"You read this shirt, right here? It's the most exciting time of my life. I'm 65 and still kicking it and I don't look a day over 56. This is the most exciting time for me!

I want people to stop all that killing and everybody love one another, in the West End. You know, like it was back in the 60's. I'm for real about that. I don't know what ya'll doing, but I'm for real about that. Take it back to the black roots, where everybody's loving one another. And all those young mothers need to teach these young children how to love one another. That's all I've got to say. " - Gladys, Shawnee

"In 1983, they opened up this area and the first thing they put here was a McDonalds. This Kroger's only been here since 1983. The other Kroger was on 30th & Broadway, that was the first Kroger they had. At that time, Winn-Dixie was a store. I've been in the West End all my life. Down here, we done went from riches to rags. When the courts, downtown, started to take over responsibility of raising a family. When they said that there's time out. You can't correct your child and that's when stuff started going down hill. That's when the killing started. If you gotta glock on your side, it don't take nothing for you to pull it out and shoot somebody. Those kind of things is what sent our neighborhood down the hill. The West End is the neighborhood in this city. Anything past 1st St. is in the West End. Oh, yeah, 1st St. separates the West from the East. Let me tell you something, 6th & Muhammad Ali, blacks had the theaters and everything there. They had to eliminate all of that. It was Old Walnut Street. It was the urban renewal. They renewed, alright. The only thing they built back in that area is right there on 12th & Chestnut, Porter Funeral Home. They didn't put anything else there. I built my house in the West End. This guy come down and helped mess it up. I built a $250,000 house and he came down and messed it up. It's near Shawnee Park. I had a CPA come to my house and asked me why I chose to stay in the West End. He was like, 'Man, folks with guns are in the West End!, they'll kill you!'. That stuff happens everywhere! The TV stations only announce the bad things about the West End because that's what sells. They don't announce anything that won't sell. When stuff happens, they get the message wrong. The news said that there was a shooting at Chickasaw Park. There was no shooting at Chickasaw Park, it was in the Parkland area. They don't care.

In 1960, I sold papers, right there on 26th & Broadway, on Sundays. Monday through Saturday, I sold papers where the riot started. The riot didn't start until 1968. Matter of fact, I was there when the riot started. I can tell you who started it. It was May 28th of 1968. The point is this, I was out there selling papers and doing the twist and they used to call me the paper boy. Everybody had a job, down here. People need jobs, now! 

We need to come together, as a group of people. Every time a brotha man makes it to the top, we want to pull him down. We want to pull him down and drag him beside us. Let them reach back and pull everyone up." - Lucious & Benny, Parkland

"When I was coming up there was a lot of centers and churches that would sponsor basketball, baseball, and swim teams. You know, there was things for us to do. That's what I would like to see. When I came up, at 10 years old, we started playing football at the Ormsby Boys & Girls Club. I started playing baseball at Greater Salem. That was a church league. You see, they had churches that sponsored the baseball teams and the basketball teams. We don't have that no more. Everything we got now, like the basketball teams, cost a lot of money. Parents ain't got that kind of money! We didn't pay anything to play. They funded everything! I'd like to see that come back. The Boys & Girls Clubs did a lot of things for the community. You know, they always had a lot of things going on. Some churches got basketball teams, but I don't think they have them in the West End, today. I think that's long gone. There was a gym at the church on 38th and Broadway. Yeah, they had a gym and we used to play there every Saturday. They had free lunches with their program. There was another gym at a community center but they didn't let us play there, so we played at the church. 

When we came down here, my dad got money from being in the army, in World War II. They gave black soldiers money for serving in World War II. He took that money and came down here and bought our home. That's how we ended up down here. We been down here since. The West End is a good place stay.  We can go anywhere in 20 minutes. We're off the expressway. There's just some bad in the neighborhoods, but the West End is a good place to stay. I don't care what anyone says, the West End is a great place. I tell you what, if you get rid of your property, people, from out there, will come back down here and get it. I wouldn't trade it for nothing." - Terry, Shawnee

"I treasure my son and my wife. They're my heart. They're all I've got, for real. My mama's gone. She's been dead for about 5 years, now. She was my heart, too. Now, I'm out here, staying out of trouble. I'm staying away from the crowd. I'm 53 years old, so I don't have time for the ignorance. I just go to work and then I go back home. That's it. James knows me. I don't really hang in the streets. I wish it more things that people could do to keep them out of the streets. I think that if there were more stuff that kids could do, it would keep them out of trouble. That's why I think that Darrell Griffith doing what he did for the West End School, was one of the best things for the West End. He's a good guy, man. I played ball with him." - Anthony & James, Russell

