We can't get at crime unless we know what language it speaks. Otherwise, we are just suppressing the cough, not curing the disease.
Greg BoyleRead
The idea that any law enforcement agency or person would ever know these gang members better than Homeboy Industries is impossible.
Interpretation
Homeboy Industries has a deep understanding of gang members that surpasses external perceptions.
Greg Boyle emphasizes the unique relationship and understanding that Homeboy Industries has with gang members, suggesting that no outside authority or law enforcement can comprehend the complexities of their lives and experiences as well as the organization dedicated to helping them. This highlights the importance of community and connection in addressing social issues.
In practice
During a community meeting discussing gang prevention.
We can't get at crime unless we know what language it speaks. Otherwise, we are just suppressing the cough, not curing the disease.
If there is a fundamental challenge within these stories, it is simply to change our lurking suspicion that some lives matter less than other lives.
Relapse happens, especially when you're dealing with folks who are frankly the least likely to succeed based on their own pasts and difficulties. We can work with the most likely to succeed. I'm not interested in that.
We ought not to demonize a single gang member, and we ought not to romanticize a single gang.
Anyone who knows gangs knows that lawmakers cannot conceive of a law that would lead a hard-core gang member to 'think twice.'
Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with the 'demonized' so that the demonizing will stop; it stands with the 'disposable' so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.
In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.
Southern white people despise the Negro as a race, and will do nothing to aid in his elevation as such; but for certain individuals they have a strong affection, and are helpful to them in many ways.
The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness.
I choose the likely man in preference to the rich man; I want a man without money rather than money without a man.
As we continued to talk, going through the motions of getting to know each other, I realized that we already did know each other, as well as any two people could. Weβd known each other for years, in the most intimate way possible. Weβd connected on a purely mental level. I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a dear friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.
Let us be a temple-attending people. Attend the temple as frequently as personal circumstances allow. Keep a picture of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the purposes of the House of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to go there and to remain worthy of that blessing.
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