Gang Violence In The Interrupters

Gang violence is a major problem in many places in many places, and if the Interrupters keep up and expand their work, it could be lessened. According to the US legal website, "Gang violence means criminal and non political acts of violence committed by a group of people who regularly engage in criminal activity against innocent people." (UsLegal.com) In the movie The Interrupters, by Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz, there is a group of violence interrupters that are working on interrupting and stopping violence in Chicago. The gang violence has gotten out of control, and there are many innocent people and young children being killed because of this gang violence. A solution to this problem would be for the violence interrupters to keep doing
what they are doing, but also try to expand their group and find more people to help them out interrupting violence. Although the problem of gang violence may never actually disappear completely, the interrupters are doing a good job of stopping it so far, and it can only get better from here.
In order to help solve the problem of gang violence, the interrupters just need to keep up what they are doing and get more people to help them. It is a very good idea that the interrupters have all once been involved in gang violence or something of the sort. Then, the people that they are trying to help can relate to them instead of thinking they are just some sort of authority figure trying to tell them what to do. it is a lot easier for the people in gangs to relate to someone who once was also in a gang. The interrupters can talk to the people about how they were once in gangs and how much their life has turned around since realizing that that was not a good lifestyle to live. In the movie, every person that the interrupters had worked with ended up realizing
that what they were doing was not a good live to live, and by the end of the movie, all of them were trying to get their lives on a better track. For example, Flamo, who Cobe could barely even get to talk to him or listen to anything he said, had a job and was happy to be working. At the beginning Flamo was just worried about drugs and wanting to kill people, but Cobe did not give up on him, and at the end he had a job and was not doing that stuff anymore. Capryshia was another one that was extremely hard to work with, but by the end they had gotten to her, and she was attending school and getting her life on track. Although the interrupters may not be able to completely stop gang violence, they are definitely getting somewhere with it. They have helped many people to realize that gang violence is not a good way to live your life. It just takes time, and eventually over time we could end up seeing a lot less gang violence. All we need is for people like this to keep working at it and getting more people to help them achieve this goal. Some people might say that the interrupters are not helping the gang violence because of the amount of gang violence that still exists. They might say that it is not even worth the interrupters time because only a few people are getting helped, and only some gang violence is getting stopped. This is a valid point, but you have to start somewhere. Nobody is going to be able to just snap their fingers and end the violence. It is going to take time, and the interrupters know that. They are doing what they can for the time being, and it honestly appears to be working. They are working on getting more interrupters to join them and eventually will be able to stop a lot more violence. Just look at what they have done already; there are a lot of people that have shied away from the gang violence because of what these wonderful people are doing. It's good for the people involved in the violence interrupters to know that the interrupters have also been part of gang violence before, so then they know that there is hope for them to clean up their lives. Although some people may thiknk that the interrupters are wasting their time because they think that they are only helping a few people, the interrupters are doing a really good job and need to continue doing what they are doing. There will probably never be a complete stop to gang violence, but we are headed in the right direction with trying to lessen the amount of violence we are seeing; we just need time. Another thing that could be a solution to the gang violence problem would be for the interrupters to get the police involved with them.
Although it could be bad because the people in the gangs are more likely to want to talk to someone that is not in authority, the interrupters teaming up with the police could be a help. It would be best for the interrupters to try to do the most that they can on their own seeing that the people in gangs are more comfortable around them, but when it comes down to them not being able to interrupt the violence, they could then call the police and get the police involved. Although the people in the gangs are not going to want the police to be there, they will at least be a little more intimidated by the police, and if things do not stop, the police can arrest them. A lot of the times, once a person in a gang spends a decent amount of time in jail for what they have done, they come to realize that the things they are doing really are not worth spending so much time in jail over. In the movie, there was a boy that spent a few years in prison for attempting to rob a hair cutting place. Once getting out of jail, he completely got his life back on track. He mainly realized how much him being gone affected his family, especially his little brother and sister. He went and apologized to the people at the place and honestly felt extremely terrible for what he did. If the interrupters get the police involved and start getting more people in serious
trouble for the gang violence they are committing, the rates of violence will also go down to because people realize that doing that much time away from your family the people that love you really is not worth the violence. People will start to want to change their ways if they see so many people actually getting in serious trouble for their actions. Maya Angelou, according to mayaangelou.com, is a "celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist." (http://mayaangelou.com/bio/). She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but spent most of her life growing up in Stamps, Alabama. While here, she saw a lot of racial discrimination, but at the same time took the time to pay attention and remember the African-American culture and family values. Throughout her life, Maya did many incredible things, too many to even begin to mention, but she has a very famous poem called "Still I Rise." This poem is all about different obstacles she has faced because of her race and other things, but always ends with "but still I rise." She is trying to tell people that despite of the hardships you face, you still need to rise and show the people that you can rise up after facing these. Maya is also telling others in the poem that they need to be proud of their heritage, and they will face difficulties because of it. Despite any difficulties, they still need to rise and overcome it. There is always another day to become a better person. This poem can relate greatly to the Interrupters and the gang violence. These people that are involved in gang violence often feel like their lives have already been ruined, and this is the only solution to it. They want to go out and hurt people who have said bad things about them or their family. They think that the only solution to being discriminated against, talked about, put down, etc. is to end it with violence. Just like the interrupters have shown with Capryshia and Flamo, there is hope. They need to still rise up after these things are said to them. Rather than let it bother them so much and try to solve it with violence, they need to rise up and be above it. Show people that they actually can get back up after it, and maybe the people would gain a bit more respect for them. Maya Angelou went through many hardships in her life, and she just rose up after them and was ready to face the next hardship. There is very much hope for these people involved in the gang violence. The interrupters are there to show them that there is a lot more to life than being in gangs and wanting to hurt people overtime they look at you the wrong way. The interrupters overcame all of their gang violence issues and now want to help others overcome them too. This is a huge amount of proof that it can be done if people are going from being in gangs and killing people to being a violence interrupter that wants to stop all of this because they know there is a better life ahead. The movie The Interrupters gives us a new light on how much gang violence there actually is in Chicago, which is right in our backyard. Although it is sad to see the amount of violence taking place and people being killed, it is good to know that there are people out there trying to stop it and succeeding. Although it may seem that there has not been much progress, the interrupters have made a great stop toward ending it, and they need to continue what they are doing so we can keep seeing more and more progress in the years to come.