The Interrupters - How to Stop a Riot Storyville

This programme contains very strong language.

A violent night in Chicago, nine people shot in five hours.

-One person died.

-Gregory Robinson is the 28th Chicago public school student killed this school year.

A number of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is 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.

12- and 13-year-olds are walking around with bullet-proof vests on

under their clothes.

All right, everybody that is in the meeting, this is serious now, OK?

We are in a crisis mode -

we need people to step up from 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 that he didn't shoot you,

he was just talking.

-We stopped that one on the front end.

-I had the dirty dozen at the table.

We've always had outreach workers,

but the violence was not 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.

'You can't get anyone coming and telling 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.'

After what happened the week and a half ago,

nobody's been changed, nobody's come through shooting.

-What happened?

-We actually have an incident right here.

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 that the young man threatened...

that he had a gun and that was going to kill him.

So he started fighting

and ended up getting his teeth knocked out.

He needs to go to the doctor.

You want to go to the emergency room?

HE MOANS Come on.

'Cobe got him off medication. I asked him to take him to the hospital.'

You bitch-ass dicks!

'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 honour.

'With a butcher's knife.'

SHOUTING

'The sister calls one of the guys a bitch-ass, punk-ass.

'A little four- or five year-old baby was doing the same thing.'

I'm going to knock your bitch-ass out. Run off then! Run off then!

Why you talking to my sister like this?

Your whole family is down here!

You're respecting yourself. She ain't respecting herself.

'The story about sticks and stones may break your bones

'but words can never heard you...'

words can get you killed.

'All of a sudden, the sister ran up with a piece of concrete.'

SHOUTING

'One of the girls was about to stab one of the guys.'

SHOUTING

Get the fuck out of here!

'Her cousin picked up the butcher's knife.'

She's got a fucking knife!

SHOUTING

'Dee was in the heat of the moment. That adrenaline was still going.

' "I'm going to get them, I'm going to get them back." '

83rd and Walcott.

'I picked up Dee and 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's willing to take him to the dentist.

We're going to do all this and that.

'His family kept calling him.

' "What's taking you so long?

' "So we can come back over and set that block off."

'If his family would have come to get him,'

maybe there would have been a death behind it.

-I know you got some damn fools up there.

-Yeah.

-About you.

About you.

-I know you just come home.

-Yeah.

-You know what I'm saying?

You ain't got no problem in going back.

I saw that you was walking away to defend you and your family,

and I really, man, I thank you.

I mean, for real. That is what gangsta is about right there.

-I definitely don't want to go back.

-You were that gangsta.

He can throw a jab like Joe Frazier.

'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, to think about

'really how crazy and funny it was.'

Find that soft spot in that person - not weak,

but soft spot and you just ride on that.

'Ameena Matthews as an Interrupter, she's a golden girl.

'She gets in where a lot of guys can't get in.

'She knows that at all to these high-risk young men.'

A lot of guys that I know that have a lot of murder

in their background, they respect her.

'The life that I live, being in shoot-outs,

'looking at the Devil face to face,'

and I look at my sisters and 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 the Libyans to commit acts of terrorism here in the US.

We've got police 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.

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 the only female.

I was the lieutenant. I took care of the business.

It was drug selling, hustling,

you know, one crew was on the pip and tip,

one crew was on the stick-up tip.

Drugs, guns, party, fun. That was it.

My dad wasn't around and when he got wind

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!

-CeaseFire!

-Stop the shooting!

-Stop the shooting!

-Stop the killing!

-Stop the killing!

-I said stop it right now.

-Stop it right now.

Your man got shot 22 times.

13 years old. That is sad.

This is a state of emergency. This is what the war zone looks like.

We are 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.

We're standing right here with cameras where my son was slayed.

Come on now. I don't think that's right. We can do this someway else.

I have to sit here and try and think of something to say to you guys.

Who does that?

Is there still a code of silence in the neighbourhood,

that people aren't coming forward?

I can't walk around and go to people's houses and say, "Who killed my son?"

I'm not a police officer and I'm not a doctor.

I don't know how many times my son...they tell me 22 times -

I don't know many times my son has been shot.

Somebody in the background is saying 22. Are you a doctor, baby?

-I'm just IT...that's what the doctor told me.

-That puts you there.

That's my son, you didn't make him. You is IT.

-We're going to move this on now.

-What you mean, you don't give what?

..Words encouragement to the family.

SIREN WAILS

We just had another homicide.

That's not why we're marching.

Another homicide. It's a war zone and an epidemic.

People, we must come together.

POLICE RADIO

He was sticking people up.

The guy's caught him in a walkway.

You know we've got some guys up on the next block?

That ain't going to be no retaliation from you.

HE MUMBLES It's just so crazy, man.

It's like every time you come outside, somebody's getting killed.

I don't know what this world's coming to.

We've got to be out here, man. Before things happen.

'All my life, I knew right from wrong.

'I knew, if I do this, I get in trouble.

'But, you know, at the time, I just didn't care, though.'

I always wanted to be like my dad.

He is my role model, because he used to always dress slick,

wear big hats and suits and all that.

And I just, you know, wanted to be like him.

I was 11 years old when my father got killed.

He got beaten 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, fight, kicking out riots

and doing all crazy stuff.

Just gang banging.

Whatup! Man, come on, let me, man. What's up?

'We called on Cobe Williams. He's a younger Interrupter, which is good.

'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.

He knows what to say, when to say it.

