Poverty is a big one. As long as you have poverty and hopelessness, you will have these things. How do you get rid of them? That's a good question. We will always have poverty, and most of the kids who end up in these gangs come from poor homes. They really do.
I know lots of young gang members myself. They come, and I feed them. They're allowed to have a shower at my home. They come and talk to me when things are not good for them.
I know one young man who at 18 had already killed three people. How is he ever going to change? I take him to church with me. I pray for him. I love him, because a lot of people don't. He comes from an extremely poor family.
It was the first place where he felt accepted and made money. Now he's 26 years old. He's been away from the gang for four years, and he's a father. Hopefully, that will help change him. But as a youth, and as a young man who never had anything, who was always hungry, always dirty.... I watched this boy grow up. I was on his street. He's a different guy. But a lot of what he looked for was that acceptance, that belonging. That sense of belonging is a big one. Poverty is one. How do we deal with poverty?