The Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts is divided by railroad tracks. For years those tracks defined the zones of two warring gangs, the Crips and the Bloods. More people were killed in their fighting than in Northern Ireland or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Then, in 1992, the gangs signed a peace treaty, the terms of which have mostly held to this day.

The main negotiator of that peace was Aqeela Sherrills. Born and raised in Watts, Sherrills was part of gang life as a teenager. By the time he was 16, thirteen of his best friends had been killed. He got out of Watts by attending college. But in 1989, as a young man, he returned to the neighborhood with a personal commitment to creating peace. With some friends, he began spending his days on the streets,  risking his life by listening and talking to both Crips and Bloods. His efforts were supported financially by former football star Jim Brown, who also offered his Los Angeles-area home as a neutral ground for rival gang members to meet. At the meetings, Sherrills and Brown offered training in how to resolve conflicts, in order to break the endless cycle of violence and revenge.

In 1992, the three years of dedicated work paid off. Leaders of the Crips and Bloods agreed to peace. Sherrills recalls the day: “Everyone was happy, grandmothers were crying, everyone was calling each other, for the first time fathers were able to visit their children on the other side of the railroad tracks. It totally changed the quality of our lives.” In the year following the treaty, the homicide rate in Watts dropped by 44%.

So astounding was it that these bitter enemies agreed to peace that Sherrills was invited to other warring neighborhoods. Through the Community Self-Determination Institute, which he formed with his brother, he has worked successfully in more than a dozen other cities.

Having been a gang member, Sherrills does not try to break up gangs. On the contrary, he sees them as hugely important social structures, providing their members with a sense of identity and belonging. His goal is to enlist the gangs as a powerful resource on behalf of the community. “They’ve already said, ‘This is our territory;’ and it’s about flipping their consciousness, to protecting and providing a service to the neighborhood.”

The peace process is ongoing. Treaties are broken and the cycle of violence threatens to break out again. Again and again Sherrills and his partners at the Community Self-Determination Institute engage the gangs and other committed community members in negotiation, problem-solving, face-to-face talk.  Peace is not magic; it is patient, step by step, day by day commitment.

Sherrills’ own commitment was horrifically tested in 2004, when his 18 year old son, Terrell, was shot and killed in Watts, while home from college visiting his father. The killer is known but has not been apprehended. Sherrills knows that vengeance on his part would devastate the community, and would not heal his own broken heart. This awful loss has deepened and brought home the vision that called him back to Watts in 1989: “My dream is still that children can grow up in Watts safely and without fear.” He is not giving up; he is not leaving. This is home. “I don’t want to move to a better neighborhood. This is a better neighborhood.”

Resources:

“Peace is not a field of flowers. It’s hard work” Tijn Touber, Ode Magazine, Issue 24

“This is what peace looks like”, Satya Magazine, November, 2002

 

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