A YouTube video shows a group of men laying out prayer rugs while kids play in the courtyards of the Parkway Gardens housing complex on the South Side – an area known as O-Block.
“We’re worshipping God … that’s why we’re over here in O-Block to let the people know that these ain’t bad dudes over here, they worship God,” Saddiq Ali with Muslimatic University says to the camera.
“Muslims Praying in OBlock for OBlock” has more than 83,000 views, comments like “I’m glad to see this (positivity) is been pushed around the world especially in O’Block”; “I love what you brothers is doing to bring peace on all sides”; “From Libya, all the love to my Muslim brothers in Chicago, and I tell you that we are with you.”
O-Block has become a site of spectacle for outsiders due to ties to gang violence – now entangled in ongoing federal court proceedings over racketeering charges, including murder.
In the negative stories about the area, there was an opportunity to “show a view of these brothers in a better light,” said Konoya Ali, who created The Chi Podcast channel that posted the video. He is the digital creator for Muslimatic University, whose members are featured in it.
For the past four years, Muslimatic University has utilized Instagram to “push peace with prayer”: videos of men praying in the neighborhood or of people taking shahada, the Islamic profession of faith. They’ve traveled to Brooklyn to talk about their work and to Mecca for the pilgrimage.
Ali said this social media push works as an anti-violence campaign – young people will come to the masjid and seek mentorship in other attendees.
“When they see certain people change, social media influencers embrace it, embrace us, embrace this way of life and change their lives, then it becomes more acceptable for them to want to make a change and ask questions,” Ali said.
A pile of Muslimatic University Mecca sweatshirts laid out in front of the store. Photo: Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News
He’s not alone in finding success in social media.
Forrest Stuart, professor of sociology and director of the ethnography lab at Stanford University, spent several years shadowing a gang on the South Side of Chicago. He found that residents commonly used social media to mitigate violence.
He and co-author Jeffrey Lane released a study in 2022 that explored that finding: “How Social Media Use Mitigates Urban Violence: Communication Visibility and Third-Party Intervention Processes in Digital Urban Contexts.”
Social media, the study found, allows outside people to observe others’ online behavior and try to influence relationships in a way that can prevent and reduce violence.
The increase in social media use creates “communication visibility,” which makes someone’s relationships and interactions visible to both their own communities as well as wider audiences, according to the study.
“Research on the integration of social media in outreach work has shown how youth workers use communication visibility to bridge intergenerational gaps and gain a more holistic picture of at-risk youths that attends to risk factors, expressions of emotional state and prosocial interests,” the study states.
That intervention work usually falls on sisters, girlfriends, and other women in men’s lives, researchers found. Part of the work includes “preventing network overlap,” to hinder friends and family from entering into social networks of potentially dangerous people.
For example, the researchers spoke to Danielle, a 17-year-old Chicagoan, whose younger brother, DJ, had been spending time with a local gang faction. She maintained online relationships with those in a rival faction, allowing her to “lurk” on other men involved. She noticed that DJ had posted a photo with a young woman in that rival faction, and concerned about jealousy and retaliation, she intervened.
She did not reveal the woman’s rival ties and instead told DJ false information that she was known to be promiscuous. DJ severed his ties with her.
Another example of that intervention work is “disciplining digital communication,” where someone monitors and discreetly regulates loved one’s social media content with subtle rewards and punishments. In another example, Danielle said she would only allow DJ to hang out with her and her friends if he deleted inflammatory social media posts. He deleted the posts and hung out with the group.
Loved ones aren’t the only ones using this enhanced surveillance.
Prosecutors have used this visibility to bring enhanced charges against youth suspected of gang-related crime, the study found.
Instead of arresting and “incapacitating” people through law enforcement, loved ones like Danielle can steer people toward more robust community relationships, mitigating their risk of possible violent interactions – “these community members mobilize interpersonal, strategic, and affective resources that are based on voluntary compliance,” the study continued.
Lance Williams, an expert witness on criminal defense cases for nearly 20 years, has seen prosecutors conflate social media activities with purported violence. He works on cases where individuals or groups have been indicted or charged with gang-related crimes that involve social media as evidence.
“It’s almost as if it is a soundtrack or a video track for the case,” Williams said. “It’s easy for them to collect the information based on, you know, just gathering it up from young people’s social media activity.”
He said he’s seen an increase in prosecutions over the past decade where social media will be used as evidence for criminal behavior and then used to trump up charges. While there are individuals involved with real crime, Williams said the overwhelming majority of young people are not involved in criminal activity.
Instead, he said they’re involved in the “popular culture” side of social media, using music and flashing weapons to clout-chase.
Williams provides an example: “Let’s say in a neighborhood there’s a group of guys who are in conflict … but they’re all making this music, right? And all of the music revolves around, you know, beefing and gangbanging. But it’s just in the social media expressions. But let’s say, in the midst of all of this, a shooting happens within that group. Then instead of just targeting or doing an investigation to find out which individuals are responsible, law enforcement tends to gather up everyone that is expressing it in their social media group, and everyone gets indicted.”
Williams sees social media companies as a major culprit. It’s irresponsible for companies to allow videos promoting gangs, guns, misogyny and drug use, he said. There should be government regulation on what’s allowed to be posted, he added.
Against these forces, Williams said anti-violence work on social media is “trying to put out a forest fire with a water hose.”
