Alabama city hopes short film will help combat youth violence

The city of Mobile collaborated with local experts and community partners such as Alabama Power to produce a short film that they hope shows at-risk youths “You Still Have a Choice.”

The film shows how childish exchanges can lead to bad choices and violent overreactions that can ruin lives or set someone down a wrong path. But it also shows how proper guidance – understanding actions have consequences and viable career options – can produce powerful results.

The film is the second update of “You Have a Choice,” created by former Mobile District Attorney John Tyson in the 1990s.

D’Ambro Chatman, creative content manager for the city of Mobile, has been working on the project for more than three years, along with Jim Barber, former Mobile Police chief and current chief of staff for Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson. Barber was involved in the first updated film in 2013. You can watch the new version below.

Making a film that is both entertaining and engaging to today’s youths while reaching them with the right message was no easy task.

That explains Chatman’s first reaction.

“I sat down and I prayed first of all and asked God to help me,” Chatman said.

That guidance led to meeting with child psychologists, the James T. Strickland Youth Center and the teen advisory council to focus in on messaging that would resonate.

The original “You Have a Choice” featured interviews with inmates who regretted their choices. Chatman said the youth advisory board suggested the film needed to retain that element.

For that, Chatman and Barber brought in Champ Napier, a former inmate sentenced to life in prison for murder, who later became the first Alabama prisoner to receive a pardon for murder. Today, Napier serves in the community.

But the experts said it is not enough to tell young people what not to do. The film needed to offer some alternative life path.

It just so happened that Chatman’s own nephew had recently told him he was planning on looking into the lineworker training program at Bishop State Community College after high school.

Chatman said he reached out to Alabama Power and Bishop State to make that the alternative path for the film’s troubled youth. It just so happened that Bishop State had a lineworker training program graduation in just a few days. The scenes in the film were taken from that actual graduation.

“We all know how important it is for our young people to make good choices. I want to congratulate the mayor and the city staff on producing this impactful video,” said Patrick Murphy, vice president of the Mobile Division at Alabama Power. “There are so many opportunities right here in Mobile for our students. Making the right choice now helps ensure that they can have a bright and prosperous future. We are proud to partner with the city of Mobile, Bishop State and the Mobile County Public School System on this project, and we look forward to the impact it will have on young people in our communities.”

The Mobile Film Office and the Mobile County Public School System, along with actors, extras, film professionals, first responders and others, came together to help make the film happen.

In his recent nightly email, Stimpson addressed why the city wanted to update the film.

“The purpose of the film is to engage young people who might be dealing with similar situations. We hear too many stories about young people who make rash decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives. Sometimes it involves resolving a conflict through violence. Other times, it can be carrying a gun for protection or joining a neighborhood gang to find a support system. We want resources like this to illustrate the consequences of those choices and how to make better ones.”

Chatman is pleased with the film and said he has hopes and dreams for what it can accomplish.

“My hope is that at least one life will be saved, at least one child will realize they need to start making better decisions,” Chatman said. “My dream is that it will change the world, or at least our part of it.”

Barber said the message is geared towards those students in the ninth grade because statistics show that’s when they often start making some poor choices. Chatman believes the film has a message for everyone.

“I hope it will encourage not just kids but also parents to get active in their kid’s life,” he said.