but if you go back 100 years to a hot summer day on the shores of lake michigan, you might begin to understand. >> he and four of his friends decided to go to the beach along with everyone else. they were ordinary kids. >> black kids? >> black kids. yes, black kids. >> what happened to a 17-year-old named eugene williams started a chain of events that led from rocks to riots. >> they drove into bronzeville and they opened fire. >> to promises broken again and again. >> every family that wanted to stay in the community will stay in this community. >> i don't see the black people. where we at? >> do you think things have gotten a lot better in the last 100 years? >> where there's poverty, there's usually high rates of violence. >> tonight, i'll meet people who have lived that story. >> it's like every day, we risk our lives by coming out the door. >> and are trying to change the ending. >> we have a new brother. how long have you been here? >> i've been here for three, four weeks now. >> we have to make killing not cool again. ♪ ♪ >> i have always loved chicago. there's a lot to love. the incredible skyscrapers, the hot dogs, wrigley field and baseball. but there are two chicagos, the one filled with beautiful neighborhoods, parks, glamorous shops, and let's be honest, mostly white people. and there's the other side, the one that breaks my heart. >> the number of children dying this year like nothing that we have endured in recent memory. >> 15 people were shot at a funeral home on the city's south side. >> in 2020, chicago experienced a 50% increase in gun-related shootings. and in 2021, it's up even higher. over the last decade, there have been over 1,200 people shot in this south side neighborhood alone. if you grow up in this neighborhood, you feel like you have to have a gun? >> yeah. unfortunately you're guilty by association. you know, if somebody comes down the street shooting, they're not going to say, oh, he's not a part of that group and give him a pass. >> 46-year-old curtis was born and raised not far from here. do they know we're coming? >> yeah, they know we're coming, but they don't know this car. they're probably securing the block on this end. >> not so long ago, curtis was a high-ranking member of one of the biggest gangs in chicago. but now he leads a very different life, trying to help those who are still involved with gangs find alternatives to violence. because of his earned respect on the streets, he's trusted, making it safe for my crew and me to come on the block. hi. >> how are you doing? >> i'm lisa. nice to meet you. it's estimated there are over 100,000 gang members in chicago. but what once were a few big organizations are now hundreds of rival cliques who fight to protect small bits of territory they call home. have you guys seen a lot of violence in your life? >> that's about normal. >> that's the norm. >> that's the norm in this community. >> that's really chicago. nowadays it's becoming more common, 14, 15, and this is what's sparking the violence. immediately we run to the gun. we only see one route. so once you in -- you stuck. >> like no turning back after that. >> what happens if you see a car that you don't recognize? >> you get on point. >> what does that mean you get on point? >> you get on guard. you got to know because anybody can just come out shooting. >> have a lot of people been shot in this neighborhood? >> yeah. i was shot on 104th. >> now they pull over, you see liquor stores, churches, and funeral homes. that's the path you see. >> what do you want people to know about the people who see what's going on in chicago and they're like, this is gang violence. it's black on black crime. >> people don't have no other options. everybody, they broke, going to lose their house, lights cut off. they've got to eat, feed their kids. what would you do? >> i'm struck by how trapped these men sound, how hopeless. but curtis tells me you can't understand what's happening in chicago today without considering all that's come before. so many people are getting shot and killed on a regular basis. what do you attribute that to? >> slavery, racism, segregation, you know, separation. wherever in the world that you go where there's poverty, there's usually high rates of violence. >> but chicago wasn't always like this. ♪ in fact, over 100 years ago, it was considered the promised land. chicago was the first city to package and ship refrigerated meat around the entire country. it was a brand-new industry that needed a workforce of thousands to man the stockyards. at first, those jobs were filled with european immigrants from across the atlantic. but a labor shortage during world war i created an opening for people in the south. in what would become known as the great migration, southern families only one generation from slavery flocked north, where they found better pay, better housing, and more opportunity. for a brief moment, chicago really was the promised land, but it wouldn't last. world war i changed the dynamics a lot in chicago and in cities across the north. >> author claire hartfield has written about this critical time period in chicago history. what was the environment like when soldiers starting returning back from world war i? >> well, there was tremendous tension because people