‘Before I got in here, I was rippin’ and runnin’. Just in the streets, doing me, trying to make a buck.’

The MAAFA Redemption Project is one of several anti-violence groups that works to make the streets of West Garfield Park less dangerous. Headed by Deacon Robert Ervin of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, it offers a yearlong program of job training, psychotherapy, and counseling.

Dayquan Rollins, 27

I been in the program since 2020. … One of my homies, I was telling him I needed a job because I had just caught a case and I was trying to cool off a little bit. He said, ‘Come with me, I got a job over at the church.’

When I came there, I thought they was going to have us doing janitorial work or something like that, but they were doing group meditation. I was about to walk out. I thought I was in the wrong place.

You could relate to them because they were in the mix, they were in the business, and they changed. They’re following God. It lets you know you could.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Before I got in here, I was rippin’ and runnin’. Just in the streets, doing me, trying to make a buck.

I was in the streets when I was 13, 14 years old and started really getting into stuff at 15 and beyond. I still was going to school getting good grades, just doing little boy stuff ...

I was probably like 8 the first time I saw someone get shot. I was looking at it, I was like, damn. I was curious about what happened.

Where you’re from, whatever is going on, it just seems like the way of living. You don’t even know it’s wrong.

When I was young, I felt bad, but it didn’t hurt. You’re childish. Your thought process isn’t mature. It’s more curiosity. But now, with a mature mindset and feelings on what’s really going on, I can really feel the empathy. I’m not curious, I just like, damn ...

Out here you sign up for one of two things — go to jail, or you going to wind up getting killed. Get hurt out here or go to jail ...

Even if I have some money, I still gotta have me a house in West Garfield Park. I just love it. This is where I grew up. This is all that I know. I ain’t never lived nowhere else.

Rashaad Washington, 26

I been in this program since 2018. Before that, I was in a little bit of everything. I was mainly running the streets, all day every day.

I been shot twice. In 2019, shot in my leg and 2020, shot in my head and my back.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

When I got shot in my head, I was in a coma for about a week. When I woke up, my cellphone was all text messages from my people, with all the stuff they done to get back on the guys that shot me.

The only thing I could do when I woke up was talk. I was being fed, I couldn’t dress myself. I had to learn how to walk again.

I threw my towel in for real when I got shot in my head. Wasn’t nothing fun for me anymore. I couldn’t trust people. Outside wasn’t fun for me. I’d rather just stay inside, play the game.

Getting shot at, it will throw you off a little bit. You just have to know what you’re dealing with out here. You have to know your surroundings and the people out here. You have to keep your head on a swivel, is what we say. …

I seen a man get shot outside his daughter’s gate when I was 11. He was talking to his daughter, and he got shot in his head right in front of me.

It was the first time something like that happened in front of me, that I actually seen it. They just ran us off the porch, inside. I don’t remember anyone talking to me about it. ...

I’ve got a daughter now. I have to consider her safety and well-being as my primary concern at the moment.

Having a kid is a blessing. It’s a beautiful thing. A kid is a beautiful thing. They didn’t never ask to be here. All I know is I got to go hard for her.

Ferrice Spiceson, 26

I was 7 or 8, one of the guys who used to sell drugs on the block ended up dying. He’d always tell us kids, don’t do what he’s doing. That was the irony.

I heard shots, and I didn’t even understand it. Just they came up and got us all in the house. When I came out next day, there was a little memorial for him.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

West Garfield Park needs more opportunities. These little kids out here robbing and stealing and all that, it’s because they feel there’s no other way for them to get any more money.

We also need real, live mental health counseling. There’s a lot of people out here traumatized, like I was, being shot at that age, seeing people shot. …

My big brother got shot in April. All I know is I got a call saying my brother got shot. When I got to the hospital, they told me he was fighting, then five minutes later he was pronounced dead.

That’s the thing that trips me up most. At first he was selling drugs and all that. For the past seven, eight years, he was trying to do better. …

The first time I got shot at, I was at a park. I was about 11, 12. Somebody rolled by and shot up the park. I don’t know who they was shooting at. The park was crowded. …

It sounds crazy, but whether you feel scared or not, it just depends. Sometimes, I’d get shot at and be scared, but sometimes I’d be laughing.

There’s a lot of people who want to get out, but they’re afraid of the unknown. They’re afraid of people coming back after them.