Day 29: NOLA for Life

Sometimes it’s not easy to forget that this is a high crime city.

Spike Lee and I share two very important loves: the New York Knicks and the City of New Orleans. He has recently partnered with the city to try and battle the level of youth homicide and is aggregating efforts here: nolaforlife.com. Half of his $2M contribution comes in the form of an advertising campaign and I am understandably cynical about the power of a bus ad over the trigger finger of a restless and terrified 15 year-old boy. However, I do love the idea of community interrupters, regular ‘ole people who assemble to the spot of a shooting as a deterrence against revenge. There’s ceremony in vengeance and the more you can interrupt the emotional ritual of it, the less likely it can complete. There’s a similar effort happening in New York City called Occupy the Corners (shout-outs to my former classmate, Talib Hudson, for his organizational and promotional prowess in the effort).