were coming back and saying, where's my job? i want my job back. and it was last hired, first fired. so many black people lost their jobs in the factories, and they were given back to people who had been there before. at that point, people had settled and formed a new home here, and all these black soldiers had gone off to war too, right? and they had a new sense of entitlement really to fair treatment when they came back to the united states. >> yeah, we fought for this country. we refuse to be treated as second-class citizens anymore. >> absolutely. and they said no, and we are going to demand our rights. >> these waters really tell a story, right? >> they really do. one of the challenging things, i think, is that there are no markers out there. it looks so serene, and yet they are dangerous. >> america's south had strict jim crow laws. chicago had something else, invisible lines. and on a hot summer day in 1919, one of those lines was crossed. >> on july 27th, which was a sunday, there was a young man, 17 years old, whose name was eugene williams. and he and four of his friends decided to go to the beach along with everyone else. they were ordinary kids. >> black kids. >> black kids. yes, black kids. there were two beaches that were informally segregated, sitting up against one another. and they were not trying to rile up anybody in the white community, and so they went to the black beach like most black people did. they got their raft. they pushed out into the water, and they were having fun. what they didn't notice was that the currents were carrying their raft south from where they were, and it went over this invisible line, which extended all the way out into the water. so they were now in the waters outside of the white beach. a white young man saw them, and he was furious. he got a pile of rocks, and he began heaving them at the boys. one of them hit eugene on the head so hard that he was knocked off the raft. and in the end, he died. he drowned. his friends swam as fast as they could back to the beach, pointed out this guy who had killed their friend to a white policeman, and the white policeman wouldn't arrest him. someone in the crowd drew a gun and fired it. the crowds, black and white, rushed away from the beach back to their neighborhoods. rumors flew about what had actually happened, and the gangs, they went to their clubhouse. they got their guns. they got into their cars. they sped into the black neighborhoods, started shooting, and that was the beginning. it blew up right there. >> in america, people hear the word "gangs" and more often than not, think young black men. but the gangs that claire is referring to here, the most powerful gangs in chicago who started the 1919 riot, were white. what was the role of these social athletic clubs in this riot? >> they got in their jalopies and they drove into bronzeville, and they opened fire. they invented the driveby shooting. ♪ (man) still asleep. (woman vo) so, where to next? 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>> gangs have been around since, you know, the 19th century. they created what they called social athletic clubs, which were basically gangs that were aimed to help irish politicians get power. >> with names like reagan's cults, the canary bunch, and the hamburgs, these clubs were originally places where boys could play sports and get off the streets. but then local politicians began to use them for their own purposes. >> sometimes it takes more than just votes to win. sometimes you have to go in and intimidate the other candidate. you need to burn down their polling place, steal the ballots, right? >> the irish had powerful motivation for trying to gain a political upper hand. when they first arrived in america, they were considered the undesirables. >> there were people, white people primarily, who would call them white negroes because that was a sign of, this is your place on the pecking order, and so they made great efforts to separate themselves from the lowest of the low on that totem pole, which were black people. >> to enforce that separation, the social athletic clubs were used as muscle to drive out any blacks who dare settle in white neighborhoods. >> in the months before 1919, there were 24 bombings of black homes who went on the wrong side of the line. >> and what was the role of these social athletic clubs in that riot? >> except for the social athletic clubs, the riot would have only lasted a day or so. and what they did was perpetuate it, and they invented the drive-by shooting. they got in their jalopies and they drove into bronzeville, and they opened fire. now, one of the problems was that in the black community, a lot of the men had returned from the military, and they were armed. and so they were shooting back at the cars, and largely because the police weren't going to defend them. the police were on the other side. all those clubs bragged about the fact that they had police members in them. >> the mayor refused to call the national guard to help settle people down for an entire week. 37 people ended up dead. two-thirds of them were black, and over 500 people were brutally injured. in addition to that, there was a lot of property damage. so people who barely can afford the homes they're living in, many of them, their