Confronting Both Sides of The Gun

This is the first week of g v a M, which is a time in New York City where anti violence organizations, advocates, partners, families, people who have been impacted on either side of a gun, the shooter and or the victim all come together to focus on, UH, the anti violence movement, to bring attention, awareness, UM and support to the movement. UH and really to uh just to put some some attention and on the fact that there

are models that work. UH. And in New York City, we have a model which we've you know, we'll be talking much more about, called the crisis Management system. And we know that over many years, the number of violent crimes and violent incidents have been reduced by the work of so many folks. UM. You all will see and hear the footage of the press conference that happened today

where hundreds of anti violence activists, experts, organizers. UH. We're at City Hall with UM, the city officials, City Council members and other government officials, and of course UM, the mayor of New York City, UM, and you know, standing there announcing some important things that we'll talk about later

on this show. We have been doing this for a long time, and history is going to show that the first crisis management funding came from an idea I had in the State Senate called snug gun spelled backwards first, allocation of money first, and it has moved into the movement you see behind us. And so when people believe that folks of color want to normalize gun violence in their community, they are wrong. They are wrong. This is a real issue that we want to attack head on.

But what we don't want to do is minimize the complete picture that must be addressed. By the time a person picks up a gun, we've already failed, We've already felt Now. I said this over and over again. There many rivers that feed the seed of violence, and it's time the damn every river, not just one with law enforcement. Damning every river is what we're going to do. The epidemic of gun violence is not a New York problem. It's not a Democrat Republican problem. Tulsa is a red state.

The shooting that took place, there was a rest state. Just an announcement came over just a few minutes ago of a sixteen year old attempting to recruit others in Berkeley to go in and shoot up a school. Every day we're hearing about this. It's breaking our hearts, breaking our bodies, and breaking our communities. When a bullet hits the target, the physical bullet stops, but the emotional trauma rips a path apart the anatomy of our entire community.

And there have been more mass shootings, think about the for a moment, More mass shooters in America than days of the years. Unbelievable. And we've normalized it. We say it's okay, and I think we often dismiss it because the victim of handguns violence for the most part of black and brown and in the inner cities all across America. So we've normalized it and stated that that is just the way it has to be. And we're saying today, your damn right is not going to be that way.

We could turn it around and make it happen. And yes, instead of g U and S, let me get you another four letters, how about J. O. B. S. Let's get our children jobs. Let's put them on a pathway of employment. That's why we have a hundred thousand summer youth jobs, first time in the city history. Thank you

Jermanni Williams for pushing this for years. That's why we're pushing the tell corporate America we want to one paid internship program throughout the school year leading into our force to care children, to give them the support they need so they don't age out at one, give them mentors and to the All of these things are gonna help us deal with this issue in a real way. Time to take our city upstream and build real partnership with people who are tired, as I am, of pulling people

out of the river downstream. This is our moment. You do not elect me to do what everyone has done in the past. You wanted a different outcomes and you picked a different mayor. And trust me, it's a lot of noise out there. Everybody's gonna critique us. Everybody's gonna start telling why don't you pick this one, why don't you pick that? Because I'm the mayor and we're gonna make the decisions now to save our children. With the

level of urgency that we deserve today. What you'll see behind us, it's not just the government made it happen, because to be clean there, we were told no every time that we asked for resources. When we first started, we met with the mayor at the time and he looked Erica Ford and not dead in the face and said, there is no proof that what you're trying to do will work. But we proved it. They sent us back.

They told us to get data. And all that Erica has mentioned in terms of how many days, weeks, years, months went by without shootings in this city, we did that together. Now, once the pandemic came, it changed a lot for everybody. So stop trying to act like in media who you are here, if you have any moral conscious, tell the true story. Violence is up everywhere. In fact, in nineteen sixty three, Malcolm X got in big trouble for saying something that we see today much is that

the chickens are coming home to rules. As we see shootings happening across this nation, shootings of all types, mass shootings, violence everywhere. Remember that this group we told you, we told you what would happen. We gave you the forecast of what would happen to this nation if we did not deal with mental health, if we did not deal with the lack of jobs and resources, if we did not address food, deserts and other concerning issues in our community.

We already told you that today would come, and so if we are to go forward and this nation is to be better, this group is an example of what must come together in order to address those concerns. The police force cannot do it alone. If they could have, c mess would have never been needed. The government cannot do it alone. Half the time, they can't figure out from one side to the other what to do. It takes all of us. But the main thing is that

the people must be centered. I'm I'm a part of a very robust route of advocates that I'm very proud to be a member of and a lot of us know each other respectfully. But thank you the man Adams for naming me to be the Gun Violence Preventions are in New York City. There's a new title. It's the first ever, and it should be. As he mentioned, we

should want some things that are different. We've been dealing with this issue for far too long, and we've been using the same tactics over and over again, and we've been getting the same results. So so so no one should have a problem with us trying something different. Give us a chance to prove our self work. We are the people who are closest to the problem, so quite

naturally we have the answers to those problems. There's nobody that wants gonna balanced in more than the young people that come from the neighborhoods and the people who live in this community every single day. And so this is a community driven approach. When you hear about the state or the FEDS and now the city, now include the community. That's the fourth flag of the chair that you're sitting on, Marsha. The community that we represent can create, as you heard

mentioned at this podium, solutions for themselves. And we're going to work hand in sync with that community to make sure that we deliver the things that they say that they need, the things that they said that they want, and these men and women behind me are trained to deliver those resources into those neighborhoods where other people cannot go. You know, I'm I'm proud because I was one of

the first, very very few. There was three of us who were the main leaders and no more than maybe six or seven in the room at any given time who put the crisis management system together. Architects. We were the architects of this movement. Erica Ford was really the brainchild. She threw all of her thoughts on the board. UM. And Richard gupp Glover, who at the time I think was at Columbia I think he was at Columbia UM. He was a professor. He worked to help organize her thoughts.

We did the advocacy work. Our brother A. T. Mitchell and myself we worked together with Erica pulling it and putting it and focusing and molding it to make the crisis management system a real thing. And here we are over a decade later. Um. You know, and the christ and the Gun Violence Awareness Month came along later where we decided that we had to have a month that really every single day there'll be educational opportunities and other

moments for people to get together. So I was happy to be in the hot sun today with all our brothers and sisters. Yeah, I was definitely happy to be there. UM. Our brother A. T. As you mentioned he was. He was announced to be the Tzar of Gun Violence and Prevention of New York. So that was a big thing.

You know, just he's somebody that a t I think his mannerisms, the way they carried itself, you know, it's it's just somebody that I look up to a call for advice a lot, and he's been a mentor, you know, he's been doing this work long way longer than I have. And he's um and he also respects my leadership at a lot of times, and we just have a beautiful relationship. So seeing him, you know, appointing to this position, knowing

that it's in the right hands. He's somebody who definitely takes this work serious, sleep and wakes up with this work, who calls me, you know, and whenever something that's going on, it's like, what are we gonna do? Like that's this is what we need to do. He comes up with strategy. So,

you know, I was happy to see that. And then there was so plethora of other individuals that I've known throughout the years through different channels, some just being in the streets, some from hip hop, some from just different channels, and just seeing that they've invested their lives in this work, and I've seen them really transitioned with something good to see and and just our family, you know, we've been

doing this work for so long. All of our friends and family was out there in the sweltering heat, you know so much all the way across the bridge. We didn't make it to the full bridge march. But I also see the young kids that I worked with at Van Sickly Middle School. Um, they were there at the march we put together. They actually put together this dope um anti gun violence song that they allowed me to feature on that were actually gonna be shooting the video

for in the next couple of days. So that's something that you know, it was happy to see. And the principal, principal camp was there. You know. They have a beautiful program and which Wednesdays is like career day everywhere you able to every Wednesday for the first two hours, the first two periods you go to either music program, uh video program, any kind of program that you want to

do and you want to invest your time. And they take the first two periods of every Wednesday and then it's after school component until when you can go to after school. But these people have the state of the art studio. When I tell you, their studio is better than the studio that I work like. They had a full kids got a great studient day's studio in that school.

