Move It Forward

In this final episode of Move It Forward, we'll conclude our conversation on community violence prevention, exploring alternatives to policing and prosecution that are focused on addressing the systemic factors which give rise to violence.  Throughout this season, we've heard from people impacted by gun violence and homicide about the influences of the overlapping crises of poverty and wealth inequality.  Decades of divestment from education, health care, and public spaces has gone hand in hand with the expansion of policing and mass incarceration.  What would this crisis look like if we changed our course, and shifted our investments towards the vital resources our communities actually need?  We'll wrap our season with this discussion, featuring Aqeela Sherrills with Newark Community Street Team, Kendra Van de Water of YEAH Philly, Kempis Ghani Songster of the Youth Art and Self Empowerment Project (YASP). Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and former Philadelphia Public Defender Keir Bradford Grey.We'll also share a conversation with the organization Day One Not Day Two, highlighting their Ascension program which is focused on combating gun violence by transforming the culture of Hip Hop.  Throughout the show we'll feature the music of various artists from Day One Not Day Two's album Ascension Volume 1.  Listen and learn more about their work here: https://www.dayonenotdaytwo.com/ascension

Throughout this season, we have shared a quite a bit of political history and a number of personal stories that have illustrated the failures of policing and incarceration.  Today we're kicking off a two part conversation on the alternatives, delving even deeper into the work of the violence prevention projects we have featured consistently throughout this season.  In this episode, we'll learn more about the leaders in this work and the processes of mentorship and mediation that they have developed to support people on both sides of conflict.  We'll explore the progress that's been made, along with the limitations on the vast field of organizations working to transform how we address violence.  You'll hear the familiar voices of Aqeela Sherrills with Newark Community Street Team, Kendra Van de Water of YEAH Philly, and Kempis Ghani Songster of the Youth Art and Self Empowerment Project (YASP).Listen in the player below or on Apple, Google, Stitcher or Spotify.

We're back again with more exploration of our criminal justice system. In the first part of this conversation, we looked at policing. In this episode, we're focusing on prisons and prosecution. There has been a lot of attention given in the past several years to police reform but there has been less focus on how we can change prosecution and incarceration.In this episode, you'll hear from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner on some of the approaches his office has taken to reduce systemic harm, as well as from other familiar voices such as criminologist Phillipe Bourgois, Aqeela Sherrills of Newark Community Street Team, journalist and professor Chenjerai Kumanyika, former Chief Public Defender Keir Bradford-Grey, and Kendra Van de Water of YEAH Philly.Listen in the player below or on Apple, Google, Stitcher or Spotify.

The recent resurgence of gun violence and homicide shows the deep failures in our approach to criminal justice.  But instead of investing in new strategies, politicians are pushing us to respond with the same methods of policing and incarceration that we've been using for decades.  In the first part of this conversation on our justice system's approach to this crisis, we'll take a close look at policing.  We'll explore its history, from the connections to slavery to the lineage of police violence and corruption nationwide.  We'll discuss the effectiveness of various police policies and reforms, look at data on arrests for murders and shootings, and share some interviews with Philadelphia Police officers on the street.   You'll hear from past guests such as journalist and professor Chenjerai Kumanyika, Aqeela Sherrills of Newark Community Street Team, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and Kendra Van de Water of YEAH Philly.Listen in the player below or on Apple, Google, Stitcher or Spotify.

US media and policymakers have long focused on the connection between violence and the drug economy. Since the 70s, the War On Drugs has shaped our approach to these overlapping crises, putting millions of people behind bars and tripling the number of Americans in prison. Today, cities like Philadelphia are facing levels of gun violence we haven't seen since the crack cocaine epidemic of the 80s and early 90s.In this episode, we're looking at the economic and political factors that have shaped the drug economy and building a materialist analysis of it. People in our neighborhoods aren't manufacturing the drugs or shipping them across international borders. Decades of militarized policing and incarcerating people en masse haven't put a dent in the street drug trade. Listen as we look into the connection of the drug economy with gun violence -and what gives rise to both- and dive into how we can invest in our communities to truly address these crises of public health and safety. We feature new voices of anthropologist and UCLA Professor Phillipe Bourgois, and Ada and Rashid Nicholson–two people who shared on the street interviews with us on the Kensington section of Philadelphia. You'll also hear familiar guests from past episodes including Aqeela Sherrills of Newark Community Street Team, Kempis Ghani Songster and Will of Youth Art & Self Empowerment Project, Kendra Van de Water, Yané and Kenzie of YEAH Philly, Chenjerai Kumanyika, former Philadelphia Public Defender Keir Bradford Gray, and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.Listen in the player below or on Apple, Google, Stitcher or Spotify.

This episode, we're talking to people who have lost loved ones to homicide about those experiences and what happened afterwards, both immediately and over a longer period of time. There's a lot of pain and grief here. For every person who is murdered, there is a family, a friend group, a community who feel that loss. The numbers – over 500 people murdered in 2021 alone – can make it hard to think about the individual stories of those victims.  In this episode, we're taking some time to sit with the realities of these losses. Guests include Aqeela Sherrills of Newark Community Street Team, Kempis Ghani Songster and Will of YASP, Kendra Van de Water, Yané and Kenzie of YEAH Philly, Chenjerai Kumanyika, and more.