homes were either bombed out or burned to the ground. >> the trauma of the riot of 1919 deeply affected the lives of many people in chicago, and there are still some who will never forget. so as you can probably imagine, there aren't a lot of people still alive today to give us a firsthand account of what happened in 1919. but we did find a woman in the suburbs of chicago who is now almost 110 years old, and she's agreed to talk to me on one condition, that i bring her a carmel macchiato with extra caramel. so let's go meet her. >> hi. >> hi. ms. juanita, i brought you your drink with extra caramel. >> thank you so much. >> you're welcome. >> you're sweet. >> you're welcome. ms. juanita mitchell was just 7 years old at the time of the riots in 1919, but she has never forgotten the terror. miss juanita, what do you remember about the race riot? >> race riot. all of a sudden we're in the living room, and i heard them say, here they come. and when they said, here they come, it meant the white people were running down the road, coming this way, coming towards -- >> towards your house, around other homes? >> yeah. >> and that was scary for you? >> yeah. >> mary, what has your mother talked about over the years with regard to the riot of 1919? >> coming from the south to here, she used to talk about thinking that you could come into chicago and things were different or should be different, that there was more of an openness or acceptance, and that wasn't what she found. so do you think we can live wherever we want to now? >> not really. they still don't want blacks among the whites. >> miss juanita, do you think things have gotten a lot better in the last 100 years? >> no. they're worse. i'm still afraid to go places or to do things. we're not free. >> we're not free. >> what changed in the city of chicago after that race riot of 1919? >> violence would intensify. >> things got worse? >> things got worse. yeah, absolutely. >> in the face of continued hostility, something had to give. young black men began to join forces and push back. >> people are feeling a sense of pride. they knew what there was. they knew there was a mass race of people that was coming into power, and they knew the only way it could continue to come into power was -- no, he's not in his room. ♪ ♪ dad, why didn't you answer your phone? ♪ your mother loved this park. ♪ she did. ♪ you have always loved vicks vapors. and now you'll really love new vicks' vapostick. it goes on clear and dries quickly. no mess. just the soothing vicks' vapor for the whole family. introducing new vicks vapostick. we're getting destroyed out there. we need a plan! right now, at t-mobile, customers on magenta max can get the new iphone 13 pro... and t-mobile will pay for it! upgrade to the iphone 13 pro... on us. we looked for the most hidden places ...to discover the finest belgian chocolate. that's famous amos worthy! savor the world in a bite. famous amos. wonders from the world. moving is a handful. no kidding! fortunately, xfinity makes moving easy. easy? -easy? switch your xfinity services to your new address online in about a minute. that was easy. i know, right? and even save with special offers just for movers. really? yep! so while you handle that, you can keep your internet and all those shows you love, and save money while you're at it with special offers just for movers at xfinity.com/moving. after the riot of 1919, the governor of illinois appointed a commission to investigate why the city had exploded into violence. >> that report looked at every facet of public life in chicago. so it looked at the criminal justice system. it looked at employment. it looked at housing. it looked at schools. >> the conclusion was unequivocal. the root cause of the riots, racial injustice. it was all typed up in 650 pages, and it changed nothing. remember the irish boys from the white gangs, the ones who invented the drive-by shootings? they grew up to become policemen and powerful politicians. one member of the hamburg club, richard j.daly, became mayor and held the office for 21 years. >> i thank the people of chicago for their vote of confidence in my public record. >> in city hall, daly passed new housing laws to keep blacks in their place. >> there's a system called redlining which draws a red line around a community that's primarily black, and the banks won't lend money to them. you can tell when you cross certain streets that you've changed neighborhoods. there are still these invisible lines, and you know them when you hit them. >> over time, the lines around where black people could live got tighter and tighter. and in the wake of continued violence, black men began to form their own gangs for protection. >> they needed the strength in dealing with the conflict with whites. and so in order to have numbers, they started to affiliate. >> like the social athletic clubs, they identified by names. the most prominent were the vice lords, a group of boys who first met in reform school. >> for everything that happens, there have to be a reason. >> in his groundbreaking documentary from 1970, they tell their own story of what drove them to join forces. >> 50 guys can find much better ways of dealing with problems than two or three can. >> it wasn't long before a show of force