"Man, real quick because I got to get to work." -A King in Russell

"Take care of your health and invest. Save your money." - Tom, Portland

"Growing up in the West End, I definitely appreciated the community being close. All of my friends and family were here, so it was nothing to be with them. I grew in the church in the West End, King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church, which I still consider my church home and my Pastor is still close. I remember running the streets, not in a bad way, but running the streets as a young teenager and hanging out with my best friends. I used to hang out with my older brother and sister's friends, all the time. I went to school, church, and home, all in the same area. The best advise that I could give somebody, living in the West End, would be to be proud of where you come from. When you see the West End and you hear about it, it's all bad, it's all negative. You got people, like you two, that have built a home and raised a family in the West End. We need more people like that to celebrate and to bring more people together. One bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch. I hate to hear people at my job talk about West of 9th St. They think that if you come down here and someone looks at you wrong, you're going to get shot up. That's not the case, at all. Yes, it's things that happen down here, but there's stuff that happens in the East End and Middletown. We're not the only ones that have to deal with crime and things like that. We're also trying to build up our community. We need people to support. We need people, here, to support the West End. Being a native of the West End, I still support the West End. If you are outside of the West End, broaden your horizons. Don't be so closed minded to what takes place down here. Everything down here is not bad. As you can see, the Russell neighborhood is coming up. They're trying to build some things at Shawnee Park, too. Even though NuLu is on the other side of 9th Street, it's still downtown. Let's celebrate that. Learn about it. Teach others about it. You know somebody that lives down here. If you don't, you know somebody that knows somebody, that lives down here and trying to make something happen. Support that. " - Brittany, California

"The basic fundamental premise that I have  about improving West Louisville is that I don't believe that there are outside forces and outside resources that are going to come and save us, inside West Louisville. I think the solutions to improve West Louisville are ultimately going to come from the people who live in West Louisville. And so, I think it's counterproductive for us to continue to put so much energy into pursuing people, resources, agencies, businesses, leaders, from outside of this community, with hopes of them bringing those resources and ideas back to this community, don't improve it. I think that the solutions that we seek are right here, in our own backyard. I think that rolling up our sleeves and being committed to those solutions and being committed to being apart of those solutions has to be where we start. I think that we start by embracing that fundamental premise, then we get ourselves so much further down the road. I watch so many of us seek outside resources to fix things that I just don't believe will be addressed by people, from outside of this community. I just don't think it'll happen. That's the 30,000 ft level. The more granular level is this notion of us getting out of our homes. We are guilty of it, in West Louisville, just like many other people around this community, in large. We go into our households and we close the doors and watch television, and engage with our own families. We go out, we don't look people in the eye, we don't shake hands, we don't talk. We don't do any of those things. We don't function as neighbors, anymore. I sincerely believe that the solutions that we seek are going to come from us breaking those silos that we live in and doing more to support one another.  So, when I think about all of these murders in our communities and these young boys killing other young boys, these are people, by in large, that don't have fathers in their lives and don't have parents that are highly engaged. I think that solutions to helping them improve their lives are going to come from people who complain when they sit down on their couches and watch the news and say that somebody has to do something. Well, they are the somebodies that have to do something! If we don't find ways to inspire people to get off the couches, to come outside of their homes, to adopt some young person, then these problems will persist." - Devone, Parkland

"Have full understanding. We need to get together and become one. Unity makes strength, all the time, man. I came out of Brooklyn, coming from the islands, straight out to Brooklyn in 1974. In our building, we were the only blacks, everyone else was Chinese. We got along just fine. I lived on Lincoln Rd. and everybody on the block played together. The girls would jump double dutch and the boys would study Kung-Fu. The whole block studied Kung-Fu together. We'd go to Prospect Park, which was two blocks away. We did everything together. We'd have a block party together. If you were from another neighborhood and you was trying to chuck, it'll be trouble. That's unity, no matter what color the people or race. Here in the west, we need to unite and respect one another. I don't know what he was saying, when the governor said that we need to walk around the neighborhood and pray. Man, we've been praying. Back then, we were more together and everyone knew each other. We need that in the west. Again, we have to have respect for one another. The young people also need to have respect for the elders. 

