
my true feelin's #
# Haven't changed #
# Here in my heart #
# I know, I know
I was wrong, wrong, wrong #
# I'd like to make amends #
# For the love that I never,
ever, ever, ever shown #
# Just don't give up on me #
# Every word is true #
# I'll give you my everything,
all of my love #
# All of my love, all of my
love, love, love to you #
# Just don't give up on me #
# Oh, please, please #
# Please,
don't give up on me... #
# I... I don't want you to #
# I know it's late, but wait #
# Please, please, please,
please... #
# Don't give up on me #
# Promise #
# Will you promise me? #
# Will you
promise me? #
# Please don't give up on me #
# We can make it if we try #
# I'm gonna hold on,
hold on with me #
# And don't give up on me... #
# Oh, oh, uh, huh, huh #
# Baby, oh baby, oh baby #
# Please #
# Don't give up on me #
# Whatever you do, we gonna make
it, we'll make it through #
# Don't you give up on me #
# Please, please, please #
# Promise me #
# Don't give up on me. #