WEBVTT

00:00:00.599 --> 00:00:05.380
I've learned some of
my most important life lessons

00:00:05.380 --> 00:00:07.879
from drug dealers

00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:10.250
and gang members

00:00:10.250 --> 00:00:12.503
and prostitutes,

00:00:12.503 --> 00:00:18.130
and I've had some of my most
profound theological conversations

00:00:18.130 --> 00:00:21.704
not in the hallowed halls of a seminary

00:00:21.704 --> 00:00:24.120
but on a street corner

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

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:27.701 --> 00:00:33.872
That's a little unusual, since I am
a Baptist minister, seminary-trained,

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

00:00:38.226 --> 00:00:39.474
but it's true.

00:00:40.594 --> 00:00:43.264
It came as a part of my participation

00:00:43.264 --> 00:00:47.490
in a public safety
crime reduction strategy

00:00:47.490 --> 00:00:51.247
that saw a 79 percent reduction
in violent crime

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

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:55.385 --> 00:00:57.242
But I didn't start out wanting to be


00:00:57.242 --> 00:01:00.585
a part of somebody's
crime reduction strategy.

00:01:01.335 --> 00:01:04.220
I was 25, had my first church.

00:01:04.220 --> 00:01:06.600
If you would have asked me
what my ambition was,

00:01:06.600 --> 00:01:10.917
I would have told you
I wanted to be a megachurch pastor.

00:01:10.918 --> 00:01:14.865
I wanted a 15-, 20,000-member church.

00:01:14.865 --> 00:01:17.675
I wanted my own television ministry.

00:01:17.675 --> 00:01:20.391
I wanted my own clothing line.

00:01:20.391 --> 00:01:21.747
(Laughter)

00:01:21.747 --> 00:01:23.888
I wanted to be your long distance carrier.

00:01:23.888 --> 00:01:25.732
You know, the whole nine yards.

00:01:25.732 --> 00:01:28.425
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:28.425 --> 00:01:31.478
After about a year of pastoring,

00:01:31.478 --> 00:01:35.100
my membership went up about 20 members.

00:01:35.100 --> 00:01:38.730
So megachurchdom was way down the road.

00:01:38.730 --> 00:01:41.554
But seriously, if you'd have said,
"What is your ambition?"

00:01:41.554 --> 00:01:43.575
I would have said just to be
a good pastor,

00:01:43.575 --> 00:01:47.940
to be able to be with people
through all the passages of life,

00:01:47.940 --> 00:01:52.213
to preach messages that would have
an everyday meaning for folks,

00:01:52.213 --> 00:01:55.115
and in the African-American tradition,

00:01:55.115 --> 00:01:59.265
to be able to represent
the community that I serve.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:59.265 --> 00:02:04.333
But there was something else
that was happening in my city

00:02:04.333 --> 00:02:06.364
and in the entire metro area,

00:02:06.364 --> 00:02:10.125
and in most metro areas
in the United States,

00:02:10.125 --> 00:02:15.534
and that was the homicide rate
started to rise precipitously.

00:02:15.534 --> 00:02:18.101
And there were young people
who were killing each other

00:02:18.101 --> 00:02:20.748
for reasons that I thought
were very trivial,

00:02:20.748 --> 00:02:25.642
like bumping into someone
in a high school hallway,

00:02:25.652 --> 00:02:28.921
and then after school,
shooting the person.

00:02:28.921 --> 00:02:32.427
Someone with the wrong color shirt on,

00:02:32.427 --> 00:02:36.630
on the wrong street corner
at the wrong time.

00:02:36.630 --> 00:02:39.578
And something needed
to be done about that.

00:02:40.548 --> 00:02:44.872
It got to the point where it started
to change the character of the city.

00:02:44.872 --> 00:02:47.100
You could go to any housing project,

00:02:47.100 --> 00:02:50.259
for example, like the one that was
down the street from my church,

00:02:50.259 --> 00:02:53.161
and you would walk in,
and it would be like a ghost town,

00:02:53.161 --> 00:02:56.783
because the parents wouldn't allow
their kids to come out and play,

00:02:56.783 --> 00:02:59.847
even in the summertime,
because of the violence.

