>> Narrator: Northwest Now is supported in part by viewers like you.

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>> Tom Layson: A strong argument can now be made that Tacoma is the place to be in Western Washington, but an echo of the bad old days of the gang wars in the 80s and 90s reverberated in 2020 and now in 2021 with a sharp increase in violence.

Tonight, our ongoing discussion about this community's efforts to promote peace with Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and Tacoma Cease Fire's Candace Wesley.

And we'll meet a man whose life revolves around the idea of promoting peace from the front seat of a powder-blue minivan.

Nipping a new wave of violence in the bud is the discussion on Northwest Now.

[ Music ] A recent homicide in Tacoma resulted in the arrests of two suspects, ages 13 and 15.

That single case brings chills to anybody who remembers Tacoma's bad old days when the LA gangs decided this was going to be a battleground.

But over the years, Tacoma's strong sense of community, which did include aggressive law enforcement, came together to dramatically reduce the crime rate, revitalize the city, and make it investable again, and those investments remade the City of Destiny.

Now, with increasing social pressure brought about by things like the Manny Ellis case and the economics of the pandemic possibly playing a role, the community is taking notice again.

So far, nothing really connects the increase in killings, and it is a national trend, but the numbers here are concerning.

There were 12 homicides in Tacoma in 2017, 18 in 2018, 23 in 2019, and then 32 in 2020.

That's the highest since 1994, when there were 33.

Over the years, promoting peace in Tacoma and Pierce County has been an important part of our mission here on Northwest Now, and we've convened important conversations with a wide variety of stakeholders, all of whom have taken active roles in promoting peace and building community, from Operation Safe Streets to Project Peace to Tacoma Cease Fire.

Established voices, like the late Harold Moss, Lyle Cuisine [assumed spelling], and many others are a blessing to the Tacoma and South-Sound communities, but there are new voices, and one of the most compelling is a 29-year-old man who drives something called the Peace Bus.

>> Mr. Amoah-Forson: My name is Kwabi Amoah-Forson and I'm the owner and founder of the Peace Bus, here.

It's a local humanitarian aid organization as well as the kids' TV show.

Basically, this organization is centered completely on how we can be better towards our fellow man.

If you're in Tacoma and you know anyone who needs socks, these new socks, please let me know, inbox me.

Working in the community, delivering goods to people in need, whether that socks to the homeless or that's cereal to kids in need, or even I was Santa Claus for December, this last December, delivering presents to kids in need.

You guys have a merry Christmas.

Getting it done one kid at a time.

Our community, to move forward, we're going to have to use this as a tool in order to unlock the door of progress.

Violence, it inspires more violence.

So what we do as people that are for the betterment of peace, we have to counteract it.

We have to do our work.

There's so many people that are doing work towards hurting each other.

We have to do the work to in order to bring us together.

And so when I see that on social media, when I see that on the news of homicides and murder and violence, I shake my head to it.

But also lift my head, understanding that I can do something about it.

You see people waving, you wave back and it's beautiful to drive the Peace Bus, man.

With serving my community and trying to shine a light for others to see, you know?

When there's no justice, there is no peace.

If we want to work towards mending the ties and coming together in peace, we're going to have to educate ourselves on our fellow human being, our neighbor.

To educate ourselves is to show compassion, is to show love and peace through talking and engaging and being out in the community to serve, to serve.

If we're able to understand that our person who's on the street who may be struggling, may be indulging in crime and things like this because they don't have their needs met, we have to have empathy for them and to serve them and to help them, because they are our neighbors.

We can't forget that.

Violence comes in many forms.

People don't realize, you may think, like, violence is someone killing someone, which it is, or violence is someone punching someone, which it is.

But violence comes in modes of institutions with poverty.

Poverty is violence.

Homelessness is violence.

I think that there are people being deprived of their humanity, and when that happens, violence ensues.

And we say that there's so much violence, there's so much crime.

Well, there's inequality, and I feel that that's the basis in which we have a lot of violence.

The way to mend that violence, the way to end it is by looking at these institutions of violence and cutting them out at the root.