It was just amazing. I never I'd be like, I've seen different music rooms and they have a little mic here and there set up, but this is a full fledged studio. So shout out to in Sectra Middle School in Principal Kemp, who who really invests in those children, Like you can see and you can see the investment playing off because they're happy to be there. You know, they're happy to come. They really are enthusiday doing something they like. They're not just learning in this mundane setting

you know too where it's born. They're looking at the chalkboard. They're doing something that they like to do. So shout out to them. Yeah, that's great. I mean, you know, the evolution, if you will, of different entities within education and community and government in and what have you beginning to know that there has to be a different way to educate our children, a different way to bring our young people along and help them be successful. That's that's happening.

But it's low, it's a slug rid, but happening, Like you said, a career day every single week. That's very different because in the past it's just once a year I put in your career day is not just them talking about careers in courses and classes, to where it's just creativity, it's music, it's arts, is cooking, and hands on, ends on, and you just end that for for two periods of the day. For the beginning of the day. You start your day off with something that you like

to do. You're not just going into a classroom and listen, and you're starting your day of doing an activity that you've chosen that you want to be a part of, and you're learning, you're creating, and it's just dope, that's great, it's great. It's great. So there's a lot of when we were talking about youth, we're talking about violence, we're

talking about you know, getting ourselves organizing. There's a lot of really really dangerous and serious things happening um where I think we It's probably one of the reasons why the evolution is such a slow drip, because it's like you're moving forward and there are people who are pushing to change the culture and to uh, you know really sort of I really want to be intentional about my point.

There are people who are really fighting to get the government to come out of its old and and sort of archaic ways of thinking about educating youth about dealing with mental health and other issues. Right there, you you, you know, you are one of those people that constantly talks about how no one can just sit you down for two hours and just talk to you. Want back and forth about your issues. To help you with your needs.

You need people from a therapeutic perspective. Yes, you can sit down and talk to them sometimes, but also that they may be able to come into your world, see what you're doing, work with you from a very hands on perspective. Now, maybe the fact that we're now in our forties we could sit still a little bit different. But certainly a young child will not be able to learn the same way that other communities learned. We know that and to be uh, you know, to receive therapeutic

services and other things in those ways. And so with that being said, there are folks who are sort of pushing to change the culture. But when you have such traumatic events like what we see happening across this country going on, it takes us back. So even if you go forward, you go back because people get afraid, People get you know, traumatized. It's a lot. You've got four people killed here, just you know, in the last four twenty four hours. Obviously we're taping this show, so when

people hear it, it will be a week old. And that's a thing that it's a week old by the time, you know, several days passes, we're like, well, that happened a week ago. Buffalo shooting happened, you know now, I don't know, probably fifteen sixteen days ago. It's not a long time, but in media time, the cycle just keeps changing. Four people shot in a medical center. Then you have the police doing what police do, uh, shooting an unarmed black woman who was suspected to be in a stolen car.

She was with a guy, allegedly the guy I ran uh, and the woman when they told her to get on the ground, try to explain that she was pregnant and that she could not lay down, and the police shot her multiple times. She wasn't in a pocket, she wasn't None of the witnesses have said she grabbed for anything or did anything that should have caused her to be shot as a pregnant woman. But again, uh, police will

be police, and so that happened. And then you have a situation where other governments are catching on quicker than us, because in a place like Canada, they are banning or at least there are new regulations that will ban the sale of purchases for certain types of handguns, right um or maybe all handguns. So people are like, yo, we're seeing what's going on in America, and we're not gonna sit by and allow our nation to be riddle with

the same types of watunate traumas. I don't know what the hell they're doing in Washington, d C. We ultimately have no choice but to to fight for and find for ourselves. Actually, you know, and and and now I'm hearing that there's going to be legislation passed in New York City will be an opencare state. I mean New York State. I apologize New York State. That's even worse like when we when we look and see that gun violence is up, and then we're gonna make it more

easy to access guns. I don't even understand how we don't realize that's a recipe for disaster, you know, to the reality of situation is everybody shouldn't have a gun, you know, and that's what the problem is. Obviously, the guns are getting into the hands of people who shouldn't have guns. When you look at these mass shootings, these aren't you know, cultable, you know culpable ready, you know informed people it would have packed the background check and

should be able to have guns. So when we understand that something is not working, why do we continue to exacerbate the mistake. It doesn't really make sense to me. You know, New York is on fire will gun violence. People who don't are getting illegal So now you're gonna make it a lot easier for somebody who shouldn't have a going to get it. I just understand the logic. Just don't. Yeah, we don't need people on the trains in New York that are already it's suffering from like

all types of trauma. I don't even know what it's called that's going on to go on the train. Who's sick man? People fucked up people? Yeah, people, peoples by a gun. People fucked up out here yet. And the thing is, you we look at our police, who supposedly are trained to deal with situations, and they say they fear for their and they make mistakes and they shoot.

So you're gonna give guns to people where've got nothing near with the police, got in hope that in situation stuff as road rage when somebody cuts you off and they get out and they got a gun named blowing your head. You see. We literally seen sick people driving on the highway and shoot that cars because they are arguing.

So yeah, but I mean your point is so valid, my son, because when you think of the fact that young kids sat in the classroom for over an hour, some shot, some almost dying, others who I've been told was shot a second time because there was so much room for additional horror. Um you know, sack there for all and out. And now, I mean, I don't even know how you talk about kids babies who for one second, if your baby is lost from you in a crowd for one second, it can turn into a complete meltdown

and break down for a child. So imagine people bloody uh you know, big boom, sounds of shots going off, and there was no help. So these police officers who stood they said at least nineteen officers were in the hallway standing there. If they didn't do anything to deal with the shooter, why are we now all of a sudden so convinced that a resource officer it's gonna do something.

