In a May 11 exclusive interview with History Now, emergency room physician Dr. Robert Gore talks about how seeing wounded Black boys in the ER prompted him to start a non-profit program to stop violence and save Black teens.

In the video, the activist and physician shares what it was like living in pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Gore says he had to carry around box cutters to protect himself, and he knows the dangers many young Black boys and men face.

So, he did something about it. In 2011, Gore started the Kings Against Violence Initiative to help give at-risk Black teens other options in the community. KAVI is a youth empowerment program that features a variety of workshops and activities, including “identity exploration, self-governing, and critical thinking life skills.”

“Working in the trauma center at Cook County Hospital [in Chicago], I had seen young men of color coming in — I wouldn’t say just injured, almost massacred with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and to the abdomen and pelvis, stab wounds to the head; people beaten up with batons and sticks and any other object that you can possibly imagine,” Gore told The Root in a May 22 interview.

Currently, Gore is a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at SUNY Downstate-Kings County Hospital, and he serves as director of KAVI.