>> Hello, I'm Sean Plater, general manager of WHUT.

Thanks for staying with us for this important companion program to "The Body Politic" film, a POV documentary that is part of the Our America documentary and Dialogue campaign.

Over the next 30 minutes, you will hear excerpts from the panel discussion that took place immediately following the film screening that we held on the campus of Howard University.

One of WHUT's greatest joys is inviting our local community to engage with us in our programs and services.

And this instance, we hosted a film screening funded by a grant from POV and American Documentary, Inc., in partnership with the Prison to PhD organization.

The evening consisted of a screening of the entire film, "The Body Politic," followed by a poignant panel discussion with the Mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scott, and Erricka Bridgeford from the peace movement, who are both featured in the film, and also Jennifer Porter, the Director of the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants with the D.C. government.

The evening also provided attendees with the chance to network with community-based organizations that could speak to the themes related to the film, from gun violence to community service and programs for the formerly incarcerated.

This event is just one of many that WHUT conducts throughout the year to bring to life our programming and provide you, our viewers, with opportunities to engage with the film producers and other related participants.

We hope that you will enjoy what you are about to see.

Please go to our website, whut.org, to hear the full panel discussion and learn more about this program and others.

Of course, we welcome your support to help us continue these efforts.

Thank you.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> Greetings, everyone.

Thank you so much for that round of applause.

I am Dr. Bahiyyah Muhammad, and I have the pleasure of being an associate professor of criminology here at Howard University.

I am the founding director of Policing Inside Out, as well as the director of the Higher Education and Prison Program here at Howard University.

And I am so excited to be serving as the moderator for this wonderful conversation.

You all were privy to the film and saw so many different topics that were illuminated on, and we have a wonderful panel of individuals that are going to come and grace our stage to be able to just have a deeper conversation.

Before we get into that, I want to draw to your attention that we will be collecting questions from the audience that will give us an opportunity at the end to be able to answer those.

You'll see on the back of your program.

If you wrote it there, I'll flag you to hold it up so that it gives an opportunity for individuals to come around and pick those up.

It's very important that we hear from our audience members.

Also, thank you all for scanning the Scantron.

That gave us an opportunity to understand a little bit more about the results of the survey.

And so just let me tell you our question one, "Has anyone or someone you know been affected by gun violence?"

We received 33 total responses.

15 individuals said no and the majority of individuals, 18, said yes.

For question two, "Increased policing is an effort solution to solving gun violence.

Do you agree?"

35 responses.

3 individuals said yes, 4 said, mnh, sometimes, and 18 individuals said no.

Just to give you a little bit of context of the individuals that are in our space.

I want to introduce our illustrious panel for today.

Unfortunately, we will not be joined by Brother Dante, who you all had an opportunity to see in the film.

We do want to send blessings his way, as he is not feeling 100% and is not fully well and will not join us, but definitely graced the stage beautifully in the film.

So blessings to him.

I would like to start with our wonderful 52nd Mayor of Baltimore, Brandon M. Scott, working... [ Cheers and applause ] Yes.

Keep it coming.

Working to end gun violence, restore the public's trust in government and change Baltimore for the better.

You saw nooks and crannies of that in the actual film itself, but, of course, it runs a lot deeper than that, and we'll get into some conversation on that.

Scott was unanimously elected president of the Baltimore City Council by his colleagues in May of 2019.

As council president, Scott developed and released the first-ever City Council president legislative agenda focused specifically on building safer and stronger communities, as you all saw, cleaning up the city government and investing in Baltimore's youngest people and also centering equity, which is very important in our conversation tonight.

Previously, Scott served as the city council representing Baltimore's second district.

He was first elected in 2011 as the youngest 27-year-old to ever be elected to the Baltimore City Council.

[ Cheers and applause ] I would like to call up to the stage Mrs. Jennifer L. Porter, who was appointed to serve... [ Cheers and applause ] ...as director of the Office of Victim Services by Mayor Muriel Bowser in February of 2023.

In this role, Director Porter provides leadership and coordination for the district-funded programs that serve crime victims, prevent crime and improve the administration of justice for victims, offenders, and most importantly, for our young individuals.

As a daughter of Howard University, we are honored to have our director Porter grace our stage not only an illustrious alum but also award-winning alumnus with the award of the 1950 Alumni Award for 2021.

Let's give Director Porter a round of applause.

[ Cheers and applause ] Joining us virtually is Erricka Bridgeford, who fearlessly was highlighted in the film, is co-founder of Baltimore Peace Movement... Whoo!