We want to promote goodwill by acknowledging people's humanity.

Once we do that, then we can have peace.

No kid should ever go without food in this entire world.

My work as a humanitarian is based in planting seeds, right, like Johnny Appleseed.

I've been inspired by Johnny Appleseed.

He went around and planted apple seeds in the Midwest, and consequently, there's tons of Apple trees in the Midwest.

Now, why can't we do the same thing for how we can come together with peace, love, compassion, and empathy?

So through my education, through my works and giving to those in need, I hope that this will transcend, and it will plant seeds of goodness in our youth and in our population so that they can do the same, because it's really simple as far as helping those in need.

It's something simple that we all can do and that's how we create a society and a world that's peace and nonviolent and not violent, really.

We have to acknowledge that we have a common goal.

Each and every one of us have a common goal of understanding that we want a better future.

It's a basis in which we can ground ourselves on.

We want the safety of ourselves and those, our loved ones, our family, our friends.

And we also, we share this common bond of wanting to have a faith in our humanity.

Why can't we promote goodness, love, and compassion?

And that's what the Peace Bus is about.

That's what I want to dedicate my life to.

I might not be an economist.

I'm not necessarily a politician, but I want to get these guys together, have a conversation about what love means, what that means for our society, and hope, and peace.

That's my goal.

>> Tom Layson: Our thanks to photojournalist at Northwest Now contributor Michael Driver for that story.

So everything is on the table right now in Tacoma, including proposals to redirect a portion of the police department's funding into community-based organizations to try to nip this new wave of violence in the bud.

Joining us now with more on the big picture is Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards.

Let's start with the bad news, and the bad news is, homicides up pretty significantly in 2020.

I know you're not happy about that, but what's your theory?

What is your thinking about what's going on here?

>> Ms. Woodards: You know, and you're absolutely right, obviously, very concerned about an uptick in homicides.

As you remember, we were with you in 2019 talking about the great success we've seen in our community of tampering down a lot of the homicides that were happening.

And then you get into 2020 and COVID and all of the other things that are on the rise here in our city, and we've had an uptick, an uptick in homicides.

In 2020, we had 32 homicides, but what I what to be clear about is that while we've had an uptick in homicides, we are not alone.

A national study that has been done just revealed, they studied the 34 largest cities in the country, 29 out of those 34 cities saw an uptick in crime, and that's not just across the country.

There was just an article that was published that in Seattle alone they saw a 60% increase of homicides.

And, you know, two years ago when we were here in 2019 talking about this, we could talk specifically about gang activity because there were some specific things that were happening.

What we're seeing now is that it's all over the place.

It's hard, you know, you can't, if it's gang related or if it's domestic violence.

If it's in a particular area, then you can focus your energy and police have strategies for that, but we've not seen that.

>> Tom Layson: And I think I want to hit you on that.

You gestured at this earlier.

Let's talk about some of those stressors and how many squares on the board are covered right now.

You've got racial stressors, financial stressors, healthcare and worries about your health stressors, political stressors.

I mean, what isn't stressful right now?

>> Ms. Woodards: I'd love the listening audience to tell me, because even in the things that aren't stressful, like, taking a vacation is not stressful, but we can't take a vacation.

You can't go somewhere else.

You can't even remove yourself and get into a new space.

And so the stresses, I don't think there's one thing that we do, even going to the grocery store.

You know, just going to go shopping for groceries.

No, you've got to make sure you have your mask, you're worried about whether or not you'll be too close to someone.

I mean, there's this, everything feels like a stressor and because of that, emotions run high, people feel desperate, and we make poor choices.

>> Tom Layson: We're going to talk about relationships with the police and some of the things that you've got on the radar, here, that I think are interesting.

But I want to ask you first, I've got to ask you the devil's-advocate question, because I know, I'm sure you've been asked this and we're going to be asked this by people watching this program.

Do you think at all when we saw the, you know, the hot rodding in the intersections and some of those things in a recent case, do you think at all the bad guys are emboldened by some of the talks and some of the proposals about defunding the police that Tacoma is considering?

