S
Serving time in prison for a bogus
murder charge in 2003, Shanduke
McPhatter watched as another inmate
met with his newly convicted son as
he began a prison sentence of his own.
Rather than offer an embrace, the older
man broke down in tears. The moment
changed everything for McPhatter, a
father of twin boys. “I did not want
to see my son walking into my prison
yard,” he says, “because he wanted to
live a life that I was living.”
He turned his life around, and in
2012 the onetime Bloods gang member
founded Gangstas Making Astronomical
Community Changes (gangstamackin
.com), a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that
has helped 300 kids find mental-health
counseling, legal aid and job options.
The program is credited with creating
a 30 percent drop in shooting incidentsfrom 2012 to 2017 in the precinct where
it operates. “He’s a credible messenger,”
says Eric Cumberbatch, of the New
York City Mayor’s Office to Prevent
Gun Violence. Adds City Council mem-
ber Jumaane D. Williams: “It’s harder
than people think to practice what you
preach, but he’s done it.
It’s pretty impressive.”
Born and raised in
Brooklyn, McPhatter,
39, was first incarcerat-
ed in 1994 at 16, serving
three years for criminal
possession of a weaponand later three more years for assault
and robbery. He was later charged
with murdering an 18-year-old, but the
charges were dropped when the real
killer admitted his guilt. He had already
turned his life around by the time his
brother Ronald, 33, was shot and killed
at a rap concert in 2016,
but that trauma sharp-
ened his message. “My
past shows you where I
came from and that any-
thing is possible,” says
McPhatter, whose sons
are now 17. “We show
there is an alternative. If
you want something dif-
ferent for yourself, stand
strong and change your
acts.”—JEFF TRUESDELL
with Chris HarrisAfter spending almost a decade of his life behind bars and losing his brother to gunfire,
former gang member Shanduke McPhatter now helps keep his community safeStopping the Shooting
SERIES FINDINGSOLUTIONSTOGUN VIOLENCE
Finding Purpose
McPhatter’s brother
Ronald (right) died in a 2016
shooting. “Experience helps
you understand,” he says.“ f g
h d e
c i i i
v l ”
( d
b dd g
i
b d
).“Ifwe can changge
themind-set,we
canminimize gun
violence,”says
McPhatter (leftand
above,addressing
community
membersoutside
acrimescene).78 August 21, 2017 PEOPLE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS/GETTY IMAGES;
ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN/GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY SHANDUKE MCPHATTER