If that's the case, then fucking fire the police officers, exactly if you're giving us all guns to tell us protect ourselves, and what what is the police officers doing that we can't do ourselves one hours in percent, I don't know, nobody's explained that to me. So just thinking about so much stuff that's happening. I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, as they say, I don't even know if theorist is a word, but I don't want

to be a conspiracy theorist person. But I'm really just trying to figure out because there's so much to process, And the last few weeks, I've been like, I don't even want to post anything on socials because I gotta like think before I gotta like gather my thoughts and

gather myself before I speak. But I've been noticing over the last few weeks that while we're dealing with like all this trauma in terms of like how what type of horrific incidents are happening, there's also mad had health challenges. Like I'm trying to figure out if when you get old allergies come on. I mean, I'm really I know this is totally off topic. It's a real thing because I never had no damn allergies to like, last I didn't even know what no allergies was. Like, I would

sneeze a little bit. But now I feel like I got I can't breathe, I feel like my eyes is always itching, I gotta something in my throat is like cotton balls and my nose. It's like, Yo, this is the worship I've ever felt. And it just started happening. And I'm like, when did all this you just started happening. The last two years I have been experiencing allergies. Last year wasn't as bad. This year. I literally had several incidents, like different periods where I could not breathe, my throat

was hurting, I was feeling exhausted. I almost felt like I had a flu, but I didn't because you know, I get a COVID test very often, and you're not the COVID. How about that you could have the flu? No, No, no COVID tests that I get they test for the flu. Also, That's why they flabbed me a little deeper because they go for the flu as well. You know, you should learn how to get you some of those good no thinking me I do, but I feel like, wow, like

what what? I don't understand it. And people have been saying like the environment is not what it should be. So I'm thinking, like, is it is? Can allergies be caused by the environment? Even today at the press conference? But then how is pollen we need like a medical expert, Like how is a an environmentalist? How is poll pollen impacted by like global warming and all of that. I

feel like it could be. I mean, what happens is trees of growing, and the more the woman gets I guess trees are going fast and they're probably producing more poling. I can't really give you. I'm just that was just some ship I thought about. But when you drive around now, you're literally seeing clogs of pollen everywhere. Like I was driving on the highway and I could just see the ship. I had to close my window. I couldn't even reath because it was so much pollen that started coming inside

of my car. So like I see, like I guess being sick when you when something ails you and you know you know it's the cause of your sickness. And you see it, you get real. So I'm very aware of piling that. Yeah, I mean, you know, we pay attention to coughing. Anybody cought. Everybody's like, what's why are you coughing? And I noticed today at the press conference that in the middle of the mayor speaking he had

to keep breaking to cough. It's allergies. Probably, of course I didn't ask him, but everywhere I go I noticed that more people are like, yo, I'm really dealing with it. I'm scratching, you know, people are are experiencing the side effects of uh, I guess an allergy to polling, as you said, And I'm just like, I don't want to do conspiracies because I don't know. But it's like all these things are happening at the same time, and it's really weird out with the flu, that's just you know,

this variant everybody's allergies is acting up. The football players is dying suddenly, like it's just it's like every time I turn, every time I opened my Instagram, I'm seeing somebody to die. And I'm noticing football players, basketball players like or at least the former or current there. They just checking out. It's a car accident. It's a hard issue rappers of course, so entertainers. It's like the energy I saw on um John Gray, Reverend John Gray's page.

He said, we need a revival of the soul, and I thought that was the most powerful thing that I have read in a long time. We need a revival of the soul because this text and right, and I feel like white supremacy amplifies all of this ship exactly. It's like you've got a cold, you gotta allergies, and you've got white supremacy. Well, because they don't want to acknowledge, you know not they but the system has failed to

correct or address environmental issues. There's not even an acknowledgement from UH, from the Republican Party in particular around the fact that global warming is an issue and that we're having climate change. So that's one thing policing is out of control. Also something that would be and fought tooth

and nail on um everything. So that's the deal. So to day, Yes, we are being joined by two women who we talked about gun violence awareness longth There's two women who were instrumental in helping us to get this this month off the ground and for the last several years we've all worked together in different capacities to refine it and to continue to work of the crisis management

system in different ways. You've got within, Uh, well, we'll let them talk about what CMS looks like and all the types of folks that work within the network, um Ms Risa Napper Williams of Not Another Child, and also our dear system Ms E Faith Charles, who has been in the trenches with me for a real long time and she has been a strategist in this movement, working in the Bronx and working in different organizations, but now she's actually working on um, you know, changing the culture

within the court system in New York, which is a part of it. That's what the network is supposed to be all about, holistic work. So let's bring them on. So, as has been mentioned, we're being joined during Gun Violence Awareness Month in New York by two really really important

individuals on this show, my son. We always have our friends, friends, friends and more friends, but we do know some incredible people who do incredible work, and Gun Violence Awareness Month is important, uh, really special to me because we started it with these individuals some years ago. Um, you know, working to try to make sure that the City of New York is really focused on the people doing the

work and the people who are truly impacted. And and the two people that we're joined with today two black women, by the way. Uh. And you can't say, oh, we only have black women on this show that do things, because we've been having a lot of black men lately, So don't even try it. But uh, ms Oresa Napper Williams of Not Another Child. Uh. And also miss E

Faith Charles, who is she has a big title. First of all, she worked with People and Culture Center for Court Innovation, so she's in the system transforming the system, but also is the immediate past leader, if you will, of anti violence projects and initiatives in New York City. Um. She has been working in the Bronx coordinating and organizing all of us for some time. Ms. Orresa is actually a mother who lost her son un um two gun violence. And so we're dealing with two people who are very

very close to both of you. I think also, UM, I f a, you lost the child as well, and my I didn't. My son did not die from gun violence. But I've lost the sun. Yeah, okay, but you lost the sun, so that in and of itself. So we're we're we're we're talking with two individuals today and my son and I have just been really trying to get into this whole idea of shootings happening across the country and what it means. Some of it, of course, is

racially incentivized or or at least racially motivated. Others are mental health situations, you have other things that you know, our poverty, UH motivated. So there's shootings happening and people are noticing it. And one of the things that I said today when I spoke at and of course we were taping this show today UM for UH an upcoming UM show UH excuse me, an upcoming episode of Street Politicians.

But one of the things that I said today is that we as in this group, the CMS group, which is the Crisis Management System in New York UM, as well as individual organizers around the city of New York,

have sounded the alarm. And I talked about how in nineteen sixty three, UM Malcolm X said that the chickens were coming home to rooties, UM, and here we are watching it happen happen across the nation where people like you, Miss Risa and e Fay have been out there hitting the pavement, telling the government, officials, corporations, community members that if we did not stop to deal with this issue, we are going to experience an insurmountable UH level of

violence across the nation. And here we are. People are afraid, there able to leave their homes. We've got shootings at grocery stores. We've got shootings in hospitals, we've got shootings just in general and schools of children. And yet here we come to a place where everybody's saying what to do. And yet we have laid out of blueprint years and years and years and years and years. So we want to talk about that blueprint today and my son, let me kick it to you to invite these two wonderful

ladies to be a part of our conversation. Well, thank you, quite thank you. As you just mentioned, we just left um UH press conference in which we spoke about gun Violence Awareness Month, which is the start of the gun violence Awareness Month. But if you see these shirts, this is the gun violence awareness movement because for us who do this work, it's just not about a month, it's

not about the day. It's all the time. And we go to sleep and we wake up with this work, and we've been joined by two phenomenal women, Black women who have been on the forefront of this work for a long time. So I just want to start with I f A, who right now is You know, she has elevated and involved into she's inside the system now and you know she's able to attack it that way.

But she's always been a frontline worker, you know, like you said, she's been in the Bronx organizing and putting together some of the best crisis management systems and organizations that we have. So I f A, you know, we look at this influx of violence, right and like like Tamka said, the chickens coming home to roost, and we've been saying what was gonna happen? What do you think is the major cause? And what should how should they

be attacking it? Well, first of all, you know, I want to salute to you, sister Tomica, and to my brother my son. You know, when you sit back here and in spaces with the both of you, there is a conscious awareness that I hold onto from both of you guys, right because it's a consistency in the way

that you do this work. Um, to my sisters BURRISA always salute you, says, um, just for what you're doing now, because I think as you talked about that when Malcolm talked about the chickens coming home to roots, we are are hair now right, we're hand hands deep, and you know the rooster's growing, right. That's what's going on right now.

