"It's a different world than any of us, and those who don't engage in that life or that style and haven't been around it, you make assumptions based on what Hollywood interprets, and what the news interprets, and it's not always like that." -Montgomery County Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator Luis Cardona

“The reality is that when there is conflict with gangs, it's intentional. They don't just go out randomly and say ‘Hey, I'm going to attack this kid who is doing good in school,’ or ‘I'm going to mess with this kid who never bothers anybody.’ They're going to go after other individuals who've done them wrong or crossed them in one way or another.” -Montgomery County Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator Luis Cardona

"It's natural to want to be with other people who are like yourself, you feel like yourself, that are from the same neighborhood as you... you feel secure in your neighborhood." -Anonymous transcript

"You miss a meeting, you're good as dead. Five minutes late to a meeting and they'll whup your a**. Never betray your brothers, never lie, always be honest, the same things you do with your friends and family, it's just you never snitch, never snitch." -Anonymous transcript

"Right now I think that the laws aren't as sharp on gangs…because some people get arrested and they have nothing to do with the gang, and the people who do, who are involved, they don't get bothered at all. I don't think they're as sharp as they're supposed to be." -Anonymous transcript

"The only thing we can do is we can enforce the law and try and catch the criminals. That's what they are. They are criminals. There's nothing fancy about it, there's nothing good about it—it's criminal activity, simple as that." -RHS Educational Facilities Officer Christopher Winkler

"From a gang I've been associated with I've gotten threats, and they would show up and get me ..., stuff like that, but nothing really physical." -Anonymous transcript

“A lot of people don't understand that there are street politics. And there's all kinds of street politics... because of my experience I understand those politics and I'm able to navigate them, and so there's a certain position where I can walk into that world and I'm not perceived as an outsider although I'm an older man now. So it does help, I believe in also I have a vested interest in this, because this work has been a healing process for me for 14 years now.” -Montgomery County Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator Luis Cardona