-Crazy, man.

-You two guys, y'all been running on a lot of bullshit. Both of y'all.

Robbing people. Breaking in windows. All kinds of stuff.

When I've gotta do what I've gotta do, I've gotta do what I've gotta do.

Don't get it all twisted.

Once upon a time, this man was out here too doing the same thing.

'Cobe has big-time credibility with the gang members out there.'

-Breaking out. Look at him!

-What's going on?

'A friend of mine called me, very concerned about her two kids.'

The streets is taking their toll.

'They stayed in the same house and they'd be at each other,

'because both of them were in two different cliques.'

Threatening to kill one another, shooting at each other, it's crazy.

I can't keep coming off the road, cos I work for Amtrak,

and not knowing if somebody is going to kick the door in because of the violence. I just packed up and left.

I left the apartment in my name, so they don't be homeless.

So this is my little honeycomb hide-out.

-They don't know where I live here, either.

-Your kids don't?

No.

Your youngest son is still locked up, right?

Yeah. He don't get out till 2016 for attempt murder.

He was 17 when they got him.

-One thing, you stand have your kids.

-Yes. I think God for that.

People say I'm crazy because I say if I lose one of my sons...

..I wouldn't want no funeral. I wouldn't want nobody to come,

you know, give me condolences.

Because I want to remember them...

..the last decent time I've seen them.

And they said that's mean of me, but that's how I feel.

So just stay strong and keep your head up.

I'm going to try to reach out to them myself.

I wish you luck in finding them.

-Yeah, just have to see what I could do.

-Cos I know if they have a strong person,

that's lived their life,

-I think they could be saved. Cos I just can't do it any more.

-Right.

'Violence is like the great infectious diseases of all history,'

and 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 micro-organisms of the past were.

I had been overseas for about ten years at World Health

and working on infectious diseases.

Coming back to the US, the violence is unavoidable.

POLICE RADIO

But I saw it as behaviour, not as bad people.

You can judge it, but it's not what we do in science.

I never had nothing against them, nothing.

I came, and, like I said, they shot at my car.

'For the young people in these neighbourhoods,

'they see violence as their disease.'

What they expect to die of is this.

Don't tell me you're gonna squash somebody and do something else

but then you don't make me look like an ass.

If that's what you wanna do,

then you put on big boy's shoes and 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, nobody gonna win, man.

-'Our work is about thought, too.'

-Your family and shit.

That's why I'm saying... You was wrong. Fuck all that.

You know what I'm saying? Just move on, man.

'The Interrupter's role, like the TB disease control worker's role,'

is to do this initial interruption of transmission.

I told her you've got nothing to say, you're going to deal with it yourself.

'You've have got to drown yourself with the people

'and immerse yourself in the bullshit.'

You have to talk as if, "Man I understand. I've been there.

"I know how it is to hurt motherfucker."

I'm not no punk or nothing.

The only thing that came to my mind was retaliate.

They got to know they did the wrong person.

'I hear you, Jack, you're 100% right.'

I'm with you, man. If you're going to take care of business, do it, but that check this out.

If I know you want to shoot the motherfucker, the police know already.

Your friends know, somebody gonna tell on your ass.

Make sure you talk to the individual that did this.

-Let them know that you're going to keep this peace.

-Yeah. I will.

-You're doing this.

'Once you make sense out of the madness, the day you start talking about the scientific theory.

'You talk about the change in behaviour. Then you can give them a history lesson.'

You know, your daddy was violent, your granddaddy was fucked up.

He was violent. Now your brothers are fucked up, because you misled them.

It's time to save herself, brother. Save yourself.

I'm not preaching to you, just save yourself.

Does this make sense, brother? "Oh, man, you know what, you've got a point."

-Give me time to work it.

-All right.

'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 I grew up in,

you've got to stand up, no matter what happens. Death before dishonour.

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 steal smoke detectors.

The smoke-detector bandits.

I was playing on women a lot. Women would help me.

I had a lot of girlfriends who would give me money. I had a big Afro back then.

First I worked for CeaseFire in 1999. I told Gary I had a bachelor's degree at that time.

And Gary said, "Where's your bachelor's degree?"

I said, "Look, man, I was just try to get in!"

I went back to school. I got my bachelor's degree, my masters degree.

I began to understand we'd been taught violence. Violence is learned behaviour.

I don't mention gang names when I do my mediations.

'At this transitional home for teenage parolees, the residents were in conflict.

'They pulled in gang members from the area. It was about to blow up in a major way.'

The problem that we have right now is about some money that led to fight. How much money was it?

It was about 5.

You said instead of giving him 5, give him 15. You're not going to get more than what you owe.

He said, "I'm not paying." Five minutes later, they came here.

It took me, as a woman, to stand in the middle of street with 15 guys

that I knew nothing of and take it from my pocket and pay 15 to keep the peace.

-No respect for where you live at.

-Think this could turn into gun play?

I think so, because it's gonna escalate and keep going.

We've got to live here,

I don't want to bring these streets over here. I ain't trying to go back to that life.

I'm one man. I can't fight all. What do you think I'm gonna do? Heck, yeah, I'm gonna get me a double.

Like this brother said, any time 15 guys mob up on you,

the first thing that comes across your mind, "I need to strapped to deal with that."

If you've got to live with each other, someone has to take the higher role.

THEY SPEAK OVER EACH OTHER

The most important thing is to listen to what they saying,

cos at this side where you live, if you cause any trouble, 5-0 will be called.

