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 ineq...

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 mor...

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 Philade...

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 po...

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 a...

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...

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 proliferat...

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 n...

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...

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 thi...

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 a...

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...

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...

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 Femini...

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 a...

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 Councilmemb...

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 Sa...