00:02:59.847 --> 00:03:02.599
You would listen in the neighborhoods
on any given night,

00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:05.827
and to the untrained ear,
it sounded like fireworks,

00:03:05.827 --> 00:03:07.207
but it was gunfire.

00:03:07.207 --> 00:03:11.040
You'd hear it almost every night,
when you were cooking dinner,

00:03:11.040 --> 00:03:15.062
telling your child a bedtime story,
or just watching TV.

00:03:16.200 --> 00:03:20.994
And you can go to any emergency
room at any hospital,

00:03:20.994 --> 00:03:24.123
and you would see lying on gurneys

00:03:24.123 --> 00:03:28.087
young black and Latino men
shot and dying.

00:03:28.697 --> 00:03:30.532
And I was doing funerals,

00:03:30.532 --> 00:03:34.990
but not of the venerated matriarchs
and patriarchs who'd lived a long life

00:03:34.990 --> 00:03:37.892
and there's a lot to say.

00:03:37.892 --> 00:03:40.748
I was doing funerals of 18-year-olds,

00:03:40.748 --> 00:03:42.710
17-year-olds,

00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:44.614
and 16-year-olds,

00:03:44.614 --> 00:03:49.281
and I was standing in a church
or at a funeral home

00:03:49.281 --> 00:03:51.405
struggling to say something

00:03:51.405 --> 00:03:54.452
that would make some meaningful impact.

00:03:55.300 --> 00:04:01.290
And so while my colleagues were building
these cathedrals great and tall

00:04:01.290 --> 00:04:04.628
and buying property outside of the city

00:04:04.628 --> 00:04:07.198
and moving their congregations out

00:04:07.198 --> 00:04:12.337
so that they could create
or recreate their cities of God,

00:04:12.337 --> 00:04:15.494
the social structures in the inner cities

00:04:15.494 --> 00:04:18.831
were sagging under the weight
of all of this violence.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:19.411 --> 00:04:22.298
And so I stayed, because somebody
needed to do something,

00:04:22.298 --> 00:04:25.850
and so I had looked at what I had
and moved on that.

00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:30.192
I started to preach decrying
the violence in the community.

00:04:30.192 --> 00:04:32.746
And I started to look
at the programming in my church,

00:04:32.746 --> 00:04:36.647
and I started to build programs
that would catch the at-risk youth,

00:04:36.647 --> 00:04:39.576
those who were on the fence
to the violence.

00:04:40.106 --> 00:04:42.266
I even tried to be innovative
in my preaching.

00:04:42.266 --> 00:04:44.495
You all have heard of rap music, right?

00:04:44.495 --> 00:04:45.725
Rap music?

00:04:45.725 --> 00:04:48.303
I even tried to rap sermon one time.

00:04:48.303 --> 00:04:52.038
It didn't work, but at least I tried it.

00:04:52.038 --> 00:04:56.244
I'll never forget the young person
who came to me after that sermon.

00:04:56.244 --> 00:04:58.124
He waited until everybody was gone,

00:04:58.124 --> 00:05:01.956
and he said, "Rev, rap sermon, huh?"
And I was like, "Yeah, what do you think?"

00:05:01.956 --> 00:05:04.997
And he said, "Don't do that again, Rev."

00:05:04.997 --> 00:05:07.332
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:08.132 --> 00:05:10.465
But I preached and I built these programs,

00:05:10.465 --> 00:05:12.903
and I thought maybe if
my colleagues did the same

00:05:12.903 --> 00:05:15.109
that it would make a difference.

00:05:15.109 --> 00:05:19.100
But the violence just
careened out of control,

00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:23.833
and people who were not involved in
the violence were getting shot and killed:

00:05:23.833 --> 00:05:29.662
somebody going to buy a pack
of cigarettes at a convenience store,

00:05:29.662 --> 00:05:33.661
or someone who was sitting
at a bus stop just waiting for a bus,

00:05:33.661 --> 00:05:35.820
or kids who were playing in the park,

00:05:35.820 --> 00:05:39.117
oblivious to the violence
on the other side of the park,

00:05:39.117 --> 00:05:41.811
but it coming and visiting them.

00:05:41.811 --> 00:05:44.365
Things were out of control,

00:05:44.365 --> 00:05:46.803
and I didn't know what to do,

00:05:46.803 --> 00:05:50.790
and then something happened
that changed everything for me.

