0:00:00.599,0:00:05.380
I've learned some of[br]my most important life lessons

0:00:05.380,0:00:07.879
from drug dealers

0:00:07.879,0:00:10.250
and gang members

0:00:10.250,0:00:12.503
and prostitutes,

0:00:12.503,0:00:18.130
and I've had some of my most[br]profound theological conversations

0:00:18.130,0:00:21.704
not in the hallowed halls of a seminary

0:00:21.704,0:00:24.120
but on a street corner

0:00:24.120,0:00:27.051
on a Friday night, at 1 a.m.

0:00:27.701,0:00:33.872
That's a little unusual, since I am[br]a Baptist minister, seminary-trained,

0:00:33.872,0:00:38.226
and pastored a church for over 20 years,

0:00:38.226,0:00:39.474
but it's true.

0:00:40.594,0:00:43.264
It came as a part of my participation

0:00:43.264,0:00:47.490
in a public safety[br]crime reduction strategy

0:00:47.490,0:00:51.247
that saw a 79 percent reduction[br]in violent crime

0:00:51.247,0:00:54.525
over an eight-year period in a major city.

0:00:55.385,0:00:57.242
But I didn't start out wanting to be[br]

0:00:57.242,0:01:00.585
a part of somebody's[br]crime reduction strategy.

0:01:01.335,0:01:04.220
I was 25, had my first church.

0:01:04.220,0:01:06.600
If you would have asked me[br]what my ambition was,

0:01:06.600,0:01:10.917
I would have told you[br]I wanted to be a megachurch pastor.

0:01:10.918,0:01:14.865
I wanted a 15-, 20,000-member church.

0:01:14.865,0:01:17.675
I wanted my own television ministry.

0:01:17.675,0:01:20.391
I wanted my own clothing line.

0:01:20.391,0:01:21.747
(Laughter)

0:01:21.747,0:01:23.888
I wanted to be your long distance carrier.

0:01:23.888,0:01:25.732
You know, the whole nine yards.

0:01:25.732,0:01:28.425
(Laughter)

0:01:28.425,0:01:31.478
After about a year of pastoring,

0:01:31.478,0:01:35.100
my membership went up about 20 members.

0:01:35.100,0:01:38.730
So megachurchdom was way down the road.

0:01:38.730,0:01:41.554
But seriously, if you'd have said,[br]"What is your ambition?"

0:01:41.554,0:01:43.575
I would have said just to be[br]a good pastor,

0:01:43.575,0:01:47.940
to be able to be with people[br]through all the passages of life,

0:01:47.940,0:01:52.213
to preach messages that would have[br]an everyday meaning for folks,

0:01:52.213,0:01:55.115
and in the African-American tradition,

0:01:55.115,0:01:59.265
to be able to represent[br]the community that I serve.

0:01:59.265,0:02:04.333
But there was something else[br]that was happening in my city

0:02:04.333,0:02:06.364
and in the entire metro area,

0:02:06.364,0:02:10.125
and in most metro areas[br]in the United States,

0:02:10.125,0:02:15.534
and that was the homicide rate[br]started to rise precipitously.

0:02:15.534,0:02:18.101
And there were young people[br]who were killing each other

0:02:18.101,0:02:20.748
for reasons that I thought[br]were very trivial,

0:02:20.748,0:02:25.642
like bumping into someone[br]in a high school hallway,

0:02:25.652,0:02:28.921
and then after school,[br]shooting the person.

0:02:28.921,0:02:32.427
Someone with the wrong color shirt on,

0:02:32.427,0:02:36.630
on the wrong street corner[br]at the wrong time.

0:02:36.630,0:02:39.578
And something needed[br]to be done about that.

0:02:40.548,0:02:44.872
It got to the point where it started[br]to change the character of the city.

0:02:44.872,0:02:47.100
You could go to any housing project,

0:02:47.100,0:02:50.259
for example, like the one that was[br]down the street from my church,

0:02:50.259,0:02:53.161
and you would walk in,[br]and it would be like a ghost town,

0:02:53.161,0:02:56.783
because the parents wouldn't allow[br]their kids to come out and play,

0:02:56.783,0:02:59.847
even in the summertime,[br]because of the violence.

