The media loves a Willie Horton narrative. Here’s what their splashy headlines miss with respect to violence interrupters & @Curethestreets. Violence interrupters and credible messengers are, by design, people who have made mistakes, often very serious mistakes, in their lives.

The whole point is to reach young people who are likely to commit violent acts or become victims of them, and intervene to prevent that from happening. To reach them, you need to figure out who they listen to, who they look up to.

I can tell you, they’re not listening to me, they’re not listening to police or politicians. People who have walked the walk, made mistakes, been incarcerated, etc. are far more effective at reaching and redirecting these young people than others.

It’s important that those working as violence interrupters are committed to being a part of the solution rather than continuing to be a part of the problem. And the folks at Cure the Streets are best qualified to make those assessments in hiring.

But I also recognize that, like any other hiring managers, they will sometimes hire ppl who fall short of expectations, or people who aren’t ready for change. Mr. Wynn was arrested for conduct before he became a violence interrupter, so its not even clear that’s the case here.

Nonetheless, those closest to the problem are still closest to the solution, directly-impacted credible messengers continue to be more effective at reaching youth in their communities than you or I would, & we still have work to do to stop gun violence in our community. Onward.