00:05:51.795 --> 00:05:54.720
It was a kid by the name of Jesse McKie,

00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.646
walking home with his friend
Rigoberto Carrion

00:05:57.646 --> 00:06:01.350
to the housing project
down the street from my church.

00:06:01.350 --> 00:06:05.749
They met up with a group of youth
who were from a gang in Dorchester,

00:06:05.749 --> 00:06:08.120
and they were killed.

00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:10.880
But as Jesse was running
from the scene mortally wounded,

00:06:10.880 --> 00:06:13.249
he was running in the direction
of my church,

00:06:13.249 --> 00:06:16.037
and he died some 100, 150 yards away.

00:06:16.657 --> 00:06:20.196
If he would have gotten to the church,
it wouldn't have made a difference,

00:06:20.196 --> 00:06:22.617
because the lights were out;
nobody was home.

00:06:23.077 --> 00:06:25.501
And I took that as a sign.

00:06:26.230 --> 00:06:29.235
When they caught some of the youth
that had done this deed,

00:06:29.235 --> 00:06:32.903
to my surprise, they were around my age,

00:06:32.903 --> 00:06:36.525
but the gulf that was between us was vast.

00:06:36.525 --> 00:06:40.728
It was like we were in two
completely different worlds.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:40.728 --> 00:06:43.730
And so as I contemplated all of this

00:06:43.730 --> 00:06:46.138
and looked at what was happening,

00:06:46.138 --> 00:06:52.420
I suddenly realized that there was
a paradox that was emerging inside of me,

00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:54.836
and the paradox was this:
in all of those sermons

00:06:54.836 --> 00:06:56.819
that I preached decrying the violence,

00:06:56.819 --> 00:07:01.161
I was also talking about
building community,

00:07:01.161 --> 00:07:03.343
but I suddenly realized

00:07:03.343 --> 00:07:06.432
that there was a certain
segment of the population

00:07:06.432 --> 00:07:09.941
that I was not including
in my definition of community.

00:07:10.621 --> 00:07:12.020
And so the paradox was this:

00:07:12.020 --> 00:07:15.719
If I really wanted the community
that I was preaching for,

00:07:15.719 --> 00:07:17.739
I needed to reach out

00:07:17.739 --> 00:07:22.052
and embrace this group
that I had cut out of my definition.

00:07:22.912 --> 00:07:25.529
Which meant not about building programs

00:07:25.529 --> 00:07:29.128
to catch those who were
on the fences of violence,

00:07:29.128 --> 00:07:34.160
but to reach out and to embrace those
who were committing the acts of violence,

00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:36.906
the gang bangers, the drug dealers.

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:36.906 --> 00:07:41.494
As soon as I came to that realization,
a quick question came to my mind.

00:07:41.494 --> 00:07:43.018
Why me?

00:07:43.358 --> 00:07:45.403
I mean, isn't this a law
enforcement issue?

00:07:45.403 --> 00:07:47.293
This is why we have the police, right?

00:07:48.233 --> 00:07:52.969
As soon as the question, "Why me?" came,
the answer came just as quickly:

00:07:52.969 --> 00:07:57.916
Why me? Because I'm the one who
can't sleep at night thinking about it.

00:07:58.666 --> 00:08:02.853
Because I'm the one looking around saying
somebody needs to do something about this,

00:08:02.853 --> 00:08:06.367
and I'm starting to realize
that that someone is me.

00:08:06.367 --> 00:08:08.692
I mean, isn't that how
movements start anyway?

00:08:08.692 --> 00:08:12.926
They don't start with a grand convention
and people coming together

00:08:12.926 --> 00:08:16.140
and then walking in lockstep
with a statement.

00:08:16.749 --> 00:08:21.549
But it starts with just a few,
or maybe just one.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:21.924 --> 00:08:24.075
It started with me that way,

00:08:24.075 --> 00:08:28.430
and so I decided to figure out
the culture of violence

00:08:28.430 --> 00:08:31.301
in which these young people
who were committing them existed,

00:08:31.301 --> 00:08:33.475
and I started to volunteer
at the high school.

