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DR. AMEENA
MATTHEWS

I became the first woman violence interrupter because I didn't want anyone to die. I wanted people to be educated about trauma-informed care, as well as understanding our history.

From the South Side of Chicago

Dr. Ameena Matthews has dedicated her life to advocating and fighting for social change in our communities.  Born on Chicago’s South Side, Dr. Ameena also spent a great deal of time with family in Jackson, Mississippi.  Every summer, she would go down to live where her great grandmother picked cotton and cleaned homes.  As a young girl, she remembers buses that wouldn’t let her ride them to the white neighborhoods and kids whose parents wouldn’t like her playing with their kids. “You’re going to have to beat them with your mind,” she told herself.


Dr. Ameena witnessed the devastating impact violence had on the place she called home. Her father, Jeff Fort, first went to prison in 1969 when she was a baby. After that, she was raised by her single mom and her grandmother. “I thought I was the only one,” Ameena recalls, “who grew up like that – with an incarcerated father.” It wasn’t until later, when Ameena became involved in community work in Chicago, that she realized many other women shared her story.  She also came to understand just how damaging incarceration was to families.

As a child, I thought I was the only one who grew up like that - with an incarcerated father. Now I know how many families have been impacted by the prison industrial complex. We can’t keep our communities safe if we keep tearing families apart.

We have a responsibility to bring up our community to be vibrant. Cease the fire. Call a truce.

The Interrupter

In 2006, Dr. Ameena started working with Cease Fire (now known as Cure Violence) as a violence interrupter. “I became the first woman to be a violence interrupter because I didn’t want anyone to die. I wanted people to be educated about trauma-informed care, as well as understanding our history.” Dr. Ameena’s work was highlighted in the 2011 documentary “The Interrupters.” It premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won several awards, including an Emmy.

 

The success of Dr. Ameena’s work as an interrupter was due, in large part, to the trust she built with the people in the community. That continued after she received her PhD focused on the criminalization of young black men and how trauma affects brain development. “I wanted to prove to myself that I could go further.”

 

On October 16, 2013, Dr. Ameena received the 2013 Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal (Freedom from Fear).

Pause for Peace

In 2014 Dr. Ameena was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a form of blood cancer resulting from abnormal growth of plasma cells. The doctors told her to measure her remaining time in months. She went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and doctors told her to measure her remaining time in months. “At first I kept my diagnosis on the down-low because I didn’t want anyone to focus on me instead of what the issues really are. It was hard for me to look in the mirror and admit that I needed help.”

 

However, as Dr. Ameena learned she had cancer, she also became one of approximately 165,000 people who are diagnosed each year and don’t have any health insurance. Dr. Ameena had to turn to her community and ask for help. The money her Go Fund Me raised helped her get the treatment she needed. It also made her a fierce advocate for universal healthcare.  

 

The odds may have been against her, but Dr. Ameena is a fighter. Her father, Jeff Fort, discovered he was a stem cell match. Jeff made a donation from a supermax prison in Colorado that saved Dr. Ameena’s life. “Our incarcerated family members are still part of our lives. They are still our brothers and sisters. Our mothers and fathers. We can’t just leave them behind.”    

 

Once she was healthy enough to get back to work, Dr. Ameena formed Pause for Peace. Pause for Peace focuses on proactive approaches to violence, including programming for kids. This work includes summer camps for kids, providing back-to-school supplies, and helping with diapers and clothing drives. Dr. Ameena also did security and restorative justice work with iGrow, which focuses on building safe communities in Englewood. 

 

Dr. Ameena has also partnered with many community groups as a mentor on setting up restorative justice programs. For example, Dr. Ameena worked with COR in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to help train community members to become violence interrupters. In 2022, Dr. Ameena presented an award at the KCOR Violence Interrupters Ball.  

At first I kept my diagnosis on the down-low because I didn’t want anyone to focus on me instead of what the issues really are. It was hard for me to look in the mirror and admit that I needed help.

Free my father

Our philosophy at Pause for Peace is to be proactive, rather than reactive. We strive to break the cycle our youth is susceptible to before they end up committing an act that could change their life forever.