I'm hearing what they're telling me in there, right?

To me, it's, like, starting off with a 5 bag of weed.

-It's beyond that.

-Wait a minute.

No! No!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You've got to play it like a big man. I've got to play 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 me 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 hollering at you.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

What we going to do? We going to fight about another 5 bag of weed?

-It ain't worth it.

-They feed off high energy, too.

What you going to do, son? Tell me. And I'm going to hold you to it.

Make myself better.

You, too.

-Ameena...

-LAUGHTER

-If they want to let it go, we can let it go.

-Bye. I wanna see some love.

I just love Englewood. But it's hard not to, man. Englewood is all good.

It's where I learned all my life lessons.

-SHE SCREAMS I locked my keys in the car!

-I don't even know how to do that.

I've got a screwdriver.

-A screwdriver? Y'all gonna tear my car.

-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're too handsome to be doing all of that.

'Most of our mediations come through the community here. They'll take us there's tension in the air.

'And they need us to come in and help out.'

Quit playing, before I bust your nose!

-Just pass them out to everybody?

-Just pass them out to anybody.

I didn't want her to see your draws in the process of passing them out.

-Do I have to?

-No.

-Then why am I still seeing them?!

I thought you got shot in your shoulder, but it was in your leg.

These guys were shooting at each other out of cars. So I jumped, cos I was trying to save my cousin.

I had a big old hole in my leg, like this big.

What's your grades like?

-As, Bs and Cs.

-As, Bs and Cs?!

-And one D.

What do you want. What's the D in?

I'm better not be in PE or I'm going hit you in your throat. HE LAUGHS

I like those, too.

-WOMAN INDISTINCT

-I didn't. I bought these!

-LAUGHTER

You think you're 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're hot!

No killing! CeaseFire!

'I've been trying to get with Toya's two kids, man,

'because both are in rival cliques. It was easy to get on with Bud.'

Your mom asked me to try to reach out, to try to sit down and work with you and talk with you.

Blood is thicker than water.

I get to tour with him a lot.

-Is there any way we can meet him and talk with you at the same time?

-Yeah.

-Maybe tomorrow.

-OK, I'm with you man. Thanks a lot.

-Not at all.

-OK.

He do look like a rough rider, don't he?!

'It took me a minute to get up with the older brother.'

-What's up? How you doing, man?

-Chilling out.

-I'll be straight. Your momma is concerned about you and Bud.

-We fight every day.

I knocked him out, he knocked me out.

We often piss on each other over little shit.

Y'all live under the same roof.

That means if you're up and going on each other, if he goes to sleep,

you go to sleep, y'all got to sleep with one eye open.

Y'all can't even trust each other.

Last year, my best friend got killed. I could get shot tomorrow.

I know it's going to hurt my mom more than anybody.

She says she moves away, because she can't take it no more.

I can't get along with my mom.

Cos she..."You act just like your daddy," and shit. I'm gone. You know what I'm saying?

My father has been locked up since I was three years old. He get out a little bit at 18.

My life would be totally different if my father was here.

If he was in my life, just being involved.

Checking up on me every day.

"How you doing, son, what's going on?" "I love you, son."

I can count on one hand how many times I told my mom I love her.

So I'm on top with Bud. We can try to get together, man, sit down and talk.

I ain't trying to point no finger, who's wrong and all that. Let's just correct this.

Let's be a family and be happy.

-So you up with that?

-I'm with it.

I want to thank you young brothers for coming. Stand up at the back, if you don't mind.

What happened last week, there was two different groups.

We got a chance to work with the young brothers and a sister.

When I met the sister she said, "I'm the sister, brother." Know what I'm saying?

I've been trying to call you.

SHE LAUGHS

When I call your phone, I expect you to answer. Like, "Yeah, Ameena."

I'm like, "Hello."

'We've been keeping in contact.

'Caprysha's a very loving young lady

'that had not had a chance to have a childhood.'

Substance abuse plays a huge part of the toxic-ness that she was raised around.

I was worried. I know you wanted to go see your mother.

Do you want to go?

-I get mad.

-We'll just have to keep it moving.

You guys get ready, be a big girl.

You want go skating this weekend?

You do? OK.

I'm going to send a car for you this weekend, because it's my eight-year-old's birthday.

If I've got the time, I'll come and get you myself. All right, baby?

SOUL MUSIC PLAYS

Where's my husband?

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!

Come on, come one, 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.'

# May Allah bless you... #

'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 behaviour.

'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?

OK? Right, right, right.

Where you find these strangers at?

These are your people, man.

'Today, I finally reached Toya and her two kids,

'and we agreed to sit down together and work things out.

'This morning, Toya was steaming hot. She went back.

'The apartment she left her kids, she saw Kenneth bagging up drugs.

'She went back and changed the locks.'

-Times are hard, you got to have a job.

-Yeah, man, or hustle. One or the other.

-Got to be in one of two places.

-It really don't matter right now.

-If it don't matter, why speak on it?

-That's the same with your life. You're not gonna make no progress.

You got to help yourself. You're thinking like you want a hand-out.

Nobody is going to give you anything.

-You talking to the camera or me?

-I'm talking to the gentleman.

-If you're listening, I'm talking to you, too.

-I'm not listening to the shit you're saying.

-I don't got time for this shit.

-What's so hard?

-You ain't gonna make anybody happy.

