Transcripts For DW DocFilm 20240714

Playing bullies a parents Worst Nightmare that they live all over the top of them to sticks oakland chicago it happens every day are not. All of us so. The float like the river amount of the deadliest cities in the us most victims all children. Can follow their want to help the city to the other. This man builds crosses for each user lost to the epidemic of Gang Violence here its almost can do to just stay alive for you know 5 crosses here we have to do things not to make it so 7 people weve lost to volunteer in the city of chicago. Clifton boonie mcf hour is a loving grandfather back in the day he used to be a leading gang member he spent 27 years in jail for crimes ranging from assault to 1st degree murder after half a life behind bars others had filled his place and taken over the block once part of the problem moonie now spends his days as a gang intervention coordinator his porch is practically his Office Without him it would be too dangerous for us to film here. Is no authority here his word carries weight it takes a courageous person. To stop they speak to the kids they see a group he is in the street dont you know going through on this big deal walk a mile. And that make thats the difference in me and this person because i go to class to try to make an honest living here it often takes holding down several underpaid jobs of once this man has been cleaning cars for 30 years 10 dollars each. But if youre looking for fast cash you sell drugs for the street gangs. Thats a hard job to convince them to stop selling. And they go get the. Dollar they got to tell them that theres a lot of tar i get try to get them to see the law which is not theirs to 50 because its did not get beat up. A short life in the fast lane for most here thats all they better know most of their fathers were absent in jail during their childhood their moms barely able to make ends meet. Growing up here often means falling for the wrong heroes. It takes says several days on the streets before we meet gang members willing to talk to us. If you want to be a part is like you seen what we do and we hustle and we want to know if that is your choice you will be a part of so you see the reason that weve taken to you every reason that we take it is to wait till you. Get your choice if you mess around out here. You take the reds im choosing to say there is because of i like to fix my. Car drives out they negotiate a price and hand over the drugs thats how it is here hustling instead of homework. What might look like just a couple of friends hanging out can quickly take a turn for the worse almost everyone here is armed jonathan started selling drugs at the age of 13 has to tuesday tell the stories of friends he lost by allen g. Who was killed in front of his school when he was just 16 like real bad times the chicago everybody with a payday everybody else it doesnt it doesnt mean. If i end up getting hurt i know my brother i know my big brother know will give me. This but theres been a lot of theres been a lot of reviews going oh i dont know the best the best revis ive ever put to it. Told me after me that the whole world will bless. But 57 boonie again watches over his streets but this time its different hes no angel but life has made him wiser he still does manage to get through to everyone i couldnt even imagine life without gangs gang in a cool is a life that we chose at the end of day because we had no choice you know close enough to feel the love no matter who it is a well what if from anybody had a choice in the life we go. Pushing the point well we had no choice we had to get out. And for many that means hanging around all day. Young people here have lost their faith in life having anything better to offer than the streets. In the gangs they try to be the family they never had for each album. Was that would be like it was some time this is looking good to see out of the house for us this music was not going to be its not but so what we gain by when we really have family over her like we all come for you to overlook by we know the we not we all do for monday i believe is the best since the day game a when we lose we theres nothing we do i never go on you see oh yeah ok. Hes the one who builds the crossroads for chicagos lost children greg zane is a retired carpenter for each life taken he sets up another cross together they form a growing memorial on the west side. Greg himself suffer the tragic loss of 2 family members he knows what its like to have a loved one stone and from him. This was not going to. Let her go making the crosses was also a way for greg to be able to work through his own trauma. My nickname try to be. Heard this hard in my shop i cry a lot marsha. Are. Ive i feel like im battling these people because ive had that loss. And. It all seems like nobody wants to talk about it to them i do. Nobody wants to have a loss or notice that mother that loved their game or like just say honor. She loved him to a certain point something went wrong. Once hes finished making a cross greg leaves it behind for the family of the deceased to take with them like tyrone blake sr. Even as a Police Officer he was unable to stop his own son from being drawn into the maelstrom of gang life and getting killed. They have no more or they have no you know. This is just hard to talk about is this. You know we garfield in life you. Know stretch out. They have no leadership so. Now released. Time rumbling. Junior did not live to see his 26th birthday. I. Call a points office fully rigged with 110 i am radio scanners and monitors this is where he tracks Police Dispatches night by night listening in on police radio is not only legal in the us for the point its a crucial part of his work hes a freelance photojournalist who specialized in Police Operations the material he gathers he sells to local television stations for their crime related news. He has a range of contacts across the city he can send them to collect footage and he also hits the road himself every night. Just like you can be anywhere or people are shooting at each other. For added protection. Some nights seems a little more dangerous than others sometimes they dont wear it but its make me feel a little bit safer when were out and the violence has ticked up in chicago so. Classy Downtown Chicago with its imposing skyline is worlds removed from the chicago lapointe work center he covers stories from the toughest. One that is really cool on camera hes been on the job for 20 years now and seldom sleeps more than 5 hours a day if that. Soon is promise of. A cup of coffee. Local t. V. Stations pay between 150. 