00:08:33.475 --> 00:08:36.170
After about two weeks
of volunteering at the high school,

00:08:36.170 --> 00:08:38.655
I realized that the youth
that I was trying to reach,

00:08:38.655 --> 00:08:41.102
they weren't going to high school.

00:08:41.102 --> 00:08:43.801
I started to walk in the community,

00:08:43.801 --> 00:08:47.189
and it didn't take a rocket scientist
to realize that they weren't out

00:08:47.189 --> 00:08:49.836
during the day.

00:08:49.836 --> 00:08:54.471
So I started to walk the streets
at night, late at night,

00:08:54.471 --> 00:08:57.110
going into the parks where they were,

00:08:57.110 --> 00:09:00.238
building the relationship
that was necessary.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:00.238 --> 00:09:05.210
A tragedy happened in Boston
that brought a number of clergy together,

00:09:05.210 --> 00:09:09.204
and there was a small cadre of us
who came to the realization

00:09:09.204 --> 00:09:12.189
that we had to come out
of the four walls of our sanctuary

00:09:12.189 --> 00:09:13.868
and meet the youth where they were,

00:09:13.868 --> 00:09:17.325
and not try to figure out
how to bring them in.

00:09:17.735 --> 00:09:20.439
And so we decided to walk together,

00:09:20.439 --> 00:09:22.420
and we would get together

00:09:22.420 --> 00:09:25.152
in one of the most dangerous
neighborhoods in the city

00:09:25.152 --> 00:09:27.567
on a Friday night and on a Saturday night

00:09:27.567 --> 00:09:29.529
at 10 p.m.,

00:09:29.529 --> 00:09:32.390
and we would walk
until 2 or 3 in the morning.

00:09:32.390 --> 00:09:35.612
I imagine we were quite the anomaly
when we first started walking.

00:09:35.612 --> 00:09:37.934
I mean, we weren't drug dealers.

00:09:37.934 --> 00:09:39.809
We weren't drug customers.

00:09:39.809 --> 00:09:42.566
We weren't the police. Some of us
would have collars on.

00:09:42.566 --> 00:09:45.143
It was probably a really odd thing.

00:09:45.143 --> 00:09:48.347
But they started speaking
to us after a while,

00:09:48.347 --> 00:09:50.274
and what we found out is that

00:09:50.274 --> 00:09:53.963
while we were walking,
they were watching us,

00:09:53.963 --> 00:09:56.500
and they wanted to make sure
of a couple of things:

00:09:56.500 --> 00:10:01.671
that number one, we were going
to be consistent in our behavior,

00:10:01.671 --> 00:10:03.384
that we would keep coming out there;

00:10:03.384 --> 00:10:05.575
and then secondly,
they had wanted to make sure

00:10:05.575 --> 00:10:08.130
that we weren't out there to exploit them.

00:10:08.130 --> 00:10:10.410
Because there was always
somebody who would say,

00:10:10.410 --> 00:10:12.274
"We're going to take back the streets,"

00:10:12.274 --> 00:10:15.398
but they would always seem to have
a television camera with them,

00:10:15.398 --> 00:10:17.231
or a reporter,

00:10:17.231 --> 00:10:19.739
and they would enhance
their own reputation

00:10:19.739 --> 00:10:22.246
to the detriment of those on the streets.

00:10:22.246 --> 00:10:24.801
So when they saw that we had none of that,

00:10:24.801 --> 00:10:27.110
they decided to talk to us.

00:10:27.400 --> 00:10:31.255
And then we did
an amazing thing for preachers.

00:10:31.255 --> 00:10:35.352
We decided to listen and not preach.

00:10:35.352 --> 00:10:37.223
Come on, give it up for me.

00:10:37.223 --> 00:10:40.682
(Laughter) (Applause)

00:10:40.682 --> 00:10:44.792
All right, come on, you're cutting
into my time now, okay? (Laughter)

00:10:44.792 --> 00:10:46.612
But it was amazing.

00:10:46.612 --> 00:10:52.919
We said to them, "We don't know
our own communities after 9 p.m. at night,

00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:55.759
between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.,

00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:56.809
but you do.

00:10:57.389 --> 00:11:02.551
You are the subject matter experts,
if you will, of that period of time.