What the fuck is you saying? You ain't no boss of me, boy!

Whatever I say don't go.

-If I want to fuck up, there ain't nobody gonna be out there.

-That's how you look at it.

And I'm right there.

Hey, hey! Bud and Kenneth! Kenneth and Bud!

'Did I make a mistake? You know what I'm saying?

''I don't want to get them fighting under my watch.'

I'll say 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 you ain't been to no penitentiary. That's good, man.

I have my own people. The type of crowd he'd be around...

If I wasn't the parent I was, you wouldn't have made it through school!

-I made sure you had what you needed!

-I'm gonna tell you this.

-She won't see shit happened to you.

-He can't say what he needs. He needs a bond, and I'm not there.

-I always bond him out of jail for stuff I don't even believe in.

-I don't need no...

no other motherfucker. I never served for another man, none of that shit.

I always been on my own! Always been my own! THEY SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER

-If I had got something from another...

-What you want to believe...

-Plain and simple.

-Cos I'm on my own!

-Go to work!

HIS SPEECH IS DROWNED OUT BY SHOUTING

It ain't no favouritism!

-A parent sees the potential in each child! A parent sees when they're writing a certain way!

-All right.

The clique you are in, I hate to put you on the spot,

-but if they came at your brother, would you stop them?

-Yeah.

You would? OK. The clique you're in, if they came at your brother, would you stop them?

-Of course.

-And I'm saying to you, when it comes down to the street gang,

the only choice 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 man could be in that place for that long.

What happens on the streets, you run into a situation out there with your brother's associates,

and you're mad at your momma, you're mad at your brother. You're not thinking right.

Bam! Shoot some motherfucking body.

You're not that guy, but it happens.

60% of the guys in the penitentiary were not them kind of guys.

They were probably sitting in the same seats like you, never thought it would happen. I bet you.

I love my brother to death. He don't understand. It's not really a problem with him,

it's a problem with my mother and my grandmother. I feel like they really do take sides.

I ain't got no problems with my brother.

I love my momma to death, but she doesn't listen or just...

try to relate a little bit. All the shit that she done while I've growing up.

-You ain't always been peaches and cream in your life.

-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.

You will have issues with your mother. Every kid got issues with their parents.

This ain't nothing new.

Which one of you brothers can cook?

-Neither one.

-I know how to cook something, anything.

You cook your mother a meal one day, man. Y'all sit down with your mother.

I know it's tough because you haven't done it,

but you need to sit down with your mother, man, have a family day.

That's kind of odd to me. It's just not coming to me right now.

You know what I'd love to see, man? Id love to see you two embrace each other, man.

You and your brother, man. For real.

I'd love to see you embrace each other, man.

-Your brother and your mother.

-Yeah, man.

That's what's happening right there, bro.

Can you handle that, little brother? Huh?

I ain't going to force you to do it. I won't force your brother.

HE MUMBLES

'I was sick behind that shit.

'It's your momma, man. I wouldn't care what.

'You should hug your momma, let her know you love her.'

SIREN WAILS

Alfreda!

I've been out there. This is my baby. This is my heart.

'I know my momma love me.

'I love my momma. I know she'd do anything for me.'

Hello.

But when my daddy got killed, things really just went downhill.

My mother would come up, start using drugs.

After my father died, she couldn't deal with it.

'She took her toll on me.'

I gonna drink me a cocktail today.

I ain't drinking no cocktail.

I want you to keep drinking.

That's why, God is my witness, I'm 38 years old and I see it.

I wasn't going never use drugs. I wasn't going never drink.

I really started following my daddy's footsteps, though.

Selling drugs, hustling, going back and forth to jail.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

'Coming up, I was more close to my grandparents.

'And my grandmother, from day one, stayed on me.'

Granny!

# Happy birthday to me! #

I call him Cardy, but his name is Ricardo.

I love all my grandkids.

But Cardy was one I guess I did do more for and took under my wing.

'When I went to jail, my grandmother'd buy me out.

'I was like, "Grandma, I knew you was gonna get me out - I'm your baby." '

She said, "Go back and see."

I went back. Grandma 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 reminds me of the good in me.'

HE SINGS ALONG TO "SARA SMILE"

# It's you

# And me

# For ever. #

We saved his life. Cos Cardy had been shot at,

probably was shooting at people, there was something turned him around.

I ain't going to say through me and his granddaddy, but...

..we love him.

Hey, my granny!

-Love you.

-Love you, too, Granny.

Yeah.

# I've seen sunny days that I thought would ever end

# I've seen lonely times when I couldn't find a friend #

Don't sing!

-# But I always thought that I'd... #

-Don't sing or you'll make me want to leave, get up and walk away!

Madea has 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.

We're talking about my family, because I'm the mother of her biological mother.

We need to honour and respect our children.

We can't just throw them out there and throw them 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 an apartment with four of us, and it was roach-infested.

'You know, once I started learning the game,

'my goal was to get Madea out of there.'

Madea was the type of woman that...

"That type of money, don't bring that shit in the house."

But I got caught up.

I got caught up in that one more thousand, one more run.

One more big hit.

HE SINGS PRAYER

'I was introduced to Islam through my father.'

THEY PRAY

'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.

'The Lord sent me confirmation through someone else.'

'She knew what she wanted - that's what led her here.'

And so we believe that it was a heavenly marriage.

..Let your blessings and your peace be upon your servants...

'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 love.

Don't do it no more.

