Motive

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it. A few weeks before Christmas, a car carrying two of anti-violence worker Cecilia Mannion’s children is shot up. Around 20 bullets blast into the car. Somehow neither of them is hit. But the incident forces Ceci to confront her own violent past and question her commitment to peace. The incident traumatizes Ceci’s family, and makes her want to get revenge. The people around her help Ceci realize she is no longer the kind of person who answers violence with violence. Meanwhile in East Garfield Park, anti-violence workers Sirenzo Strong and Vernell Maddox struggle and fail to get a handle on a gang conflict out of control. The failure, and the constant traumas of their work make them question the value of their efforts and the stress lands Strong in the ER. Also in this episode, Joey goes into the police station to pick out the person who he says shot him 11 times and killed his elderly neighbor but it doesn’t go as planned. About the host Patrick Smith is a criminal justice reporter at WBEZ. He has been reporting on Chicago violence, police and the people at the center of it all for nearly a decade.

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it. Mateo, the 14-year-old son of gunshot victim Joey, is facing real danger as he prepares to start high school. Victim advocate Cecilia Mannion is desperate to keep him safe, and help him avoid following the path that so many other young people in Chicago are pushed down. It’s just one part of the work Ceci does, and she brings in some coworkers to help counsel Mateo and Mateo’s younger brother, who witnessed his dad’s shooting. In this episode, we get a fuller picture of Ceci’s work and the people she’s touched, including a support group she founded to help families who have lost loved ones to Chicago’s relentless violence. Meanwhile Ceci’s client Destiny, along with the parents of murder victim Jessica Castro, struggle to come to terms with the violent incident that upended their lives after it becomes clear the courts will not provide the justice and closure they’re seeking. Throughout the episode, Chicagoans are confronted with the painful reality that they are on their own when it comes to safety and security. About the host Patrick Smith is a criminal justice reporter at WBEZ. He has been reporting on Chicago violence, police and the people at the center of it all for nearly a decade.

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it. In 2021, 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams was killed by bullets meant for her father. The killing shook Chicago, and affected many of the anti-violence workers on the West Side. It showed the dangers some children face everyday in the city. In this episode, Jaslyn’s dad, Jontae, explains how he got into a gang and how his fellow gang members turned on him when he decided to help police instead of exacting street justice. The path leading to his daughter’s death started when Jontae was just 11 years old. Anti-violence worker “Fatz” joined a gang when he was just a kid too. So did victim advocate Ceci. Their stories are all remarkably similar. Now, Ceci and her coworkers are trying to keep another young man from the same fate. About the host Patrick Smith is a criminal justice reporter at WBEZ. He has been reporting on Chicago violence, police and the people at the center of it all for nearly a decade.