0:02:59.847,0:03:02.599
You would listen in the neighborhoods[br]on any given night,

0:03:02.599,0:03:05.827
and to the untrained ear,[br]it sounded like fireworks,

0:03:05.827,0:03:07.207
but it was gunfire.

0:03:07.207,0:03:11.040
You'd hear it almost every night,[br]when you were cooking dinner,

0:03:11.040,0:03:15.062
telling your child a bedtime story,[br]or just watching TV.

0:03:16.200,0:03:20.994
And you can go to any emergency[br]room at any hospital,

0:03:20.994,0:03:24.123
and you would see lying on gurneys

0:03:24.123,0:03:28.087
young black and Latino men[br]shot and dying.

0:03:28.697,0:03:30.532
And I was doing funerals,

0:03:30.532,0:03:34.990
but not of the venerated matriarchs[br]and patriarchs who'd lived a long life

0:03:34.990,0:03:37.892
and there's a lot to say.

0:03:37.892,0:03:40.748
I was doing funerals of 18-year-olds,

0:03:40.748,0:03:42.710
17-year-olds,

0:03:42.710,0:03:44.614
and 16-year-olds,

0:03:44.614,0:03:49.281
and I was standing in a church[br]or at a funeral home

0:03:49.281,0:03:51.405
struggling to say something

0:03:51.405,0:03:54.452
that would make some meaningful impact.

0:03:55.300,0:04:01.290
And so while my colleagues were building[br]these cathedrals great and tall

0:04:01.290,0:04:04.628
and buying property outside of the city

0:04:04.628,0:04:07.198
and moving their congregations out

0:04:07.198,0:04:12.337
so that they could create[br]or recreate their cities of God,

0:04:12.337,0:04:15.494
the social structures in the inner cities

0:04:15.494,0:04:18.831
were sagging under the weight[br]of all of this violence.

0:04:19.411,0:04:22.298
And so I stayed, because somebody[br]needed to do something,

0:04:22.298,0:04:25.850
and so I had looked at what I had[br]and moved on that.

0:04:25.850,0:04:30.192
I started to preach decrying[br]the violence in the community.

0:04:30.192,0:04:32.746
And I started to look[br]at the programming in my church,

0:04:32.746,0:04:36.647
and I started to build programs[br]that would catch the at-risk youth,

0:04:36.647,0:04:39.576
those who were on the fence[br]to the violence.

0:04:40.106,0:04:42.266
I even tried to be innovative[br]in my preaching.

0:04:42.266,0:04:44.495
You all have heard of rap music, right?

0:04:44.495,0:04:45.725
Rap music?

0:04:45.725,0:04:48.303
I even tried to rap sermon one time.

0:04:48.303,0:04:52.038
It didn't work, but at least I tried it.

0:04:52.038,0:04:56.244
I'll never forget the young person[br]who came to me after that sermon.

0:04:56.244,0:04:58.124
He waited until everybody was gone,

0:04:58.124,0:05:01.956
and he said, "Rev, rap sermon, huh?"[br]And I was like, "Yeah, what do you think?"

0:05:01.956,0:05:04.997
And he said, "Don't do that again, Rev."

0:05:04.997,0:05:07.332
(Laughter)

0:05:08.132,0:05:10.465
But I preached and I built these programs,

0:05:10.465,0:05:12.903
and I thought maybe if[br]my colleagues did the same

0:05:12.903,0:05:15.109
that it would make a difference.

0:05:15.109,0:05:19.100
But the violence just[br]careened out of control,

0:05:19.100,0:05:23.833
and people who were not involved in[br]the violence were getting shot and killed:

0:05:23.833,0:05:29.662
somebody going to buy a pack[br]of cigarettes at a convenience store,

0:05:29.662,0:05:33.661
or someone who was sitting[br]at a bus stop just waiting for a bus,

0:05:33.661,0:05:35.820
or kids who were playing in the park,

0:05:35.820,0:05:39.117
oblivious to the violence[br]on the other side of the park,

0:05:39.117,0:05:41.811
but it coming and visiting them.