'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 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 the 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 in front of his home, just listening to the radio.

'He definitely wasn't in a gang and he was loved by his block.'

'When rage sets, when ego sets in, when the Hennessy sets in...'

I'm going to walk down here.

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. Two o'clock in the afternoon

when they're coming home from school, y'all shoot. For real?!

This is unacceptable, for me to be holding this young man's obituary.

Schools, churches, your momma's house, your cars. Those are safe zones.

When I was about your age, I was making some stupid decisions

and some stupid calls that was causing me, my life,

blood on my hands, on my head.

Stop.

Who does this baby belong to?

Who does this little shorty belong to? He just hanging around?

He just hanging. This little... He just hanging around? 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-huh.

-SHE LAUGHS

Teach him righteous. Y'all got it?

ALL: Yes.

-Y'all got it?

-ALL: Yes.

-You got it?

-Yes.

All right.

I'm looking to you.

Here's my number.

Give me a call, all right?

I'm running it! All right.

That's my little brother on the left side and my cus on the right side.

Tyrone Williams and Percy Day Jr.

Luis was killed trying to sign my...

I held him to his last breath. I didn't want to let him go.

I have lost at least 20 guys. There's no answer to it.

One of your guys is killed, fuck you,

I'm gonna kill that nigga and make his family suffer.

I want no shrine, beer bottles, drinks, nigga's crass,

smoking weed, pictures and shit, T-shirts.

I don't want none of that shit.

I don't wanna die looking stupid as hell. Fuck that.

'1075 WGCI Tony Sco and The Morning Riot.

'That's right, it is the first day of school

'for all Chicago public school students.'

'That's right. We want you to hit us up. Be safe out there.'

Youth violence in Chicago has gotten world attention.

16-year-old Derrion Albert

was attacked as he walked home from school.

A senseless killing, caught on video tape,

has put Chicago's deadly epidemic in the spotlight.

There is debate on a national level which started

with that viral video that came off of 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 you actually going to

see hit the board on the back of the head.

Look for the guy in the red coat. Watch him.

Now see, he took it. Now watch him.

-They still hitting.

-Oh, man.

-Man.

-Amina is going to assist us with the family, to get them

to the site where they are going to do the memorial.

This is what the family wants, OK?

Which way does that go?

-It goes that way?

-Yeah.

-OK, go that way.

I seen the video.

And I said, "Oh, man, I hope his mother does not see this."

There's a lot of people blessing your brother. You know that, right?

There's a lot of people. OK?

Stay in that circle. We've got security on both sides.

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!

Amina is very, very important to us.

Everything I went through, she was right there with me.

We are praying for this family.

We are praying that God will heal their hurt

and I'm praying for all of you, my brothers and my sisters.

This is a problem in our community, this is 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.

..not doing anything about this problem.

I'm talking about the police department.

I'm talking about all of those who are doing nothing.

The person videotaping the goddamn beating was saying, "Zoom in - put that nigga to sleep"!

That is what people were saying in the background.

That gonna show you the mindset. Amina has spent a lot of time with the family,

still they are trying to fix his face so they can have an open casket.

I heard some interviews from the young brothers.

They said they don't know why they fight, they just hate each other.

-Somebody tell me why they're fighting?

-We grow 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.

The guys from Altgeld Gardens, they were sent to 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 them to Fenger.

So now you got these guys coming from a whole other neighbourhood.

When they closed down Carver High School

and start letting these guys get to school any way they can,

riding on the bus, walking or what have you,

you left it to them that they had to fend for themselves.

And they are fighting Altgeld Gardens and doing that since the '60s, man.

We are up against history.

Yeah, we got to respect history,

but it shouldn't play a big factor in this table.

We've got over 500 years of prison time at this table.

That's a lot of fucking wisdom!

How the hell we gonna let these kids school us that we were schooling them?

We wanna try to work this conflict out because right now

they had another big fight up at Fenger while we talking. The beat goes on.

That's the brother up there? They're putting him in the...

-That's the body?

-That's fucked up.

This young brother that we just finished doing some mediating with,

his close friend has got killed.

The possibility of retaliation at that moment was very, very likely.

That cop, she's looking at me all crazy too, like she's got a fucking problem.

-They just sat right on 30th and Kedvale again.

-30th and Kedvale?

Right now, a couple of minutes ago.

The police are going to be harassing a lot of guys over here,

whether they are affiliated or not.

I think the police should enforce all of the laws

but 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, their brothers and sisters 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, they ain't trying..."

When you talk to him about his street past, "We don't wanna go there, man!"

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 and they called him Bandit.

He would take something from you.

My nickname? Well!

I was pretty interested in cars.

Give me a screwdriver and just in a minute and I'm going with your car!

This is a block in Little Village that I actually grew up in.

I have a lot of memories here. My hand on God.

I had almost half of this parking lot full of stolen cars at one time.

One day, the city found all the stolen cars said there was

maybe about seven to eight tow trucks just lined up taking these cars out.

Also, my parents emigrated from Mexico, worked jobs,

we were right here in the street roaming around.

My dad was a hard-working person.

He fixed cars and I would see my dad's hands

and they would be full of calluses, you know and you know, cuts

all over his arm and burn marks from the blowtorches.

From day one, I told myself I am never going to be fixing cars.

That wasn't me.

I didn't feel it.

It lit up in me when I saw some things in the neighbourhood.

And I would see these guys hanging out, a lot older than I was.

