#38: Homies

The NRA claims that the only thing that can stop a bad man with a gun is a good guy with a gun—and the stories told by Hollywood can make that seem true. But if you move a few miles away, to the streets of Los Angeles, you'll quickly learn that real life is much more complicated and much more beautiful: that, most often, the people holding the guns aren't bad guys, or good guys, they're human beings, people struggling to stay alive in circumstances they didn't create and would never have chosen. If you want to stop violence at its root, it's not about pulling a trigger: it's about helping people realize their rights and achieve their dreams. Our guest, Alex Sanchez, executive director of Homies Unidos, has lived every part of this story. He's been in gangs, in prison, deported. He's been hunted by the LAPD and by El Salvadoran death squads. And when he found a path to a life in service of justice, he didn't just walk it himself—he became mentor to help thousands make the same journey.