This year alone, 1,000 people have been shot in Chicago — a fitting statistic for a city which also just logged its deadliest year in two decades.
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump repeatedly referenced the city’s violence problem and promised to find a solution. Twelve days after inauguration, a pastor named Darrell Scott told President Trump at a Black History Month listening session that he had one. Scott — the CEO of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump — claimed “top gang thugs” in Chicago had personally contacted him, interested in sitting down with the administration to discuss lowering “the body count” in the city. Chicagoans reacted to Scott’s comments with skepticism, doubting that a pastor from Cleveland had the connections and knowledge necessary to make change in Chicago’s communities.
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Antonia Hylton traveled to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Cleveland, documenting the efforts of local faith leaders, community organizers, gang members, and Darrell Scott, as they try to meet and devise solutions to Chicago’s troubles.
This segment originally aired April 25, 2017 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