00 and 300. 00 for the footage he delivers although there are plenty of cases to cover poorly as hes known by police and gang members alike as to work hard for his money hes the citys Number One Police reporter and through all these years hes still passionate about his job. Here. Is that. If you have fear you cant you cant properly cover money in the city of chicago i dont think you have fear its like if you were a war correspondent if you were assigned to afghanistan or iraq this is the civil or assignment at the end of the day every day someone is being shot in my life. So it is not much different than being a combat journalist that many times tonight is a quiet night and we already have several people shot. A quiet night in most cities around the world theres nobody shot but in chicago theres a couple of people shot. In his car or point has 7 scanners tuned in to all the different Emergency Services Radio Systems covering Emergency Services. 47 hes divorced with 2 grown up children of his own his son also works for him and like him is on the road night after night. Hallies 1st stop of the evening a woman on a man was shot and injured his movements are routine he wastes no time setting up his camera. The police have already roach off the area but even though theyve known paulie for ages they make sure to keep him out of distance. Make sure i look good one officer calls out to him. Once the police have wrapped up hauling packs away his camera one continues on his journey the next crime scene is already waiting. As soon as it gets warmer. Bullets fly more violence as more the aggravation level is increased as you increase the temperatures people just get crazier and crazier. When the hottest summer days when you get the most shootings people are just. That the numbers in chicago have been really bad at that time that weve had weekends where we had 50 people shot a dozen killed and that happens more frequently than people might think and its unfortunate for pauli the night is far from over. A new day joins in chicagos west and south sides and reveals just how rundown these neighborhoods really are. People who grow up here a crammed into underfunded schools and have few opportunities for Career Development any welfare and Education Programs are quickly discontinued if they fail to deliver the expected results fast. Crumbling buildings toxic landscape its the exact opposite of the american dream. Unemployment is rife the middle class moved out years ago poverty here is selfperpetuating. St welcome to me is one of the few people local youngsters respect hes disappointed with the meager funding being provided to tackle the overwhelming problem. Facing the community. Is worse is syria. And afghanistan every day its shootings and killings in his community and its not out sad force anymore its in sad and because its weapon tree is so assessable now. Marketability you can go get a god quicker than you can buy a bottle of juice. Chicago proud to be home to barack obama the countrys 1st africanamerican president. Tourists flock to its magnificent glittering downtown area most children from the west side have never even had a glimpse of this picture perfect part of the city the gulf between black and white rich and poor is deeper here than in most other places in america one more reason why chicago has plagued by so much violence. Back on the west side boonie doesnt take his eyes off his granddaughter he couldnt see his own kids grow up he was in jail. On. The Street Corner where bernie buys treats for a little rain is known as the most dangerous in the area. And when temperatures rise so does the violence and with it the death toll on just 2 days in july and 2800 over 100 people were shot 15 fatally many victims were innocent bystanders who had nothing to do with the gangs up above but my mother got i got bob bob i was not. An old acquaintance from the neighborhood. Where do you think it is who are the gotta go by while he seems intimidating at 1st but soon its clear he has Mental Health problems and needs help i was in the room now is he good to go some good c. Good i have a very old need. As much shooter luckily its just a colorful water pistol. See on no not. Here man. Otherwise the guns people carry here a real loaded and lethal. But this is this is an issue and i could well imagine he means it made me feel that he did drugs almost as mad so he was mentally ill and he out in the street just that at all that normally a person he approached like that when it got physical be the mark on holiday daily violence is the sad norm here 3 blocks down theres been a real shooting only the shell casings remain strewn across the street as silent witnesses the victims 3 teenagers the shots were fired from a moving car in the afternoon just as school ended and the students were going home i was there in the my house and i heard gunshots and i knew my kids were trapped on the floor it was a very scary says hes away so it was a boy and a saturday night. Live the saturday kids got to stay in the house they can come outside and play with their benches of places. Its in a neighborhood that have no money you know i would like to go somewhere where i have no money now. Some residents are paralyzed by fear for their childrens lives others have become numb to it whoever lives here has learned to survive. You stay aware but you dont feel superior oh you would never come up the house. But just around. The bus with him this watch is so wow moments i mean my mother was always there are positive people say from negative people who have nothing going on in my life have nothing to live for. Just keep it moving i really dont try to associate with a lot