05 Dec How Creative Media Uplifts and Informs Community Voices in the Midst of the Gun Violence Epidemic

BY GABE CASTRO

This article is part of a column by Gabe Castro called “Reel Impact: From Screens to Streets.” The column explores contemporary film through conversations with Philadelphia-area community members and organizers.

“Like the dandelion we are ever resilient. We are ever resilient and healing. We can grow anywhere.” – Erica Atwood, host of I Know Your Name podcast.

The past four years have been challenging for Philadelphia communities plagued by a gun violence epidemic. In the midst of this pain and uncertainty, key community members, organizers, foundations, government officials, and media makers have found strength in recontextualizing the crisis. Through multimedia storytelling, creators are putting information and resources into the hands of the people. Amistad Law Project’s numerous media pieces seek to educate Philly communities and offer alternatives to increased police presence and incarceration. And Erica Atwood’s new podcast, I Know Your Name, aims to shift the narrative and uplift those doing the work. By creating people-driven stories, these creators place the audience on the ground floor of the issues, helping to better understand not only the problems but also the solutions. 

Moved to amplify the voices of Philly’s affected communities, Amistad Law Project has created numerous creative media projects to accompany their direct actions and campaigns. They have utilized different mediums, including animation, podcasts, short form videos, and documentaries. During a time when many people consume news and political opinions through hashtags and social media trends, people can become overwhelmed with misinformation, quickly dismissing ideas they don’t fully understand. Within each of Amistad’s projects is a uniting idea of presenting information in digestible pieces. Each piece asks the question, “What do the people want, believe, and need?” 

Their recent project, No Way Home: The Story of a Mother’s Struggle to Reunite Her Family, is a documentary highlighting Philadelphia’s “Death by Incarceration” laws. The film follows organizer Lorraine Haw, known as Mrs. Dee Dee, as she juggles loss from both sides of the gun violence epidemic. The film first introduces the complex policies that have created a crisis in which we find over 5,400 people serving life without parole in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Dee Dee then provides a unique personal perspective for the film. First, she shares about the murder of her brother; in her pain in the aftermath of this loss, she knew that locking her brother’s murderer away for life wasn’t what she needed to heal. Later, when her son was involved in a homicide, she suffered another loss: this time losing her son to incarceration under the “Felony Murder” rule. The Felony Murder rule states that if you are involved in a felony and a homicide is committed, you can be convicted of that homicide, even if you did not take part in it. This prompted Mrs. Dee Dee to become a leader in the movement to end mass incarceration. 

Framed around Mrs. Dee Dee’s loss and perseverance, Amistad offers us an intimate glimpse into a broken system. Mrs. Dee Dee humanizes an issue that is often shared only as a statistic. In archival protest footage, we see Mrs. Dee Dee in the early stages of her fight, urging forgiveness and for people to understand the damage this form of “justice” can have on loved ones. She says, “But today I am fighting for [my brother’s murderer’s] freedom, as much as I am for the freedom of my own child. Because anger doesn’t eat up the person who took the life, it eats you up. When we wake up and learn to love ourselves and love those that hurt us, this world becomes a better world.”

Kris Henderson, Executive Director of Amistad Law Project and co-creator of the documentary, shared how the concept for the film found its voice in Mrs. Dee Dee. Originally, the piece was intended to feature many voices, organizers and impacted family members alike, but found the story best suited to something more intimate and personal. Because of Mrs. Dee Dee’s unique loss, which she has reframed into action, Henderson felt she was the best person to highlight the complexities of this epidemic. 

For Henderson, the heart of justice is humanity and the opportunity for growth, an ideology that a system with outstanding “Death by Incarceration” cases doesn’t seem to understand. “I think for me, justice is a system where everyone is treated humanely. It doesn’t matter where you fall, whether you are the person who was harmed or the person who has committed harm. A system you can look at and think, ‘Yeah, I would be subject to that system.’ I recognize that if I was someone who committed deep harm, that there would be opportunities for healing, growth, and support. That there would still be ways for me to come back from that, to not be branded as this terrible person who did terrible things, forever,” offers Henderson.

No Way Home has screened in several counties across the state, including screenings in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Reading, Allentown, Lancaster, and Scranton. The screenings were followed by engaging discussions that help viewers understand our justice system and how we can improve it. In October of 2023, viewers joined Amistad Law Project for a Day of Action in Harrisburg to engage in a conversation with elected officials about second-chance legislation. Amistad shared that for many of those in attendance, from both sides of the aisle, this approach of sharing information through narrative media was inspiring for them. 

Amistad Law Project, organizers, and impacted community members agree that justice looks less like heavier policing or harsher sentencing and more like violence interrupters, conflict mediation, and community programs. Through Amistad’s other projects, they’ve found a way to center the voices of those most trusted in the communities affected: the actual members of those communities. In another documentary, Everyday Philadelphians Want to #DefundThePolice, they interviewed Black women from different parts of the city to talk about what they would want for their communities, instead of funding more police. The film is composed of cell phone video testimonials shared on social media in the summer of 2020. When much of the country was caught up in the publicity of #DefundthePolice, a campaign that could easily distract people from understanding the core issues, Henderson felt the conversation needed to move from those outside of the issues and instead address concerns from the ground level. They found that what communities wanted most were resources and protection, not more police.