They had the nice cars, they had the girls, flashing their colours.

What there was is they had a pride, in 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.

For me, it's a personal thing.

-How are you feeling? Have you been moving around more?

-Yeah. Before, I couldn't even walk.

My dressing, this is what I've got to clean. You know, because I got done.

'How much impact are we making?

'If we stop one shooting tonight, we did good.

'But how do we stop maybe the same person from shooting somebody the next day?'

-Has anybody been here to visit?

-A couple of my friends.

They have been cool or have they have been like, "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 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 colours. It is an American problem.

I promise to work as long as necessary

to rid our country of this plague.

I have heard you say those things many times. What's different now?

What is different is it takes capturing Darien Albert's death on video to wake the country.

We were dealing with children being shot every day, 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 it occurred, to be real with you.

I talked to the mayor's office today.

We're gonna bring together the guys that are in conflict.

They have agreed to meet and we are going to process with them. We have

a five-hour agenda. I think we can get all the brothers we need to.

Are they willing to talk with us

and you know, people need to talk to them,

-see what is on their minds, the kids' minds.

-Right.

You just got kicked out of Finger, man. You want to go back to Finger?

You know I do.

How do you feel about them people coming from Altgeld Gardens out there?

I usually get into it...

That's what it is, though, man. You're just fighting and shooting.

That's how you got to solve these problems,

cos if you don't do it, they gon' try to do it to you.

If you don't go hard, it's your life.

MUSIC: "Piece of Me" by Britney Spears

'Me and my wife is looking for a house.

'I don't want the kids to grow up to really experience the things I've experienced all my life.

'We way out here, man. Way out yonder, man.'

THEY CHANT

Instead of gun violence,

we probably have to worry about rabbits and deer.

And I'm OK with that.

Me and my wife came from the street.

She used to be out round rough 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 wife... No.

'No, but I love my wife.'

Ah, that's short.

He at the 30. Oh!

-Oh, yeah!

-I see Quinn!

'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, man!

-Dre!

THEY LAUGH

'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 up to the judge.

My son...

He ran up to me and hugged me and kissed me and grabbed me

and started crying. So instantly,

I got so emotional... Like, I think tears was coming.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, "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,

and I changed my life cos I wanted to be there for him.

-There 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.'

And my mom had just went to court and they were 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 go buy my drugs.

I started selling drugs out on the block,

just to make money for my sisters and brothers to have what they wanted.

'I blame myself for my sister 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 and be a paediatrician

and, like, take care...

And then with, like, my free time, take care of my sisters.

'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...'

Its hundreds of thousands of Capryshas out there.

-Pick out another colour.

-I like green.

-I know, but...

-If you like green, we have green.

-She got to like that lizard green.

Now, this is a very expensive manicure.

If I see you out there biting your nails,

we gon' be on the ground boxing. You'd better be worried!

How does it feel? Nice, right?

Yeah. Don't slap 'em, don't hit 'em. Enjoy it.

-So, where are you from?

-Rockford.

-What made you come all the way out here?

-Cos I was getting in trouble.

I used to fight every day at school.

-Where does that get you?

-Huh?

-Where does that get you?

-Nowhere.

-Finally figured that out, huh?

-Yeah.

-Only for one brief second, you become the winner.

-Mm-hm.

But then, the only thing you win is your own pride,

but where's that going to take you anywhere in life?

-I would go out and start trouble with everybody.

-Right.

And 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 we came to the house, what you thought?

It was...different, cos, like,

you actually was talking TO me.

You know, you deserve to be happy.

You're 19. You deserve, like you said, to be having girly stuff done.

That's a whole different hand, man.

-Why you feel like you want to cry, but you don't want to?

-I don't know.

It's OK.

I cry. Big girls cry.

Angels make prayer in your tears, when you're crying...

When you're crying and you're 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.

Criss-crosses, Cs.

'Last year, I had a hard time going to schools. You know,

'I was like, "Look, I work for violence prevention,"

'and a lot of them didn't want to acknowledge there was issues in their schools.'

I used a pencil to sketch it out and shaded the background.

'They contacted CeaseFire.

'They were actually focusing, at the 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 art,

'"for them to express themselves about violence?"'

This one right here, I kind of really like this one.

'When I was in prison, painting was my form of dealing with my issues, my problems, and discovering myself.'

You got this angel. He's in hell.

And yet behind, there's, like, some demons, taunting him.

'It's kind of a way to help the kids with what they're thinking about.'

What's the one thing in the neighbourhood that you wish people could

-focus on more, to help out?

-Spray-painting.

-Spray-painting.

-What about you?

-The shootings in my neighbourhood.

-The shootings?

Because my mom's scared that there's going to be a shooting going on me 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 neighbours got into a fight,

and...

..I don't know what else happened, but somebody started shooting.

And...

-It really...

-SHE CRIES

And what you're doing right here, being part of this programme,

that's a great thing.

Cos it shows you care and you want to do something about it.

'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."'

It is 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 paralysed.

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 real different.

I try to 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 detach myself from that. Like, not putting a face.

In reality, the face is there. Face is still there.

ICE CREAM VAN JINGLE PLAYS

And I had to be careful, as well, out here, cos I knew these guys were packing.

And I stayed by the fire hydrant over there.

This dude just kind of came out the cars...

Shot him pretty much point-blank.

There 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 in a defensive side, by that time.

It was to make sure that they didn't shoot at me.

It's funny, cos this block itself has claimed a lot of lives. This one particular block right here.