00:11:02.551 --> 00:11:05.387
So talk to us. Teach us.

00:11:05.387 --> 00:11:07.477
Help us to see what we're not seeing.

00:11:07.477 --> 00:11:11.262
Help us to understand
what we're not understanding."

00:11:11.262 --> 00:11:13.677
And they were all too happy to do that,

00:11:13.677 --> 00:11:18.436
and we got an idea of what life
on the streets was all about,

00:11:18.436 --> 00:11:22.244
very different than what you see
on the 11 o'clock news,

00:11:22.244 --> 00:11:28.480
very different than what is portrayed
in popular media and even social media.

NOTE Paragraph

00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:30.696
And as we were talking with them,

00:11:30.696 --> 00:11:34.899
a number of myths were dispelled
about them with us.

00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:41.576
And one of the biggest myths was
that these kids were cold and heartless

00:11:41.576 --> 00:11:45.440
and uncharacteristically bold
in their violence.

00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:48.737
What we found out was the exact opposite.

00:11:48.737 --> 00:11:51.477
Most of the young people
who were out there on the streets

00:11:51.477 --> 00:11:54.542
are just trying to make it on the streets.

00:11:54.542 --> 00:11:56.492
And we also found out

00:11:56.492 --> 00:12:00.052
that some of the most
intelligent and creative

00:12:00.052 --> 00:12:06.979
and magnificent and wise

00:12:06.979 --> 00:12:09.472
people that we've ever met

00:12:09.472 --> 00:12:13.657
were on the street,
engaged in a struggle.

00:12:14.247 --> 00:12:18.390
And I know some of them call it survival,
but I call them overcomers,

00:12:18.390 --> 00:12:21.430
because when you're in
the conditions that they're in,

00:12:21.430 --> 00:12:26.609
to be able to live every day
is an accomplishment of overcoming.

00:12:27.669 --> 00:12:29.823
And as a result of that, we said to them,

00:12:29.823 --> 00:12:33.271
"How do you see this church,
how do you see this institution

00:12:33.271 --> 00:12:36.312
helping this situation?"

00:12:36.312 --> 00:12:40.120
And we developed a plan
in conversation with these youths.

00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:44.764
We stopped looking at them
as the problem to be solved,

00:12:44.764 --> 00:12:49.942
and we started looking at them
as partners, as assets,

00:12:49.942 --> 00:12:55.654
as co-laborers in the struggle
to reduce violence in the community.

00:12:55.654 --> 00:12:57.836
Imagine developing a plan,

00:12:57.836 --> 00:13:02.945
you have one minister at one table
and a heroin dealer at the other table,

00:13:02.945 --> 00:13:08.417
coming up with a way in which the church
can help the entire community.

NOTE Paragraph

00:13:09.510 --> 00:13:13.788
The Boston Miracle was about
bringing people together.

00:13:13.788 --> 00:13:15.645
We had other partners.

00:13:15.645 --> 00:13:17.248
We had law enforcement partners.

00:13:17.248 --> 00:13:20.160
We had police officers.

00:13:20.160 --> 00:13:22.310
It wasn't the entire force,

00:13:22.310 --> 00:13:27.000
because there were still some who still
had that lock-'em-up mentality,

00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.136
but there were other cops

00:13:29.136 --> 00:13:34.221
who saw the honor in partnering
with the community,

00:13:34.221 --> 00:13:37.407
who saw the responsibility from themselves

00:13:37.407 --> 00:13:43.960
to be able to work as partners
with community leaders and faith leaders

00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:46.490
in order to reduce violence
in the community.

00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:48.941
Same with probation officers,

00:13:48.941 --> 00:13:50.822
same with judges,

00:13:50.822 --> 00:13:54.560
same with folks who were
up that law enforcement chain,

00:13:54.560 --> 00:13:56.743
because they realized, like we did,

00:13:56.743 --> 00:14:00.435
that we'll never arrest ourselves
out of this situation,

00:14:00.435 --> 00:14:06.314
that there will not be
enough prosecutions made,

00:14:06.314 --> 00:14:11.762
and you cannot fill these jails up enough

00:14:11.762 --> 00:14:14.947
in order to alleviate the problem.

