TED Radio Hour: "How to Talk About Peace"
Date: February 6, 2026
Host: Manoush Zomorodi | Podcast: NPR’s TED Radio Hour
Episode Overview
This episode dives into how peace is brokered, sustained, and imagined—not just in personal conflicts but on the scale of gang wars in Los Angeles and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With the powerful perspectives of activist Akilah Shirills, and peace-builders Aziz Abu Sarah (Palestinian) and Maoz Inon (Israeli), the show moves from the deeply personal to the broadly political. It questions, inspires, and offers practical wisdom on reconciliation, forgiveness, and hope after violence.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Transforming Violence: The Watts Gang Peace Treaty
Guest: Akilah Shirills
LA in the 1980s-90s: Context for Conflict
- Crack cocaine devastated South LA, creating an environment of violence and economic desperation.
- As Akilah shares, “Crack cocaine came through the neighborhood like Hurricane Katrina. It uprooted families… it decimated the neighborhood.” (03:00)
- Gangs functioned as “surrogate families”—most members were not violent, despite the reputation (04:26).
Personal Journey from Violence to Peacemaking
- Akilah lost friends to violence; became desensitized and angry: “By the time I was 16, I had attended 20 funerals of friends.” (04:26)
- Family and education gave Akilah a path out. Exposure to radical thinkers politicized him and gave him hope for transformation.
- “If I could transform and transmute my pain into power, then I could help some of my friends and family members to do the same.” (05:52)
Organizing for Peace
- Akilah and others envisioned peace not just as the absence of violence but as an intentional, community-driven process.
- They began rallying around shared identity and pride to open dialogue: “We were starting to coalesce something.” (07:53)
- Civil rights leaders and figures like Louis Farrakhan inspired unity.
The Treaty Process
- The group focused on the 4 main Watts housing projects, recognizing the need to involve the “shooters”—the fraction of gang members responsible for most violence (11:00).
- The peace agreement: “Y’all stay in your neighborhood, we stay in our neighborhood. And…we give each other a pass.” (11:38)
- The energy after agreement: “It was unbelievable, the release of energy that night… it became a family reunion.” (12:09–12:45)
Tension, Riot, and Resilience
- The Rodney King riots erupted just after the ceasefire, delaying an official written treaty until 1994 (15:38–16:44).
- Akilah: “Peace is not a destination. It’s a series of peaks and valleys.” (15:31)
- Key lesson: the importance of returning to the table after disruptions—negotiation is continual.
Legacy and Community Infrastructure
- The treaty dropped gang homicides by 44% in two years (19:17–21:26).
- Initiatives included life-skills training, school programs, and economic empowerment.
- “We became sophisticated in understanding how the system worked…” Akilah recalls Jim Brown’s lessons in leveraging resources for systemic change (21:42).
- Lasting change required structured, funded, and community-led infrastructure.
2. Personal Loss and the Power of Forgiveness
Akilah Shirills on His Son’s Murder (2004)
- Akilah’s son Terrell was killed in a case of mistaken gang identity. He resisted community pressure for revenge, insisting:
- “That eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth game has left us all blind and toothless, family.” (27:21)
- He advocated for forgiveness, believing cycles of violence are not broken by retaliation but through transformative justice.
3. Expanding the Model: Community-Led Public Safety
- Using the "credible messenger" model in Newark, Akilah employed formerly gang-involved individuals to mediate and prevent violence:
- Newark homicides fell from 103 to 37 between 2014 and 2024 (31:25).
- “We’re redefining public safety. We’re putting the public back into public safety.” (31:58)
4. Peacebuilding across Deep Divides: Israeli-Palestinian Conversation
Guests: Aziz Abu Sarah (Palestinian), Maoz Inon (Israeli)
Stories of Trauma and Refusal of Revenge
- Maoz Inon’s parents were killed on October 7th, 2024. He chose reconciliation:
- “I was drowning in an ocean of sorrow and pain … And then our tears washed the blood from the ground. And then the ground was beautiful and shining. And on that ground, I could see the path, the path to peace.” (34:26)
- Aziz Abu Sarah lost his brother as a child:
- “Only eight years later, when I went to study Hebrew with Jewish immigrants… that’s only when I realized we can be allies… Regardless of what other people do, that choice is always mine. I do not want to take revenge.” (36:28)
The Necessity of Encounter and Narrative
- Both describe the difficulty and necessity of learning the “other side’s” story:
- “The first step…is knowing the other side narrative.” (38:56)
- Aziz founded shared-narrative tours and peace projects, opening spaces for difficult but healing conversations (41:02).
