The rapper Vic Mensa recently spoke about his plan to train kids in his hometown of Chicago on how to be street medics in violent situations. It was something he spoke about last year as well, but he recently gave a few more details to Essence in a newly published interview.
According to NBC News, four people were killed and 56 wounded by gunfire in Chicago within four days last weekend. The Chicago Tribune also reports that 250 people have been killed in the Midwestern City this year as of June 29.
Mensa’s training program will go through his SaveMoneySaveLife organization, and he got the idea from traveling overseas.
“We train and equip first aid responders in Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods,” he explained. “And teach them how to not bleed out, how to stop blood flow from gunshot wounds.”
“I was in the occupied West Bank in Palestine and I met a young man from Gaza who was from an organization called Build Palestine,” he added. “[They] had a similar program where they trained 35 first aid responders, I think it was in Gaza.”
Mensa also compared Chicago to Gaza and said both places have problems with the ambulance arriving quickly at times, and he hopes his program will help save lives.
Since the 26-year-old rapper broke on the scene with his 2013 mixtape “Innanetape,” he’s started a nonprofit called UniVerse, where he provides children with a mentor so they can thrive in school.
He also fought against police brutality, was vocal about the Alton Sterling killing, and stood with Native Americans at Standing Rock, North Dakota, during protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline being built.
And currently Mensa is partnering with the company Wolverine to launch its own shoe line, and the proceeds will help kids in Chicago who come from underserved communities.