to protect their neighborhoods turned into something bigger, a shot at equality in one of the only worlds they could get a foot in the door. >> the illegal economy was largely dominated by white gangsters, you know, drugs in the neighborhoods, prostitution, and gambling. and as the gangs got stronger, they thought, why should all this money be going to the white man, right? >> the white man normally was a lord of all vice. so we just took their title, you know. instead of the syndicate of the mafia, we just wanted to be vice lords. >> what's your problem? >> in the film the vice lords even recreated their own descent into violence. >> we was being abused so badly by the white society, we took it out on the closest thing near us, which was our black brothers. >> but in 1965, all that changed. >> the things that we're doing to each other, we can't have it no more. >> bobby gore, the leader of the vice lords, had an epiphany. >> they were sitting around talking one night, and the kids came up to him and said, bobby, bobby, you got to get us guns. we're fighting with so and so. and they said, what are we doing? this isn't the legacy we want to leave. >> if we ain't got no jobs and ain't got no food coming from no place, this is frustration, jack. if we don't live like we do now, then the little things that we killing each other for wouldn't amount to a grain of salt. >> the lords decided to put the guns down and pitch in to help their communities. they changed their name to the conservative vice lords and built legitimate businesses to get kids off the streets. >> in all sorts of places where kids could come, they call them drop-ins where they could make money in a legitimate way, and they got involved with politics. >> in 1965, martin luther king came to chicago to fight for better housing and access to better neighborhoods. >> we come bearing a message that chicago can change, and we are going to change it nonviolently. >> the conservative vice lords threw their weight into the cause. >> when dr. king came to chicago, he moved in a few blocks from the house of lords, and he regularly was in the clubhouse with the vice lords, and they were his bodyguards. this was all part of a thrust of civil rights, of human rights, of the need to give an equal break to the black community, and the gangs were part of that effort. >> but the chicago freedom march in late 1966 showed just how resistant the city was to change. when king and hundreds of supporters marched peacefully through all-white neighborhoods, they were met with angry crowds, who threw bottles and rocks, striking dr. king on the head. >> i've been in many demonstrations all across the south, but i can say that i have never seen, even in mississippi and alabama, mobs as hostile and as hate-filled and i'm seeing in chicago. >> two years later, dr. king was assassinated. fueled by anguish, rioters set fire to the west side of chicago. >> the fury was just too great. they couldn't stop the anger. lawndale burned, and that's when daly gave his infamous order saying -- >> should they cull any arsonists or anyone with a molotov cocktail in their hand in chicago to fire a building, because they're potential murderers. >> you can't riot today. don't think the police are going to be on your side or they're not going to come down on you. they're going to shoot you. some things don't change. >> after the riot, daly declared a war on gangs, and prosecutors sent many chicago gang leaders to prison on questionable charges. locked out of a legitimate path to progress, the gangs turned back to the underworld. >> what is that? >> ak-47. >> ak-47 here. >> for many people, hopes for the end of discrimination, for a seat at the table, had died with king. but for blacks in chicago, the battle wasn't over. now they had to fight to hold on to the only home they had left. >> i miss the community values. i miss the feeling of knowing my neighbor. i miss the realness of the hood. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. feel stuck with credit card debt? move to sofi and feel what it's like to get your money right. ♪ move your high-interest debt to a sofi personal loan. you could save with low rates and no fees. earn $10 just for viewing your rate and get your money right. ♪ if you fly over certain parts of chicago today, the landscape looks very different. the national public housing museum tries to preserve some of that history by presenting artifacts donated by its former residents. by 1940, the few neighborhoods black people were allowed to live in chicago were vastly overcrowded, and the city offered a solution -- public housing for low-income families. they were meant to be temporary, a place for families to live while their economic circumstances improved. but for black families trapped by redlining and job discrimination, they became permanent homes. this is the world 27-year-old shaq was born and raised in. >> hey, what's the word? hey, hey. >> the cabrini green housing projects on the near north side of chicago, a 70-acre complex of row houses and towers that held 15,000 people. as a lifetime resident, he's witnessed a lot of change. what was it like to grow up in cabrini green? >> it was a community full of tight-knit people who knew each other. you didn't have to be blood