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| "Violence interrupters" try to stop retaliatory crimes on Chicago streets [GALLO/GETTY] |
As part of Al Jazeera's look at crime and punishment in the US, Rebecca Kaufman chronicles how the city of Chicago, long plagued by some of the worst violence in US cities, is using new methods to combat its problems.
Ameena Matthews is not just any former gang member.
Her father was once the leader of El Rukn, one of Chicago's most notorious and powerful gangs, and he now sits behind bars in a high security Colorado prison.
Her family lineage alone gives Ameena serious "street clout", and certainly provides the background required to do her job as a "violence interrupter" - talking people out of committing violent crimes.
"This job is not something I read in a book," she says. "I didn't go to school for it. I lived this life."
Ameena recalls her experience as we drive to the southeast side of Chicago, a section of the city she describes as "a very, very volatile area ... like a war zone".
Ending retaliation
Just a few days earlier, three young boys from the neighbourhood had been killed by a rival gang as they walked home from school.
It has been Ameena's job to keep the peace here and to prevent the boys' friends and family members from retaliating – no easy task.
"[The] disease is going to spread because those three young men had loved ones and they had brothers and sisters that cared about them," Ameena says as we drive along the city's streets.
Ameena, along with the other violence interrupters who work for an organisation known as Operation Ceasefire, is trying to change what is considered socially acceptable behaviour in these neighbourhoods.
"It's normal to use violence [here] and young people growing up in this environment don't say 'Wait a second, what's going on?' They see it as normal," says Dr Gary Slutkin, the founder of the organisation.
"Now this is actually a public health technology, to use people from the same group to affect the group you are trying to help and support and change."
A southeast Chicago neighbourhood we visit appears, on the surface, like it is not a bad place to live.
The small homes look tidy and well kept and one young man greets his grandmother with a friendly "hello" as she walks from her car to the house.
But things look different as darkness settles in.
Ameena points to a house where the windows are boarded up and says the family who lived there fled because they were fed up with the gun violence in the area.
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Ameena, centre, is trying to change
attitudes towards violence |
She explains that just a few short blocks divide the territory between two rival gangs, one Latin-American and one African-American.
For that reason, precautions are taken. Several young men are positioned on the corners of the block as "security" to watch for any trouble that may arise.
Under a street lamp, a group gathers after a long day of work that, for most of them, involved selling drugs on the street.
A young, soft spoken man named Ricky shares his story.
"I just got out of the penitentiary," he said. "I've been out about a year, and it's been so hard for me to get a job so I've been out here. And it's not where I want to be.
"[But] at the same time - how else will we feed our families? How else will we make it?"
Quelling violence
Ameena listens sympathetically as the others in the group talk about the challenges of finding a job and staying off the streets.
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"It's not where I want to be [but] at the same time how else will we feed our families? How else will we make it?
Ricky, Chicago resident
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In addition to trying to quell the violence, Ameena also hopes to chip away at the problems that cause it, such as unemployment and lack of education.
Soon the crowd grows larger and the conversation turns to the recent murders of their friends. They turn to us and ask if we want to see "it".
We nod, not knowing what "it" is.
Two 16-year-old boys walk over to the bushes in front of one home and pull out two shotguns and two pistols.
Need for revenge
With hoods covering their heads to protect their identity, they stand armed, displaying the power they could wield against rival gangs, or the police.
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Chicago is hoping the new approach will
ease gang violence |
Ameena goes into action. She tells them she understands their need for revenge but tells them to stay calm.
"There's only so much you can do", she says. She tells them she'll be rotating through the neighbourhood on a regular basis and to call her if they need anything.
"I want you all to be safe out here," she says before getting in the car and leaving.
Later in the weekend, we learn just how pervasive gun violence is in the area - and just how difficult that makes Ameena's work.
She calls to tell us that one of the young men standing on the corner as "security" had been killed at a party later that night, by the same rival gang, just a few blocks from where we were standing.
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