0:05:41.811,0:05:44.365
Things were out of control,

0:05:44.365,0:05:46.803
and I didn't know what to do,

0:05:46.803,0:05:50.790
and then something happened[br]that changed everything for me.

0:05:51.795,0:05:54.720
It was a kid by the name of Jesse McKie,

0:05:54.720,0:05:57.646
walking home with his friend[br]Rigoberto Carrion

0:05:57.646,0:06:01.350
to the housing project[br]down the street from my church.

0:06:01.350,0:06:05.749
They met up with a group of youth[br]who were from a gang in Dorchester,

0:06:05.749,0:06:08.120
and they were killed.

0:06:08.120,0:06:10.880
But as Jesse was running[br]from the scene mortally wounded,

0:06:10.880,0:06:13.249
he was running in the direction[br]of my church,

0:06:13.249,0:06:16.037
and he died some 100, 150 yards away.

0:06:16.657,0:06:20.196
If he would have gotten to the church,[br]it wouldn't have made a difference,

0:06:20.196,0:06:22.617
because the lights were out;[br]nobody was home.

0:06:23.077,0:06:25.501
And I took that as a sign.

0:06:26.230,0:06:29.235
When they caught some of the youth[br]that had done this deed,

0:06:29.235,0:06:32.903
to my surprise, they were around my age,

0:06:32.903,0:06:36.525
but the gulf that was between us was vast.

0:06:36.525,0:06:40.728
It was like we were in two[br]completely different worlds.

0:06:40.728,0:06:43.730
And so as I contemplated all of this

0:06:43.730,0:06:46.138
and looked at what was happening,

0:06:46.138,0:06:52.420
I suddenly realized that there was[br]a paradox that was emerging inside of me,

0:06:52.420,0:06:54.836
and the paradox was this:[br]in all of those sermons

0:06:54.836,0:06:56.819
that I preached decrying the violence,

0:06:56.819,0:07:01.161
I was also talking about[br]building community,

0:07:01.161,0:07:03.343
but I suddenly realized

0:07:03.343,0:07:06.432
that there was a certain[br]segment of the population

0:07:06.432,0:07:09.941
that I was not including[br]in my definition of community.

0:07:10.621,0:07:12.020
And so the paradox was this:

0:07:12.020,0:07:15.719
If I really wanted the community[br]that I was preaching for,

0:07:15.719,0:07:17.739
I needed to reach out

0:07:17.739,0:07:22.052
and embrace this group[br]that I had cut out of my definition.

0:07:22.912,0:07:25.529
Which meant not about building programs

0:07:25.529,0:07:29.128
to catch those who were[br]on the fences of violence,

0:07:29.128,0:07:34.160
but to reach out and to embrace those[br]who were committing the acts of violence,

0:07:34.160,0:07:36.906
the gang bangers, the drug dealers.

0:07:36.906,0:07:41.494
As soon as I came to that realization,[br]a quick question came to my mind.

0:07:41.494,0:07:43.018
Why me?

0:07:43.358,0:07:45.403
I mean, isn't this a law[br]enforcement issue?

0:07:45.403,0:07:47.293
This is why we have the police, right?

0:07:48.233,0:07:52.969
As soon as the question, "Why me?" came,[br]the answer came just as quickly:

0:07:52.969,0:07:57.916
Why me? Because I'm the one who[br]can't sleep at night thinking about it.

0:07:58.666,0:08:02.853
Because I'm the one looking around saying[br]somebody needs to do something about this,

0:08:02.853,0:08:06.367
and I'm starting to realize[br]that that someone is me.

0:08:06.367,0:08:08.692
I mean, isn't that how[br]movements start anyway?

0:08:08.692,0:08:12.926
They don't start with a grand convention[br]and people coming together

0:08:12.926,0:08:16.140
and then walking in lockstep[br]with a statement.

0:08:16.749,0:08:21.549
But it starts with just a few,[br]or maybe just one.

0:08:21.924,0:08:24.075
It started with me that way,

0:08:24.075,0:08:28.430
and so I decided to figure out[br]the culture of violence

0:08:28.430,0:08:31.301
in which these young people[br]who were committing them existed,

0:08:31.301,0:08:33.475
and I started to volunteer[br]at the high school.

