Healing of a Community: part 1

Richmond, CA has been ranked number one on California's list of dangerous cities per capita in criminal statistics the past several years. The decline of industry and jobs in previous decades contributed to the economic plight of its community today. There has been a surge of violence over the past decade as a result of the same problems that plague other low-income areas in America. Richmond is also close knit community of many longtime residents who grow up together and are often related by blood. Today the senseless murders are a weekly routine in which people within the community are killing each other.





Excerpts from an interview with Kim Johnson, who's son (Eugene Williams) was murdered in Richmond in 2007.






"There some pictures of him right here. Family pictures. Thanksgiving. That was our last family picture together."





























"He would come to my house and change clothes. Somebody called me the day he got killed. He was here that morning. He and his girlfriend got into it. He left and came here at 5 am in the morning. He was in the room and when he came out he startled me. His sister had let him in. We talked. He said he was going to get an oil change for his car and that he was going to wash his car. Then me and my kids got up to get ready. We had called him before he left. I didn’t get no answer. Then I got a call… somebody called my mom and said they just killed Eugene. And I’m like what? I know they didn’t. I know nobody had killed my baby. "