And so in my experience and in my work, and I go back to brother A. T. Mitchell, who when we started doing some stuff way back and we had the sights that would being evaluated and research to come up with systems to address gun violence. I think the way that my brain always works about this is their compot realization of what's act happening. There's two pieces of this, right. You have this national piece where gun laws need to be changed, policies need to be uplifted, um, you know,

marginalization of people needs to be definitely destroyed. And then you have on a local level where there's a need for involvement. So when we just talked about my song, when you talked about the that we've been doing or researching you and and to making a bunch of other folks, it's about consistency. It's about consistency in the way that you lead. It's about consistency in the way that you

address problems. Too often what we do as a city is we run for the newest and latest thing, right, not looking at what has worked really in the past and sticking with it. You can't have a cookie cutter approach to gun violence. You cannot, right because the levels to this madness. Like I say this, I tell them to make the last Night, it's levels to this ship. If I can cuttle, can I can? I say, customers, this ltts right, it's it's my acronym that I made

up the levels to this ship. And so too often what happens is that you know, you have people who who who want to be in the front, but there's work that needs to be done behind. And I think when we talk about what's the approaches and what we need to do, I think we need to seriously evaluate who's doing work right under standard. We will each have

a role in this work. There is something that's gonna fight from a macro level, and there's those that are going to fight from the inside on the street level, which is a lot of what CMS is doing. But addressing it comes from both angles. It just can't be one solution, and I think that's what people are trying

right now, is just one approach. And and and I think Malcolm's quote of the chicken comings home to roost, we would be roosting for quite some time if we don't look at the multiple levels two gun violence and so Risa, you know what, what do you think we need to do? How do you think we should be attacking? And what do you think you know is the most

sustainable strategy? After being in this movement for so many years and seeing what's work, seeing was failed understanding after we just heard the mayor and his speech about how he plans to go about it, what is your pion? So first, thank you Mice and make Up for inviting me today. It is a simply a pleasure to be here with you guys. Um, and thank you for always seeing me as more than a parent, more than a

mother that lost the child. Um. And I really think the way that CMS has always moved forward where we always moved together, and before you go forward, because I think we keep saying CMS and we have not explained us, so folks will say, well, what are they talking about? I don't tell us what you are part of in New York. So it is the New York City crisis

management system. UM. Several models was looked at from over the country, and we know that, uh, the biggest model, I would say at that time that actually had the data that it worked was pure balanced, which was balanced interruptors and outreach workers. But um Coe, the co architects in New York, you know, you guys A t. Aerica to Meka f all of you pioneers from years ago, saw that that was not enough for our city and what we need. And you guys are the are the pioneers.

So let me know if I got the history right. But you know, you guys knew that it was more that after you took the gun out of her hand, after you gave a job, therapeutic support was still needed, professional mental health services was still needed. Employment opportunities, you know, was still needed. And so the system comprises of not just the balance interruptors and the outreach workers as the anchor,

but also the wraparound services which is greatly needed. UM. A lot of models do not reflect the mental instability that comes along um with gun balance. It does not reflect the layers of drama that is a leading cause of gun balance. And CMS does. And so I think, going back to my question, you know, that's what we need to do is expand on that. Right now, CMS is only in and if a correct me, if I'm wrong, I believe it's thirties something maybe forty sites um and

about sixteen catchment areas or something to that effect. But it needs to be expanded on. The other thing that was spoken of today was the interconnecting with city agencies. You know, no longer should we be working in silos where um, I never forget. I have a parent that I was with and her son was murdered. She was at his house visiting him for his birthday, which was

two days prior. She heard some organs. She went out to the steps and he was like, mom, good, I'm good when it next thing she heard was gunshots and came out and saw her child rolling down the steps. When we went back a day later, his blood still laid on the ground. And so we need sanitation to be a partly to be even given a time constraint of no. Twelve to twenty four hours, this blood should

be off of our streets. Our parents should not be and family members should not be retraumatized to come back and see the blood of their loved ones there. And so I think having someone in um in the position of the czar, you know which he is from the streets and know the needs from there to be able to come back and implement it with the health and the support of the city agencies is dope, you know.

And I think I think it was the faith that said a little while ago, you know that we just always do as comfortable, We do the same things over and over. This is a major monumental like this has never happened before. So I'm looking forward to the success with it. Well so for folks who are listening, um, and for those who may not understand, because we're so close to it that when we speak of it, we speak as if everybody knows and they should and they should.

But today, um, well, let let me go back before before that, over a decade ago, a number of us came together to work on building the crisis management system. We were told no by previous administrations because the purpose of the crisis management system and our fight was to get resources for formally incarcerated individuals, youth families whether they

be victims, and or the families of victims. To be advocates, people to work in hospitals, people uh to be there with therapeutic services, people to deal specifically with you know, extreme mental health issues, jobs, so on and so forth.

That was the model that we came together to create, and through that model we created CMS and the first and I think Mayor Bloomberg was the mayor who told us no. But it happened to be that at that time there was a a mayoral election and all the candidates wanted our support because we had organized ourselves around the city to be a force, and gun violence numbers were up, and so people were looking for our support. And to her credit, Christine Quinn was the speaker of

the city council but also running for mayor. And um of course, Jimani Williams was a city council person at that time, along with a brother, Finandal. Finandal He's was the city councilperson. And so we worked with them outside of near Bloomberg to get the first five million dollars distributed to grassroots groups one million dollars per borrow five boroughs in New York so that they could do gun violence intervention work. What we learned was that the major

thing that they would focus on was data. And so we learned that, and we knew we had to provide data that shows the shootings were down. Shootings dicked tremendously and as a result, now crisis management, the crisis management system is up to over a hundred million dollars that goes to individuals who are former who are organizing and employing formally incarcerated folks and you know, and others. A T. Mitchell, who's one of those in the beginning, is now the

new Tsar. I've been saying Caesar, but anyways, are uh Tzar? I was saying, Okay, So he got a title, y'all, he got a title, got a violent intervention and prevention in New York City. Today was announced by our mayor. This to me once again, and if that you you know, jump in here. But once again, we're setting an example, we're setting the tone again. After more than a decade, we're finding new ways to revitalize our movement for UH to fight violence in our city. Very similar to relationships.

Every now and then, when you with a man or a woman, you've got to set evaluated, you got to evaluated relationship. And and and that's and I think. I think that's what we're doing as a city is there's an evolution is happening, right. People are evolving, and I think there was a point in this movement where we were standing still, right, and we'll be dependent upon the funding. What I've seen with the movement, there's this innovation that

is happening, right, there's this different thinking process. This's the way that we're moving around the city. And so you're right to me, good if any relationship that you had have you've got to grow, right, do either grow up or you grow out. I think what's happening right now we're seeing in the city this need because this is what I say about gun violence, there's a cross pollination

of the effects of gun violence. Right. So what just happened in Buffalo, which just happened in in in in New Valley, in Texas, what's happening right here in the city. This is heading home for everybody, right. It is no longer isolated. It's no longer saying well, it's only happening in Brooklyn and in best eyeing in rons only the

black and brown communities. This is happening nationally. And the I think now what you have is the support of folks like the president, like a mayn that's saying, okay, so we have a model, we know that aspects of this model works. Let's use it, but then build upon it, right, and let's take someone who's had the experience. Because I tell people all the time, this work is not for the faint at heart. If you want to do gun violence work, you have to breathe it, sleep bit. You