0:08:33.475,0:08:36.170
After about two weeks[br]of volunteering at the high school,

0:08:36.170,0:08:38.655
I realized that the youth[br]that I was trying to reach,

0:08:38.655,0:08:41.102
they weren't going to high school.

0:08:41.102,0:08:43.801
I started to walk in the community,

0:08:43.801,0:08:47.189
and it didn't take a rocket scientist[br]to realize that they weren't out

0:08:47.189,0:08:49.836
during the day.

0:08:49.836,0:08:54.471
So I started to walk the streets[br]at night, late at night,

0:08:54.471,0:08:57.110
going into the parks where they were,

0:08:57.110,0:09:00.238
building the relationship[br]that was necessary.

0:09:00.238,0:09:05.210
A tragedy happened in Boston[br]that brought a number of clergy together,

0:09:05.210,0:09:09.204
and there was a small cadre of us[br]who came to the realization

0:09:09.204,0:09:12.189
that we had to come out[br]of the four walls of our sanctuary

0:09:12.189,0:09:13.868
and meet the youth where they were,

0:09:13.868,0:09:17.325
and not try to figure out[br]how to bring them in.

0:09:17.735,0:09:20.439
And so we decided to walk together,

0:09:20.439,0:09:22.420
and we would get together

0:09:22.420,0:09:25.152
in one of the most dangerous[br]neighborhoods in the city

0:09:25.152,0:09:27.567
on a Friday night and on a Saturday night

0:09:27.567,0:09:29.529
at 10 p.m.,

0:09:29.529,0:09:32.390
and we would walk[br]until 2 or 3 in the morning.

0:09:32.390,0:09:35.612
I imagine we were quite the anomaly[br]when we first started walking.

0:09:35.612,0:09:37.934
I mean, we weren't drug dealers.

0:09:37.934,0:09:39.809
We weren't drug customers.

0:09:39.809,0:09:42.566
We weren't the police. Some of us[br]would have collars on.

0:09:42.566,0:09:45.143
It was probably a really odd thing.

0:09:45.143,0:09:48.347
But they started speaking[br]to us after a while,

0:09:48.347,0:09:50.274
and what we found out is that

0:09:50.274,0:09:53.963
while we were walking,[br]they were watching us,

0:09:53.963,0:09:56.500
and they wanted to make sure[br]of a couple of things:

0:09:56.500,0:10:01.671
that number one, we were going[br]to be consistent in our behavior,

0:10:01.671,0:10:03.384
that we would keep coming out there;

0:10:03.384,0:10:05.575
and then secondly,[br]they had wanted to make sure

0:10:05.575,0:10:08.130
that we weren't out there to exploit them.

0:10:08.130,0:10:10.410
Because there was always[br]somebody who would say,

0:10:10.410,0:10:12.274
"We're going to take back the streets,"

0:10:12.274,0:10:15.398
but they would always seem to have[br]a television camera with them,

0:10:15.398,0:10:17.231
or a reporter,

0:10:17.231,0:10:19.739
and they would enhance[br]their own reputation

0:10:19.739,0:10:22.246
to the detriment of those on the streets.

0:10:22.246,0:10:24.801
So when they saw that we had none of that,

0:10:24.801,0:10:27.110
they decided to talk to us.

0:10:27.400,0:10:31.255
And then we did[br]an amazing thing for preachers.

0:10:31.255,0:10:35.352
We decided to listen and not preach.

0:10:35.352,0:10:37.223
Come on, give it up for me.

0:10:37.223,0:10:40.682
(Laughter) (Applause)

0:10:40.682,0:10:44.792
All right, come on, you're cutting[br]into my time now, okay? (Laughter)

0:10:44.792,0:10:46.612
But it was amazing.

0:10:46.612,0:10:52.919
We said to them, "We don't know[br]our own communities after 9 p.m. at night,

0:10:52.919,0:10:55.759
between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.,

0:10:55.759,0:10:56.809
but you do.

0:10:57.389,0:11:02.551
You are the subject matter experts,[br]if you will, of that period of time.

0:11:02.551,0:11:05.387
So talk to us. Teach us.

