Oops it was a Chicago station. But let me tell you about it because it was great! This is kind of long but well worth it to read.
This documentry on UPN this evening was EXCELLENT! There was nothing said in the entire 2 hours that I did not agree with. These crisis intervention counselors had 7 kids ages ranging from 12 to 17, they all had some kind of arrest, and were basically all gang bangers. At the begining of the show they interviewed each kid. All of them said they were 'kickin' it' with their 'homey' gangbangers, most did drugs, all had easy access to guns. and all had no anger management what so ever. Most of them were saying how they brought guns to school all the time in their back packs, pants, purses, ect. They said it so easy to get guns, anywhere from a .38 to an AK47. One of the girls was involved in a drive by shooting a few evenings before they taped this. She was with her gang and they went out for a drive by, they all had guns and just started shooting at the rivals. Apparently one of her 'homeys' was shot in the head while sitting next to her in the car. She didnt show much emotion. She just said she thought she would be the one shooting and would not be the one who got shot at. One of the other girls said her boyfriend is in a gang and she is along for the drive bys also but doesnt shoot. She said she loved him so much, she would be prepared to die for him, but she 'knew' she wasnt going to get shot. All these kids just had the same attitude, they didnt care about anyone, didnt care about themselves, violence had no meaning to them at all.
The counselors took these 7 kids on a 2 week trip (I think it was 2 weeks). The first place they were taken to was a trauma center/hospital. A real 'tough' Dr. met the kids outside of the hospital. He talked to them in their own language (gang banger terminology). He told these kids he is going to show them what being tough is all about. What a person looks like after being shot, and the consequences it brought. First they took them to just an empty operating room and had one of the kids volunteer to be a 'victim'. The Dr. showed them that when a gunshot victim comes in , depending upon where they were shot, how they need to stick a tube down their throat so that the victim could breathe. Some of the kids squirmed and some just kinda laughed it off. The Dr. kept yelling at them asking them what was so funny, and what if that was you. He told them that the toughest gang bangers come in there as a vicitim, piss in their pants and call for their mommy. He said no one is tough in a life threatning situation like that. That got to some of the kids but of course then they shrugged it off. Then they took them to see another vicitim. This guy was stabbed in his stomache and his intestines were hanging out! That made them all squrim, it was great. Then on to another vicitim that was shot in the chest. This guy had a huge wound from his neck to his waist with staples in it. The patient had a tube up his nose and the Dr. told the kids he can not talk with an uncomfortable tube like that. But it was time for them to take it out. So they took the tube out right in front of the kids. That got to all of them. The patient was a gang banger. He told the kids how much pain he was in and to look at his body how mutilated it was. You could tell the kids were listening to him. Then they took the kids to this room where an X gang banger told them a story. It was how him and his girlfriend were at a store, rival gang memebers pulled up and shot him and his girlfriend was struck in the stomache. He loved her and they were supposed to get married. She did survive but was in a coma for a long time and just barely made it. She was there also. I guess now they are married, but she had told him that if he really loved her he would get out of the gang and straighten up. He did just that. So he lectured the kids for awhile and they reallylistened to him, some kids even broke out in tears. At the end of that day they interviewed the kids again. Very little attitude change in all, but some you could tell were starting to wake up.
The next day they took the kids to this place where they have a huge clothes line full of tshirts. Each color represented either rape, child abuse, victim, and a few other things. One kid got really mad when he saw all the child abuse ones. At the end of the day they all sat around and talked about their pasts. Most of them had some form of child abuse or neglect. They had the kids all write a letter to the person who hurt them the most. Suprisingly, most were written to a parent. One kid wrote it to his 'rivals' and was mad that they shot his friend who is now in a wheel chair. They were each told to take their note and throw it in the camp fire and let it go. They all did but some attitudes were still there.
