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Saint AC, one of the Your City competition winners, talks to us about her winning piece
An ex-gang member who was helped by Brazil's Soldiers Never More initiative which is affiliated to Schools without Borders/The Remix Project-Brazil said in an interview that no one can change the gang drug dealing community of Sao Paulo except one whom the community understands and identifies with.
I guess this is the same direction I was coming from when I decided to put myself in the shoes of the criminal and write the lyrics that got me to Durban for the UN’s International Youth Crime Prevention and Cities Summit.
Truth be told: my life is very protected, so it really was a challenge to get out of my skin and into that of a person whose life and opinions I can only imagine. I spoke of being the ‘role model’ that children look up to because their fathers' jobs don't seem as rewarding as my criminal antics. This was a harsh reality to admit but then... Saint AC wasn't writing it - it was just the 'criminal'.
The end product almost frightened me because my own words choked remorse out of me when in verse three I wrote that, "I never said 'when I grow up I want to be a criminal." That's my favorite part of the song because each time I'll perform it, it will remind me that criminals are human although what they do is inhumane. This was perfectly illustrated when that same gang member said that he'd always wanted out of the gang but had no resources...
He wanted to be home with his wife and just take care of his kids. He watched his friends get shot and their children ask him if papa has gone to heaven...
Yes sure, we are against crime, but I wrote my lyrics to show everyone that it could be you on the other side looking in and therefore need to avoid unbalanced extremes in our fight against crime.
During the Your City International Crime Prevention & Cities Summit, the Baobab team and the 20 winners of the competition are reporting live from the summit premises!
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