Here's another podcast we think you'll find interesting. Twenty-five years ago in Chicago, a little boy named Lenard Clark was beaten into a coma just for being Black. Almost overnight, the news stories turned to racial reconciliation and forgiveness. From writer Yohance Lacour, You Didn't See Nothin is an investigation into how that happened, and a memoir of coming-of-age in Chicago. Full series available now.
Anti-violence worker Cecilia Mannion confronts her desire for revenge after the car her kids are riding in is shot up 20 times. Meanwhile outreach workers in Garfield Park are trying to slow a string of shootings stemming from the theft of an $8,000 necklace. And Joey finally goes to the police station to make an identification, but there are problems.
A 14-year-old boy whose father was wounded in a gang shooting faces down threats of violence and the temptations of joining a gang. Meanwhile, a person who killed one woman and wounded another will avoid criminal charges.
The gang murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams shook Chicago and affected many of the anti-violence workers on the West Side. As former gang members they sympathized with Jaslyn’s dad, Jontae, his desire to spend time with his daughter and how that put her at risk of violence. Jontae still struggles with the guilt. And when he decided to help police catch his daughter’s killers his gang friends turned on him. **Content warning: This episode contains uses of the n-word.
Gunshot victim Joey struggles to get police to arrest the man he believes seriously wounded him and killed his neighbor. Meanwhile, low-pay and job insecurity make it harder for anti-violence workers to do their jobs and build a life for themselves.
Sirenzo Strong spends his work days trying to talk to gang members in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. Part of his turf is the site of a former housing complex, Rockwell Gardens. When former residents return to the old neighborhood, so do the old gang allegiances and grudges.
Former gang members are out on Chicago’s streets trying to slow the relentless violence. A man shot 11 times hides with his kids at home.
On the West Side of Chicago, a father is seriously wounded by an apparent gang shooting. The worker who comes out to help him heal mentally and emotionally is a former gang member herself. She is part of a growing army of anti-violence workers fighting to bring peace to the streets of Chicago. In Motive Season 5, WBEZ criminal justice reporter Patrick Smith takes listeners out to the streets where workers are trying desperately to prevent shootings and help the victims of gun violence. Episode 1...
In this bonus episode of Motive, we bring you some excerpts from a special project we created. After a years-long investigation into prisons, we wanted to make something that wasn’t just about people in prison, but also for them. In August of this year we collaborated with radio stations across Illinois to create a broadcast that was heard in prisons statewide. We played sounds incarcerated people requested to hear from the other side of the prison wall, and dedications for sounds that family me...
From our friends at WAMU and PRX. When 8 year old Relisha Rudd disappeared from a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. in 2014, nobody noticed. By the time authorities formally declared Relisha “missing,” 18 days had passed since she’d been spotted at school or the shelter where her family lived. Seven years later, Relisha has never been found. Through The Cracks investigates gaps in our society and the people who fall through them, and in this first season, host Jonquilyn Hill asks if Relisha’s...
Prisons helped rural towns, while Black communities in Chicago paid a heavy price. Now, rumors swirl that parts of Pontiac prison may close.
In the 1980s Illinois leaders held a competition, where rural towns competed to “win” prisons and the jobs that come with them.
Two Illinois prison guards were tried for beating Larry Earvin to death. We try to make sense of the trial and what it says about prisons?
A short update on Motive Season Four.
A man goes into prison with a 7 year sentence. But ends up getting 97 more years. How does that happen? And what do small town politics have to do with it?
State investigators interrogate a high-ranking prison guard, who is accused of coordinating attacks on prisoners.
Damaria Bates and Jimia Stokes started their jobs as mental health workers, full of hope. But soon, they saw signs of severe abuse-- mentally ill prisoners with injuries, drenched in tear gas. When they tried to report the problems, they say fellow staff retaliated against them. In this episode we go behind the walls with the two women, as they try to make changes from the inside out. As two of the only black women on the mental health staff, they say they navigated racism and harassment. They b...
Men in an Illinois prison said they were beaten in a spot with no security cameras. But no one took action, until someone died. Exposing violence and cover ups, Season 4 of Motive investigates the hidden world of big prisons in small towns. Places where everyone knows each other and difficult truths get buried. Sign up for the Motive newsletter for the latest episode drops, behind-the-scenes stories, additional content and updates on events. http://wbez.org/motivenewsletter
Exposing violence and cover ups, the new season of Motive investigates the hidden world of big prisons in small towns. Places where everyone knows each other and difficult truths get buried. Sign up for the Motive newsletter for the latest episode drops, behind-the-scenes stories, additional content and updates on events. http://wbez.org/motivenewsletter
Clark Martell was at the vanguard of reviving the white supremacist movement. Then, he disappeared. His trail reveals how sex, money, and blood have kept the movement alive.
Atomwaffen was the most extreme white supremacist group, pushing for societal collapse. Today, their ideas are on the streets.
How did President Trump, the border wall, and the 2017 Charlottesville rally play into the education of a white supremacist?
Christian Picciolini grew a violent hate movement for eight years. After he left, it continued to grow. What's his role in fixing the harm?
Daytime TV discovered neo-Nazi skinheads and it was a ratings bonanza. But it also helped to grow the hate movement across America.
The Chicago Area Skinheads are, by some accounts, the first racist skinhead crew to organize in the U.S. What drew in those young recruits? And how one brutal event brought them down.
It was the ‘80s. Reagan was president. And for angsty, angry teens, the punk scene provided family and expression. Until the Nazis showed up and ruined everything.
A shy kid from Chicago shaves his head and prepares for an inevitable race war. In the early 1980s, it looked like organized white supremacy was declining in the U.S. But a generation of racist skinheads breathed new life into the movement. Season 3 of Motive examines the origins of the youth white supremacist movement in America. Episodes are released every Friday.
To understand the white supremacist movement today, look at the last time a wave of hate pulled in young Americans. A preview of WBEZ’s new season of Motive, coming September 4, 2020.
“Nobody talks about ‘the after,’” one woman said about sexual assault. “The during is terrible, but it’s the after , that’s the hard part.” On the final episode of Motive , the “remembering it for the rest of your life” part of the story.
The verdict in a 2016 gang rape case known as La Manada, or “The Wolfpack,” ignited mass protests across Spain. It kicked off Spain’s #MeToo movement and prompted a call for change to the country’s sexual assault laws. On today’s episode, the case and the fierce debate that followed.
