Aqeela Sherrills

Last updated

Aqeela Sherrills is a campaigner against gang violence and the death penalty who lives in Watts, Los Angeles, United States.

In 1992, Sherrills brokered a peace agreement between the Bloods and the Crips (two rival gangs). His son, Terrell Sherrills, was shot to death in 2004 in an apparently random killing. He is executive director and co-founder (with his brother Daude) of the Community Self-Determination Institute. He also co-founded Amer-I-Can with American football player Jim Brown. [1] [2] [3]

In 2005, Sherrills visited sacred sites around the world, and upon returning to Watts he launched The Reverence Movement. [4] [5] [6] As a peace movement, The Reverence Movement is:

a multi-tiered consultant company focused on shifting world wide imagination by instituting a practice of authentic exploration of the wounds in the personal life as a means of accesses the gift of who we are by not defining ourselves as our experiences. [7]


A longtime anti-death penalty activist, Sherrills became the Southern California Outreach Coordinator for California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CCV) in 2010. Through his work with CCV, he speaks out against the death penalty alongside other murder victim family members who also oppose the death penalty. [8]

Related Research Articles

Donald M. Payne American politician (1934–2012)

Donald Milford Payne was an American politician who was the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 10th congressional district from 1989 until his death. He was a member of the Democratic Party. The district encompassed most of the city of Newark, parts of Jersey City and Elizabeth, and some suburban communities in Essex and Union counties. He was the first African American to represent New Jersey in Congress.

Active living Physically active way of life


Active living is a way of life that integrates physical activity into everyday routines, such as walking to the store or biking to work. Active living is not a formalized exercise program or routine, but instead means to incorporate physical activity, which is defined as any form of movement, into everyday life. Active living brings together urban planners, architects, transportation engineers, public health professionals, activists and other professionals to build places that encourage active living and physical activity. One example includes efforts to build sidewalks, crosswalks, pedestrian crossing signals, and other ways for children to walk safely to and from school, as seen in the Safe Routes to School program. Recreational opportunities close to the home or workplace, walking trails, and bike lanes for transportation also contribute to a more active lifestyle. Active living includes any physical activity or recreation activity and contributes to a healthier lifestyle. Furthermore, active living addresses health concerns, such as obesity and chronic disease, by helping people have a physically active lifestyle. Communities that support active living gain health benefits, economic advantages, and improved quality of life.

Akhter Hameed Khan was a Pakistani development practitioner and social scientist. He promoted participatory rural development in Pakistan and other developing countries, and widely advocated community participation in development. His particular contribution was the establishment of a comprehensive project for rural development, the Comilla Model (1959). It earned him the Ramon Magsaysay Award from the Philippines and an honorary Doctorate of law from Michigan State University.

Ira Byock American physician and author

Ira Robert Byock is an American physician, author, and advocate for palliative care. He is founder and chief medical officer of the Providence St. Joseph Health Institute for Human Caring in Torrance, California, and holds appointments as active emeritus professor of medicine and professor of community health and family medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. He was director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, from 2003–14, and associate director for patient and family-centered care at the affiliated Norris-Cotton Cancer Center.

Byron Rushing Massachusetts politician

Byron Rushing represented the Ninth Suffolk district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1983 to 2019. He represented the South End neighborhood of Boston. A Democrat, he was first elected in 1982, before losing his 2018 bid for reelection to Jon Santiago in the Democratic primary.

The Constitution Project is a non-profit think tank in the United States whose goal is to build bipartisan consensus on significant constitutional and legal questions. Its founder and president is Virginia Sloan. The Constitution Project’s work is divided between two programs: the Rule of Law Program and the Criminal Justice Program. Each program houses bipartisan committees focused on specific constitutional issues.

John Hope Bryant

John Hope Bryant is an American financial literacy entrepreneur and businessman. Bryant is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of nonprofit Operation HOPE, chief executive officer of Bryant Group Ventures and The Promise Homes Company, co-founder of Global Dignity, advisor to business and government and author of bestselling books on economics and leadership. He served as a member of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability, the vice chair on the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy and as the chairman of the Committee on the Underserved.

Sudhir Venkatesh

Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh is an American sociologist and urban ethnographer. He is William B. Ransford Professor of Sociology & African-American Studies at Columbia University, a position he has held continuously since 1999. In his work, Venkatesh has studied gangs and underground economies, public housing, advertising and technology. As of 2018, he is the Director of Signal: The Tech & Society Lab at Columbia University.

Crime in Brazil National crime information on Brazil

Crime in Brazil involves an elevated incidence of violent and non-violent crimes. Brazil possesses high rates of violent crimes, such as murders and robberies. Brazil's homicide rate was 27.4 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants according to the UNODC, placing Brazil in the top 20 countries by intentional homicide rate. In international crime rankings however, Brazil is generally not considered amongst the top 20 most dangerous countries in the world but top 50 with many homicides being between gangs and not affecting the general populace and no large scale wars. Brazil is the country with the highest number of intentional homicides in the world, with 57,358 in 2018, or possibly second to Nigeria which lacks accurate data but was estimated at 64,201 in 2016. In recent years, the homicide rate in Brazil has begun to decline. The homicide rate was 20.64 per 100,000 in 2020 with 43,879 killings, similar to 2019, but down from 30.67 per 100,000 in 2017.