This episode, we're taking a closer look at guns.  The vast majority of murders in this country are committed with firearms. We can't have a meaningful conversation about murders and gun violence without talking about how these guns make their way to our streets.  With more being bought now than ever before in the United States, we spoke to people who have lost loved ones about what the proliferation of guns means for our communities.  Guests include Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Kendra Van de Water and Yané of YEAH Philly, former Philadelphia Public Defender Keir Bradford Gray, and more.

What is at the root of violence in the United States? In this episode, we speak to people with close connections to gun violence about what they think causes it and talk about the impact of seeing great wealth while living in poverty. The richest 1% in the US controls about 40% of the nation's wealth. Could this be why the U.S. has more murders than other wealthy nations? We spoke to people from neighborhoods impacted by violence - some who have committed violent acts in the past - and people who are trying to disrupt the cycle about how we got here. Guests include Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Kendra Van de Water and Yané of YEAH Philly, Kempis 'Ghani' Songster and William Bentley of Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) and more!

Are you a fan of true crime? From podcasts, books, documentaries, and Netflix series, our society is consumed with ‘juicy' horror stories of crime. Whether it's a story about serial killers or cold-blooded killings, people are hungry for more. In this episode of Move It Forward, we look at the genre of true crime with guest Chenjerai Kumanyika and explore its history, our fascination with it, and the realities of crime and harm on the streets. Tune in to learn more about how institutional and systemic violence harms far more people than the sensationalized individual stories of crime and “evil” we are fed. It's time to shift the way in which the media perpetuates fear, stereotypes, and sensationalized acts of harm and transform it as an advocacy tool to realistically address harm and violence in our communities.

There's talk all over the country about the rise in gun violence and homicide. While nightly news headlines sensationalize a crisis, there is little time given to explore what is behind the rise in violence and what people are trying to do to address it.  In Philly alone, over 560 people were murdered, making 2021 the city's worst year on record.  Today we're kicking off a season long focus on this issue — from the personal to the political we're exploring the impact on both those who have caused harm, and those who have been harmed, here in our city of Philadelphia.   Join us as we introduce some context, some history, and powerful voices who will return throughout the show to discuss the realities of violence and both the past and current approaches to reducing it. 

What is mental health? How can we be more whole and how can we advocate for systems that help all of our community members heal? In this episode, we look at mental health with two practitioners -- Iresha Picot and Jacqui Johnson. Listen to their conversation that ranges from trauma to mental health crisis response to hip-hop. Learn about the policy changes that could make city services more just and what we all need to be well.

How can we truly understand Life Without Parole without knowing its impact on the families and communities of those who are condemned?  In this episode, we look at the sentence through the eyes of Patricia Vickers.  She shares about her complicated struggles as the mother of a son who's been condemned to life in prison.  Learn about the growing movement for second chances that gives her hope and keeps us fighting to end Death By Incarceration.

As much as “mass incarceration” and “criminal justice reform” have become common terms in American vernacular, one would think we know pretty-much all there is to know about them. In Episode 5, we dig into an important part of the criminal legal system — Commutation and the Board of Pardons. Hear from Naomi Blount-Wilson, a woman who spent 37 years in Pennsylvania's prison system on a sentence to life without parole. Now she's free and a voice of hope for many. We also hear from Lily Rorick, an organizer in the campaign to change the commutation process, about what ordinary people have been doing to Move It Forward.

With everything we're confronted with, we recognize the need to look through different sets of eyes.  In this episode, we take a look through the lens of Black Feminism.  Join us for a rich conversation on the subject with some powerful thinkers in our society — Mandisa More-O'Neal, Tiyi Morris, Erica Perry, and Kris Henderson.  Nikki Grant also joins us as co-host, helping to lift up Black Feminism as another way for seeing and being in our struggles for a better world.

The same day our last episode on defunding the police went live, Walter Wallace was gunned down by police in front of his mother and community members.  In this episode, we dive deeper into the need to redirect funds from the police and towards our communities, with a greater sense of urgency.  We continue the conversation with Hiram Rivera, Director of Philadelphia's Community Resource Hub, and are also joined by Kris Henderson, Executive Director of the Amistad Law Project.  

One might think that communities of color, who are disproportionately on the receiving end of police violence, are on the same page about defunding the police.  But, that is not the case.  Black and Brown communities are caught between violence from police and from community members.  Many want the police to be defunded, while others are not in favor.  In this episode, we sit down with Councilmember Kendra Brooks to flesh out what defunding the police really means.  We also highlight the words of Hiram Rivera, Director of Philadelphia's Community Resource Hub, who will be featured more in the following episode next month.  Check out Part 1 of this brave and important conversation.

COVID-19 has been affecting us all, but nobody feels it more than the 2.3 million people trapped behind prison walls.  In this first episode of the Amistad Law Project's new podcast, our host Kempis ‘Ghani' Songster explores the pandemic's impact on incarcerated people in Pennsylvania, and the greater national and global context.  He is joined on the show by community advocates Regina Glass and Sandra Hill, Amistad's Organizing Director Sean Damon, and Professor Rachel Lopez of Drexel University's Kline School of Law.  Professor Lopez is the director of the Stern Community Lawyering Clinic, which recently collaborated with Amistad to publish the report “Pandemic in PA's Prisons”.  This report laid the groundwork for much of the conversation you'll hear on the show.