Healing of a Community, part 3

    "I never have gotten over it. But by me having faith in God. And doing all I can to stop this violence. That’s what keeps me going on. When my son got killed, that’s what got me involved. I wanted to do something to stop all these killing a nd to help all these other family members who were affected by that. Because you know, we tend not to get involved in this violence until it hits our family, then we want to get involved and talk. But then it be too late then. If we had did something in 1993 when we started to stop this violence, you know to get the people involved, we wouldn’t have this violence. This retaliation going on and on and on. And nobody wants to come forward. Only time you want to come forward when it affect your family. And all the faith groups going to do something. Because Jesus said, in Matthew 18,19, 20 go ye thou out into the world. We supposed to not stay in the four walls of the church. We supposed to go out there and help those poor, those lost kids out there. And right now we have a whole lot of lost kids. And those are the ones doing the killing."

Excerpts from an interview with Corrine Phelps.

    Corrine Phelps is a resident of South Richmond, CA. Her son, Arthur Lee "Gismo" Phelps was murdered in 1993.

     Left: Long abandoned railroad tracks in North Richmond, CA. The "Iron Triangle" neighborhood of Richmond, named for the shape created by various railroad tracks intersecting in the city, has a history of high crime.

    "You know Dr. King’s message “let freedom ring?” Well how can freedom ring when these young men, latino men, black men and now the girls are getting shot and the girls are doing just as much as the guys. The city fixes the street and they’re stained again with blood. How can freedom ring? So now it’s incumbent upon me to play my part. I know I can’t stop, no one person can stop these homicides. But we can surely get out there and make an impact, as a community working with youth."

Excerpts from an interview with Jackie Thompson, a longtime resident of Richmond, CA. Thompson is a community activist and a former coordinator of the Tent City Peace Movement.

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. "