I suspect some people had their eyes opened last night at the Urban League premier of  “Young Lives on the Edge.”

In case you missed the buzz, this documentary film exposes the lives of four Qcity youths as they struggle in the wake of drugs, alcohol and violence. The only way to describe the film is “raw.”

If you’re black and over 40 you probably grew up poor; poverty was a familiar foe in many of our homes. What struck me about “Young Lives” was not the financial deprivation these young people survived but the lack of meaningful role models they all seem to have had.

There was Unique Thompson who talked so casually about family abuse and her former fondness for guns. Jason Palmer forfeited a basketball scholarship at a noted prep school because of alcohol and drugs. John Corey Newton grew up without an involved father; the male figure in his life, he said, was his mother’s lesbian partner (his description, not mine). And then there was Elissa Noble who talked of being beaten “like a man” by an adult male in her home. She pierced her face, she said, as a way of self-inflicted pain.

Pictured above: (front) Unique Thompson; (Back, l-r) John Corey Newton, Damian Norman, Jason Palmer, Elissa Noble. (Photo: Qcitymetro.com)

All of these young people found their way to the Urban League of Central Carolinas for vocational and life-skills training. All are now stitching their lives back together.

Thompson dreams of being a lawyer. Palmer is unsure of his career goals but wants to build a recreational center in Lancaster, S.C., his hometown. Newton wants to be a doctor. And Nobel, still with her face piercings, wants to be a cop.

All have far to travel.

Urban League President and CEO Patrick Graham said the primary audience for the film will be mentors and groups that work with distressed youths. He said after the premier that several people had approached him about showing the film to their church groups.

That’s a great idea. This is one documentary that needs to find a broad audience. Many of the viewers I met last night already work with troubled youths, so they know the score.

It’s not that “Young Lives” will show black viewers something they don’t inherently know, but with so many of us now removed by income and distance from our low-income brothers and sisters, it’s easy to forget.

“Young Lives” is a cold, raw reminder of why the twin sisters of poverty and crime are so stubbornly imbedded in so many of our communities. If you get a chance, see it.