to be blood in cabrini green. >> what's your favorite memory about growing up in cabrini? >> the community block parties, the barbecues were some of my favorite moments because everybody was there. on every block, everybody came out. >> inside cabrini green, community was everything. it had to be because long before shaq was born, the city all but abandoned the housing projects. to save money, they cut back on services and maintenance. playgrounds were paved over. trash went uncollected, and broken lights and elevators stayed broken. by the 1990s, the neglected towers had become homes to a dangerous underground economy. >> and no place was worse than cabrini green. it became a symbol of concentrated poverty and neglect. gangs ruled entire buildings. residents were terrorized by violence. >> they seized drugs, guns, and make arrests in the biggest public housing project in the united states. >> but instead of cleaning up the projects and making them safer like the residents had hoped, the new mayor, another daly, saw the chance to make a lucrative development deal. and in 1999, took control of the chicago housing authority and announced what he called a total plan for transformation. >> the last of the notorious high rises are coming down next month to make way for new row houses, mixed-income apartments, and multi-million dollar condos. >> what was communicated to you all, the residents of cabrini green, about what was going to happen? >> they were telling us, this is your community, and this is how it's going to look. and people in cabrini, they reacted very negative. >> they showed these beautiful plans of like these new buildings and new units. did that seem appealing at all? >> no, because you knew you weren't going to be able to afford it. >> so you knew that? >> yeah, we knew the way the neighborhood looked. it looked too rich and vibrant. but then also it looked like a lot of white people were going to be there. it looked very white, and i don't see the black people. where we at? >> shaq was featured in a film called "70 acres in chicago," which told the story of residents from the area. >> it's my playground because i play in it, i stay in it, and i live in it, and it's home to me. and it's precious from right here. >> look at you. >> i was super husky. >> this is the largest transformation of public housing in the world. no one else wanted to tackle this issue because it's very complex and very difficult. >> at a school presentation of the plan, shaq and his friends gathered their nerve to confront the mayor about the impending loss of their home. >> i was just wondering, how do you think we feel about the community, like the buildings being torn down? >> well, i think there's a lot of sentiment here. that's realistic of public high rising. but in the long run, public high rises will be taken down all over the country. we can't live in the past. no one lives in the past. thank you. >> now let's turn our attention to the building behind us and let the redevelopment begin. >> when that thing hit the bricks, it's like it hit my heart, you know. >> it's amazing you were only 11 years old when all this was happening, but yet all the kids, they knew what was going on. like did you understand how rooted in racism it was at that time? >> we really didn't. we just knew that they were taking away from us, and we knew mayor daley was the founding father of the change. >> let me be absolutely clear about this. every family that wants to stay in the community will stay in this community regardless of their income or age. >> but that wasn't what happened. the plan for transformation tore down the majority of buildings that shaq knew, and it permanently displaced a majority of its 15,000 residents, who had built their lives inside these towers. can you talk about when the buildings started coming down? what started to happen in the community? >> generations of people, now you have to go somewhere and rebuild everything and be comfortable inside of a place that you weren't invited to, you were forced to. that is a lot to deal with anyway. charmin ultra soft has so much cushiony softness, it's hard for your family to remember they can use less. sweet pillows of softness! this is soft! holy charmin! oh! excuse me! roll it back, everybody! sorry! charmin ultra soft is so cushiony soft, you'll want more! but it's so absorbent, you can use less. so it's always worth it. now, what did we learn about using less? you've got to, roll it back everybody! we all go, why not enjoy the go with charmin. we looked for the most hidden places ...to discover the finest belgian chocolate. that's famous amos worthy! savor the world in a bite. famous amos. wonders from the world. somewhere out west a lone river does run. it carves and cuts and clears its own path and the work is never done. so follow the lone river, where the agave heart does beat, follow the lone river, if you can stand the heat for you can hear the river calling if there's a freedom that you seek. the same goes if you're thirsty and just want a cold drink. lone river ranch water you're a one-man stitchwork master. but your staffing plan needs to go up a size. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire we're getting destroyed out there. we need a plan! right now, at t-mobile, customers on magenta max can get the new iphone 13 pro... and t-mobile will pay for it! upgrade to the iphone 13 pro... on us. at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. from 1995 to 2011, almost two dozen public housing structures were torn down. thousands of people were forced to relocate to neighborhoods where they didn't know anyone, including gang members whose turf had been in cabrini towers. 46-year-old curtis toller wasn't born in the projects, but as a former gang member, he saw what came next. when the housing projects started to get torn down, how did that affect chicago with respect to gang activity? >> you have to think about folks being displaced, and they were already gang-involved, and now they have to fight the gang that's already in the community or join up. now you just have this unregulated chaos with no structure. >> this is the world curtis was born into. >> my mom was 15 going on 16 when she had me, and my dad was about 16 years of age. so they were really, really young. >> can you talk about some of the things you saw as a boy that kind of paved that path for you? >> yeah. it was another man that was in my mother's life at the time. he probably was a -- or a combination of both. just to be quite frank, he would beat the shit out of my mother. he was also physically abusive towards me as well. >> when did you join a gang? >> i probably was 9. >> wow. what was it about gang life that appealed to you? >> family and toughness. i just felt the sense of security. i felt that i could get away from home, from the verbal and physical abuse that was going on. >> curtis' commitment to gang life grew even stronger after he experienced an even deeper trauma. >> i lost my mom when i was 17, and she was killed by my stepdad. i was already on this trajectory of being a bad ass, you know, and that just was the icing on the cake. it changed me, right? so it went from me picking up a stick, bottle, knife, to guns. >> by now, curtis had risen through the ranks and was making a name for himself. >> the more violent that i became, you know, i would move up. >> the higher he climbed, he more he got arrested. curtis spent the next 18 years in and out of jail and served hard time in prison for a gun charge. >> we've got one shot. >> on the streets, the beefs between rival gangs continued, and the homicides climbed. do you think you became desensitized to violence at a certain point? >> yeah. when i think about how many of my friends were killed -- >> you don't have a count? >> my best friend was a twin. and he and his twin brother were both killed, you know. so, yeah, the guys who i was involved with in the street culture, they're gone. >> when did you finally decide that you'd had enough? >> when i first started getting thoughts of change was when my son was born because i thought that i was about to get killed or i thought that i was going to get so much time that i would never see the light of day again. i think it was maybe third grade, and he was singing this song about chicago. ♪ you're the inspiration ♪ and i just broke down, and i was like, what is wrong with me? i want to do something different. i want to be here for him. so from that point on, i was like, man, i'm done. >> like bobby gore in the '60s, curtis had an epiphany and dedicated himself to carrying out the vice lords' vision where blacks could have access to the system and thrive. >> we don't make promises to them. the only thing we do promise them, that you're going to get a high school diploma and not no g.e.d. >> this is cred, an outreach program primarily led by ex-gang members, dedicating to providing alternatives to gun violence, and it's having great success. >> you know, over the city of chicago, there was 13 killed and 42 wounded over the weekend. but we didn't have one shooting or one homicide. [ young guys is to deal with the trauma. and then, the second thing they need is a way out of the illegal economy. right? so, we are waying people to get their high school diploma. to be able to provide them with the necessary resources they haven' have been lacking for so long. >> we have a new brother. how long you been here? >> i ever been here three or four weeks now. >> reporter: i have been invited to sit down a group of young men in the program and hear what is actually like out in the streets. >> i got incarcerated for maybe six months where i was at the wrong place at the wrong time. and got myself into a incident. all you guys know that if you don't succeed in the program, you fall off, we still not closing the door on you. we know what's going on in the streets. >> reporter: can i ask you guys if you could raise your hand if you have seen someone get killed? would you share how old you were the first time you saw someone get shot or killed? >> i was 13. that was the first time me ever seeing somebody shot, somebody die. it was scary. >> i was 9 years old and, um, i knew something was going to happen. there was like three or four guys sitting outside and they shot everybody. >> somebody get shot every day. that's just -- >> some people chose to be in a gang for survival. some people chose to be in a gang because there was peer pressure into -- into doing this. >> i think it's in our dna -- all of us -- to want to be