You know what else? You don't see any vegetable or fruit stands. And guess what? All the chemicals in the food is killing us. They took the Pic Pac out and put in a dollar store. If you look at every corner, you see a dollar store. If it's not a dollar store, it's a pawn shop. If it's not a pawn shop, you see al liquor store. Young people are getting raised on a bag of chips and cookies. I say unite and change that.

Love one another and show respect. I like the West End, man. I don't care what they say. I like being around my people." - Joseph, Russell

"The enemy doesn't attack people who are weak. Throughout all of my challenges, I still stay positive. Even when I don't know what to do, I still stay positive and give those positive affirmations. I reach out when I feel like I'm falling short or when I'm feeling weak, which is something that I never used to do. No one ever knew what I was going through because I never reached out. But since I've been back, I know me better and I know my purpose, I can reach out. I've been faced with a lot. I lost everything. I've been dealing with family issues that really bother me. Coming back to deal with this shit, I was faced with not knowing what to do. I'm always the person that has a plan when I'm faced with something. This time around, I had to sit still and know that I'll be okay and let God move. I lost faith, I was doubting my God, you know, but he surrounded me with people who show me that he got me. It's been a long summer, but God continued to place people in my life who feed me, you get what I'm saying? You know, we helped each other. I sat back and let him. Be still and know that I am God. When you do that, you see the blessing. That's how you know where it's coming from." - CeCe, California

"We need to get together and get our own. All we need is one bank, one school, and one hospital for the whole West End, and we're good. We would never need anymore money from the state. We need to get together. Instead of trying to buy gas stations and boutiques, we need to get a meat store. We wouldn't have to worry about going to Kroger and buying GMO food. Know what you're selling. I'm very health conscious, I'm in the Nation of Islam, brother. I ain't the guy I used to be. I wasn't always bean pies, papers, and incense. I used to be dope, weed or heroin. " Bro. Leonard X, California

"Take the pain of your past and make it an asset. " - Sharrod, Russell

"You gotta crawl before you walk. That's what I'm trying to do, crawl before I walk." - PT, California

"I was married for 8 years. That's back when I was in Evansville, IN. That's where I'm originally from. I came here to go to JDAC to get cleaned out. I just decided to stay. I ain't gonna lie, I like Louisville. I had a little trouble. I've been jumped by some guys. That's why I carry that cane. I don't need that cane, I carry it for protection. They put eight stitches on top of my head, blacked my eye, didn't break nose, but bloodied it. Bruised my ribs. I just came from Labor Express, but I didn't make the cut. I just got those stitches out of my head about a week ago. They said it has to be completely healed before they let me work. I'm lucky they didn't break my skull." - Chris, Portland

"I'ma give you 9th Street goin' down & 9th Street goin' up. I ain't gon give you side to side. First of all, be you. Second of all, real is real. If you ain't real, you can't be nothing else. You fake, you fake. You shady, you shady and you won't be around me. OG Juan from the Da Ville. It's been goin for a minute. Love ya'll! Be you, follow suite. Just like spades, follow suite. It's gonna pan out. I'ma give you what's real. That's why you love me, now. Keep lovin' me, cause I love ya'll back." OG Juan, Russell

"Gain knowledge of self. Like, know what you really want, know how you react, know yourself. Complete understanding of self is complete understanding of others. I can't really understand and relate to you, if I don't understand me. If I know me, I know that certain situations that come my way won't be an issue. The less problems that I have with myself, the less problems I'll have with anyone or anything else. Knowledge of self makes that outside world so much easier to deal with, on a peaceful level. A lot of the times, confrontation comes from whatever a person has going on inside." - Candra, Park DuValle

"If there was anything that I could do for the West End, I would rebuild the parks and the Boys & Girls Clubs back up. Man, when they took the Portland Boys  & Girls Club and they started taking a couple more and shutting them down and stuff, like the community center over here, that killed the hood. It just kills it out. Instead of the kids going to the summer classes, they out here running around, doing whatever. It's crazy." - DeBrion & Cevon, Russell

Beautiful Queens, Russell

"One of the happiest moments of my life would be an Amped moment. I'm from Birmingham, Alabama and I have gone through a lot of death within the last couple years. Three generations of my family died in a very short period of time. So, me and my babies moved and are here by ourselves. Amped made me know what community was. Even in the midst of my struggles and trials and tribulations, it was my birthday and they came in and surprised me with birthday cake and gifts. The whole entire Amped was singing happy birthday. That was my best Amped moment. It made me realize that I have a family here, within the community. I know that they care about me." - Ms. Love, Chickasaw

King's One-Hour Dry Cleaners, Russell