NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – When Rasheedat Fetuga became a teacher, she worked hard to help protect her students, many of them poor and from a nearby housing project. When one of her favorites was shot and killed at 16, she stood at his funeral and vowed to do more.
That was the beginning of the Gideon’s Army violence interrupters, a small group that works in predominantly Black North Nashville to defuse tense situations before they become violent.
Their primary focus is a 228-unit housing project formally known as the Cumberland View Apartments but more commonly referred to by its nickname, Dodge City, for the amount of gun violence that has historically occurred there.
The violence interrupters include Hambino Godbody, who grew up in Cumberland View and still has DCP (Dodge City Projects) tattooed on the back of his left hand.
“We’re the cure to the violence in real life. We know we are because we cured ourselves first,” he said.