Ameena Matthews is a former gang member who now enters Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods and mediates disputes before they erupt into violence. When Matthews was heavily involved in gang activities, it was her Muslim faith, her children and grandmother who served as her own violence interrupters: "[My grandmother] would step in the middle of raids, asking, ‘Where’s Ameena?’ Guns were drawn and she’s not even looking at the guns or the gas that was thrown in the building to smoke us out, she’s yelling my name and telling me to get my behind out. … She was there."