of people ask streets where. The target of the of the state is so thats what they. Were just doing our business the work of the good hells thats what it. Small memorials for the dead a constant reminder of the ever present danger in chicago theres a shooting every 4 hours every 19 hours a fatal while there are more guns and fewer Police Officers here than in most other u. S. Cities and the police have a long standing reputation for racism its an explosive mix of factors. That happen but i had a guy that was. A teacher ok thats a quick prayer before setting to work the police have asked boone and other social workers for their help the police still have boonie registered as a gang member and often treat him unfairly he says but here they work hand in hand the violence is too severe for anyone sign to solve. Them all right you dont hear right here in his exam. I think. What youre going to make and that hes about the right word to go all right leave it to the People Living in a trust the social workers more than they do the police. We could go to a younger brothers got shot one survivor go to you know in a 68 you. Happen again lets go if we are here. To. Convince other younger people to put the gun. When young kids and teenagers die in the neighborhood people are more open to the message to me and his colleagues friends. They work for a Youth Development Organization Called bill which has been working to help at risk youngsters in chicago since 969. Is part of a small chain of experience thanks gang members street veterans he and his colleague carlos were both gang leaders in the past. Like. In those days they could never have imagined working together with the shop on the other side. Not how many not im in town and what theyre here for the big there are no big deal for next year and i was a different mentality. When we would know we when it came together not. Actually we would have been a part of the problem you know when i was there with the kids is loose already so you should you know there has about the new and it may not there were solid integration been there done that and they look up to us and we try to change their lives and give them jobs yeah. Ive got to get. Them i am not feeling well i mean you know what hes got right but at the end of the day if the team meeting at the offices of bill mooney and his colleagues. Change ideas on how to get through to those they worry about most every day. Accept money and carlos know all too well just how hard it can be to find a job after leaving jail that. Let him go so i filled as workers from all walks of life from College Graduates turn social workers to people Whose University was the street. Moonee has his very own method he approaches everyone in the community including its youngest residents and talks to them. So well with mike it. Was out so he didnt see it right. Its important that the kids trust him so that they can talk to him with everyone here knows bernie and he knows this is the only way to reach some of them especially those who arent ready yet for the other activities and programs build office. The Organization Also offers discussion groups for juveniles with criminal records theyre not his strictly voluntarily attendance as one of their parole conditions carlos leads the group today theyre talking about their mothers these are its not easy because firstly. Its hard to appreciate your motives. Were some feign disinterest others shift uncomfortably in that chance talking about their emotions is something theyd never really learn to do we can we can help you guide you but you guys got to get worse inside you know what is it that you need so that more carlos the former gang leader who spent 25 years in jail talks openly about his emotions and his mother she never failed to visit me she never feels the same commissary of money she never failed 70. 00 pitchers you know a family event you never feel too you know or subpar collect. She was always. My whole week. 6 months into my bid here they looked out after. It was gone my girlfriend it was gone. And thats the reality and thats why we do this you know to give out respect to our moms you know to show them that we love. Because you can have disagreements you can be straight but only the big guys know my. People inside his openness gets the boys thinking find a way to make stuff happen and i see you know his new book but she always put it. First so it is my protect. He said because my mom had both my mother there for. She told me even though she had a tough time recently we are both in losses to see always. Make sure you sort if you do go for a while i mean now she just got out of prison last more oh i have seen or felt like 234 years in their retirement village was every time i did she was all drugged up you know saying she was in the right my. Story is that they are reluctant to recall that many are reluctant to hear carlos does listen and offers the boys options but hes well aware that ultimately they will have to fend for themselves back on the street. The only protection greg zaniest needs is a helmet he soles and hammers away so that others wont forget chicagos lost pit. Its a labor of love that requires him to work every single day. And weve got the worst kind of cancer on any concert that ever i have called gun violence it says it does. It escalating nobodys addressing it and there is no cure for cancer but if there is no cure here i am going to be going to that. And i cant keep up with it. Its about a nation thats walked away from god. Its about then im showing act of kindness you know im going there not just with a cross in the heart i got to get a hug thats my paycheck. 