CeaseFire.

RAP: This 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 Natasha Howliet She was murdered on the bus stop

Two gunshots and she just dropped This daily living

I speak the grief of the streets

They may be listening and pay attention

Help lead us through this mess We infested with death

And it leaves us too depressed

Like when Derrion Albert was beaten to his death

Had his mamma too upset Crying, speaking to the press

It's too much We began to lose touch

Jesse Jackson took a reaction and rode the school bus.

Do you all think we can establish some type of coexistence or peace

in Finger High School if we all work together?

Finger can be a better place if...

< SHOUTING

Just hear her out. Give everybody respect.

I live in Altgeld Gardens.

I have a whole list. It's the Gardens and they're 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.

It's 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 the ends of sentences.

So I'ma throw some scenarios at you and I want you all to just answer honest.

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 her.

What do you think would happen next?

I feel that we gon' fight.

Cos there wasn't no problem when they jumped on my friend

over the weekend, so if we see them walking, we gon' fight.

It ain't like y'all put it. It's not that easy.

You might walk away and somebody might pitch in your head with a bat or something.

Who'd like to fight?

I don't LIKE to fight, but I'll fight if I have to do.

Yeah, that's how it is, but... I'll fight anybody.

Everybody fights.

Why you so angry? Why you want to fight?

Cos it's just the way I was brought up. I always had to fight.

-You always had to fight?

-Basically.

It's hard out there.

When I grew up, I used to wake up wanting to fight somebody.

Just fight somebody.

And I understand a hellraiser liking a fight,

but walking away from a fight ain't always meaning that you punk.

..not to them. When they look at it, they gon' think you're a punk

and a bitch and all that, but...

So I got all that weighed out.

My consequences - everybody that I was raised with that loved to fight

was in a penitentiary at the end.

Does that mean you're the punks, too?

'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 ostracised, 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'll to 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 my boy next to me doesn't get shot.

"And if he does, guess what? I'm going to go over there and shoot them, too."

So, this is what violence interrupters do.

Focus, like a laser, on reducing shootings and killings.

And then the deeper part of the whole programme is changing norms.

In Chicago, the interrupters have interrupted about 1,400 such events.

We average about 40 to 45% drops in shootings and killings

in the areas where we put it.

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, 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 covering these criminals

and we're hiding information so that they can continue doing negative behaviour,

and we don't want the community thinking we're stool pigeons

of important information that they give us, to law enforcement.

You know, the right and wrong of these conflicts

is all points of view.

Are you going to take it back one day, or five years, or 200 years?

Everyone has got a grievance and so, we just have to say that,

no matter what, the additional violence won't be helpful.

So, we're not in the good and bad game.

We're not in that drama.

It's just hard,

because these guys are still 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.

'Something needs to be done.

'But it's hard for these brothers

'to make that quantum leap into turning somebody in.'

The police supports this, but when they first started down here,

I got criticised, from everybody, police,

people down here on CeaseFire stab, you're hearing these tough guys,

but how the hell are you going to go in and stop the violence?

We were in that situation where a guy, recently, was released from prison.

He thought that man be talking about him,

got out, the con 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 you think that makes a young guy feel?

'"Man, China Joe just told me to stand down."'

We sitting here, hugging and looking like that.

How you doing, son?

Interrupters, though our intentions are noble and good,

sometimes won't always go about it the right way.

They're not in the streets any more. You can't take law in your own hand. You can't.

As an Interrupter, that has been one of our greatest challenges.

With violence and weapons

we have to use the threat of violence to mediate a conflict.

This is where the rubber meets the road, because, in reality,

you cannot mediate conflicts without confrontation.

He left me a voicemail.

I got a call from a guy I met in jail.

He said he's got the police in the house, he's doing the legal things.

Said the police kicked his door in, knocked through his brother,

put handcuffs on his mother.

And he was somebody who knew who sent the police to his house.

He is looking for 'em.

-Ain't done no good to have us around here. Look...

-What's up?

My man Flamo make you laugh, but if you fuck with him,

you got to bring it on.

These motherfuckers came here, man, had my motherfuckin' momma handcuffed,

my li'l brother handcuffed, took my little brother went and got shot.

Fuckin' weird shit, man. Take him to jail.

It's weird, you got to move that shit along.

Ain't movin' shit along till I get these motherfuckers.

You already know how I get in.

You boys gonna make it better for me.

I'm sorry hear about your brother, but still...

-Ain't gonna make shit no better though.

-Fuck makin' it better.

I can't do nothin'.

You know, you crazy, be out here like that.

This love, man, thang, I ain't feelin' that, none of this shit.

I respect y'all, what you're doin', that's cool, but fuck that.

I'm not with Steve's fight.

Why was I letting these motherfuckers kick my door in?

We can't erase what already happened, but the whole thing, you gotta look at it like that.

You can't erase what happened - you right.

And you can't predict what I'm thinkin' to do.

We just gotta work shit out.

Offer you solutions to the problem.

Fuck this shit. Fuck the problem. Fuck the solution!

These motherfuckers tryin' to take my shit!

You ain't just crossed me, you crossed my fuckin' momma.

Wit' my momma, I come to your crib and kill every motherfucker.

Your brother's gone. And you be gone,

that ain't gonna do nothin' but hurt your momma.

She'll be a'ight.

-How many kids you got?

-I'm claiming four.

If you go to jail, you can't take in no kids.

