Systemic

Davarie Armstrong was a high school student with a bright future ahead of him, but his life was tragically cut short. Teenagers at a party shot Davarie with several guns, including a semi-automatic high-powered rifle. How do we stop guns from getting into the hands of teenagers? Jason McBride puts pressure on Colorado legislators to make changes to punish social media platforms that sell guns onli...

Aurora Police have a new strategy to help reduce youth gun crime. It partners a police force that’s been under the microscope for its treatment of Black and brown communities with leaders in those same communities to try to keep kids from turning to violence. SAVE, Standing Against Violence Everyday, is different from other policing methods. The intent is to keep individuals alive, safe and free....

Sam Elfay was just 13 years old when he started skipping school. Somewhere along the way Elfay had lost interest. As soon as his father dropped him off at school he’d wait until his dad left, then skip class. Elfay’s appetite for more danger in his life grew. He started to break into houses and cars, stealing whatever he could get his hands on. Then one day he stole a gun from someone’s car. That...

Youth gun crime is rising and it disproportionately affects Black and brown people. This crime is often sidelined as a community problem, which dismisses the reasons young Black men get caught up in an environment of violence, crime and death. Systemic, hosted and reported by Jo Erickson, is back for Season 3, to tell the stories of those who fight injustice as they attempt to dismantle the status...

When it comes to prosecuting hate crimes, Colorado didn’t have a great track record until they amended Colorado’s bias-motivated crimes statute. In this bonus episode of Systemic, we look at how Melissa Hall, a Black parent who was racially abused while volunteering on school premises, tested this new amendment in court. Host and producer: Jo Erickson Producers: Rebekah Romberg, Kibwe Cooper, Emil...

Leaders in Denver Public Schools acknowledge existing inequities in schools and are trying to address them. They recognize the lack of people of color in leadership positions has created policies that led to disparities between white students and students of color. To redress this problem, DPS created a leadership program. But while it solves some problems, it may create new ones. In this episode...

The number of Black teachers leaving the profession is rising. Kevin Adams is a social studies teacher working in Denver Public Schools. He’s very popular with students and parents, but struggles with microaggressions from his colleagues. Like many Black teachers, he thinks about quitting education. Why are Black teachers walking away? Kevin and his friend started a podcast to put a spotlight on t...

The dramatic exit of the superintendent and changes to school equity policies is cause for concern for Naomi Lopez, a speech therapist in Colorado Springs School District 11. Lopez works with children in special education who require services from the equity department. Without the equity leadership team overseeing the work, she fears her students will miss vital resources that assist in their aca...

Racial tension has been building in Colorado Springs School District 11 for some time. School volunteer Melissa Hall was racially abused by a white parent in the school parking lot. But tension escalated when the superintendent abruptly resigned and a school board member made racial comments toward Black men who attended a school board meeting. In this episode we follow Melissa Hall, a Black paren...

Conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion found their way into schools, classrooms, and school board meetings over the past few years. But fixing an entire education system isn’t simple. Systemic, hosted and reported by Jo Erickson, is back for Season 2. This season, teachers, parents, students and administrators of color are asking hard questions about the American education system. Wha...

This spring, the nation held its breath as Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with murdering George Floyd, went on trial. Was the officer a single bad apple, or a symptom of a broken system? Nekima Levy-Armstrong is a former law professor who gave up her career to become a full-time activist. Since then, she’s spent the better part of a decade pushing for police reform, and played a pivotal role i...

On this episode, we follow an officer in leadership who’s working to reform policing from the top down. As director of public safety in the small community of Franklin Township, New Jersey, she’s taking a hard look at the diversity of her department, and addressing how officers interact with the community they serve. Hosted and produced by Jo Erickson Editor: Dennis Funk Production and mixing: Reb...

Against the backdrop of George Floyd’s death and nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Colorado legislators won praise for swiftly passing an ambitious law meant to punish future abuses by police officers. But part of the genesis for that law began in 2019 amidst a different set of police protests after the death of a Black man in Colorado Springs. That moment left a grieving family sear...

Meet two Black police officers — a young officer in the Minneapolis suburbs and a veteran sheriff's deputy in Colorado Springs — working to protect their communities. In the wake of George Floyd's death and the nationwide protests that followed, these two women offer a glimpse of what it's like to serve in law enforcement at a time when policing itself is under fire. They also speak frankly about...

Since the death of George Floyd in 2020, America has been searching its soul over questions of racial injustice. Many people are looking for solutions to change a police culture that disproportionately harms people of color. They’re asking hard questions about what should be done to reform law enforcement. To capture this defining moment, we followed a group of people across the U.S., working to c...