Interrupting Violence: One Man's Journey to Heal the Streets and Redeem Himself

For over a decade, Cobe Williams has been a violence interrupter, a highly trained conflict resolution expert working to stop the killing. Alongside thousands of workers across the country, many of whom he trained, Cobe intervenes in street conflicts before they result in murder. Interrupting Violence follows his evolution from gang leader to vanguard of a social justice movement. More than a memoir, Interrupting Violence spans three generations of trauma to portray a radically optimistic vision for addressing urban violence.

Born into the notorious Black Disciples, Cobe became a drug dealer, hustler, and shot-caller. His father, an influential gang member, was murdered before Cobe turned eleven. Five men, his father’s so-called friends, beat him to death in the lobby of a public housing project. Cobe spent years seeking answers about what happened that night.

As Cobe rose through the ranks of the Black Disciples—at one time commanding over one hundred men throughout the city while still in high school—a gang war turned his world upside down. Its escalation overshadowed his ascent. Stoked by police, who fanned the conflict’s flames, the war would engulf Cobe’s friends and family, nearly costing him his life. Ultimately, Cobe would end up behind bars for attempted murder, a crime he didn’t commit.

Interrupting Violence follows Cobe as he undertakes his redemption journey, offering new hope for the nation’s most violent communities. As the country wrestles with the inequities exposed by the coronavirus pandemic and the complex intersections of urban violence, racial injustice, police brutality, and poverty in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, this book provides an inspiring blueprint. Cobe’s story demonstrates how the country can resolve the issues plaguing our inner cities, taking readers into an often misunderstood and misrepresented aspect of the Black experience in America.