Roses in the Midst of Chaos
Chicago is a city of vibrant smiles. Tourists and locals fill galleries, shops, and restaurants with bright eyes and robust laughs; but in the Windy City, some of that laughter echoes across one of the largest urban food deserts in the country. Many people laugh here to keep from crying. “No N*****s allowed” is carved into a bus stop bench in the Ukrainian Village, young Black women move through Boys Town in fear of violent attacks, drive-bys are de rigueur on the deserted streets of the South Side, and riding a bus to work or leaving church may cost you your life.
At the same time, in the midst of the chaos and forced isolation is a strong movement for justice, life, and human rights. The vibrancy of Chicago creates people and ideas that are revered across the globe. It is the home of underground art parties to fund community restoration work and an array of anti-violence projects that are modeled throughout the country such as the innovative organization CeaseFire that patrols the city’s meanest streets to defuse scenarios of heart-stopping volatility.
On October 6th, Ameena Matthews – community leader and daughter of Chicago gang leader Jeff Fort, Matthews is a “violence interrupter” for Chicago’s CeaseFire and one of the stars of the film The Interrupters – was the recipient of the “Get in the Middle” medal presented by the newly-launched New York Peace Institute. The evening was a break from the marathon of emotional and mental energy that it takes for people like Ameena and other interrupters to break the cycles of violence that weave through Chicago, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, and other cities. Marathon is not an exaggeration. On the morning of the 6th, Ameena and the NYC-based Save Our Streets – Crown Heights (S.O.S.) team were the panelists of John Jay College for Criminal Justice’s Breakfast Roundtable and, in between events, she interrupted an escalating conflict between New York City police and a homeless man.
For those of us who walk the streets with open arms to justice and peace and with targets on our backs, the Peace Institute’s award presentation was a celebration of life and a moment before the next big move. My personal satisfaction from the evening was being at Ameena’s side as she was acknowledged for putting her life on the line to save others and break the cycle of violence.
Chicago is filled with ways to give back and to end violence. If you are from the Windy City, or currently live there and would like to join forces to create safer, just communities, please contact FOR.
Big thanks to Brad Heckman, CEO of the NY Peace Institute, for his work and for sharing a photo from the evening. (Top photo: Ameena Matthews and staff from S.O.S. Crown Heights; bottom photo: S.O.S. Crown Heights staff and Shauen V. T. Pearce of FOR.) Other photos and a recap can be found at his blog, The Hecklist.