That's the thing. God takin' care of us in there.

He gonna take care.

Feels like when I do what I'ma do, he gonna take care me, too.

But you was locked up before for the same shit.

Man, I'm 32, been locked up 15 years of my life. What that mean?

What the fuck that mean? That's where I grew up, here, God dammit.

Ain't no shame, ain't no secret. Shit!

I'm tired of being down on any motherfucker,

soft-ass niggas, out here doin', should be trinkin'!

All right, going to leave this here. Let's get a little corner.

I know these punk-assed police, they all want me.

-Motherfuckers out to kill me.

-That shit crazy, man.

How can you help me? Right now, how can you help me?

I mean, the only thing, like I say, only thing I could do is try

to get to know you more, spend more time with you, try to work with you.

You gon' take me out to dinner, then?

We can go to lunch right now, and we can sit down, and we can

-talk about this motherfuckin' problem, that's what you telling me?

-Yeah.

I'm used to that goddamn shit.

-We can go out, if that's what you want to do.

-Right now?

-Yeah.

Let me go put my pistol up.

We'll just see.

Make sure, though, man, you ain't got shit on you.

I'm clean, I ain't got nothing.

'That's a rough one. That's one of the worst ones I hear.

'He kept coming and going with us.

'One minute I'm thinking he calmed down, then he blow right back up.

'Any chance you got the person who will stay there

'and talk with you, you got a chance at working it out with them.'

This is the time of month we go to the conference.

'We don't talk to them for less than a minute.

'We always tell them, "Come and listen. Check it out.

'"If you don't like it, you can walk out right away."'

I'm going to shift the agenda,

because we got a hypothetical problem,

that's taking place somewhere in our town.

Let's say that somebody tricked on your brother.

And somebody called the police

and said that he had some guns in the house, and the police came

and knocked your brother up, found two guns, and they put your mother

in handcuffs, and you know who the guy is that told on your brothers.

How would we resolve a conflict like that?

We gonna keep it 100, that's real hard.

When you put momma into somebody else's business, that's super-duper hard.

We not gonna be effective in them ventures.

There gonna be some where it slip through cracks.

You been messed up, you add to their burden

so you gotta put your little personal pride aside

and start dealing with this thing on a realistic, responsible way

and start trying to figure out a way to get your brother

from out of that drama and ease your mother.

And you don't have to be tough to be a hero.

You want to be like the rest of our guys out there.

That should do it for now. We got some solid feedback.

..We got a situation over on Michelle Clyde Heights...

'When you first started meeting with him,'

he was on ten, and now I think he was at a level five.

The only problem now, Cobe, if he is to see this guy tonight,

there's gonna be a problem.

What's gonna happen now, you gotta baby-sit him.

-You and Hiram at the same time.

-OK.

-You tired of waiting? Let's get out of here, man.

-Yeah, about time.

Cobe is one of the best 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.

34, 24. We've had some close calls, several representative shot at.

Brother Joel, still in a lot of pain.

This is the first time one of our Interrupters ever got shot.

I came to tell you we appreciate you,

everything you did trying to mediate that conflict. Just glad you survived.

You stumbled across this coming out your father's house.

It was a couple of guys down the block, arguing over someone.

As I was approaching them, I had something telling me

it wasn't even the right moment to even interrupt them.

I'm just trying to do my job.

One of them said, "Who are you, you from around here?"

So he go to talk to his other friend,

and that's when he shot me up.

-When you turned your back?

-When I turned my back.

You got shot in the ankle and in the back?

It opened my whole stomach right up.

That's tough at the bottom,

because when you got shot there were, like, 16 shootings in six hours.

All the guys came up here, Friday.

All the brothers were here.

We were here, you know? And, uh...

(It's cool.)

I'll just say it's tough, that's all I know. Yeah.

When I thought about you getting shot, and your father was there,

because I have sons, I've got a son of like, 24.

Got another son who is like, 28 years old, believe it or not,

so, when I thought about it... HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

I collect my sons.

I'm here with you.

It would make it good, I know, but we just got to keep on pushing. Thanks.

Thanks, bud. All right. OK, we're going to get on up out of here.

And I'll be back Wednesday. All right. Yeah, all right.

Yeah.

SOMBRE ORGAN MUSIC

I'm begging you, my brothers, I'm begging you, my sisters,

let God do what God needs to do.

Once we lay this brother down in the ground, we got work to do.

'Jesse Smith got shot in a retaliation.

'Another student that got shot.

'But it wasn't just he had did the shooting.'

-SERMON CONTINUES:

-..Family has to kill, and we have work to do.

'I'm just seeing, in the last 10-15 years,

'random violence like I've never seen it before.'

Last year, of the 125 homicides,

where we service 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 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 Dupe...

'I've 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 call for all hands on deck.'

..left behind his loving mother.

'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.'

QUIET SOBBING

I need everybody from the ages of 13 to 24, to stand up.

I'm the second oldest daughter to Jeff Fort,

to ones that call Malik chief,

and I'm fed up,

because each and everyone of you could be Dupe, right here.

I'ma be real honest with you all, because, see,

we real talking up here, because Dupe is real, there, in front of us.

And there's a reason why this party is here.

I see these rare cats, my brothers,

I know we hurtin', because we loved Dupe.

But we got a responsibility to bring up our community to be vibrant.

Whatever it is that's goin' on, cease the fire, call a truce.

'I was a chauffeur for Dr Martin Luther King