[ Cheers and applause ] ...is co-founder of the Baltimore Peace Movement.

Erricka Bridgeford is a peace activist from Baltimore, Maryland.

Co-founded in -- co-organized the quarterly Baltimore Ceasefire 365 weekends, also called the Baltimore Peace Movement.

This movement began in 2017 and rallies Baltimoreans to avoid violence and create opportunities for people to notice, to uplift, to nurture, to share and bask, as we saw in the film, peace that already exists in each of us.

Let's give our panelists a round of applause.

[ Cheers and applause ] So I would like to start and open this up by speaking to you, our fearless mayor, in terms of all of the components that we saw in this film.

There are so many components that resonate with many of us that are in this service work.

But wanting to hear from you why this was important, um, to highlight this work and really show it from this lens of love and resilience.

>> Well, I think, uh, for me, this is now the second documentary that I've been a -- a subject in.

The first is called "Charm City."

You can watch it on Amazon Prime.

But it's really about the work.

Right?

And I think when, uh, just so folks know, I know Gabe's in the back.

And John, the folks that, uh, produced and directed this movie, when they started out, this was going to be a movie about the campaign, right?

Uh, it started in 2019 is when they started the film.

But then obviously all of our worlds changed with COVID.

And very quickly after George Floyd and all the things happened, really the world shifted.

But for me, it's always been about, uh, we have this, uh, unfortunate reality that we see our elected officials, even though we know they're human, we don't see them as human.

We don't see them.

We see especially now.

People think like, all I do is take pictures for Instagram, right?

Right.

They don't see those tough conversations like I had with Miss Dyson.

They don't see what goes into you going out there as a mayor and saying, "In Baltimore and D.C., anywhere else, that we're going to focus or we're going to reduce violence by this much" and what actually goes into that.

It's not that you just snap your fingers and that stuff happens.

A lot of things have to happen.

You have to have support from other people.

You have to develop plans.

You have to go to the community.

You have to do all of these things.

And it was important for me, in particular as a young Black man who grew up in Baltimore, who heard all of my life, right?

I tell young people in Baltimore this all the time.

They told me that -- First they told me I shouldn't try to go to college.

Right?

Then they told me that like, "Oh, well, you're going to graduate from college.

You should just go work at some business, because people who grew up where you grew up in Park Heights, they don't get elected to the city council.

There's no way you're going to get on the city council."

And then I did.

Then they told me, "There's no way you're going to become the president of the city council," and then I did.

Then they told me, "You can't become the mayor of Baltimore.

That's -- You're -- you're too young."

Despite that, there was another 36-year-old mayor before, just a couple months younger than me.

He just happens to not look like me, right?

Uh, and I did it.

And then they said, "There's no way you're going to be reelected," and I did.

Right?

You have to continuously -- I think it's important when you're in leadership and if you truly want to be not the only one -- the first but not the last -- to show out to the world what it is actually to be you so that people understand, your people understand it a much higher level, but also so that the folks coming behind you don't have to go through the same exact thing, because the people will know when they see the same old tricks over and over again, they'll be like, "Oh, we remember you guys trying this before."

So for me personally, it was really about showing the city and really the world, what it is to be a mayor.

And what's it like to try to really handle, uh, the city's longest-standing challenge the right way.

>> Thank you.

[ Cheers and applause ] Thank you so much for that.

I want to come to you, uh, Director Porter.

Um, as we're thinking about this work and positioning it specifically in a unique place like D.C.

I'm wondering in what ways some of the work that you've been doing here in D.C. resonates with many of these different components and can be layered over the city here as well?

>> So first of all, thank you so much for having me.

And congratulations, Mayor, for all the work that you've been doing.

Um, as mentioned, I'm the director of the D.C. Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants.

And the way that this work centers and this film so beautifully illustrates is that the way that we heal is so specific.

It is so culturally informed.

It is so, um, spiritually informed.

It's so unique.

And the work that we're doing in D.C., specifically in my office, we fund healing.

Half of my portfolio specifically funds victim services for any individuals who have been, uh, who have experienced victimization of any crime.

And the other half of my portfolio supports individuals who have been incarcerated or who have touched the justice system.

The fact that D.C. uniquely, um, intentionally does not bifurcate those two individual populations is because what we know and research shows, they are the same population, they are the same community.

And so in conversations when we talk about prevention and we talk about reducing crime, we have to talk about healing.

Um, I always say to my team, "We have to heal trauma to prevent trauma."