00:14:15.897 --> 00:14:19.637
I helped to start an organization

00:14:19.637 --> 00:14:24.443
20 years ago, a faith-based organization,
to deal with this issue.

00:14:24.443 --> 00:14:27.740
I left it about four years ago

00:14:27.740 --> 00:14:30.840
and started working in cities
across the United States,

00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:32.779
19 in total,

00:14:32.779 --> 00:14:35.599
and what I found out
was that in those cities,

00:14:35.599 --> 00:14:40.429
there was always this component
of community leaders

00:14:40.429 --> 00:14:44.724
who put their heads down
and their nose to the grindstone,

00:14:44.724 --> 00:14:47.690
who checked their egos at the door

00:14:47.690 --> 00:14:50.947
and saw the whole as greater
than the sum of its parts,

00:14:50.947 --> 00:14:56.566
and came together and found ways
to work with youth out on the streets,

00:14:56.566 --> 00:15:01.349
that the solution is not more cops,

00:15:01.349 --> 00:15:06.643
but the solution is mining the assets
that are there in the community,

00:15:06.643 --> 00:15:10.381
to have a strong community component

00:15:10.381 --> 00:15:15.373
in the collaboration
around violence reduction.

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:15.373 --> 00:15:19.705
Now, there is a movement
in the United States

00:15:19.705 --> 00:15:26.299
of young people who I am very proud of
who are dealing with the structural issues

00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:30.756
that need to change if we're going
to be a better society.

00:15:30.756 --> 00:15:35.655
But there is this political ploy
to try to pit police brutality

00:15:35.655 --> 00:15:40.693
and police misconduct
against black-on-black violence.

00:15:40.693 --> 00:15:42.597
But it's a fiction.

00:15:42.597 --> 00:15:44.617
It's all connected.

00:15:44.617 --> 00:15:49.331
When you think about decades
of failed housing policies

00:15:49.331 --> 00:15:53.208
and poor educational structures,

00:15:53.208 --> 00:15:56.482
when you think about
persistent unemployment

00:15:56.482 --> 00:15:59.360
and underemployment in a community,

00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:02.124
when you think about poor healthcare,

00:16:02.124 --> 00:16:05.300
and then you throw drugs into the mix

00:16:05.300 --> 00:16:07.348
and duffel bags full of guns,

00:16:07.348 --> 00:16:12.782
little wonder that you would see
this culture of violence emerge.

00:16:12.782 --> 00:16:17.140
And then the response that comes
from the state is more cops

00:16:17.140 --> 00:16:20.296
and more suppression of hot spots.

00:16:20.296 --> 00:16:22.562
It's all connected,

00:16:22.562 --> 00:16:26.340
and one of the wonderful things
that we've been able to do

00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:31.473
is to be able to show the value
of partnering together --

00:16:31.473 --> 00:16:37.039
community, law enforcement,
private sector, the city --

00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:38.427
in order to reduce violence.

00:16:38.427 --> 00:16:42.064
You have to value
that community component.

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:42.534 --> 00:16:48.640
I believe that we can end
the era of violence in our cities.

00:16:49.154 --> 00:16:54.488
I believe that it is possible
and that people are doing it even now.

00:16:55.144 --> 00:16:56.497
But I need your help.

00:16:57.537 --> 00:17:02.186
It can't just come from folks
who are burning themselves out

00:17:02.186 --> 00:17:03.744
in the community.

00:17:03.744 --> 00:17:06.742
They need support. They need help.

00:17:06.742 --> 00:17:08.680
Go back to your city.

00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:10.259
Find those people.

00:17:10.259 --> 00:17:12.976
"You need some help? I'll help you out."

00:17:12.976 --> 00:17:16.180
Find those people. They're there.

00:17:16.180 --> 00:17:21.537
Bring them together with law enforcement,
the private sector, and the city,

00:17:21.537 --> 00:17:24.400
with the one aim of reducing violence,

00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.346
but make sure that
that community component is strong.

00:17:28.346 --> 00:17:31.667
Because the old adage
that comes from Burundi is right:

00:17:31.667 --> 00:17:39.410
that you do for me,
without me, you do to me.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:39.410 --> 00:17:41.535
God bless you. Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:41.535 --> 00:17:45.535
(Applause)