22 years ago greg found his father in law shot dead in front of his home since that day hes not only been a carpenter but also a chronicler of those chicago has lost he researches their stories keeps lists and tries to push his own pain away just 2 months ago one of his daughters died suddenly of an overdose. Its difficult for him to talk about it. I guess a root think its a daughter not me and most of all at work to do how are you both so i think this country will quickly go into hell. When the 10 years the last 10 years has been specially when its 2 years. Greg hes inconsolable yet he tries to console lovers with his crosses. The boy with a gentle smile was tyree wives he lived to be 16. Even Young Children come full victim to chicagos violence there to protect them a crossing guards from the safe passage program. These women in bright yellow vests patrol the streets to try to keep kids safe not from cars but from bullets. Theyre armed with nothing but walkie talkie just to call the police. Violence on the way to school has dropped by one 3rd. Since they started. Still whoever grows up here could always be at the wrong place at the wrong time and get killed. Police departments like this one in district 7 in englewood are places that most residents associate with problems problems with the police. Randall lacey wants to change that everyone here knows her as miss ray well the additional 3 years after her daughter was stabbed to death she was left to raise her grandkids on her own 2 years ago one of them was also killed. Miss ray wanted to do her part to combat violence on the streets sun she founded the chess club i. Saw. My 1st shooting and the long suffering kids meet at the Police Station to play chess against members of the community and Police Officers were. White so out of every 10 people you. Think think about think this is all the dregs rigney brother was great in a while the way the rest. Of yourself you know the kind this side of the police. And the same thing go for the peace all the also what else is to sit down without you then. Ill shoot. Here chill you out with your thought patterns. Plus whoever is playing chess is not out on the street says miss ray she also thinks that playing chess teaches the key. Its to solve their problems with reason im not by pulling a gun and resulting to violence. Well my dad told me its over this way to prove it life so like if there was like blackie which allows you to go the other way its a slow way to go theres a good bed head which tells you to go that way or that. I think that. The officers arent allowed to talk to journalists she congress please have avoided any kind of coverage since the escalation in violence. In the rough and tough west side playing chess here is like an oasis of calm the kids say they feel safe even the youngest was. Outside its a different story in time i prefer to think like military families have done is what. We should now like his he was like she needs to think like united status that we like to have. In order. A lot of mothers in the neighborhood of lost children in this raid tells us they can all sympathize with one another they know how it feels. Theyre still shes determined not to let life get her down if only for the sake of the children to see that. My daughter was killed just love all of that it was like ransom writing this is always going. To get her to the us. We have to support this so i can this they focus on was love that was good that. Its nighttime and boone is at home his eyes arent really following the t. V. Though theyre glued to his farm hes always on coal in case one of the kids wants to reach him sometimes in the middle of the night. 27 years of jail couldnt break his spirit he married his wife patricia after he was released this above the couch is a picture of his idols iraq and Michelle Obama Martin Luther King Bob Marley muhammad ali but africanamericans are far from being at the reins theyre still being systematically disadvantaged his work on the streets is also the fight for equal opportunity. The schools are afraid that you. The polies is scared of the you that paris is scared of the you and you for a scared know bad. And this is the most courageous generation of young black and brown people that this world will ever see is right here. So my thinking they are back and read direct that courage to a real fight a fight thats going to help us as a people. Just think of what could be accomplished. Bernie trying to keep his own son orlando out of the gang life but he was in jail when he finally got out orlando was already in the age of 17 sentenced to 55 years for mada if theres one thing bernie regrets and its losing his son to the streets. He grew up as he did i was part of the destruction that my reputation so all he grew up all his life. To put straight. And it thinking he was living up to my image so when he had a conflict and started resolving it. By that he was out in the way. And that was the lie and it cost them the fact that theres like. The street is open for business 24. Cars drive out the door opens drugs are exchanged and the car drives off again maybe dooney is trying to help these kids because his own son is somehow to reach. Orlando now a grown man is calling from prison bernie hasnt seen him you know for 25 years as a former convict he isnt allowed to visit his son in prison but he has plans for orlando once he gets sacked. I want to get jail. And youve got the pleasure. You got your probation you got that part of the storm just like me. But for now all he can do is watch from his front porch because the kids on the street make the same mistakes he did. Mistakes that really come with the 2nd child. Patrol cars emergency lines show the way for pull up find hes reached his 2nd crime scene of the night. A few hours ago 2 young men in their early twentys was shot. Out of a moving car on a street full of traffic. That could easily have been more victims says paul of. Innocent people who just happened to be passing by. Which. There is no time of day in chicago when it doesnt happen like i said you know really theres a shooting every 4 hours in chicago so you know its rare i dont know that weve got a day without it shooting for 2 years now i think its been 2 years and not a day without a shooting or a 24 hour period without a shooting so you know again crime is down the homicides in shootings have i have no doubt about 25 percent but we still have 75 percent that is still happening excel is going to take a little more work i think in the streets a little safer. Tonight is fairly quiet he says. 3 am pauley has time to swing by his office here its safe to take off his bulletproof