Is that emboldening crime or do you think this is something else?

>> Ms. Woodards: You know, I don't know if it's emboldening crime, but let me be very clear.

Tacoma is not a place to commit a crime and our law-enforcement officers are working hard every single day.

When we talk about the homicides, let's be clear that last year we had a 80% solve rate.

We had a 92% solve rate over 10 years, 80% solve rate last year, and we're still, I'm sorry, yeah, 80%, 78%, I'm sorry, in 2020, solve rate.

But we're still working on that.

In 2021, we've got five homicides.

Four of those are already solved, so let's be clear about what's going on in Tacoma.

If you Tacoma is a place to come commit a crime, this is not the place to do that, because we will catch the bad guy, and we're going to continue to do that.

>> Tom Layson: So let's talk about that relationship with the police a little bit.

I've always felt, and it's been my observation, and I think you've said this, as well, that in Tacoma, things have been pretty good for a while, but that just might be, you know, the mayor's opinion and a TV host's opinion.

What's really going on out there?

What are people telling you and what are some of the things that are happening with that exciting new program you have to try to improve the relationship with police?

>> Ms. Woodards: So, you know, we're hearing what every other community is hearing.

We are hearing defund the police.

I think what we're hearing more than anything now is hold police accountable.

They want accountability, and honestly, I think police want accountability, too.

So I don't think the question of asking for accountability is out of the question.

But I think what we also have to understand is that some of those accountability measures are not things that could be solved at the local level.

That's why we're working really hard with the state legislature to look at ways to implement more accountability measures for police departments across the state.

>> Tom Layson: Safe Streets really did a great job in Tacoma in the 80s and the 90s.

Then we end up with Project Peace, Cease Fire Tacoma, and some of those things.

What do they need, do you think, to be successful and to help change, make the change that you want to see at the street level?

>> Ms. Woodards: Well, you know, one thing, and I know that you probably talked with Ken, it's really hard to do some of the things those programs were designed to do in our current environment.

You know, part of that, being interactive with people on the streets and being able to talk with folks, it gets a little bit more difficult now through COVID.

One of the things I'm excited about, you know, through our Heal the Heart of Tacoma, which is our antiracist approach that we outlined in our resolution last summer, so we're going out and looking at the way that we become an antiracist city and how we remove all of the barriers that cause us to be antiracist or that cause people not to be successful.

One of those things through Project Peace is kind of Project Peace 2.0, which we're looking at relaunching.

That has a lot to do with building relationships because that's what Project Peace did.

But now we've got this partnership with what we call NNSC, the National Network of Safe Communities.

They're a national organization at John Jay College.

They've done work all across the country about, you know, kind of the reparations, about the healing, being able to admit the wrong that's been done, and then begin to heal as a community.

And they had an opportunity to pick any city in the United States to work with and they've chosen Tacoma.

>> Tom Layson: I know one of the interesting things, too, with Cease Fire and some of those other programs is how the elders from the community have come around to coach the younger people to say, basically, man, we did this in the 80s and 90s.

It's dead end, man.

And then it just broke my heart this past week to see 2 suspects in a homicide are aged 13 and 15 years old in Tacoma, because, you know, that really brought that to my mind was some of that work that was being done and then to see that.

It was just, like, oh, my gosh.

My reaction isn't important.

What was your reaction?

>> Ms. Woodards: Really sad.

I keep saying it breaks my heart.

There are so many things that break my heart right now, you know, suffering families and all of this, but that kids that young, that that was their only choice, or that they thought that would be a good idea, or that was fun or whatever.

That they didn't have any other outlet or anything else to do, and so it's extremely concerning and sad, but that's why groups like Cease Fire are so important to this work in our community.

>> Tom Layson: Let you leave it on a positive note, here, in our last question.

What can people do, in your mind, who want to engage, who want to promote peace in Tacoma, who want to be on the right side of this and improve relationships?

What steps or how would you advise them if somebody watches this and says, man, I've got to get involved?

>> Ms. Woodards: You know, so there are couple things.