0:11:05.387,0:11:07.477
Help us to see what we're not seeing.

0:11:07.477,0:11:11.262
Help us to understand[br]what we're not understanding."

0:11:11.262,0:11:13.677
And they were all too happy to do that,

0:11:13.677,0:11:18.436
and we got an idea of what life[br]on the streets was all about,

0:11:18.436,0:11:22.244
very different than what you see[br]on the 11 o'clock news,

0:11:22.244,0:11:28.480
very different than what is portrayed[br]in popular media and even social media.

0:11:28.480,0:11:30.696
And as we were talking with them,

0:11:30.696,0:11:34.899
a number of myths were dispelled[br]about them with us.

0:11:34.899,0:11:41.576
And one of the biggest myths was[br]that these kids were cold and heartless

0:11:41.576,0:11:45.440
and uncharacteristically bold[br]in their violence.

0:11:45.440,0:11:48.737
What we found out was the exact opposite.

0:11:48.737,0:11:51.477
Most of the young people[br]who were out there on the streets

0:11:51.477,0:11:54.542
are just trying to make it on the streets.

0:11:54.542,0:11:56.492
And we also found out

0:11:56.492,0:12:00.052
that some of the most[br]intelligent and creative

0:12:00.052,0:12:06.979
and magnificent and wise

0:12:06.979,0:12:09.472
people that we've ever met

0:12:09.472,0:12:13.657
were on the street,[br]engaged in a struggle.

0:12:14.247,0:12:18.390
And I know some of them call it survival,[br]but I call them overcomers,

0:12:18.390,0:12:21.430
because when you're in[br]the conditions that they're in,

0:12:21.430,0:12:26.609
to be able to live every day[br]is an accomplishment of overcoming.

0:12:27.669,0:12:29.823
And as a result of that, we said to them,

0:12:29.823,0:12:33.271
"How do you see this church,[br]how do you see this institution

0:12:33.271,0:12:36.312
helping this situation?"

0:12:36.312,0:12:40.120
And we developed a plan[br]in conversation with these youths.

0:12:40.610,0:12:44.764
We stopped looking at them[br]as the problem to be solved,

0:12:44.764,0:12:49.942
and we started looking at them[br]as partners, as assets,

0:12:49.942,0:12:55.654
as co-laborers in the struggle[br]to reduce violence in the community.

0:12:55.654,0:12:57.836
Imagine developing a plan,

0:12:57.836,0:13:02.945
you have one minister at one table[br]and a heroin dealer at the other table,

0:13:02.945,0:13:08.417
coming up with a way in which the church[br]can help the entire community.

0:13:09.510,0:13:13.788
The Boston Miracle was about[br]bringing people together.

0:13:13.788,0:13:15.645
We had other partners.

0:13:15.645,0:13:17.248
We had law enforcement partners.

0:13:17.248,0:13:20.160
We had police officers.

0:13:20.160,0:13:22.310
It wasn't the entire force,

0:13:22.310,0:13:27.000
because there were still some who still[br]had that lock-'em-up mentality,

0:13:27.000,0:13:29.136
but there were other cops

0:13:29.136,0:13:34.221
who saw the honor in partnering[br]with the community,

0:13:34.221,0:13:37.407
who saw the responsibility from themselves

0:13:37.407,0:13:43.960
to be able to work as partners[br]with community leaders and faith leaders

0:13:43.960,0:13:46.490
in order to reduce violence[br]in the community.

0:13:46.490,0:13:48.941
Same with probation officers,

0:13:48.941,0:13:50.822
same with judges,

0:13:50.822,0:13:54.560
same with folks who were[br]up that law enforcement chain,

0:13:54.560,0:13:56.743
because they realized, like we did,

0:13:56.743,0:14:00.435
that we'll never arrest ourselves[br]out of this situation,

0:14:00.435,0:14:06.314
that there will not be[br]enough prosecutions made,

0:14:06.314,0:14:11.762
and you cannot fill these jails up enough

0:14:11.762,0:14:14.947
in order to alleviate the problem.

0:14:15.897,0:14:19.637
I helped to start an organization

0:14:19.637,0:14:24.443
20 years ago, a faith-based organization,[br]to deal with this issue.