also have to sometimes step away from it. Like I told to make it yesterday. It just doesn't fit into my spirit because just the death of people consistently could be traumatizing. So when Cistisa starts talking about the trauma in the past, that wasn't even a part of the picture. Right. So as we evolved now in the city, looking at different aspects and different tools to address gun violence, this

holistic approach we talked about it. You can do this work unless you think about the entire group of people a nation to people, right, that's who we have to think about. And so I think the way that we're moving now in the city where we're addressing to make it. My son, you knew this like ten fifteen years ago, mental health issue wasn't discussed with gun violence. It was never said simultaneously that it exists in the same house, and now they were thinking about it. We're looking at

aspects as a reason. Just talked about the trauma that happens, like people are literally talking about how trauma affect individuals and not only the individuals who are victims or those who are perpetrators of crimes. We're talking about the network, right, this idea of community. So for me, when I think about it, we have evolved. We started off with five millions, now over a hundred plus. We have over thirty something

sites in the city. The mayor is specifically looking at ways to broaden this aspect, not just through CMS, but in other avenues. To me, a multi layer approach to addressing gun violence is what's needed. And I think that's what we're doing, and it is my hope and we have to remember this. I'll say this and I'll pass

it on. This can be resolved overnight. Yeah, this is a long term investment, right, you know, like when you put your little dollar in the bank, if you think you're getting three point three percent interest and it's gonna grow. This takes a while, but it takes a while with people who are committed in its consistency. And again I will say this, because we're brown and black, the money

has to match the value of the human life. And too often when we're talking about blank and brown and black communities and marginal lives communities, we always want to just give a little bit, right. We don't want to open the pot fully, and that is problematic because that's not where equity is right. Because when we think about our others who have been injured, laws, policies, investment changes have been made and it's time for that to happen. And I think with under Mayor Adams and others um

that that potentially could happen. So I'm optimistic. I really

am optimistic. I'm optimistic as well. You know when I was sitting there listening and I was just, you know, just just looking at how the crisis management system has grown, right, and I'm seeing a lot of guys that I know, people who've been formally incarcerated, Guys that I've watched completely changed their lives, changed their mind states that are really inside the communities who used to be doing harm in those communities, who have invested the same and not more

energy into transforming the mind state of the young kids who had the same mindset that they have, and they're invested in it, right. So when I understand that they're invested in it without really having the monetary things that they want, just because their heart ist into it. Right. So when we start to incentivize that change and we start to you know, we start to reward that change, and people start to realize that, you know what, I can actually make a living, I can be successful, and

I can be changing my community. I could be something positive because negativity and violence is is um incentivized in our culture. You know, when we look at all of the negative artists and hip hop and all of the things, they making millions of dollars. So when these kids see them, right and the comparing them to you who telling them to stop the violence? And you don't look like you successful, you don't look like you have anything, who are they really gonna listen to? And that's what I try to

say it. If you want us to heat with the violence, then you gotta give us the resources and give us the ability to compete, give us the same stages, and give us the same platforms, and give us the same resources that you give the counterparts. So you know, I'm very optimistic. At this point, it seems as Mayor Um Williams said that he wants to not only the Adams Man Adams Man Adams apologize. Matt Adams said that he didn't just want to make this you know, it's it's

separate entity. He wanted to make this a part of the first another leg of government. He's saying that this is the fourth lag you know, and and this and this and and it's it really is common sense for me.

It's like when you have a community and people who are in that community every day, who know the people every day, who have relationships, who build relationships over years, who have respect and all those things, and those people are incentivized to stop the violence and utilize that respect and you lives, all of the things that they've gained over their lives to make sure that negativity doesn't happen, in opposed to just having a police system that comes

in when there's the violence is happening and comes in as an after, you know, as a response, no, you know you have I think that when you combine both of those things, because there will be things that you some at some point, it will get to a level that we might have to call police, but I think more often than not, if you give us those resources, that will be able to intervene and stop a lot of violence in the community. So I'm really hopeful and

looking forward to what the future has. Like you said, it's not gonna be an overnight thing. It's not gonna be it's gonna have to be invested in. It's gonna be a process. It's gonna be a long haul. But you will see the narrative shift. You will see the

culture start to shift. You will see the people who are celebrated for doing positivity will start to give people those same platforms and will say it's accolades in the same everything else that negativity has gotten for the last couple of decades, Mr Resa, what exactly as a mother? I know you said that you obviously, you know you do a lot more than just focusing on grief as a mom um, which in and of itself is a lot.

But what exactly do you do? I watched you today, as you know, some of our people would talking when they shouldn't have been, you know, doing things that you know we always need, you always have to have mothers of the movement. Um and I watched you today facilitating everything from process to behavior to you know, everything, decorum, the whole thing. What exactly is it that um that that not another child does? And also you specifically, how

do you see your role in this movement? Yeah? You know, they they I'm the smallest one, but I'm I'm a mother of all day today. And so you know, we started off with just a basketball tournament because one of the young men that played guilty to my son's murder was fifteen UM and it was in the middle of the summer, August seven, and a mother when this happens, when this experience happens, they always want to scream out so that everybody will know their hurt and how they feel.

And and that's where I was at, you know, but I wanted to scream out to youth, you know, fifteen year old. I wanted after two year old, to know what your choices and the consequences and decisions was doing the people and how they was hurting people. And I started out with what they love for basketball, game and food,

you know, and set that platform to be heard. But as the years went by, more parents kept showing up, you know, from both sides of the gun to really get that support, you know, on how can I identify if my son is really into something like this or you know, I'm just trying to get through the pain of losing my child, you know. And so we grew into more of a therapeutic organization. I would like to say that everything that we do has a therapeutic basis.

So you know, we grew into peer support sessions for parents of homicide victims, um because you know, if it's left up to us, nobody knows how we feel. Nobody, but that's just us. Don't be offended if one of us say it to you. You know, that's just don't nobody know how I feel. Actually somebody may know, but you know, just those support sessions so that we can support each other, you know, without the assistance of a counselor and different things like that. And so that's our

our family support aspect. The peer support sessions, the retreats where we go away, you know, um, just different things we do with the parents, helping them two or providing therapy for them, unconventional therapeutic support. We just went to Hatches and Hops, which is an event space where you throw hatchets, you know, and so we made it where that's a place for them to relieve you know, anger

and things. And they also had to be you know, just looking straightforward at what they were trying to target. So we do different events and things like that for them. Um, even with our basketball tournament now that my son actually came to one year when we first came up to Harlem. The therapeutic aspect of that is the teams bring pictures of loved ones that they have lost the gun balance and we hang them all around the park so that they're playing in memory of them and you know, hoping

that that will differ or deter retaliation, you know. Um. We have other youth groups out the hood where we take kids out of their neighborhood. You know, We've taken them to Wild Club John Studio showed them you don't have to be a rapper to be in the industry, you know, exposing them to various cultures and careers. We have um Buds, which is the brother's, uncle's, dad's and sons mentorship program. And we have Brown Boys book Club.

So we do you know, we do cleanups I'll call it, you know, after child, after loved one is murdered, to me because you know, you call me plenty of days with a parent with a wife, you know, to provide support to them, but also trying to at here our children from going either either side of the gun, you know, um, And that is what we do do do the other youth programs that we have, you know. And when I hear Resa speak like, my mind is always blown at

the way that we have evolved. Right That the idea of what therapy has been because a lot of time is brown and blacks. The way that we heal in the way that we deal with things have not been mainstream.

