The Interrupters Page #11

I heard little buzzes in the air

that they were coming

to shoot the funeral up

to get the person that

they were intending to get.

I called for all hands on deck.

Left behind his loving mother,

Lanea Smith.

The mother got

in touch with CeaseFire.

I've never met

this mother before.

She said, "I need you

to be there, Ameena. "

I just would want somebody

to do that for my son.

A lot of y'all

might not know me, but...

They woke me out of my sleep

and said my baby was gone.

That's my baby, that's my heart.

Rest in peace, baby,

I love you.

I need everybody from the ages

of 13 to 24 to stand up.

Go ahead, go ahead.

I'm the second oldest daughter

to Jeff Fort.

To ones that call Malik Chief.

And I'm fed up.

Because each and every one of

you all can be Duke right here.

I'm gonna be real honest

with you all, because see,

we real talking up in here,

because Duke is real,

laying right in front of us.

And it's a reason why

this brother is here.

I see these red caps.

My brothers.

I know we hurt

because we love Duke.

But we got a responsibility

to bring up our community

to be vibrant.

Whatever it is that's going on,

cease the fire, call a truce.

I was the chauffeur

for Dr. Martin Luther King

when SCLC made their first

venture into the north

by way of Chicago.

The black community,

we were the nobodies.

And the Civil Rights era gave us

hope that we could be somebody.

How can the president of the

United States be a black man?

I never thought I'd see that

in my lifetime.

But while I'm seeing

the president on television

and the images of him

leading the free world,

I'm still burying black kids.

It just doesn't

make sense to me.

Oh, I'm gonna

get stuck in this snow.

Where my man at?

Where he at?

Where Flamo?

How you doing, sir?

I'm all right.

Hold on.

Okay.

What's up, what's up, Flamo?

How you feeling today, man?

Yeah. You all right?

How things been

going for you?

Well, you know, I

can't sell drugs right now,

so I got to gamble.

Man, I just lost.

You talking

about the Super Bowl?

Yeah, man.

I'm a sore loser.

I'm ready to get my money back,

but you know I ain't come

with the game, man.

I'm just so happy, man,

you calmed down though,

man, you know?

You been thinking

in another way,

and that's...

that's very good, man.

Man...

It's hard.

I wanna stop doing what I'm

doing, but sh*t, don't push me.

Right.

And you know the good thing?

I stopped a little commotion

on the block a little while ago.

You stopped something today?

Yeah.

As I'm talking to him,

I see they want somebody

to intervene and stop him

and tell him to go his way

and he go his way.

You intervened and stopped

all that from happening?

Yeah.

So how do you feel about

what you did?

Personally, at the time,

I just felt like these

motherfuckers were making noise

and I'm upstairs watching TV

and trying to get high.

And they made a big-ass scene

in front of the crib.

So sh*t, I tell them

to move on

or I'm gonna get in there,

f*** them both up.

Oh, Flamo,

nonviolence, nonviolence.

I'm gonna be waiting right here

on the side, Rodney.

Okay?

Oh!

What's that in your hand?

It's a blunt, man.

Hey man, but Flamo, man,

let me tell you,

I don't ride like that,

you know, I don't ride with no

blunts and sh*t in here, man.

I know, man, that's why

I ain't tell you, see?

Well, I'm saying you should have

enough respect for me,

don't do that though.

Police pull up, everybody

in here gonna go to jail.

Let me get rid of

the evidence.

Hell, man,

that ain't cool at all.

I wasn't thinking.

You weren't thinking?

That's why I'm trying

to get into the mode

of doing what's right, man.

I know I got a little screws

missing on the attitude side.

I used to want

to get in tune

with the gang bangers

and gun slingers.

Like, wasn't none

of that worth it.

Because out all the stuff

I had to do and done back then,

I ain't got nothing

to show for.

None that I done, negative.

My friends in jail.

My friends, drug addicts

or whatever.

It seemed like you know how

life repeat itself as a cycle.

You just be one the persons

that telling the story.

I'm trying to be one of the ones

telling the story.

I don't wanna be the one

just living lifestyle

on these streets, struggling

and, you know, gotta keep

harming, doing wrong

and all this other nonsense.

All right, man,

I'm gonna holler at you, boy.

All right,

CeaseFire brother.

CeaseFire.

Today I brought this

young man home from prison.

He'd been gone for like two or

three years for armed robbery.

I've been knowing him

and his family for a long time

and the only thing

he kept saying,

he wanna see his little brother

and his two sisters.

What's up, C?

It's gonna be all right.

It's been a long time.

Yes.

A lot of changes.

Mm-hmm.

Long time.

You know, two years

and ten months.

Before you went to jail,

I really, like,

noticed you as Lil' Mikey, but

now you not Lil' Mike no more.

Hated it, but I ain't gotta

do that no more.

I missed your graduation.

I ain't gonna miss yours.

And I definitely

ain't gonna miss yours.

What about that role model paper

momma was telling me about?

It's about you and me.

About how I miss you.

I hope you get to see one

sometimes.

Right.

This the old Mikey that you say

was your role model, right?

Mm-hmm.

I don't want him

to be your role model,

because he was a different

person than he was at home

than he was on the block.

Hopefully this Mikey

will be your role model.

Uh-huh.

Your daddy will be

coming home soon, won't he?

How long your daddy

been gone?

I'm here for ya.

I'm here for y'all, now.

Too long.

It's real tough for

people get out of prison, man.

And lot of times

when you get out of prison

when you can't find no job,

you get discouraged

and like, "Man, it's hard

out here, man.

Should I go back to doing

the sh*t I used to do?"

He sent me a text message.

He got a new phone number?

When he got out,

he tried really hard.

Until he found his job.

A- ha!

Where your boy at,

Stephon?

Even when they laid

him off, he was very active.

I'd be like,

"Why are you going out there,

you're not getting paid. "

It's like, "Because. "

"Eventually they'll get

some funding.

"I have to go, though.

This is what I'm supposed

to be doing. "

And he stuck with it,

and he's back.

Get your Mother's Day gift!

I made that print up,

but it ain't dry yet.

Today's a big day

for, uh, the students at Namaste.

Putting up their artwork

that we worked on

this past couple of months...

Yay, he's here.

You're like, damn, about

time he shows up, right?

How you been?

Good.

How about by the neighborhood?

A kid got shot.

Paralyzed

from the waist down.

Did you know him?

Yeah.

He lived downstairs from us.

Really?

Oh, my gosh.

If anything

like that happens, guys,

now you know you could get

in touch with Eddie.

Especially if you just

want to talk, you know.

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