On today’s show we feature a interview with Dr. Joseph Richardson who is the Joel and Kim Feller Professor and MPower Professor of African-American Studies and Anthropology at the University of Maryland and the Executive Producer of the Life After the Gunshot.

We discuss this incredible platform that Dr. Richardson created to launch a discussion about what life is like after the gunshot. This platform provides a space to humanize the victims of urban violence and learn about what it is like to be a victim of a gunshot and what your life is like after the gunshot. You learn about all of this not from the perspective of the researchers but from the survivors themselves. You learn about the social circumstances not just in their personal life but also in their communities and in the District of Columbia that are at the root causes of the violence.

Life After the Gunshot brings voices to the forefront that are never really heard in the daily newspapers or nightly newscasts when they are covering gun violence. All too often the report is as shallow as person is the victim of a gunshot and the motive seems to be gang violence or drug related. Coded language to let their viewers know that nobody worthy of their sympathies was the victim of a gunshot.

Also on the show today CJP takes a closer look at a horrific OpEd recently published in the Chicago Tribune authored by Alderpersons  Silvana Tabares from the 23rd ward, Raymond Lopez from the 15th ward, and Anthony Napolitano from the 41st ward. The OpEd reeks of pointing fingers while they refuse to take any responsibility for the public policy they pas that is contributing to creating the circumstances in these communities that drive the violence.