The Oaklandside: What violence prevention in Oakland looks like

The city is cutting the Department of Violence Prevention’s budget by $4.4 million to help address a historic deficit. We followed a violence interrupter to see what could be lost.

Joseph “Church” Truehill heads to the scene of a shooting in Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood in July to provide support as a violence interrupter. Truehill grew up in San Antonio and is intimately familiar with the neighborhood and its community. Credit: Florence Middleton

Every day, Joseph “Church” Truehill wears a set of diamond-studded chains around his neck. On one hangs a medallion of a sun, and at the center of the sun is a tiny photo collage of a young man smiling. It’s Lil Mike, Truehill’s younger brother. 

Truehill, an Oakland native with roots in the San Antonio neighborhood, lost his brother to gun violence in 2006 when Lil Mike was 19. He was shot in the back while riding his friend’s bike. After the shooting, Truehill’s friends spoke of retaliation and going into the streets with weapons.

“Everybody was in my ear,” Truehill said. “That’s exactly the opposite of what I needed. I needed to grieve and just process what was going on.”