University of Chicago professor Franklin Cosey-Gay explains social roots of violence, inequality in Black neighborhoods

CHICAGO (WLS) -- "Black communities are not violent, they're victims of violence and so what you have is hurt people, hurting people," said Franklin Cosey-Gay professor at the University of Chicago. "People are upset. They're hurting, they're in pain and they want revenge--I'm sorry they don't want revenge, they want justice."

As Executive Director of the Center of Youth Violence Prevention, housed inside the University of Chicago's School of Social Work, Cosey-Gay is an expert on the Black experience in America and how Chicago's predominantly Black neighborhoods have changed over the 20th and 21st century.

ABC 7 Chicago sat down with Cosey-Gay to talk through issues like white supremacy, income inequality, if there is a correlation between wage and violence and are Black neighborhoods are more violent.

For more on Cosey-Gay and the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, visit their website.