And so in conversations, I love how beautifully in the film our sister -- we see it visually, her bringing sage and even activating the space where a community in crisis potentially hyper-aroused, um, responding to trauma, which is a physical response, seeing healing, passing by.

It's so important, and I'm grateful that we're able to heal in a community level.

There's so many community healers in D.C. who we're saving -- who we're saving space for.

But we have to have investments, we have to fund them.

And so we're proud as a grantmaking agency to not just prioritize what we heal, but to let the community say, "This is how we want to heal" and to be able to apply for those funds as specifically as possible.

>> Yes.

Thank you.

[ Cheers and applause ] So, Sister Erricka, we are so happy that you are here with us in this virtual space.

Thank you so much for your work and all that you do.

Putting hands on people, bringing that good sage smoke.

All of the things that we know are needed in these communities.

It's a lot of work and it's hard work.

Um, may Tater forever rest in peace.

Um, and we do send acknowledgments and, you know, brief moments of silence.

But please do tell us what it actually takes to be in these streets and really doing this work.

>> So first of all, thank you so much for having me.

Hi, Bray.

Um, um, and I apologize that I'm moving all around.

I'm in New Orleans, certified mediators who, um, the whole entire mediation center here in New Orleans, they only mediate complaints between police and communities.

So they resolve those conflicts and we're giving them -- We're taking them through a certification process this week.

So I'm moving around at an event right now.

Um, but it really takes you just following your heart.

That's what I keep explaining to people.

I mean, yes, some people end up more in the spotlight or, you know, have leadership qualities that catapult them more into the public eye.

But all I'm doing is following the quiet nudges in my heart.

I was raised to believe that if there's something you don't like, then you should be doing something about it.

And there's always some kind of love you can send.

There's always something you can touch.

And we often think, "Well, who am I to be doing that thing?

Or the thing that I'm doing is just going to be too little."

And there's no such thing as something being too little.

The reduction in violence and murder that we see in Baltimore right now, it's from decades of people doing the little things and the big things.

Um, which allowed space for Brandon to step in and implement something that was really going to be impactful as well.

And so, um, I have found that when I don't follow my heart, that's when I become suicidal, when I don't follow what I know my soul is telling me to do, that's when I become depressed and suffer with anxiety and all those kind of things.

So no matter how crazy it looks, I have to follow my heart so that I hold on to my sanity.

And what I have learned is it gives other people permission to listen to their hearts as well.

And Baltimore is a place where real recognizes real.

So that's why I can get to every neighborhood.

I treat everybody like, "No, no, yo, you're my brother.

You're just like my cousin.

Just like my niece, my nephew."

And so when you love, people love you better.

>> Thank you.

[ Cheers and applause ] >> You know, in the film, there are quite a few pivotal, you know, moments of things that happen along the trail, but also through the victory.

I think one of the pieces that resonated with me the most is, um, you're fighting for this shift in the narrative of formerly incarcerated, credible messengers, peace workers, or, you know, individuals that are the experts on the ground directly impacted out there day in and day out.

This concept of interpersonal disputes and the amount of times that you mention that in the film, the amount of times that individuals talked about that.

In what ways do you think it's important for us to understand that flipping of the script?

>> It's critically important because if left up to, uh, conventional wisdom -- Well, I wouldn't say wisdom.

Conventional thought, conventional thought, uh, folks will have you, especially in this political season, they'll have you thinking that this is the '80s and '90s all over again, but it's not, right?

We knew when I grew up in Baltimore in the '80s, '90s and early 2000, 99.9% of the time if someone was murdered, it was over drugs, money, some -- some kind of thing.

Most of the time.

Right?

But that's just not true today.

And what we have to do is push through because we also understand why.

If you dig deep into -- It doesn't matter if they're elected official, if they're media, if they're who -- A citizen on the street, a president of a university, a business owner, whoever.

When folks just revert to that it's, "Oh, it's gangs and drugs," right?

They're not just reverting to that because they've been conditioned and really brainwashed to think that and hear that over and over again.

That makes it simple.

And we are talking about -- If you talk about what happens with violence as it is, it's an extremely complicated thing.

And that's what happens.

Human nature is for people to go to, "What can we do quick, fast, in a hurry and simple to stop this from happening?"

But the reality has always been there is no one thing you can do, because when you think about it, right, even if today -- I'm somebody for some -- The economic situation, whatever reason happened when I was growing up or that's what everyone in my -- If my father and my brothers did it, I sell drugs illegally.