a part of something. and know that gangs -- they're not going anywhere. i think what we have to do is just to change the mindset. >> reporter: do you feel like you're making an impact? >> when you get that phone call from a young man who was like, man, i'm just calling you because i'm about to go hurt somebody. and you get over there and everybody is getting they guns ready. and that they allow you to have that conversation with them, and then they do something different. that's when you know that you have the impact. >> reporter: like bobby gore, curtis is fighting for change. one kid at a time. and for him, the young boy who lost his life on the shores of lake michigan in 1919 still matters. >> you think about eugene, right? and what happened to him and you think about all of those other people who made those sacrifices for us to -- to do better. that's one of the motivating forces that always drive me. i was born in hawaii, but i'm not really from there. because we moved to maryland when i was a baby. that's where we got tobie. and then mark was born in california. so for me, home is wherever we go. come on rose. lowe's is honored to save military families 10% every day. ♪ [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. ♪ lisa here, has had many jobs. she's worked in retail during the holidays. as a barista during rush hour. and a nanny to a couple of rambunctious kids. now, all that experience has led her to a job that feels like home. with home instead, you too can become a caregiver to older adults, with a career that makes a difference. ♪ apply today. ♪ moving is a handful. no kidding! fortunately, xfinity makes moving easy. easy? -easy? switch your xfinity services to your new address online in about a minute. that was easy. i know, right? and even save with special offers just for movers. really? yep! so while you handle that, you can keep your internet and all those shows you love, and save money while you're at it with special offers just for movers at xfinity.com/moving. ♪ >> reporter: 100 years after he died, there is still very little known about eugene williams. the boy whose murder started the 1919 race riot. we know he was 17, that he had just graduated from high school, and was enjoying a day at the beach with his friends when he was killed. and there is only one remaining image of him. but today, he is being remembered by people who want to make sure his death wasn't in vain. >> we create healing rituals to help us find who we are. >> reporter: some elders from the bronzeville historical society have invited me to take part in a libation ceremony at the marker that serves as a monument to eugene williams. >> we know those thousands and thousands of people who faced pain because of lynching, because of racism. and so, for all of them, we say -- >> reporter: it means be with us. an invitation for the ancestors to join the celebration. >> we recognize the tragic death of eugene williams. yet, too few have heard his name. >> reporter: in the last few years, black americans have witnessed more terrible losses. and once again, felt incredible outrage. they've also seen some evidence that maybe times are changing. >> the former police officer, derek chauvin, guilty on all three counts. >> this nation, 100 years later, is responding to the murder of george floyd in ways in which we should have responded to the deaths of eugene williams. >> reporter: but it's not enough. in chicago, there's still this question of home. people can't thrive if they're forever denied a place to put down roots. so, shaq, where are we now? >> you don't recognize this? this is -- this is cabrini. this is the new gentrified neighborhood. >> reporter: so, is this kind of like the invisible line up ahead? >> yes. it's the visible boundary of rich versus middle class and section 8 folks. >> a change. >> yeah, like why didn't -- why didn't they put the starbucks on the other side of the street? >> i'm a dunkin' donuts kind of guy, anyway. >> what do you want people to know about the community here? >> there's still people striving for better because we're still here. this place is worth the fight. >> reporter: chicago is a perfect example of why knowing history matters, and how what happened 100 years ago has everything to do with what's going on today. sadly, it seems like history really is repeating itself and i just hope that it doesn't take another 100 years for things to change because there are already too many eugene williams. and to shaq, we give the last word. >> shout-out to my city. we got to do better. our babies won't survive if we don't. i want to see your child grow. i want to see you prosper. i want to see you do better. you can do better. hello and welcome to "cnn newsroom," everyone. i'm michael holmes. appreciate your company. coming up here on the program. victims mourned. a criminal investigation underway. and now, a lawsuit filed after a deadly concert crush in houston. after the infrastructure win, president biden turns to his build back better promise but he will need to break a standoff within his own party to make that happen. plus, guarding against extreme weather. what one country did long ago that's protecting lives in the era of climate crisis.

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