And the evolution of us as a city to recognize nontraditional therapeutic services and say that all in the same sentence, that's growth for us as city, right because and before you know, you pushed the traditional and and and no disrespect to white folks who are clinicians, but we pushed the traditional white is m of therapy on people of color, totally not engaging religion, totally not engage in the village that we have as people of color, totally not engaging

the way that the research just speak about parents and getting mothers together. So the fact that we have now been able to recognize that nontraditional support for families is under the city and has talked about in city documents as non traditional. That is growth. But again this idea around uplifting and bringing cultural competency to the fact that we grieve differently. That is recognition by the city. Right.

Like I told Resent this before. I remember when my son passed, he died from an illness, and when I was going through my feelings of loss and depression, I was told, go to God, right, go to church. You know, that's what you do. What we change now, which is not bad because that's what we do as people of color back from slavery. You know, we pray to the same oppressed lists or we go to be oppressist to

relieve us from stuff that we're going through. But what we have seen in the city right now is a mayor recognize in the fact that which you consider to be traditional for some communities, you can't not do for other communities. And that recognition right there in itself, to me is an advancement in the way that we're approaching the work and the way that we're approaching leadership in the support that's needed. So just aresa talking about and

I think Theresa has done it. She has put moms um in the city on the local level at a higher platform because before parents of victims were not really given the opportunity that's right within the process of healing. Has done in the past two years, I think has made it a much more vocal point that people recognize there is a need to support parents and loved one right not just through victims services, but through the the the collective village that we'll grow into CMS. Let me

go ahead, my son. You know what I was gonna say is I think what you test on something that was so important, you know, and its cultural relevancy is is the way that we do things. And you know, I've been I've always every government official I'm gonna be critical of. I'm not gonna just let you pass because you've got black skin, because we went to sleep before, you know. And I've been critical of some of the things that man Adams has said, you know, and I've

and i've i've held him to it, you know. But today he said some really powerful things, you know, and he spoke as a black man, he didn't speak as a politician, and he spoke to people and said and basically said, you don't understand us. You don't understand what it is that we go through in our communities. You don't understand how we grieve. You might not understand our lingo. Everybody here you looking at you saying what are they doing here? But the bottom line is we know, we

know what we're doing. We know we got this boogaloo thing that we do that works for us, that our community. There's people in this and that's in this crowd right now that can talk with gunning out of somebody's hands way different than you can. And you're gonna go there with your textbook theory of how it's supposed to go. And these people right here have been shooters, have known what it is to be shoot has been around, and

they't know exactly what to do. So I'm going to give them the opportunity to do what they've been doing their whole life, and we're gonna make sure that it's recognized as someone who does first responsory. And that was really important for me. It wasn't just the regular old conversation that the politicians have and we want to do. He really he really spoke to that and making a t mit you Bisarre, someone who I know very personal, and I know how he does this work. I know

the relationships that he has in communities. I know his background, I know the people around him background, I know how engaged and serious he is about this work, and I know how he's going to bring more people who have that same vigor, who have that same background, who have that same intention into this work and the people he's already connected with, and and I'm just I'm just really excited, man, I'm very excited. Excited, mind, you know, I really because

it's gonna be culturally it's gonna be culturally relevant. Work is not going to look like what people think it is. Well, he's saying a t and and the thing that I respect is that he said the fact that we we didn't make him part of government because we wanted him to have his autonomy to do the work the way he does it, to walk into communities the way that he does, and still have be connected to the community, but just an extension of a different level of government.

And that that is something that I've never seen done before, because he's respected, has lived and learned experience, right, because too often what we equate is that you have to have multiple degrees in order to execute. And what he is saying is that they are lived and learned experiences.

And I and I listen. I'm all push about education because it shows that you can stick with something that's continuous behavi and practice the theories around that, but there's also theories about someone who has had to live and learned experience. What I like about what's happening now is that we're not glorifying our past mistakes, right and at that's when we talk about the way this movement is. There's too many they want to highlight, Oh, I was this, I was that. I think to shift minds on it.

Something you always say, even when you're talking about when I've been following my own on I G and he's talking about the rappers and all that stuff. The reality is that you're talking grown folks business, right, You're not talking the fact that I am sick me and talking I was a shooter, I'm this gangster, I'm that person I got destroyed. You're saying that was a part of me.

But I've evolved because I understand the impact of my own violence to myself, my community, and now I need to shift right And so there's a shift in the mind state that you're talking about, and I think that's what you're seeing. That is a mare that recognizes the fact that you don't have to have multiple degrees to have impact. Right, There's a Meredith saying, let's invest and use non traditional approaches to also aid in gun violence.

There's a Meredith saying, there are people that's been doing this work who have evidence based in research data. Because you know how our Sissy City is and how people are Show me the data, show me that it's been researched, that it's been able to do that, and you have a mayor that is committed and know that it takes consistency to make change. That in itself is evolution, right, That is yourself is innovation for us, it is it is,

It is innovation. It is certainly I believe in it because I believe in a t and in many ways, um, you know, I believe in Eric also, the Mayor Adams, Right, I believe in him because I know him since I was a young child, and I know that he loves

black people. However, I do feel that the one trap that that Mayor Adams may fall into that could potentially be a trap for us as a movement and for the entire city is the trap of believing that and an investment and a continued stroke of the ego of NYPD is going to somehow be the other side, the other balance, if you will, of addressing gun violence, certainly he said today, which of course he's gonna he he's

a former police officer. He believes in the police and what you know and and and he believes in the police and the police right. And he said today that thirty of the shootings are down, um, and that you know that he named the number of things, the highest arrest rates of people with firearms, illegal firearms. He talked about those things. He's going to tout that he's also the mayor, which means he has to talk about the

success of all his agencies, including the police department. But the thing that I realize and I hope and that he also understands, is that we've also added more jobs. So you've got more people back to work, right, you have more folks out in the world post COVID, visiting other individuals out doing their work, getting their mental health

services back on track. And so while yes, I think the police have one role that in and of itself is not and has never been, this solution or the turn key way to address the needs of the community. So yeah, I I see how policing is important, but the budget is extremely inflated for policing and there is not enough money going to the services and the other areas that I just mentioned. We know that police are funded more than any other agency, so education is not

funded in the same way. Um you know, foods, food services, to our community housing, all those things are suffering tremendously and I really do hope that as a part of what Mayor Adams does and what he is focused on, that he realizes that there has to be a shift.

And that's why, whether it frustrates people and it pisces people off and whatever, we say, defund the police, not that we want to take all the resources and completely get rid of police, but we believe that police funding needs to go down and the funding for our organizations, um our, our networks and our services needs to increase. So let's see how that goes. Um you know, I support the work I can be whether they say it's no permanent friends, it's it's only permanent interests or something

like that. So we're not enemies. You know. I tell Eric directly how I feel about some of the things he says, and that there's no he knows clearly. We speak about it um when we see each other at professional and door social events. I have said many times I thought what you said on this is wrong or

it's right. But I do think that the fact that he was there today, that he's made the investment, and that he named our brother the czar of gun violence Intervention and Prevention is putting us on the right track and once again, the people will save the city. That's really what we're about online. That's the bottom line, you know.

