On Sunday, I had the opportunity to view the film, “Walking With Guns,” presented by the Andrew Young Foundation at the Woodruff Arts Center. This film is part of a series produced by Ambassador Andrew Young titled, “Andrew Young Presents,” and is co-produced by Atlanta native, Dr. Joyce Wilson. It includes extensive footage of the Grammy-winning artist T.I. visiting a rehabilitation hospital in New York to meet patients paralyzed by gang violence. The film also shows T.I. and Young telling young people how to avoid violence, and also follows the life of Hank Carter, a former New York gang member who is now a social activist. The film also features still images by Atlanta photographer Shannon McCollum. The hour long film was followed by a panel conversation with Mayor Shirley Franklin, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington, Mike “Killa Mike” Render, Clifford “T.I.” Harris and Ambassador Andrew Young. The picture here was taken by Shannon after the panel.
Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington, Mayor Shirley Franklin, Killa Mike, TI, Ambassador Andrew Young
The film explained the story from his point of view and detailed T.I. having his best friend and confidante Philant Johnson killed in 2006 which led him to fear for his own life thus purchasing machine guns and silencers and subsequently being arrested hours before the B.E.T. awards in 2007. I loved when Killa Mike mentioned that he was moved to organize a community event and feature T.I. and other rappers/activists before his arrest and like Jonah in the bible, he abandoned his idea in fear that he would be intruding or out of place. Months later T.I. was arrested and he felt so bad for not reaching out ealier. He told T.I. that God was using him as a conduit of change. I believe Killa Mike is a conduit himself; we all can be if we so choose to be used by God in that way. I pray that more rappers will take a stance for what is righteous and truly begin to look at how badly they themselves needed positive role models when they were young men. I was inspired by the idea that hip-hop artists are standing up and speaking to the youth in a way that will help them to appreciate and truly value life and how to effectively address your “haters” and without resorting to gun violence.
The film will be shown on Atlanta’s WSB-TV on Sunday, November 2nd at 1pm. Please tune in and tell me what you think.
One love,
Sahar