Just because I get shot doesn't mean I got shot because I sell drugs, right?

It could be -- and most of the times today -- it's like, "Oh, Jojo thought this was his girlfriend."

Jojo found out that it really wasn't his girlfriend.

And then him and this other guy have a conflict, and one of them's dead, right?

That kind of stuff is happening all over the country.

And when you look at it, and which is why we focus the way we focus, it's a small group of people.

Yes.

Many of them are also involved in illegal activity together.

But this is not just about that illegal activity.

And it's important for us if we're going to cure a disease, you have to talk about what that disease is and everything that leads into that disease.

Right?

It's yes, people who smoke are a lot more likely to get cancer, but also people who smoke are generally unhealthy.

If they eat bad, if they don't work out.

All these other factors come into play.

And we have to stop trying to oversimplify the most complicated thing, even if people don't like it.

Right?

Because if you truly want to solve an issue, you have to solve it.

When you go, you know -- And we treat this like it's something very different.

My grandfather had prostate cancer.

I got to go to the doctor's next month.

What are they going to test me for?

Prostate cancer.

Right?

But for years we've had young people in Baltimore, people that I know who their father, their brother, their cousin, all these people got shot.

And we just expect them to like, "Oh, well, it won't happen to them."

No, we know it's a lot more likely to happen to them, and we have to focus on that group.

And the only way to do that is to call things out and pull back that veil of simplifying something that makes people, uh, easier to make people feel safe.

by saying, "Well, I'm going to do this one thing to stop this one group of people who were killing each other for this one reason."

>> Thank you.

[ Cheers and applause ] I want to come back to you, Erricka, because I think as we're thinking about these concepts of interpersonal disputes, we're thinking about credible messengers.

There was a point in the film where you talked about not being able to answer questions without this kind of sense of frustration or anger around the framing of questions and/or the microaggressions that are part of the questions.

Right?

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> Yes.

I think with an audience of some of my students here and individuals that are new to the university and also seasoned in their matriculation, in what ways or advice do you have for individuals, as we in a community mindset are advocating for our credible messengers and those that are directly impacted to be the first-line responders?

>> Yeah.

So one thing that's really important is we all really need trainings around emotional intelligence, conflict management trainings.

We need to be uplifting restorative justice practices like mediation and dialogue, all of those safe places where people can really be real about what's going on.

And then things can be mediated peacefully.

But each of us, it's very rare that we've been taught.

How do we handle a situation when I feel like somebody is really playing in my face, like they really coming for me right in front of my face, and I want to be impactful in my answer.

I want to be understood.

Um, how do I express myself while I'm actually angry?

And that is about really learning how to navigate conflict.

And although I'm a mediator and I train mediators, I certify mediators, when it had to do with those in the moment media having an agenda and a narrative that they already came to me pretending that they're coming to cover something beautiful that I'm doing, but they already have a narrative that is something wrong with Baltimore when the question really is, what has happened to Baltimore?

And so it took me years to learn.

"Oh, wait a minute.

I can pause and call out what's happening right now."

It doesn't have to just irritate me.

If something is irritating me, that's an indication that something in my soul is saying, 'No, thank you' right now.

So I can say out loud, "Wait a minute, what is happening right now that you just now did?

Question you tried to ask me.

You know, let me ask you a question because your question is the problem because you're not open to the answer.

You already had an answer before you asked the question.

So I really encourage people who are interested in either getting involved in any kind of peace work, will advocate for people who are doing, you know, anti-violence and community peace work really push the idea that none of us really know how to communicate well.

None of -- We live in a country that teaches us that violence is power and keep that same energy and all of that stuff.

We really have to advocate that.

All of us needs to be learning how to listen deeply, how to listen when we feel offended, how to respond and use our voices impactfully.

Even when I'm angry, I can answer without attack, but still clear, like all of us need to be doing that work.

Because if all of us are doing it, it makes it a lot easier for those of us on the front line.

[ Cheers and applause ] >> So thank you so much for indulging us in this wonderful film, and we are prayerful that it will leave you thinking and recognizing the importance of this work for many of our service leaders, um, in these positions of being the mayor, being the director, and even our credible messengers that are on the front line.

Please be reminded to stay with us.

We would love to have further conversation over a few bites, and also be reminded to engage in much of WHUT here at Howard University has to offer.

Thank you.

♪♪ >> ...and made possible by contributions from viewers like you.

For more information on this program or any other program, please visit our website at whut.org.

Thank you.