Moses William Howard Jr. is an American cleric, former college president, community and business leader. He is known for his involvement in ecumenical organizations domestically and internationally and in international affairs, especially within the Middle East and Southern Africa. He is the son of the late Laura Turner Howard and the late Moses William Howard Sr. He attended public schools in Americus before enrolling in Morehouse College, where he graduated in 1968. He earned a Master of Divinity degree at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1972. His worldview was shaped initially in response to the racial segregation he experienced in his hometown, where he participated in voter registration drives in the early 1960s. He studied Philosophy and Psychology at Morehouse and was heavily influenced by Professors Samuel Williams and Lucius Tobin. His principal academic advisor at Princeton was Professor Edward Jurgi.

2008 California Proposition 6

California Proposition 6, also known as the Safe Neighborhoods Act and The Runner Initiative, is a statutory initiative that appeared on the November 2008 ballot in California. This proposition was rejected by voters on November 4 of that year.

Center for Court Innovation

The Center for Court Innovation is an American non-profit organization headquartered in New York, founded in 1996, with a stated goal of creating a more effective and human justice system by offering aid to victims, reducing crime, and improving public trust in justice.

Nipsey Hussle American rapper (1985–2019)

Airmiess Joseph Asghedom, known professionally as Nipsey Hussle, was an American rapper. Emerging from the West Coast hip hop scene in the mid-2000s, Hussle independently released his first mixtape, Slauson Boy Volume 1, to moderate local success, which led to him being signed to Cinematic Music Group and Epic Records.

Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California.

<i>Crips and Bloods: Made in America</i> 2008 American film

Crips and Bloods: Made in America is a 2008 documentary by Stacy Peralta that examines the rise of the Crips and Bloods, prominent gangs in America. The documentary focuses on the external factors that caused African-American youth to turn to gangs and questions the political and law enforcement response to the rise of gang culture.

2012 California Proposition 34 Failed California ballot measure

Proposition 34 was a California ballot measure that was decided by California voters at the statewide election on November 6, 2012. It sought to repeal Proposition 17, originally passed by voters in 1972, thus abolishing the death penalty in California.

Michael A. Ramos

Michael Anthony "Mike" Ramos is an American attorney. He was the 35th district attorney of San Bernardino County, California. He was first elected in 2002 and is the first Hispanic district attorney elected in San Bernardino County. He was defeated June 2018 by Jason Anderson, a former prosecutor and Ontario, California council member.

David Bohnett Foundation

The David Bohnett Foundation is a global private foundation that gives grants to organizations that focus on its core giving areas – primarily Los Angeles area programs and LGBT rights in the United States, as well as leadership initiatives and voter education, gun violence prevention, and animal language research. As of 2021, the foundation has donated over $120 million to nonprofit organizations and initiatives.

Clement Alexander Price was an American historian. As the Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History at Rutgers University-Newark, Price brought his study of the past to bear on contemporary social issues in his adopted hometown of Newark, New Jersey, and across the nation. He was the founding director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers; the vice chair of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the chair of Obama's transition team for the National Endowment for the Humanities; a member of the Scholarly Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; and a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He was appointed City of Newark Historian in early 2014. His service to New Jersey included appointments by Governors Brendan Byrne and Thomas H. Kean to the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, which he served as chair for two terms, and by Governor Christine Todd Whitman to the board of the Save Ellis Island Foundation, which he also chaired.

The Danzig Street shooting or Danzig shooting was a Canadian gang-related shooting. It occurred on the evening of 16 July 2012 at a block party on Danzig Street in the West Hill neighbourhood of Toronto. Rival gang members Folorunso Owusu, 17, and Nahom Tsegazab, 19, along with an unidentified third gunman, opened fire in a crowd of two hundred people. This resulted in the deaths of Joshua Yasay and Shyanne Charles, and the injury of twenty-four others, making it the worst mass shooting in Toronto.

References

  1. "Luminary: Aqeela Sherrills". Shift in Action. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2009.
  2. "INTERVIEW: AQEELA SHERRILLS". The Urbanite Magazine. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2009.
  3. "Death Penalty Focus: Staff". Death Penalty Focus. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  4. "Urban Leadership Staff". Urban Leadership Institute website. Urban Leadership Institute. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  5. "The Reverence Project". TheSanchezM. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  6. "The Reverence Movement, Aqeela Sherrills keynote speech at 2009 Bioneers". Free Speech TV. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  7. "Urban Leadership Staff". Urban Leadership Institute website. Urban Leadership Institute. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  8. "Aqeela Sherrills: One father's message to another". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.