0:14:24.443,0:14:27.740
I left it about four years ago

0:14:27.740,0:14:30.840
and started working in cities[br]across the United States,

0:14:30.840,0:14:32.779
19 in total,

0:14:32.779,0:14:35.599
and what I found out[br]was that in those cities,

0:14:35.599,0:14:40.429
there was always this component[br]of community leaders

0:14:40.429,0:14:44.724
who put their heads down[br]and their nose to the grindstone,

0:14:44.724,0:14:47.690
who checked their egos at the door

0:14:47.690,0:14:50.947
and saw the whole as greater[br]than the sum of its parts,

0:14:50.947,0:14:56.566
and came together and found ways[br]to work with youth out on the streets,

0:14:56.566,0:15:01.349
that the solution is not more cops,

0:15:01.349,0:15:06.643
but the solution is mining the assets[br]that are there in the community,

0:15:06.643,0:15:10.381
to have a strong community component

0:15:10.381,0:15:15.373
in the collaboration[br]around violence reduction.

0:15:15.373,0:15:19.705
Now, there is a movement[br]in the United States

0:15:19.705,0:15:26.299
of young people who I am very proud of[br]who are dealing with the structural issues

0:15:26.299,0:15:30.756
that need to change if we're going[br]to be a better society.

0:15:30.756,0:15:35.655
But there is this political ploy[br]to try to pit police brutality

0:15:35.655,0:15:40.693
and police misconduct[br]against black-on-black violence.

0:15:40.693,0:15:42.597
But it's a fiction.

0:15:42.597,0:15:44.617
It's all connected.

0:15:44.617,0:15:49.331
When you think about decades[br]of failed housing policies

0:15:49.331,0:15:53.208
and poor educational structures,

0:15:53.208,0:15:56.482
when you think about[br]persistent unemployment

0:15:56.482,0:15:59.360
and underemployment in a community,

0:15:59.360,0:16:02.124
when you think about poor healthcare,

0:16:02.124,0:16:05.300
and then you throw drugs into the mix

0:16:05.300,0:16:07.348
and duffel bags full of guns,

0:16:07.348,0:16:12.782
little wonder that you would see[br]this culture of violence emerge.

0:16:12.782,0:16:17.140
And then the response that comes[br]from the state is more cops

0:16:17.140,0:16:20.296
and more suppression of hot spots.

0:16:20.296,0:16:22.562
It's all connected,

0:16:22.562,0:16:26.340
and one of the wonderful things[br]that we've been able to do

0:16:26.340,0:16:31.473
is to be able to show the value[br]of partnering together --

0:16:31.473,0:16:37.039
community, law enforcement,[br]private sector, the city --

0:16:37.039,0:16:38.427
in order to reduce violence.

0:16:38.427,0:16:42.064
You have to value[br]that community component.

0:16:42.534,0:16:48.640
I believe that we can end[br]the era of violence in our cities.

0:16:49.154,0:16:54.488
I believe that it is possible[br]and that people are doing it even now.

0:16:55.144,0:16:56.497
But I need your help.

0:16:57.537,0:17:02.186
It can't just come from folks[br]who are burning themselves out

0:17:02.186,0:17:03.744
in the community.

0:17:03.744,0:17:06.742
They need support. They need help.

0:17:06.742,0:17:08.680
Go back to your city.

0:17:08.680,0:17:10.259
Find those people.

0:17:10.259,0:17:12.976
"You need some help? I'll help you out."

0:17:12.976,0:17:16.180
Find those people. They're there.

0:17:16.180,0:17:21.537
Bring them together with law enforcement,[br]the private sector, and the city,

0:17:21.537,0:17:24.400
with the one aim of reducing violence,

0:17:24.400,0:17:28.346
but make sure that[br]that community component is strong.

0:17:28.346,0:17:31.667
Because the old adage[br]that comes from Burundi is right:

0:17:31.667,0:17:39.410
that you do for me,[br]without me, you do to me.

0:17:39.410,0:17:41.535
God bless you. Thank you.

0:17:41.535,0:17:45.535
(Applause)