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" Showing up in the lives of children is everything. "

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" Even gang members imagine a future that doesn't include gangs. "

" Anyone who knows gangs knows that lawmakers cannot conceive of a law that would lead a hard-core gang member to 'think twice.' "

" I've never met an evil person ever. "

" We need the disruption of categories that lead us to abandon the difficult, the disagreeable, and the least likely to go very far. "

" Jesus did not only serve the needs of the people, but truly hoped that the people and Jesus would be one. "

" You are exactly what God had in mind when he made you. "

" I work with gang members, and I feel a kind of affinity and gift, even. But who would've thunk it, you know? I mean, I didn't anticipate it. "

" We ought not to demonize a single gang member, and we ought not to romanticize a single gang. "

" I'm not always optimistic, but I am hopeful. "

" We lose our right to be surprised that California has the highest recidivism rate in the country if we refuse to hire folks who have taken responsibility for their crimes and have done their time. "

" Gangs are born of a lethal absence of hope, and hope has an address: 130 W. Bruno St. in Los Angeles, CA 90012. "

" Homeboy Bakery is an alternative to kids who have found themselves, regrettably, in gangs and want to redirect their lives. "

" What is ultimately compelling for our children in helping them conjure images of a future for themselves is our willingness to walk with them as they do it. "

" I don't believe in mistakes. Everything belongs, and, as the homies say, 'It's all good.' "

" Redemption is possible, and it is the measure of a civilized society. "

" We can't get at crime unless we know what language it speaks. Otherwise, we are just suppressing the cough, not curing the disease. "

" When the vastness of God meets the restriction of our own humanity, words can't hold it. The best we can do is find the moments that rhyme with this expansive heart of God. "

" We don't need a specialized gang unit. We need patrol officers who specialize in knowing their community. "

" We are among the handful of countries that has difficulty distinguishing juveniles from adults where crime is concerned. We are convinced that if a child commits an adult crime, that kid is magically transformed into an adult. Consequently, we try juveniles as adults. "

" So complex are all the ingredients that cause gang membership that it seems virtually impossible to isolate one solution that can address them all and thereby manufacture a hope for the future upon which these kids can rely. "

" At its best, an injunction creates a kind of vigilant heat that moves kids toward the light. "

" The arms of God reach to embrace, and somehow you feel yourself just outside God's fingertips. "

" I spent the summers of 1984 and 1985 as an associate pastor at Dolores Mission Church, the poorest parish in the Los Angeles archdiocese. In 1986, I became pastor of the church. "

" Ours is a God who waits. So who are we not to? "

" The idea that any law enforcement agency or person would ever know these gang members better than Homeboy Industries is impossible. "

" I founded Homeboy Industries in 1988 after I buried my first young person killed in our streets because of gang violence. "

" I have never seen a hopeful person join a gang. "

" Me wanting a gang member to have a different life would never be the same as that gang member wanting to have one. "

" If the Los Angeles Police Department had enough officers, it could focus on one part of the community and stay there long enough to know and respect the people the officers are called on to protect and serve. "

" As a society, we come up lacking in many of the marks of compassion and wisdom by which we measure ourselves as civilized. "