I I'm with you on that. I don't you know when they started talking about defunct police, I've always been like, the language has always been, you know, as a as a as a mediator, as a certified mediator, someone who's media. The case is a lot of cases in my time. The reality for me is that when we start using language, it is toxic that can inflate and that can actually create problems. You're right to me that I get it.

They have a overwhemen amount of budget. I do think it's an opportunity to shift some of that money to other resources, right, And I'm hoping that Eric does that. I'm hoping that Maya adams Um does that across this city because there is a balance, and that's what we've been talking about, the balance. All we know is police, right, We've grown up only known police to resolve our situations.

When we look at Switzerland as a Switzerland and suite and they have guns, they have a number of guns, their gun crime stats are so dog gone low, right for a place that owns guns and people use guns. All we know in our country is police. And so that's the first thing that we turned to resolve in all issues, whether domestic violence, whether you have your you hit your big toe, whether your enable playing music too loud, we call police. I think the shift that we're gonna

see right now. And I'm not saying that we don't need police. I'm hoping at one point in our lives we don't have to have police resolve in everything. But the one thing that I would say is that I hope that Eric, as a former police officer, understand that you can do and I'm and him do this, is that you have other ways to resolve community safety, invest in community, allow people to have community sustainability practice and plans allow young people. Change the way that we educate

our children in schools. We've taken away trade from the schools. Right we automatically say that folks must go to college. We don't give people another opportunity to be invested in the arts, to invest in sports and other areas. Like I think for him right now, this is a great opportunity for him to reinvent the city, and I believe with the right people in place, he can do that. Well, we will, uh, you know, we we we want to

keep the conversation going. We're about to start a whole uh sort of reinvite track of bringing back all the folks that we have talked to over time to follow up on where people are. Um. I think what's important about this conversation today is we really kind of are hoping folks who are sitting at home saying they either want to get started or they already have grassroots organizations.

What does that look like? What does the relationship look like to work with the mayor who you may have issues with on one hand, but on the other hand, they have the resources you need to deal with certain things in the community. There's many different layers to this, and I think in New York City, while we may not have figured it all out, we certainly have a

good model for the nation. Um and miss or Resa, I would say to you that your spirit and your leadership UM not just being again a grieving mother, which in and of itself is important, but taking that and turning it into leadership is so important because you keep us all centered, you keep us no bad. I don't know anybody that has a problem with this or reason. We all have issues with one another, were fighting each

other everywhere. I don't speak to this one, this one don't speak over here, and the third, but we not. None of us have that issue with you. And it's important that we have mother. That's right. We need mothers and fathers. That's because she comes with a pure spirit. To me, I'm gonna say that all the time. I tell people that all the time. You gotta have that. We can't hear you, miss it. You gotta have a pure spirit. And I'm giving your posies, you gotta have

a pure spirit. Fool with her. Because she has a pure spirit. My motive and intent is pure. I just wanna amplify. I don't want another mother to be where I am, I really really don't. And so whatever I have to do, I know everybody's staff, Like I mean A t brought me in and when my mind goes back to that first time that I met him, like

that's almost like twelve thirteen years ago. But I know everybody's staff, I just because I know the important work that they do, you know, and so pure heart you do with a pure hearts you do have a pure heart lies and organized has just come to the forefront a lot more, you know, giving this platform to be able to do so. And because this is so important to me, like shutting down the Brooklyn Bridge today, No, no, like like it was shut down I know to me

because you saw it. I know. My but coming from the other way after going over the Brooklyn Bridge all my life, always that stands still, always caused to see it was like we was everybody's at a standstill, just looking and bringing awareness to gun balance. And what's important about that is today was one of several times over the history of this thing. Now, as we were building it, we bought caskets over. Yes, I think we gotta for helping us to bring this thing to fruition, and now

it's time for us. You know, sometimes in the movement we get a little comfortable. People, you know, your numbers down, you know, you you you're trying to just keep things afloat a little contracts exactly. But now we gotta put the eight team eighteen plus the newcomers back in the in the mix and on the grind, and we can save our communities. We can work with the community to save our communities. And so that's what we're gonna focus on. We love you both, um, you know, thank you so

much for your leadership. People need to be you know, we in New York have to teach the rest of the country, uh, in pockets where they don't have models like ours, how to do this work. My son, you want to take us out. I just want to say, uh, you know, bow down to your beautiful black queens. You know, thank you for all the work that you do, thank you for the energy that you bring, thank you for your smile. Thank you for cussing themselves. Sometimes it's a

reason because we'll be needing it, you know. But I just want to say, hands on church mama, like a recent and she'd be laying hands and got the holy look, let them do. That's not me. You need it needed. But I just want to say I love you all and I appreciate you part of you guys. Man, we are just like you know when you think about the baton being passed and the new generation of folks. Yo, bro, I'm just gonna say this to you, my son. I got nothing but love for you, y'all. Always in my prayer.

To Mika, you already now I feel about you. At the end of the day. It is just great to see the both of y'all where you bomb. I continue to lift you all up. And every conversation. Thank you, Queen. I know happy, but I know his birthday and all that good stuff. They did. The episode airs on my birthday next on on June eight. Yeah, geminis Taurist though it ain't a Taurus season, but I'm what is yours? What is doing was made sixteen I'm mad sex Okay, alright, listen,

I knew it was something. I knew that tourist thing. Night. Love y'all, y'all, Okay, thank you, y'all, thank you. I love Missa, miss Orisa, and I love me. They just two of the baddest black queens that you know, and they both do different things in their perspective ways, but they are so effective man. So I think what's important about that two of them is that you know, there's

different sides to this. There's the you know, the trauma side, which miss which both of them can speak to because Fay has been working in it and miss Orresa actually is living it um. And then there is the side of the organization. How do you actually put one foot in front of the other and lead people in this work so that people can be effective and so that a movement can really grow and so we can actually help to save lives. That is what today is about.

Listening to them talking about leadership qualities, vetting individuals who are working in the movement, A lot of people jump up and say they're gonna work in the movement. Everybody shows up. I'm an anti violence participating I can do this. I'm a leader, and you find out that they have more mental health issues than the kids that are out there shooting than the people who are out there being problematic and so vetting the workers, I hope people don't

miss some of what they've been talking about. Having mothers of the movement that can help to deal with the internal conflict because you have much of that at that comes up in all movements spaces, but in this anti violence work, having so many people who are passionate and yet they come from the streets, you got a lot of egos and a lot of bravado that even exists within some of the women, um within the work, and so that is necessary working together, being unified. First thing

on this shirt, unity, all of us coming together. We have boycott Black Murder and until freedom. You also have life Camp. You have Man Up. You have uh not not another child, you have Harlem mother Saved. You have row as exactly. Uh guns up, Life down, Um, guns down, Life up. Excuse me, guns down, Life Up. You have so many organizations in the city that's doing this work. But today we didn't go out as individual organizations. We

went out as one and all of those things. Working with a mayor, working with your city officials, looking at your budgets, the budgets, increasing the budgets, maintaining data right to show your numbers in terms of how you're impact and communities. Bringing people who are from the streets of the streets, you know, dealing with folks who are on both sides of the gun. All of those things are

strategies for building real movements. And you know, and I think that both of these women have a lot that they can share on what that looks like from being in this and on the outskirts. Yes they do. And you know, I'm just like, once again, you know, there's a very big opportunity, you know, and we always say we need something different, and this is one of those