vest. In his very own headquarters pauli continues listening to the police radio and directing his staff here remain alert and ready to return to the streets until morning. Hallie has lived with this inverted shadow for the past 20 years. And he still gets upset by the events he covers. The 14 or 13 year olds 12 year olds the reason why theyre brought into a gang wife is because they cant get in trouble as an adult so theyre recruiting young kids into these gangs so they can commit the shootings and then they get out of the you know like a youth camp when theyre 18 years old so theyre not there at the spend the rest of their life in jail for killing someone so you find yourself we had one time we had a child who is 12 years old 12 and the gang was looking for him to kill him because he shot someone else it was one of the biggest stories we had in the beginning of my career was horrible to think that 1st of all that they recruited and use this child in the way they did and then they killed them which is why foley says he wont quit not tonight not any time soon. The same goes for gooney hes attending yet another funeral but here too he finds time to speak to troubled youngsters timeless in his efforts to get them back on track. He finds them and they find him for boonie his job and private life inseparable. The funeral parlor and grounds at least a gun free here the community can gather and mall in peace. But todays funeral is not for someone rich far too soon from their beloved. The neighborhood has congregated today to say its final farewells to a man who lived to the ripe old age of 86 7. Not many here survived that long this is a community that has become tragically accustomed to burying their loved ones at an early age. Its awful when it really it takes a lot. To see the agony suffer and the pain. In young people and then the other thing is a lot of the young people that are dying are leaving children behind which makes the situation even worse so its challenging it really is. A challenging situation that with circumstances like these seems insurmountable inferi the people born into these conditions have the same and equal rights as anyone else in the country but they certainly do not have the same opportunity and with next to no outside assistance or viable role models providing inspirational guidance the chances of breaking the vicious cycle of violence and poverty are sadly lost. To some boonie is the turning point in their lives. Davey and his 18 and wants to be a nice to earn some extra money he works night shifts until 6 in the morning and then heads off to school. Money used to come easier when he was a drug runner on the corner. His mother couldnt support him and his siblings. He was just a teenager but he felt responsible to be the provider. Boonie was the one who got him out of the gang. I was there. I looked in his ads and i saw me at that age and act out days when i met him i was already in the streets and prison i had been in jail the joy of my life was spent in jail and i didnt want to have to go through what i went through actually like a father to me there are no in there because i never had the person but i always it all goes a relative there to me with dont do this i dont do it but they would never show me a diff. Wait how to do it they were not to do well how could i not do if you dont give me a different route to years of boony believing in him ok davey and the courage to turn his life around. Doesnt give up on anyone easily he wants to be their emergency exit to get them off the wrong track and convince them there is a better life waiting for. Thats hard to believe when all you know are the few blocks around you and affluent Downtown Chicago remains a shimmering skyline on the horizon. I know now. That floyd out arriving today boonie is hosting a Family Reunion on his front porch a short reprieve in the rough neighborhood. Boonie is the patriarch of west lot is of a new low key persistent nutty out again right davey and made it to the other side mooney and patricia have practically taken him in with the ever be equal opportunities for the children surviving in the shadows of chicago downs his granddaughter will ever get to see that day and yet he keeps on fighting every day for the kids here to come around hes always ready whenever they are. You know the same day with let you know when they believe it might be 1 oclock in the morning come up with the bad boy can you take me to morning the family or job could you take a minute more to put me in the program would you take me to morning families and school so a car is there no prescribed time at night or so you just got to be there when a car might thank you as long as god keep up with me to keep me healthy enough work and get up from point a to point b. I will be up for. As long as moony waits for them on his porch the door to. Different life remains cracked open. For all of chicagos children who have lost their way. An impossible journey. Nido wants to return to gaza. The german palestinian will be leaving a successful life in berlin or something this is all i can think about to see my family again but no one can guarantee that hell be able to see them given the money was going to happen to our baby at the border post like a little bring it into a. 30 minutes one t w. Its all happening good job it. Sure link to news from africa and the world your links to exceptional stories and discussions can you and will come to see their views after Going Program tonight from one journey from on music is easy to now i would say definitely come smash africa join us on facebook at t. W. Africa. Its time to take one step further and face the possible. Time to search the unknown by the for the tribes. To overcome boundaries the text the world its time for t. W. Coming up ahead of us. The boob tube. This is t w news live from berlin clashes erupt again between police and prodemocracy protesters in hong kong over the controversial extradition law demonstrators faced off against private police and a luxury Shopping Mall in the chinese territory after another day of street protests also coming up in india is just hours away from making