In April 2021, Jontae Adams was in the drive-thru lane of a McDonald’s with his 7-year-old daughter Jaslyn when gunmen targeting him opened fire. Jaslyn was killed, and Jontae was injured. In this essay, derived from an interview with WBEZ’s Patrick Smith, Adams recounts that day and his struggles since the shooting. The interview was conducted as part of Smith’s reporting for season 5 of WBEZ's Motive Podcast. I am in a much better place now than in the weeks and months after my daughter was murdered. I am in therapy now. And that has helped me understand how I grew up, the things I missed out on and the ways my experience as a young child started me down the path that would ultimately lead to my 7-year-old baby girl Jaslyn being killed by bullets meant for me. My father hustled on the same block I hustled on. My father was shot on the same block I would eventually be shot on. My dad Jonny Adams was locked up for long stretches of my childhood. It meant I was largely raised in a one-parent home. And from early on, I could feel myself being pushed out to the streets by the people who were supposed to look out for me. I lived with my mom in an apartment just off Chicago Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. It was around 14 or 15 when I joined the gang that considered my home part of its territory. I started dealing drugs. It was fun, even with the occasional moments of violence, the stakes felt low. Then, when I became an adult the quick trips to juvenile jail turned into real time behind bars. I spent all of my 20s in jail or prison. I lost almost 10 years of my life cycling in and out of jail. I was actually in jail when my daughter Jaslyn was born. She was my youngest child. My baby. We called her Pinky. The first time I met Pinky was in the visiting area at the Cook County jail. My girlfriend at the time, Jaslyn’s mother, brought her to see me. After that first meeting I went to my cell and cried. Ultimately I was forced to pull back from my gang after I was shot in the neck and arm. The injury was so bad I lost a lot of function in my arm. I slowed down. I stopped getting arrested and I was around a lot more for Jaslyn’s early years than I had been for her older brother. Sometimes it hurts to be here Jaslyn taught me how to be a dad. I miss how outspoken she was — the way she would boss me around and put me in my place. She’d tell me when and where to pick her up, make sure I filled out her permission slips for field trips and instruct me on where to be for big school events. I was learning to be a good father, and pulling back from the gang. But I wasn’t all the way out. I may not have been out on the street hustling and gangbanging much anymore, but I was still making music about it. I was part of Chicago’s violent and toxic drill rap culture mocking rival gangs and their deceased members in my songs. That music put a target on my back, a target I was still wearing in the spring of 2021, when I went and picked Pinky up from her aunt’s house. She had just texted me that she wanted McDonald’s. I wanted to do something nice for her, so we drove there together. As we drove, Jaslyn was talking to me about her brother’s upcoming birthday. She was helping to plan his party, and she had a list of her friends she wanted to invite. That’s what she was saying as we pulled into the drive-thru at Roosevelt and Kedzie. Just moments later, three guys in a car pulled up behind me, boxing me in. Then, they got out and started shooting into the car. When the shots started, Jaslyn turned to me and called out, “Daddy?” I tried to pull up over the drive-thru curb to get away but I was stuck. Then, one of the bullets hit me in my back. I was stuck and helpless. The shooters kept firing, round after round. As they obliterated the car, they shot my baby. She probably said Daddy like three times. And when I looked over the last time she was just laying down, already gone. After her death a lot of the public attention focused on me, and whether I was to blame for my own daughter’s death. That hurt. But it was nothing compared to the pain of losing Pinky. When I think back on it now, it’s hard to believe I was so blind to the danger I was in, and the danger I was putting Jaslyn in by having her in the car with me. But I wasn’t thinking about any of that when I was with my daughter. When I was with her I was just lost in our time together, like I was in my own world, oblivious to everything else. Sometimes I wish I was with my daughter. Sometimes it hurts to be here. A new way forward I spent two days in the hospital after the shooting at McDonald’s. After I got out, I went to a vigil for Jaslyn and called for her killers to be locked up. The crowd at the vigil released balloons in Jaslyn’s memory. Dozens of little prayers sent floating up toward heaven. After the vigil, I checked into a hotel in west suburban Lombard. Mentally I just couldn’t go straight back to my old neighborhood, and I didn’t think it was physically safe either. "After her death a lot of the public attention focused on me, and whether I was to blame for my own daughter’s death. That hurt. But it was nothing compared to the pain of losing Pinky." My friends from the block where I hustled drove the 20 miles out to see me. They were pushing me to respond to the tragedy with righteous violence — to go shoot up the gang responsible. I kept trying to tell them no. This was a breaking point for me and I couldn’t be a part of any more violence. I couldn’t stand it if one of them lost their lives, or got arrested and was taken away from their children because of my tragedy. This was the end for me. My old friends from the block were trying to be supportive, but they didn’t know how to help me grieve, or even how to properly grieve themselves. And they weren’t listening to me as I begged them to put the guns down and go be with their kids. They had come to the hotel to send a simple message to me: stop talking about the murder in public, and do not cooperate with police. But I didn’t listen to them. It was important to me that my daughter not be just another unsolved gun violence case in Chicago. So I told the police what I knew and what I saw. Three men are now facing murder charges. Changing my life since the tragedy has been really hard. I have to find other ways to support myself and spend my time. I also had to move away from my old neighborhood and most of the people I know. I still don’t want other people in the car with me because I worry I could still be a target. I wonder if I’ll always feel this way, or if I’ll ever be comfortable in my own skin again.  Despite the fear and the alienation, I have dedicated my life to preserving Jaslyn’s memory and building a legacy for her in death. I hope that by speaking out about this tragedy, it will discourage others from violence that puts children at risk. And I’m back to making music again, but this time songs with a positive message, like a memorial tune to my daughter called Pinky’s Letter.

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it. Violence prevention work has helped former gang members like Fatz and Ceci find a purpose and a paycheck putting their past experiences to good use. But the job can be unstable and the money’s not great, and the workers have their own history of trauma they’re grappling with. They’re wading back into the center of the city’s relentless violence, but without the resources they need to really be successful. In this episode we see a worker who negotiated peace after a triple shooting facing a potential layoff. The news hurts morale in the office that serves as a base for anti violence workers in East Garfield Park and the layoff raises concerns that the worker, who was recently released from prison, could turn back to gangs and violence himself. Meanwhile, gunshot victim Joey struggles to get police to arrest the man he believes seriously wounded him and killed his neighbor. And low pay makes it difficult for Ceci to support her family and do her job effectively. It weighs heavily on her mind as she is out helping families and convincing gunshot victims not to seek revenge. About the host Patrick Smith is a criminal justice reporter at WBEZ. He has been reporting on Chicago violence, police and the people at the center of it all for nearly a decade.

