"Aquil Basheer believed that ending gang violence wasn't the kind of career you just fall into. "In this type of work, you're usually chosen. You don't choose it," he said in 2024 in an interview for "The Storytelling Project," an L.A. County Public Health Department project that documented the effects of violence on local individuals and communities. Basheer, it seems, was among the chosen."
"Basheer leaves behind a legacy of community-centered advocacy and teaching that go back to the late 1960s in L.A., a lifetime of achievement that Mayor Karen Bass celebrated in a tribute on X. "Dr. Basheer was more than a colleague and a friend - he was a visionary leader who dedicated his life to building the infrastructure our communities need to protect and support those doing critical violence prevention work," Bass wrote, noting his work with the Mayor's Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development."
Aquil Basheer, known as "The Commander," founded the BUILD Program and the Professional Community Intervention Training Institute in South L.A. and started the nonprofit in 1992. Basheer worked as a mediator of gang conflicts and a mentor to violence interrupters, with community-centered advocacy and teaching dating to the late 1960s in Los Angeles. BUILD stands for Brotherhood Unified for Independent Leadership Through Discipline. Basheer collaborated with the Mayor's Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development and received public tributes for building infrastructure for violence prevention. His cause of death was not disclosed and his exact age was unclear.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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