It's not me who matters.

I got frustrated as the boys continued to film their documentary about gang violence. * * * Four kids sat on the steps of a two-family house. One of the boys walked up and gave them dap [a handshake]. “BG man,” he said. I held the camera. Interviewer to Kid #1: What’s your name? Kid #1: BG Interviewer: How old are you? Kid #1: Fourteen. Interviewer: How long have you been living in the neighborhood? Kid #1: [He thinks about it, looking up to the sky.] Like ten years. Interviewer to Kid #2: What’s your name? Kid #2: I’m thirteen. My name is Jizz. But around here, it’s like, it’s like nothing new to us around here. It stays the same around here. Nothings changing up. It’s like, all the gang violence it’s gonna stay the same always [he emphasized “always”]. Kid # 3: It’s never gonna change. You can’t just-- The boys laughed in response. I intervened, “Why isn’t it going to change? Ya’ll can change it.” Kid # 3: You can just go up to them and say don’t— Kid #2 interrupts: It’s our generation. How we’re raised. I want to be in the NFL. I want to be somebody. I don’t want to be on the street selling stuff and nothing like that. The boys continued to laugh and talk. I couldn’t hear what Kid # 2 was saying. Out of frustration I yelled, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, can ya’ll be quiet! Can I get with this young man [hear what he is saying]?” I asked Kid #2, “Can you say that again, sir?” Kid #3 blurts out while Kid #2 talked: I want to make it rain [shoot a gun]. The boys were amused. One of them asked, “What’s your name man? Your next.” [Meaning one of the next gang members coming up.] Calmly, I asked one of the boys, “Can you stop?” Turning to Kid #2, I said, “Go ahead son, say what you just said.” He began to repeat himself quietly. He looked worried that the boys didn’t confirm his statement. Kid #2: I want to be in the NFL. I want to be somebody. I don’t want to be on the street selling stuff that can get me in trouble. I got to do the right thing. I validated him, “I like that. Thank you for saying that.” But it wasn’t my validation that mattered. We continued to walk the community to find others to interview. Kids #1, “#2, #3, and #4 followed the boys the entire time.