One Friday afternoon in late July, at the Shelby county juvenile court in Memphis, a 14-year-old boy waited to learn whether he would be allowed out of detention before his birthday.
asserted
he → wait → birthday
The teenager had been accused of assault.
asserted
teenager → accuse → assault
If his case was not resolved that afternoon, he would turn 15 in custody.
asserted
he → resolve → custody
At his side was Alexx Brent, a community public safety specialist at the violence-prevention program Heal 901, where the teenager was enrolled.
asserted
teenager → enrol → program
His goal: to make sure this young man did not get lost in the criminal justice system.
asserted
man → make → system
Over the course of the afternoon, as they waited, several attorneys approached Brent, asking if Heal 901 could take on their teenage clients.
uncertain
Heal → wait → clients
Brent wanted to say yes, but the non-profit employs only three staffers who do violence-intervention work, and the requests were arriving faster than they could responsibly accept them.
uncertain
they → want → them
Brent’s dilemma at Heal 901 reflects a broader tension in the US’s recovery from the pandemic surge in gun violence.
asserted
dilemma → reflect → violence
Fatal shootings have fallen to historic lows across the US, but teenagers have not shared equally in that progress.
asserted
teenagers → fall → progress
According to an analysis by the Trace and the Guardian of the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the gun homicide rate among 15-to-19-year-olds has declined from its peak in 2022, but it’s still roughly the same or higher today than it was before Covid.
uncertain
it → accord → Covid
At the same time, the violence-prevention programs designed to work with young people most at risk of being shot or becoming involved in violence are losing federal support, including Heal 901.
asserted
programs → design → Heal
In 2025, the Trump administration canceled more than $1bn in funding for public safety and violence prevention.
asserted
administration → cancel → safety
Millions more in funding from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan, which many cities have used to expand anti-violence programs, is also set to dry up this year.
asserted
cities → use → programs
Rather than replace that federal assistance, the Trump administration has amplified enforcement.
asserted
administration → replace → enforcement
With the support of the Tennessee governor, Bill Lee, the administration deployed the national guard in September 2025, increased the presence of immigration officers and created a federal taskforce to intensify law enforcement in Memphis.
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administration → deploy → Memphis
Since the taskforce’s deployment, its officers and guardsmen have shot at least five people, killing four of them.
asserted
officers → shoot → them
The most recent case, in July, saw national guard members shoot 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson in the back in downtown Memphis.
asserted
members → see → Memphis
The Tennessee bureau of investigation is investigating and has said that Johnson was armed.
asserted
Johnson → investigate → investigation
The guard’s deployment in Memphis alone is estimated to cost more than $300m by the end of the year – more than 166 times the total cost of Heal 901’s canceled three-year grant of $1.8m.
Meanwhile, the young people who suffer the highest rates of gun violence are increasingly forced to compete for access to the diminished programs designed to reach them.
asserted
who → estimate → them
The work is never done
asserted
work → do → ?
When the 14-year-old’s case was finally called, his mother appeared remotely on a screen in the courtroom.
asserted
mother → call → courtroom
She was staying at a women’s shelter with her daughter and couldn’t make it in person, so she agreed to let the attorney sign her name on her son’s agreement.
asserted
attorney → stay → agreement
She promised to notify the court if he violated it.
asserted
he → promise → it
The judge went carefully through the terms, with Brent standing beside the boy and his public defender.
asserted
Brent → go → boy
The teenager would be placed on probation, but he was also obliged to continue working with Heal 901.
asserted
he → place → Heal
Founded in 2018, Heal 901 – which uses Memphis’s area code in its name – started its work with teenagers in local schools.
asserted
which → found → schools
As gun violence surged in 2020, the non-profit shifted its focus to violence intervention, working with young people on the ground.
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profit → surge → ground
Heal 901’s goal, like many similar programs around the US, is to stop retaliatory shootings and mediate community conflicts – between individuals and between street groups or crews – before things escalate.
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things → stop → groups
Day to day, that takes the shape of helping people at an elevated risk of being shot or arrested navigate the court and parole, find housing and a job, and seek mental health care.
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people → take → care
There is a great need for the work, says K Durell Cowan, the founder of Heal 901, especially in a southern city like Memphis, where unfettered access to guns, poverty, and historic disinvestment and racism intersect.
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access → be → guns
“This community, they’re resilient,” Cowan said.
asserted
Cowan → ’re → ?
“They’re living under some of the most difficult circumstances.
asserted
They → live → circumstances
You’re talking about one of the most impoverished cities in this entire country.
asserted
You → talk → country
Violence began to drop nationwide in 2022 and 2023, but Memphis moved in the opposite direction for much of 2023.
asserted
Memphis → begin → 2023
That January, Memphis police officers fatally beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, a killing that prompted widespread protests and further strained trust between police and residents.
asserted
that → beat → police
Memphis experienced another increase in killings in the months following Nichols’ death.
asserted
Memphis → experience → death
Memphis faces many of the same challenges that plague the region around it.
asserted
that → face → it
The south has the country’s highest gun homicide rate, and a rate for teens nearly twice that of the west and three times that of the north-east, which has the nation’s lowest rate.
asserted
which → have → rate
In Tennessee, the gun homicide rate among teenagers ages 15 to 19 is nearly twice the national average, according to the Trace and the Guardian’s analysis of the latest CDC data.
uncertain
rate → accord → data
Shelby county had the third most teen gun homicides of any county in the US, even though it’s not even in the 50 most populous counties.
asserted
it → have → counties
…and 97 more, not listed.
The Aporia
