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Father Greg Boyle
Matt Sanchez
Gianna Tran
Q & A Father Greg Boyle
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In a situation so complex, how do you think we should define and address
the problem? |
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I think we need to have a high degree of reverence for how complex this
is. On every level, from parents to the economy to a sense of despair, to a lack of hope
– it's just enormously complex. People still, humanly, want the simple solution. But
no amount of wanting a simple solution will ever meet how complex this thing is. My
concern always is what problem you think you're addressing. When we do something
superficially or from the outside in, we should never be surprised when the symptom hasn't
gone away – gang violence.
Because if your analysis is these kids aren't scared enough, then what you propose are
tactics and laws and ordinances that are really trying juveniles as adults. All these
things seek to address a problem that we don't have. We don't have kids who just aren't
scared enough. We have kids who aren't hopeful enough.
So you can enhance sentences forever and it won't ever fill a kid with hope for
tomorrow. Never. I think politicians and people who govern are really behind the curve on
this one. I think people always, once they're presented with "Smart on Crime,"
will never embrace "Tough on Crime" again. |
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What do the community and law enforcement need to know about each other
in order to prevent violence? |
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I think the community needs to do prevention and the community needs to
do intervention and law enforcement needs to do enforcement, with care and with the real
respect for the rights of people. That's enough to do, if they only did that. This
community has always embraced a sense of the entire village needing to raise kids. One
thing that we have here: people care about each other, people are aware of each other.
People come to each other's aid when something terrible has happened. People really rally.
It's unlike any other thing that I've ever seen. It's really quite extraordinary.
If police officers don't know this community, then you don't have any hope of community
policing. Because then the mother of the gang member becomes the fraternizer with the
enemy and that's not very sophisticated and, ultimately, not very helpful. The mothers are
my inspiration. You know, some young man hung himself last week and I buried him. It was
just extraordinary to watch women minister to his mother, in ways that I'll never be able
to achieve in my lifetime. I mean, it was just so tender, so appropriate, so full, that it
was just a grace to kind of witness it.
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| Q & A
Matt Sanchez |
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You brokered a truce in Santa Barbara when the neighborhoods (gangs) were
at war. How did you do that? |
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We lied to everybody the first time out – we told them that we had
money and we were going to do a barbecue just for their neighborhood – and then on
the day that everybody showed up at the locations they were supposed to, we said,
"Everybody’s gonna be there – if you don’t want to stay that’s
fine - everybody else is gonna party on your share of the money. They're willing to come
to the table – what about you guys?" So everybody said, "Let's go." It
was something we hadn’t done before. We knew we could do it – but everybody was
telling us we couldn’t. One police officer said, "You can't do that –
they're gonna kill each other." I said, "They're not – we can do it –
we're gonna do it."
If you get the leaders then they, in turn, can lead – because they're more visible
in the community – all the kids see them and want to be like them. I knew I had
picked guys from every single neighborhood who had respect and were held in high regard in
that neighborhood. |
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Your Hoods in the Woods program is a pretty unique way to bring
gang-affiliated and at-risk kids together. How does it work? |
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When we did the first Hoods in the Woods we took them camping. We broke
them down into groups and they had cabins. A lot of kids had never been camping before. We
mixed the older with the younger; we mixed all of the neighborhoods up. This is when they
were warring, too. So tension was high. We took them out of this environment here, took
them up there, broke them down – and by the end of that thing – showing them
archery, showing them hiking, basketball, volleyball, swimming, campfire time –
talking to them, making banners where they broke down their identification and gave them a
new identification with a positive statement – a positive name – we had them
working towards the goal of Best Cabin!
After the third day they were like, "Three days is not enough; I'm barely getting
to know this guy from the other side." We knew then that it was working. Too often we
want to lecture to kids. We need to listen, not lecture.
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| Q & A Gianna
Tran |
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How have you seen violence manifest in your community? |
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Violence takes many shapes and forms and comes in many different ways.
For the people in the Vietnamese community, the immediate perspective is the war. Here in
the U.S., we had to start from the very bottom of the socio-economic ladder, basically,
living in housing projects, receiving public assistance, and trying to get out of it
– and definitely, there was violence on the street, in our own neighborhood. After
being here for 25 years now, Vietnamese women are beginning to see the values of being an
independent woman. There is this thing about conflicts in marriages because of the
traditional values and the modern values that leads to a lot of domestic violence
situations.
I see environmental violence being very prevalent in low-income neighborhoods, in the
form of advertisements to kids for alcohol, cigarettes, and selling substances to kids.
In particular at EBAYC, the violence I have seen quite often is basically gang
violence. There are a lot of conflicts among different groups. |
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How do you discuss violence and community health with immigrant and
refugee families? What works to reduce violence here? |
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They see it as an individual family problem, not as a community problem.
To compare it to a disease may be something very new to immigrants, but I think that's the
best way to make people understand that it is a serious thing. I think we haven't been
there 100 percent yet because the problem is so extensive, but I think we're making
progress in achieving the ultimate outcome of reducing violence in our community in our
kids' lives. That is a commitment we make to ourselves here at EBAYC. |
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What will it look like in your community when kids are safe? |
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I see a family environment that is calm and has a lot of happiness and
not suffering. I see kids doing a lot better in school – that they are graduating and
they have good grades. I see probation officers being laid off – no more kids for
them to work with! Something I always tell the staff, jokingly – that the purpose of
our job is that we shouldn't be here in ten years because the kids will be doing so well
and they can lead other kids. I see stronger families and stronger academic performance
and a stronger sense of pride for their own community – no more graffiti on the wall
at the school or on the playground. Healthier in the physical environment and healthier in
state of mind – both.
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