How to talk about peace

What It Covers

This episode examines peacemaking through the 1992 Watts gang truce between Crips and Bloods. Activist Akela Shirelles details negotiating the historic treaty that reduced gang homicides by 44 percent in two years. The episode also features Israeli and Palestinian peace activists Maoz Inon and Aziz Abusara discussing reconciliation after October 7th attacks.

Key Questions Answered

• •Credible Messenger Strategy: Newark reduced homicides from 103 in 2014 to 37 in 2024 by hiring 16 ex-gang members and formerly incarcerated individuals as community ambassadors. These credible messengers used relationship capital to mediate gang disputes, run safe passage programs for students, and operate trauma recovery centers. Residents in low-income urban communities are 15 times more likely to experience violence but three times less likely to receive help.
• •Peace Treaty Maintenance Protocol: After the Watts ceasefire, any shooting triggered immediate phone calls between gang leaders to investigate before retaliation. They researched each incident to determine if it was personal conflict or neighborhood-based. This verification system prevented automatic revenge cycles that previously caused escalation. The key was consistently returning to the table to renegotiate terms whenever violence occurred, not abandoning the agreement after setbacks.
• •Life Skills Infrastructure: Following the treaty signing, organizers secured contracts to run zero period classes at Locke High School for gang-involved students struggling with credits. They established life skills training in all four housing projects teaching financial management and decision-making. The Community Self-Determination Institute employed over 80 individuals with millions in city, county, and state contracts providing computer skills and dropout prevention services across the neighborhood.
• •Shooter Inclusion Requirement: Peace negotiations stalled until organizers brought the actual shooters to the table, representing less than five percent of gang members but committing most homicides. These individuals had to make the ceasefire agreement for it to hold legitimacy. The initial terms were simple: stay in your own neighborhood, give each other a pass when meeting on streets, and no interference with each other's business operations.
• •Dual Narrative Framework: Aziz Abusara cofounded Mejdi Tours in 2009 to create citizen diplomat movements through dual narrative tours where Israeli and Palestinian guides co-lead groups. This framework provides structured context for asking difficult questions about historical narratives. His father's question about the Holocaust at a peace meeting, though initially shocking, led to 70 Palestinians visiting the Holocaust Memorial and Israelis later visiting a destroyed Palestinian town from 1948.