The next day they flew them to Colorado where they stayed at a camp. These kids have never been out of LA before, this was something new to them. The one kid was so happy, he said he felt safe, it was nothing like his neigborhood. So during the course of this visit they did a few activities to try and get the kids to trust one another. One consisted of a hike where they were taught some survival tips, and were made to go in very cold waters. This made them get their minds off of violence for awhile. There were little arguments here and there between some of the kids, but eventually the counselors showed them how to deal with problems in ways other than anger. Finally they made up and seemed to becoming more of a team. It was great you could really start to see a change in some of these kids. The next day they challenged the kids to do something none of them have ever done before. They had each of the kids climb a 100 foot stone mountain. Each time a kid made it to the top you could see and feel the accomplishment this kid was feeling. They were all proud of themselves and learned that if they put their minds to something they can do anything they want. I thought that was very clever.
On the last day the counselors took somewhere but they didnt tell the kids where they were going. They ended up going to Columbine. It turns out that one of those 7 kids, was the kid who wrote that diary planning to blow up his school. He had it all written down and was really going to go through with it, but went to the bathroom and the girl next to him took the diary and gave it to the teacher. He was arrested. So finally he came clean with the rest of the kids and told them about his plan and what happened. Anyways they first stop at one of the teachers that was teaching at Columbine when the shooting occured. She had told her story and how she felt, that made the kids cry. Then Rachel Scott's Father and Brother were there. They showed the kids pictures of Rachel and told stories about her. The son was in the school at the time of the shooting and 3 kids were killed on the desk above him. He was in the library. He also knew Dilan and Eric. His story really got to every single one of those kids. Even the big gang banger guy was crying. All of the kids said thank you for talking to them and it opened their eyes. It was very powerful. The next stop was an actual trip inside Columbine. The kids did not say one word at this point, just horror stricken. The teacher took them through and they showed the library, the cafeteria and the hallway. She pointed out where each kid was and gave them the name of that student that was killed. All of those kids were amazed, a change for the better was occuring in each of them. After the tour of the school, they went out to the field where the memorials are. Once again the kids cried. Each kid left a flower on the crosses and put heartfelt messages on the wood. Once again, very powerful.
After all of this they interviewed each kid again. They showed a small clip from the very first interview than showed the new one. You could see a change in each of those kids. They dressed better, looked healthier, and even had much better attitudes about life in general. I was amazed. Each kid vowed to change their life and that they promised to stay away from violence.
The last part of the trip when they got back to LA, they were taken to a childrens home, where little kids (small kids) were abused in some way and put in this home. The original 7 kids were asked to give these small kids advice, play with them, and they all planted some trees in the worn down park. Those 7 kids sounded like totally new kids. They loved these small children and loved the experience to be able to help someone else.
These kids all go back home after that but are asked to make a public service announcement about anti-violence. Not anti-gun, just anti-violence. It was a great commercial, in fact I think I have seen it before, they never mentioned guns it was all focused on violence, as was the entire show. The PSA turned out great and they were all proud of what they did. At the end of the show they gave an update how these kids were doing a few weeks later. 2 of the 7 were now volunteering counseling in their schools. One was in an ongoing play about domestic violence. One was finally getting along with his father and building a realtionship. One girl was taking an extra class to become an actress and has stayed out of any kinds of trouble. One girl turned away all her gang banger friends, found new ones, and even switched schools. sadly one kid got into a fight and was arrested. Other than that these kids all did great. The show focused on the real problem, violence.anger management, not guns. They did talk about guns, and how they are easily accesed but no one said anything like we need gun control. If anything it should wake people like Sarah Brady up and see this is where the problem is. These kids can get guns from their friends, borrow their friends guns, and they are all under age. Something needs to be done about that . You could tell from this show that all these stats we hear about how many kids are getting killed by guns each day, this is why, this is your stats. Its these little punk gang bangers that sadly come from a broken home, and there is no one there to help them out. Why not fight to stop that instead of fighting for more gun control. Kid gun control is more like it. This show was just great. They really need to play this on a major network, that and send a copy of it to HCI. In fact that is what I am going to do, I am going to get a copy of the show and send it to them!
Sorry this was so long but I wish you all could have seen it.