please welcome ameena matthews. ( cheers and applause ). miss moots -- thank you so much for being here. i love those lightning bolt earrings. >> i wore them just for you. >> stephen: young lady you're what's called a violence interrupter. >> i am. >> stephen: for a group called c-spire. >> yes. >> stephen: and you're featured in the documentary ""the interrupted"" which will be on frontline february 14 at 9:00 p.m. violence interrupter. >> yes. >> stephen: i'm an interrupter myself. but how do you interrupt violence? that sound like a very dangerous thing to do. >> yes. you are an interrupter in a rude way. i'm a violence interrupter in saving lines. >> stephen: i save our nation. >> yeah, well, i've seen you do it. ( laughter ). yes. >> stephen: you're welcome, you're welcome. so what do you do? >> we stop the transmission of violence from one person to another. >> stephen: how do you know-- how do you know when violence is coming? >> the community is very, very informative. you know, where i work is where i used to live. >> stephen: in c

. >> ameena. >> ameena matthews' father was one of the biggest gang leaders in the history of chicago. she gets in where a lot of guys can't get in. >> this is unacceptable for me to be holding this young man's obituary. stop. >> tonight ofrontline... >> we're trying to stop the violence. that's it and that's all. >> the acclaimed documentarthe interrupters. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by reva & david logan, committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. with additional funding from the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and the frontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. major funding for frontline and for "the interrupters" is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. with additional funding for this program from the sundance institute do

the voice belongs to former gang enforcer, ameena matthews. . >> holding a prayer vigil for a kid shot in front of his home is listening to the radio. he definitely wasn't in a game. he was loved by his block. when ego sets in, these young guys say let's go get who we think did it. >> i'm hearing 20 different things. all of it is is stupid. all of it is stupid. 2:00 in the afternoon coming home from school. for real? this is unacceptable for me to be holding this boy, this young man obituary. schools, churches your mama's house, your cars. those are safe zones. i was making a real stupid decision and some stupid calls. there were calls in my life, blood on my hands in my head. who does this baby belong to? who does this little shorty belong to? he's just hanging around? he's just hanging? this little... he's just hanging around y'all, right? he see everything that y'all do, right? so if this brother right here do 100 years, whose fault is it? it's his fault? >> it's our fault. >> teach him. y'all got it? >> yeah. >> y'all got it? >> yeah. >> you got it? >> yeah. >> all right. i'm looki