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This article was written by Emma CushmanWood, a junior at DePaul. Emma is a former Interfaith Scholar and the current president of DePaul Interfaith.
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The documentary The Interrupters was inspirational. It told the stories of those who call themselves the “Violence Interrupters.” The “Violence Interrupters” consist of men and women who have been involved in youth violence or gangs. These men and women then will work within their communities to combat youth violence and will “interrupt” possible fights.
After watching this film, I had mixed feelings. I felt a sense of hopelessness while at the same time I felt like there could be hope. I felt a sense of hopelessness because it is the same story over and over again—a young man or woman or child is shot and killed. It also mostly focused on the black and Hispanic community. It depicted the violence as a cycle—the father is violent and in a gang and so therefore the children grow up to be violent and join a gang. The cycle never ends. Yet at the same time, it does end.
The “Violence Interrupters” have successfully been able to steer people in the right direction. Eddie, Ameena and Cobe, among many others, have been able to successfully direct people away from drugs, gang violence and crime. Two examples that were show in the film are the stories of Lil’ Mikey and Flamo.
Lil’ Mikey attempted to rob a barbershop at gunpoint. He spent two years in jail. Those two years changed his life. There is a scene that really touched me and gave me hope. It is when Lil’ Mikey finally comes home to his family. There is just a look in his eye when he sees his two younger sisters and younger brother. He has a hand on his brother’s head in a very loving way. It is a moment of complete humanness.
The other scene that really touched me and gave me hope is when Flamo talks about a possible fight that he broke up. They (Cobe and another Interrupter and Flamo) are in the car and Flamo briefly tells an encounter where he broke up a possible fight. This is his first step to being a “Violence Interrupter.”
The documentary brings up many questions. One in particular is the question of “Who’s the enemy?” This is very difficult question to wrestle with. My first gut response is to say that we are all the enemy and when I examine this question more I agree with my first conclusion. We are all contributing to the violence in some way. Although people may not realize it, you are contributing to violence when you do nothing at all. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Although one may not be contributing to the violence directing, by doing nothing about the problem you are only making it worse. Many want to say that it is the black or Hispanic gangs that instigate the violence and although that is partly true, it is also due to the fact that we have been silent for too long. Too many people have been robbed. Too many people have been beaten. Too many people have been raped. Too many people have been kid-napped. Too many people have been murdered for this to go on. While the film made me feel hopeless, that this cycle of continual violence will never cease, it gave me hope for the future that there are people out there who are willing to risk their lives and the lives of their families in order to combat the violence that is going on in our own backyards. The film should spark a desire for change in those that watched it. It certainly did for me.