One, I want to say to everybody in the community, as stressful as this time is and everybody's got cold and fatigue along with all the other fatigues, right?

First of all, take a deep breath and remember that everybody wakes up every day, I have to believe this, there's good in everybody and that people want to do the right thing, but circumstances or situations, sometimes they don't make the right choice.

But first of all, let's continue to be compassionate with one another and continue to care for one another.

And then the other thing I'll say, because that's touchy-feely, and that's good, but as NNSC, as we kick off the work around policing transformation, for people to engage with Heal the Heart of Tacoma.

While they are just forming and setting up their internal processes, there's going to be lots of ways for people to engage, so to say, too, go to the City of Tacoma's page, cityoftacoma/transform, and there are lots of ways to get engaged.

>> Tom Layson: Alright, Victoria Woodards, thanks so much for coming to Northwest Now.

Great, as always, to have a conversation with.

>> Ms. Woodards: Always good to be here, Tom.

Thank you so much for what you do.

>> Tom Layson: In 2019, Cease Fire Tacoma got started in an effort to get the older generation to mentor the younger generation against engaging in a new cycle of violence.

Candace Wesley leads that effort, and she joins us now with more.

What are your ideas about, what do you think if you peel, you know, open the hood or look under the covers, what's going on?

>> Ms. Wesley: I strongly believe what is taking place now is a compilement, or so to speak, like, you know how you can drop little drops of water in a bucket, and eventually the bucket overflows.

We're on overflow now, and a lot of things that were hidden and pushed to the back and swept under the rug, those things are now becoming the obvious, boom, right in your face.

This is where we are now.

>> Tom Layson: What are some of those elements in your mind that have been kind of off to the side that are now front and center?

>> Ms. Wesley: I would love to say that COVID would be the motivating factor, but it's not the motivating factor.

Certainly, it does add a layer as it relates to what's going on in our communities in whole.

But I strongly would like to lean in on racial and social injustices in our societies.

So if you take that and you parallel that with the pandemic, it just, as you would say, the crime rate is on uptick.

People get to a place where their thought process is elevated, emotions are more sensitive, people are not thinking rationally.

People are not living.

Now, they're surviving.

>> Tom Layson: I know one of the things you've talked about in the past is really taking a look at, you know, who is doing the work out on the streets and in the neighborhoods and how they're going about doing that?

And relationship building was something that Mayor Woodards has mentioned.

I know you've mentioned it, as well, that one on one and bringing in the older generation to mentor the younger generation.

Has that been possible during this time?

Is that starting to slow down?

How is that work going?

>> Ms. Wesley: Well, when the pandemic hit, everything came to a screeching halt, right?

Concerning outreach, we have mentors and advocates trying to recalibrate how to bring the youth and young-adult population together, at the same time practicing safety precautions.

And identifying what's more important, your health, the crime rate?

It all just goes into this huge melting pot and then you have to pick and choose which is priority.

People are not living because of the pandemic and people are not living because of crime.

>> Tom Layson: I'm going to ask you a little bit of a devil's-advocate question.

There are some people who might theorize and say, well, listen, we're calling for the defunding of police.

The police's backs are up against the wall a little bit on some of these things, or at least they might feel that they are.

Do you think police are standing down a little bit in the neighborhoods in terms of enforcement?

>> Ms. Wesley: I do see where there have been some law-enforcement officers standing down.

I have sat at the table with many officers that I would strongly support.

Sad thing is this, when you have more that are standing up opposed to those that are standing down and standing back, that just gives a significant imbalance as it relates to our support as a community saying defund the police versus keep them funded.

Now, in whole, I am one that would say keep them funded, but at the same time, I feel that it's vital that the community has an input as it relates to the way that funding is implemented.

If a community member creates an offense or if a community member commits a crime, if you will, they are put in jail.

They are allowed bail if, in fact, they can afford the bail that is set, and then they go through the court process.

On the other hand, in the event that a law-enforcement officer commits a blatant crime in which we've been seeing that, they're put on administrative leave.

