"Being a dad makes you change your whole life around. I used to be in the streets, too, man. I had four brain surgeries. I got shot in the head and everything. It took for me to have them to quit the streets. It motivated me to do better and stay in a positive mode. You know what I'm saying? It's challenges, every day, cause I got 5 kids by 4 different women. So, everyday it's a challenge. You gotta keep your mind in a positive perspective and you'll be able to make it. Don't give up, man. Most dudes give up on their kids, because of the issues between them and their baby mama. But you know, I'm trying to be a better dad than my dad was to me.  He wasn't there for me. My main goal is to be there for them as much as I can. So everyday I spend with them is a step closer then what my dad was trying to do for me. Like I said, I done had four brain surgeries. So, there have been times when I wanted to give up and come out here and sell dope and rob people or whatever. But when I look at my kids, bruh, I know that they deserve better. Like I said, most dudes overlook the life of their kids because of the conflict between them and their baby mama.

To a young dude with kids, stay focused, man. Stay on your paper and never get on your baby mama's bad side." - Charice, Russell

"I seen her with one of my friends. They weren't dating or nothing. So, I stepped in and tried to see what's up, basically. I'ma say it like that. Advice on relationships? Let the petty stuff go & let arguments pass. You know, that type of stuff." Eric & Nike, Russell

"We've been married for 48 years. Our advice to younger couples would be to work together and understand each other. Oh, and pray a lot." - Fannie & James, Algonquin

"The needs of the community is what inspires me most. This community needs somewhere to go to eat something good. There's not a lot of different places in the West End that sells baked goods. So, I thought maybe, let's give it a try. I've been doing this for 4 years. My other restaurant is on 18 & Muhammad Ali. I've been there for 4 years. Some of my challenges are trying to meet the needs of all the diverse people. In the West End, where I'm at, on 18th & Muhammad Ali, it used to be all African American people. Now, there's an influx of all different kinds of backgrounds and ethnicities. Also, you have to keep the business going. You got to create new things to keep the interest of the community, to keep people coming back. My advice to anyone that's trying to start a business in the West End would be that they would have to plan properly and be organized.

If I could do anything for the West End community, I would give everyone free college education.  I'm almost finished with my PhD, so I would give everyone in the West a free college education. It's important." - Pam a.k.a Sweet Peaches, Russell

"I love the West End but the country life is better. My country experience was lovely. I wish everybody could experience no bathroom, no indoor plumbing, and no water. You'll appreciate the city. You'll appreciate the city life. My grandmother kept us, every summer, when were out of school. Loved it. We shared beds. We shared bathtubs. I was born and raised in Louisville, but my grandparents lived in the country. I was born in Newburg, but I moved to the West End when I was 5. I've been here ever since. I always loved 36th & Broadway and the Flaget Area. I loved all of it. I wouldn't trade it for nothing in the world. All of the elementary school friends and my high school friends stayed there. I loved all of them. I miss all of them. 

My advice to the world is that I need the men to raise their sons to be men and I need these women to raise their girls to be women. That's my advice. We want to keep the world going. If we want to keep the world going, skin color shouldn't matter." - Gary, Russell 

EJ, Parkland

"Never settle and breathe life instead of spitting fire." - Sylvita & Larry, Algonquin

"Stay woke. Pay attention, out here. Stay in school because your future is everything. You know, and be positive. We in the West End, man. Be positive. Everybody needs everybody, you know what I mean? Not everybody's out here doing this and doing that. Everybody needs to stick together. Everybody's for themselves but everybody's together, too." Ashley & Eddie, Russell

"I've been up here since October '89. You probably wasn't even born in '89. The biggest changes that I done seen, since '89, would be with the residents. Now, when I came up here in '89, the residents were more neighborly. You didn't have the issues and the problems with drugs and killings. I done seen a lot of changes. Since 1995, that's when I started to see the changes. When I moved up here, there wasn't no in between, it was just black and white. Now, you got Hispanics, you got Africans, you know, whatever. And then you've got all the different generations. It's different from when I first moved up here in '89. I can see it. These young people up here nowadays, man, they off the chain. Now, I lived back here, off this court, in 55 for about 25 years. I'm 70 years old. All the people that were down here, back in '89, either they moved or died, one of the two. Once that happened, that's when the new generation started moving in. I seen the change coming, just by the handwriting on the wall. Man, these ma'fuckin people are off the chain. They can't distinguish the right from wrong, or nothin else. They had me miserable back there, cause I didn't know what to do about it. It was an African lady, living right here, about 3 years ago. I was walking through this court, and I got right here. I looked over and she was sitting on the steps. She waved at me, every day. She would always say hi and I would smile. This day, I walked over to her and she told me that she was moving out. I went over to the rent office, that same day and told the lady that someone was moving out of 57 and could I get that. The lady said that she'll look into and guess what? I been here, ever since. They keep on claiming that they're gonna tear this damn place down. I'm like this, I ain't nowhere until I see the first brick fall down. I'm in, like Flynn. That's the documentary of the day. This right here is my empire. The other side is where my garden's at." - Michael D., Park Hill

"The happiest moment in my life is when we was playing in the L.I.T. We had gotten far, but didn't win." - Tae, Algonquin

"My happiest moment is when I made my hydroplane. Yeah, a water hydroplane. I built it. I got 2nd place in a contest. You build these little water boat type things and get to race them. It was for a program I was in and we built them in school for a grade. " - Twan, Algonquin

"Don't ever give up and have total faith in your ability. Block out the outside noise. Do what you want to do. It has to be a passion. A lot of times, we're out here doing things that we don't have a passion for. I come and do this, free. I just happen to make some money. It's something that I like doing and I have a passion for it. Whatever I make is a blessing. Have a passion for what you do. Don't do it because you want the money. You can go get a job for some money. Go work at Ford or something like that. Don't worry about the numbers but have a passion. People just see the finished product. They don't see the process. They don't see me buying the shirts, making the designs, getting them printed, and pressing the shirts. I'm staying up all night. They don't see that. It takes work and dedication." - Robert, Parkland

"My advice to the world would be to stay with God. If you don't know him, get to know him." - Rev. Senitha Hughes

"I'm trying to get these kids off the streets and show them that you can sell CDs instead of selling these drugs. I be out here, everyday, doing it. They can do it the same way. You know what I'm saying? Someone taught me how to engineer, I ain't got no problem teaching someone else how to engineer. I ain't go no problem with it. I get more fans supporting me than I my own family. That shit's crazy. I'm staying positive and people don't like that. They don't like seeing you be positive and doing good things and helping other people out. I don't understand that shit. 

The most challenging times while getting my project out is having to support myself, for real. Moms, she's disabled, so she don't work. So, I have to work a lil bit, take care of the bills. I pay them in advance, then I go back to doing my music and stuff. My family don't really support me, it's just me out here. Don't get me wrong, it's hard. I be hearing no's. I can go back to my old ways, but that's the devil wanting me to quit. If I quit, I'd be quitting on everything and will never succeed in life. Believe in yourself cause ain't nobody gonna believe in you the way you do. Ain't nobody wanting to see you succeed the way you do. At the end of the day, you gotta look in the mirror and make sure you happy, for real." - Tay Tay Laflare, Parkland

"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