A New Model of Hope and Action
- Maoz: “Hope is an action. It’s not something you find, not something you can lose. It’s something you are making.” (47:46)
- Their formula: envision a better future, act together, and convince others of the possibility of change.
Anger as Energy for Change
- Aziz reframes anger: “I think of anger like a nuclear power. It can lead to destruction and it can make light.” (46:50)
Inclusivity: Who 'Belongs' in the Peace Effort?
- Aziz closes: “People should divide us as those of us who believe in justice, peace and equality and those who don’t yet… We lost our family members. We did not lose our sanity. We did not lose our minds.” (49:14)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 02:01 | Akilah Shirills | “Change moves at the speed of trust.” | | 04:26 | Akilah Shirills | “Black American gangs aren’t inherently violent. Less than 3 to 5% of so-called gang members are actually committing violent crime.” | | 11:38 | Akilah Shirills | “Y’all stay in your neighborhood, we stay in our neighborhood… we give each other a pass.” | | 12:09 | Akilah Shirills | “The release of energy that night… it became a family reunion, you know, it was decades. I mean, we had a three decade war, so the release was just extraordinary.” | | 15:31 | Akilah Shirills | “Peace is not a destination. It’s a series of peaks and valleys.” | | 19:17 | Akilah Shirills | “But what the commitment was, was to consistently come back to the table to renegotiate the terms that brought us there.” | | 27:21 | Akilah Shirills | “That eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth game has left us all blind and toothless, family.” | | 31:58 | Akilah Shirills | “We’re redefining public safety. We’re putting the public back in public safety.” | | 34:26 | Maoz Inon | “I could see the path, the path to peace. I woke up shaking ... I knew this is the path I must choose. The path of not taking revenge, the path of reconciliation.” | | 36:28 | Aziz Abusara | “When my brother ... was killed ... I thought there is no other choice. And only eight years later ... I realized that we can be allies... that choice is always mine.” | | 41:02 | Aziz Abusara | “Everywhere I worked, I found that we share the same problems ... It’s lack of recognition, not willing to understand each other, historical narrative. And not having a shared vision for our future.” | | 47:46 | Maoz Inon | “Hope is an action. It’s not something you find, not something you can lose. It’s something you are making.” | | 49:14 | Aziz Abusara | “If you must divide us, people should divide us as those of us who believe in justice, peace and equality and those who don’t yet.” |
Important Timestamps
- 00:44–07:53: Akilah's early experiences and the L.A. gang context
- 08:29–13:03: Movement toward peace, organizing marches, and influence of black activism & Louis Farrakhan
- 15:31–21:26: Treaty maintenance, aftermath of riots, impact of violence reduction programs
- 23:49–32:05: Personal loss (Akilah’s son), philosophy of forgiveness, scaling community-led safety
- 34:26–50:09: Israeli-Palestinian dialogue; personal trauma, forgiveness, and collective hope
Episode Takeaways
- Peace is never static: It is a continual process of negotiation, relationship-building, and recommitment.
- Transformative potential in storytelling and encounter: Hearing another’s pain opens the door to empathy and reconciliation.
- Community empowerment matters: Those closest to the violence can be powerful architects of peace if given tools and trust.
- Forgiveness is radical yet pragmatic: Breaking the cycle means refusing the logic of retribution, even at personal cost.
- Anger can be channeled for good: It is a force—either destructive or creative, depending on how it’s used.
- Hope requires action: Not merely wishing, but actively building, sustaining, and convincing others of a better future.
Credits
- Segment speakers: Akilah Shirills, Aziz Abu Sarah, Maoz Inon
- Host: Manoush Zomorodi
- Produced by Katie Monteleone, Fiona Guerin, Harsha Nahada
- Edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour, Manoush Zomorodi
- See full talks at ted.com
For listeners and peacebuilders alike, this episode is a deep and practical meditation on how people find their way out of conflict—one hard conversation at a time.