Searching for solutions to gun violence: Victim advocates represent the change they want to see in West Garfield Park
CHICAGO (CBS) -- To stop the cycle of violence, you have to get to the heart of the conflict.
CBS 2's Brad Edwards got a streetside view of that fight from what one would call an anti-war room – where the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago is working in West Garfield Park.
Team members head to the hospital and the scene. On the day Edwards visited, there was one incident with four victims – a mass shooting.
Dwayne Hunter, also known as "Big Wayne," is a street outreach worker for the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago in West Garfield Park. Edwards asked Hunter how much death he sees.
Hunter's reply was, "A lot."
He also says when he watches the news, the headlines miss the point.
"Most of the violence is inherited. Someone's father was into it with someone else's father 10 years ago," Hunter said. "Now this kid done grew up, and now he knows who killed his father – so there will just be beefs that go on and be everlasting beefs."
Hunter's role is, in his words, to "step in the gap and mediate a lot of conflict."
"Seven out of 10 times, we're stopping the next shooting from happening – truthfully," Hunter said.
That claim is anecdotal, but it's Big Wayne's word.
Meanwhile, Keysha Carson of the institute recently went from victim advocating, to victim.
"My nephew – he was murdered in East Garfield September of last year – just senseless shooting. And now it's just, everything is just shooting, shooting, shooting," she said. "There's more liquor stores in our area than anything. Our neighborhood needs a makeover."
But Carson said she does see hope.
"I see hope," she said. "These people want to be loved. They need to be helped. They want to be helped. They want resources. They want things to do – but it's not there for them."
Another victim advocate from the institute, Maurice Nelson, was shot on July 4th after responding to another shooting.
Hunter said the situation is out of control.
"Right now, we've got a lawless community," he said. "They go to jail for a gun by being out the next day."
Edwards asked Hunter if this moment in time is as dysfunctional as it has ever been when it comes to violent crime in West Garfield Park.
He replied, "Yes it is."
Hunter also admitted, "I was a part of the problem at some point."
Edwards asked Hunter if he had ever shot somebody. He replied, "Kinda sorta."
Edwards also asked Hunter if he himself had ever been shot. He said he had been.
So walking the streets was proof, he said, "that you can change. All you have to do is want to. If you want to, somebody else is going to help you. See – I'm being the change that I'm trying to be."
Both members of the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago whom Edwards spoke with say their short-term goal is to see kids play in the street again.