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it. Sirenzo Strong spends his work days trying to talk to gang members in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. Part of his turf is the site of a former housing complex, Rockwell Gardens. When former residents return to the old neighborhood, so do the old gang allegiances and grudges. When there’s a shooting near a park, Strong uses his gang connections to unravel a simple misunderstanding and promote a simple solution. Strong and his coworkers are almost all former gang members who used to deal drugs and commit violence on the West Side. Now they work to keep the peace and try to get young people out of gangs before it’s too late. In this episode of Motive Season 5 we see that work up close. We see what fuels Chicago’s gun violence, and what it might take to stop it. About the host Patrick Smith is a criminal justice reporter at WBEZ. He has been reporting on Chicago violence, police and the people at the center of it all for nearly a decade.

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it. Cecilia Mannion has dedicated her life to helping victims of gang violence in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. Mannion, a former gang member herself, works for a nonprofit organization called Enlace. Her title is victim advocate. Basically, if you’re shot in Little Village, she shows up to try and help, to minimize the harm. She helps families navigate healthcare, funerals, counseling, she acts as a conduit between victims and cops, talks people out of retaliating, whatever is needed. Mannion gets paid for 40 hours a week … she works basically around the clock. She is part of a growing army of former gang members working to prevent shootings and help gun violence victims. These workers are getting a new surge of funding from the local, state and federal governments. In this episode of Motive Season 5 we follow Mannion as she responds to a shooting and we get a sense of what motivates gang violence. We also meet one of Mannion’s clients, a man we’re calling Joey. For reasons that become obvious in the episode we have changed Joey’s name and the names of his family members. Joey was hit 11 times in a summer shooting, just steps from his house. His elderly neighbor was killed in the same incident. The shooting has left Joey debilitated by pain and frozen by fear. He worries the shooters will return to finish him off, and that one of his children could be caught in the crossfire. About the host Patrick Smith is a criminal justice reporter at WBEZ. He has been reporting on Chicago violence, police and the people at the center of it all for nearly a decade.

On the West Side of Chicago, a father is seriously wounded by an apparent gang shooting. The worker who comes out to help him heal mentally and emotionally is a former gang member herself. She is part of a growing army of anti-violence workers fighting to bring peace to the streets of Chicago. In Motive Season 5, WBEZ criminal justice reporter Patrick Smith takes listeners out to the streets where workers are trying desperately to prevent shootings and help the victims of gun violence. Episode 1 coming January 26th. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.

In this bonus episode of Motive, we bring you some excerpts from a special project we created. After a years-long investigation into prisons, we wanted to make something that wasn’t just aboutpeople in prison, but also for them. In August of this year we collaborated with radio stations across Illinois to create a broadcast that was heard in prisons statewide. We played sounds incarceratedpeople requested to hear from the other side of the prison wall, and dedications for sounds that family members thought would be important totheir loved ones. People requested simple sounds from the outside world, like babies laughing, rain on a tin roof, the waves of Lake Michigan. We also played people’s music requests and even an original song, “Bring It Back”, created by some students of the Rebirth of Sound program, inside Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois.

Exposing violence and cover ups, the new season of Motive investigates the hidden world of big prisons in small towns. Places where everyone knows each other and difficult truths get buried. Episode 1 is coming March 28th.

Clark Martell was at the vanguard of reviving the white supremacist movement. Then, he disappeared. His trail reveals how sex, money, and blood have kept the movement alive.

Atomwaffen was the most extreme white supremacist group, pushing for societal collapse. Today, their ideas are on the streets.

When Brendan Sweeney marched with white supremacists in Charlottesville, he thought he was part of something new. And then he was doxed.

Christian Picciolini grew a violent hate movement for eight years. After he left, it continued to grow. What's his role in fixing the harm?

Daytime TV discovered neo-Nazi skinheads and it was a ratings bonanza. But it also helped to grow the hate movement across America.

The Chicago Area Skinheads are, by some accounts, the first racist skinhead crew to organize in the U.S. What drew in those young recruits? And how one brutal event brought them down.

It was the ‘80s. Reagan was president. And for angsty, angry teens, the punk scene provided family and expression. Until the Nazis showed up and ruined everything.

A shy kid from Chicago shaves his head and prepares for an inevitable race war. In the early 1980s, it looked like organized white supremacy was declining in the U.S. But a generation of racist skinheads breathed new life into the movement. Season 3 of Motive examines the origins of the youth white supremacist movement in America. Episodes are released every Friday. 

To understand the white supremacist movement today, look at the last time a wave of hate pulled in young Americans. A preview of WBEZ’s new season of Motive, coming September 4, 2020.

We're hard at work on a new season of Motive, but in the meantime we want to share another podcast we think you'll enjoy. Introducing a new show from LAist Studios: California City. Deep in the Mojave Desert, there is a little town with a big name and a bizarre history: California City. For decades, real estate developers have sold a dream here: if you buy land now, you’ll be rich one day. Thousands of people bought this dream. Many were young couples and hard-working immigrants looking to build a better future. But much of the land they bought is nearly worthless. In this new podcast from LAist Studios, host Emily Guerin tells a story of money, power and deception. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.