Growing up the youngest of 10 siblings in a Watts, Los Angeles housing project, and a member of the famed Crips gang, Aqeela Sherrills witnessed from the inside the pain and devastation of the countrys most violent urban street gang war, which would proceed to claim 30,000 lives between 1983-2003. By 1992, he and his brother and a few other key community players had brokered a historic peace agreement between the rival Bloods and Crips. He is now a leading campaigner against gang violence and the death penalty, as a subject matter expert on victim service and community-based public safety.Tragically, in 2004 Sherrill's own 18-year-old son died to gun violence while at home on break from college. In response, Aqeela in 2005 visited sacred sites around the world, and upon returning to Watts he embarked on a new phase of work and activism, launching The Reverence Project. He shares more in this powerful talk.
