Atlantic City got some positive exposure Monday, when the
subjects of a viral video showing a man calmly ending a fight between two teens appeared on "Steve Harvey."
"We had a hard time getting you, man," Harvey
told Ibn Ali Miller .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1uK_8opo04
Ali has tried to stay out of the public eye since the March 20 video showing Jamar Mobley, 15, and Sheldon Ward, 18, fighting and Ali interrupting them.
It's something he's done before, those who know Miller have said. But this time, it was captured on video. And when Mobley posted it to his Facebook page, it soon went viral, with millions of views.
The fight, the boys admitted to Harvey, was over a girl. Both come from single mother families, and said they were inspired by the father-like actions of Ali.
Ali told Harvey how he too grew up without his dad, losing him to street violence when he was only 1.
"I stopped those kids mainly because, when I saw those kids, I saw myself," he said.
Ali made a public appearance to accept recognition at a City Council meeting, but has otherwise remained lowkey.
"I did you because of what you do off camera," Miller told Harvey. "Because you care about young black men in America."
Ali said that the biggest problem of those who find success in the community is that their "success doesn't reciprocate back to the hood."
"And if it doesn't reciprocate, then your success is selfish," he says. "We don't need any more selfish success in black America."
Harvey credits his mother — a Sunday school teacher — who told him, "God blesses you to become a blessing."
He told the teens he wants to help them, inviting both to his camp in Atlanta, and giving each a $5,000 check, with conditions that include them going to college.
Ali was presented with a check of his own to continue helping his family, Harvey said. The Atlantic City man also got a "Harvey's Heroes" jacket to honor his actions.