moments where I think something different is actually happening. I always say that culturally relevance and and us doing things that fits within our culture, fits within our DNA, isn't or you know, we've been we've been foot fit into this cookie cutter system and the structure of way things supposed to happen, you know, just regular police and doesn't really work in our communities. It doesn't. It hasn't stopped violence, is you know, it hasn't stopped crime. It hasn't really

done anything. It's locked more people up, but it hasn't been a solution to crime. You know, it has a

solution to non violence. So I think having people who are invested in the community because they actually come from there, because their mothers lived there, their sisters did, did their cousins, their own children lived there, and then speaking energy into the community, then bringing peaceful energy and non violent energy, providing opportunities and resources, being able to employ people from their community, and saying, hey, you don't have to be

out here with no gun. We're gonna give you a check, and we just need you to make sure that The Parkers say, we just need you to make sure that you you know you you intervene. Like if we started centivizing that, you imagine if somebody got paid a couple of dollars every time they broke up a fight or got in the middle of some conflict, people would love to do it. People like, I ain't get in the middle of that. I ain't getting paid for that. That's

not my job. So when we started centivizing those things and people start realizing there's a level of honor that comes with that, there's gonna be a celebration for someone who's able to you know, diffuse in um in de escalate situation and communities, we're gonna see the whole shift in the culture. So you know, the problem is, but the problem is that a lot of people want to do it, but they don't realize that once it's a job, there's actual training that goes into it, and that's what

we have to focus on. You also have to do internal work, right, Like I talked about the thing is, I say it all the time. It's like it's like anything, right, It's like being a basketball player. There's a natural talent that you have and then there's coach. When you're coach. Once you have that natural talent and you want to be good, the it's just just refines the talent that you have. They are mediators who just have a natural gift to media, right, and they don't have they haven't

been taught to certain skills. So when you give these natural mediators the skill set and you tell them, hey, these are these are the things, and most of the times when you look at it and you when you and you're a natural person at it, you already apod most of those things. But you didn't. What happens is you understand that you have to make sure that you fit into a forming, that you fit into a structure, that there's a way to go about it. But you

also implement your natural ability into everything. So yes, there's training it comes, but that training is welcome when it's insensivized that training has come is welcome when it's when it's celebrated. So, you know, I think there's gonna be a different time, I see, because I, like I said, there were so many quote unquote forming gangsters that was in there, people that know was in the streets that have come home and they've actually really changed their lives.

You know. I know dudes that was notorious ten years ago that I looked at that was locked up with and they and they got these young kids and they put in you know, they got him on the right path, and they really invested in changing the mind states and in changing the trajectory are these kids. So you know, I'm just I'm really happy for that. Man, I'm looking forward to I'm looking forward to it as well. And and a t also, um you know as a leader, he he doesn't play around, so that's a good thing

as well. So with that being said, what is your I don't get it for today, because I'm sure you have one. Well, my my only I don't get it right was, you know, since we're gonna we're on this topic, and you know, for me, it was the media. You know, the media decided that rather than celebrate something, they wanted to try to make negative and speak about our background, to speak about a t or how is he vetted? And you know, do you know that he had this investigation?

Did you know that? From for you? You only have one gun? I said for me? For me, you know, I think the one thing that I didn't get was how the media wanted to spend something that was so monumental and so positive into talking about negativity, right, and immediately went to well, how was this person vetted? And did you know about this investigation? And all of these things? And we're gonna have a past, you know, and and they wanted to focus on that, and they wanted to

say what is the timeline? And how do you notice? And it's like, what is the timeline for the police? Right? We we gotta hold we we've been giving billions of dollars to the police, and what is the timeline that says that they're doing their job? Right? Because gun violence goes up, it goes down, violence crime goes up, it goes down. There's no timeline, right. There just has to

be multiple strategies implemented. And I don't know why when it comes to things that we're doing as a community based especially black and brown people, they always has to be this negative connotation that's around it. They always have to be the debbut downer that always has to be well, how do you know it works? How does this why we always have to go through those things? Man? I just don't get you know how the media constantly spends

those things. And and that's why violence is perpetuated, right because the picture of a mass killer is all over the TV and it gives some level of infamy. It gives some level of fame, and people see this and these other people who just a sick who dealing with

those same issues want that picture on the screen. But you don't give the picture of someone like a t who just was giving the gun violence all you know, that's not put all over every news channel, right, that's not we don't celebrate the person who is doing the gun violence is not class it all over every channel, not doing the gun violence, the person who's doing the work, the work to the that's right, you're right, And it's

important because people want to emulate that. People want to say they want to follow something that they see celebrated. You know, So I just don't get why we don't celebrate the positivity more while we always want to focus on the negative and try to defame and discredit and devalue things that are so positive, especially when it comes to black and around communities. Yeah, no, I mean, listen, I don't have anything to say. You already said it. They began to ask all kinds of questions today to

try to create negative narratives. They're gonna write a bunch of trash. We already know that, and I think that our responsibility. I said today while being interviewed by someone that if a T fails, we all failed together. That's

the bottom line for us. We have to work with thou brother and help him and provide him with the resources and the support, and also allow him to leave without all of us thinking we know better, and therefore we could try to get in the way of what it is that he feels, what he's led, what he's

motivated to do, and how he wants to leave. That's our responsibility, because we already know, based upon the line of questioning that you spoke of, that these reporters began to ask today that they don't want to see him win, that they don't They want to be able to use the failure of the news are and the crisis management system in in in total with a hundred plus million dollars going to formally incarcerated individuals, they want to use that to say it didn't work, it was a waste

of money. And let's go back to policing and government and the processes of all the things that we know does not in and of itself work to solve our issues in our community. And so it's our responsibility to make it work. We've got to be innovative, we've got to put our strategy out there. And we also which is why I'm glad that a t also doesn't work for uh the government so to speak, that he's not an employee of the Mayor's office and it's not an

un agency that is inside UM the administration. Because guess what, we also have the challenge and push the administration. And he said today when asked by one reporter what resources do you need, he said, we need the cooperation of

all of the agencies within the city. And that's a fact because sanitation, as miss or research just talked about, they need to know you cannot leave a community shot up from some incident with blood splattered everywhere, because that is very similar to bodies hanging from trees, from lynchings, that you're leaving the trauma behind. That normalizes um the behavior, and it normalizes the unfortunate sort of discomfort of the

people who live in communities. We have to accept the example by keeping our communities clean, by focusing on taking care of those people um who because again, as has been said, most people are not shooting. Most people in the communities, the overwhelming majority they want to live in safe, clean communities. Unfortunately, we have some that enuckleheads and others who are traumatized and challenge and whatever that is. We've got to do the work. So that's that for me.

I think, uh, you know, New York City is pointing in the right direction on at least this one issue. And now it's up to all of us to get in there and do the work, you know, and and I'll ended us and you know, as much work and as much as you know, each individual I mean, each

of these entities are doing, each organization is doing. We as individuals have to take pride and take a declaration that we're gonna do something in our community, especially as black men, you know, knowing that black men are are dying in this gun violence crisis that we're faced with,

We're dying at un alarming rates. And as a black man who comes from marginalized communities, who has a level of influence in those same communities, you know, I declare that I will be front line and center dealing with these young men and and and trying to steer them away from those streets. So with that said, I'm not gonna always be right. Miss Timmiga Mallory is not gonna always be wrong, but we were both always and I

mean always, the authoring Peace two. Listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on I Heart Radio, and catch us every single Wednesday for the video version of Street Politicians on I Women Dot Tv