Bless Their Names
Violence prevention in Oakland, Calif.
At a time when violent crime in Oakland, Calif., is growing, the city’s initiative aimed at preventing violent crime before it happens—the Department of Violence Prevention (DVP)—faced $4.4 million in budget cuts. Oakland Mayor Thao and the Oakland City Council finalized these cuts and others at the end of June 2023 when they passed the city’s two-year spending plan designed to address a historic budget deficit.
In July 2023, the DVP was faced with figuring out exactly what to cut, and by how much, to whittle its budget down.
I followed Joseph “Church” Truehill in his work as one of the DVP’s violence interrupters to understand how budget cuts to this agency could impact the Oaklanders it aims to help protect.
See the full story here.
Joseph “Church” Truehill heads to the scene of a shooting in Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood on July 14, 2023 to provide support as a violence interrupter. Truehill grew up in San Antonio and is intimately familiar with the neighborhood and its community. Credit: Florence Middleton
Truehill chats with other attendees at the Department of Violence Prevention’s Town Nights in San Antonio Park on July 14, 2023. Truehill has known many of the staff members, volunteers, and attendees at the event for much of his life.
Truehill wears a necklace to remember the rap group, Yellow Bus Gang, he and his younger brother, Lil Mike, were in before Lil Mike was killed in 2006. “Every time somebody would see us, it would be like the negative effect of what gangs do,” Truehill said. “So what [Lil Mike] tried to do is change the narrative of the way people looked at us.” They repurposed the word “gang” to be an acronym for “Gifted Amazing Neverending Greatness.”
A candlelight vigil on July 25, 2023, in front of the home where a man and woman were found shot to death on 89th Avenue in East Oakland. The two deaths were part of a particularly tragic day when Oakland suffered four homicides in 10 hours on July 19.
A memorial on July 27, 2023, in front of the home where Shamara Young lived in Oakland, Calif. Young, 15, was shot and killed in 2021 when she was the passenger of a vehicle involved in a road rage incident. Young’s stepfather made the wooden sign with her name and the neighbors maintain the flowers even two years after her death.
Team members of Trybe, Inc.—an Oakland community-based organization that partners with the Department of Violence Prevention—who work towards violence intervention and prevention through a variety of roles, from left to right: Hector Cruz, lead ambassador and operations manager; Elias Cruz, violence interrupter; Victor Jacobs, food distribution manager; Lavell Jackson, violence interrupter; Wilson Nguyen, ambassador. The violence interrupters respond to shootings and homicides and support community events, the ambassadors ensure the San Antonio Park area is safe and support community members with needs like housing, and the food distribution manager helps ensure people in need have access to food through meal drop-offs and food drives.
Oakland police surround the 1800 block of 11th Avenue in Oakland where a man was shot in his parked car on July 14, 2023.
Truehill speaks with a community member who found the man who was shot, center, and the victim’s brother, right, after they arrived at the scene looking for more information on July 14, 2023.
Chalina Hatcher at her Oakland home on July 27, two years after her daughter was killed. “It’s support from a city you feel that have totally let you down,” Hatcher said, referring to the DVP services she received after her daughter died. “I do think Oakland has the people down, way down.”
Chalina Hatcher has received ongoing support from the DVP network since her daughter’s death nearly two years ago. Her daughter’s memorial also continues to live on outside her home.
Truehill greets a community member at Town Nights in San Antonio Park in Oakland, Calif., on July 14, 2023 as the event’s MC introduces the next performance. The event hosted local rappers, poets, dancers, a bounce house, crafts for kids, bingo for adults, and more. Violence interrupters respond to shootings and victims and family members after violent incidences occur, and they also organize community events in areas hit the hardest by violence to prevent crime before it happens.
An estimated 1,000 community members attended the Town Nights event on July 14, 2023, at San Antonio Park in Oakland, Calif. Town Nights are held during times when violent crime in Oakland is most frequent—summer nights.
A resident poses for a photo on July 14, 2023, at the Fawohodze Inc. booth at Town Nights in San Antonio Park in Oakland, Calif., after learning how to carry his baby in the Ghanaian baby-wearing style.
The Buckets Not Bullets basketball camp was launched in 2017 by Truehill with the goal of “pushing positivity through the realization that no life is perfect but yours is worth appreciating,” according to their website. It organizes events like peace walks in Oakland and the Buckets Not Bullets summer camp for Oakland youth.
At the Buckets Not Bullets camp on July 26, 2023, Coach Joshua Hatcher encourages campers to enjoy the offerings at a snack table at the gym entrance.
The Trybe, Inc. office located at the top of San Antonio Park in Oakland, Calif., on July 20, 2023, serves as the headquarters for the organization’s violence prevention and intervention work. Trybe, Inc., where Joseph “Church” Truehill works, and other community-based organizations in Oakland, brace themselves for potentially significant budget cuts and fear their programs and employees may be impacted.
Shamara Young’s ashes rest in a purple urn on July 27, 2023, on a mantel in the home where she lived. On top of the urn is a tiara she planned to wear for her sweet 16 but instead wore during her funeral. Families like Young’s, who have been impacted by violence, face receiving less support after the City of Oakland’s budget cuts are finalized.
“It’s not just my job,” Joseph “Church” Truehill said, thinking of the budget cuts. “But it’s going to stop a lot of people from being able to get the help that they need.” According to Truehill, Trybe was able to divert a homeless encampment in the Garfield Park area by helping community members find housing with DVP funding.
A mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland, Calif., honors the many Oakland community members lost to violence on July 21, 2023.
A young community member gets her face painted at a Town Nights event on July 14, 2023, at San Antonio Park.