They're not even put in jail.

They're put on administrative leave and a full investigation takes place before it is decided if or not they will be charged with a crime.

So where is the balance, because without a badge and a gun, you are supposed to be a law-abiding citizen.

>> Tom Layson: What's important right now for people to have in their minds, to think about promoting peace, whether that's within their families, within their neighborhood, on their block, whatever it may be, what's important there?

What do people need to be thinking about, in your view?

>> Ms. Wesley: Concerning promoting peace, first things first, let your first thought be love.

Secondly, think higher of each other.

And thirdly, accountability, own your actions.

On your actions, even if it's so far as to say, hey, I'm not okay today.

We have so many law-enforcement officers that are acting in the capacity to protect and serve, and they're not mentally okay.

Now, the flip side of that coin, as a community member, it's important for us to identify, hey, I'm not okay, and be okay with not being okay.

Because when we get okay, then we can own our actions and say, I did wrong.

That takes the investigations off the table.

If people would come forward and say, I was wrong.

We have Said Joquin in Lakewood.

My cousin Benji Isaac was killed by the Tacoma Police Department years ago.

Now am I saying that these were all perfect people?

No, I'm not, but they were imperfect enough for a perfect example to be set before us as community members concerning slow down, think on your actions, be accountable, which I feel is a big problem, which is the dividing factor in our community, people being accountable.

You have advocates, you have mentors all vying for position to do the same work.

It would be a beautiful thing if everyone would come together and be on the same page so we could forward march.

That way we could cover mass ground as it relates to bringing about peace and unity in our communities.

>> Tom Layson: Last question for, and you bring up a topic that I worry about a lot is that you have one group of people, who are the older generation, who want to be mentors, who are involved in finding peace, who are able to influence their communities in a positive way.

And another group of people, a small minority, but the folks out making trouble who never hear this.

They never get involved.

They never get engaged.

This message doesn't even come through to them on the media, maybe even in social media, because that's a lot of negative there.

How do we connect that small minority population that is, in some instances, responsible for crime, with this broader community effort?

That, to me, seems like the real difficulty.

>> Ms. Wesley: And I'd like to commend our younger generations that are out advocating and they're out rallying and things of that nature, and I'd like to commend those that have gone before me, right?

But at the end of the day, we have to be teachable.

We have to be willing to sit at the feet of wisdom.

And what worked then may not be what's working now and what you're trying to do may not be what's working, but if we would all come together and get on a common ground, we could move forward.

Now, what I would love to see while everyone is out here vying for titles and positions and for the limelight, I would love to see us come together as a community and shut down those that are coming into our community that don't even live in our community that are breaking windows, that are spray painting.

I would love to see some frontline soldiers from our community saying, hey, you've got your stuff going on in your community.

Let us handle our own community.

And until we get to that place, it's going to continue to be chaotic all around us.

But the beauty of this city that I live in, we're still hopeful, even though it appears that people are out here, and there are people that are discouraged, there are people that have lost hope.

But community-wise as a whole, our city is still full of so much promise and I believe if we stay together, we can do it.

We can overcome this thing.

>> Tom Layson: Alright.

>> Ms. Wesley: We can overcome this thing.

>> Tom Layson: That is a good last word from Candace Wesley with Tacoma Cease Fire.

Candace, thanks for coming to Northwest Now.

>> Ms. Wesley: Thank you, sir.

>> Tom Layson: Tacoma should get a lot of credit for how far it's come over the past couple of decades, but that doesn't mean poverty and the opportunity gap went away.

When you look at the trends, those problems still persist.

The bottom line?

That's why violence is still never far from the surface, especially when stressors like a strained relationship with police and economic hardship because of a pandemic reappear.

Ultimately, the only hope is to keep working to find justice and peace.

I hope this program got you thinking and talking.

To watch this program again or to share it with others, Northwest Now can be found on the web at kbtc.org, and be sure to follow us on Twitter, @northwestnow.

Thanks for taking a closer look on this edition of Northwest Now.

Until next time, I'm Tom Layson.

Thanks for watching.

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