In their four-part animated shorts series created by artist Eric Ruin, Practical Abolition: Alternatives to Prisons and Police Animated Series, they offer insight into the solutions posed in the Everyday Philadelphians documentary. Through colorful and short pieces, the series walks viewers through the crisis starting with the need to mobilize. They offer alternative solutions, such as violence interrupter programs that they explain would “employ people with street credibility to interrupt cycles of gun violence and stop retaliation.” They go on to address the problems with our mass incarceration system, and finally, present larger, countrywide restorative justice programs as alternatives to incarceration. The series promotes healing and growth, approaching justice from a place of care.

Erica Atwood, I Know Your Name podcast host and Senior Director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Criminal Justice & Public Safety for the City of Philadelphia, believes in a similar approach. And through her new podcast, I Know Your Name, is uplifting those doing the work, people from her network who she’s seen firsthand working to solve the issues plaguing their communities. I Know Your Name begins with an introduction that welcomes the listeners into the solutions-based program: “I know your name, so why should everyone else?” The names Atwood thinks you should know include Deion Sumpter, director of the Philadelphia Group Violence Intervention program who shares his own troubled past and how that led him to find strength in mentorship to support others affected by the same challenges; the Victim Advocate for the City of Philadelphia, Adara Combs, who creates services for individuals who have been impacted by gun violence; the Director of Reentry Partnerships, Assata Thomas, who discusses support for individuals who have been incarcerated and how they and their families can get support after they’ve been through the carceral system; and Scott Charles of the Cradle to the Grave program and Temple University hospital who explains what supports are available to people during what could be the worst time of their lives. 

Similar to Amistad’s Everyday Philadelphians, the show was born out of the troubling summer of 2020 and in opposition to the mainstream media’s approach to sharing information affecting Philly neighborhoods. “The narrative in mainstream media was around doom, gloom, and fear. And I knew through my work that there were so many out there who were doing the work. I thought if people heard their stories, they would be inspired by not only the work that they’re doing, but maybe also be inspired to do work on their own,” explains Atwood.

Through Atwood’s other work in the Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Criminal Justice & Public Safety she’s done a considerable amount to provide the resources that organizations like Amistad have been asking for. The Office’s core goals are to foster meaningful community partnerships, identify and break down barriers to racial equity, increase opportunities for diversion away from the criminal justice system, and safely reduce the jail population. For Atwood, that can look like creating mobile crisis teams to intercept delicate issues and training police to work in tandem with these teams to elevate the understanding of what it means to protect and serve. Atwood jokingly shared that she wants to put herself out of business. The way to do so involves instilling in our communities those infrastructures for change. “It’s a nuance of perspective, a nuance between saving and empowering. I don’t need to save communities, I need to help and make sure they are empowered. To remove obstacles in their way for them to fully achieve what they need to achieve, as individuals, as families, and as communities. We don’t have to be the ones that are making it, we just have to be the infrastructure to support it.”

For Atwood, her show and the work she does serves as an amplifier for the resilience she sees in her community. Inspired by a Toni Morrison quote (of which there are many that motivate her daily), Atwood asked, “When do we get to imagine or dream? When do we get to really hope for something different, something better, and not be caught up in the day-to-day rigamarole of the problem? It leads to an ability for imagination, it leads to an opportunity to daydream. And it means that we can see ourselves in a way that is not just surviving, but thriving, even through what have been the worst experiences.” 

It’s a slow process and shifting to alternative solutions can mean long term results in lieu of temporary bandaids. For communities that are actively hurting, this is a delicate issue that needs to be approached from a place of respect. Thanks to creators of media projects like Amistad Law Project and Erica Atwood, people are beginning to understand not only the multitude of options available, but also their role in those solutions. And we are seeing the results of these actions, slow as they may be. They are making a difference. According to the Office of the Controller in Philadelphia, homicides are down 30% from 2022. Atwood was eager to share that the day before our interview (November 9th), Philadelphia reported no shootings. After four years of what felt like relentless suffering, this news offered a small glimmer of light in that darkness. 

Upcoming Screenings for No Way Home: In the coming year Amistad will be showing No Way Home at film festivals and community screenings. Additional screenings are in the works for Germantown, Bucks County, and Harrisburg. Reach out to sean@amistadlaw.org if you are interested in attending these community screenings and want more information. You can view Amistad’s other projects online.

Update January 30, 2024: No Way Home is now available to stream on Amistad Law Project’s website. 

You can listen to I Know Your Name on iHeartRadio and Spotify. (Coming soon to Apple Podcasts).

*Featured Image: Image from a screening of No Way Home in Chester. Image credit: Julie Rodgers. Courtesy of Amistad Law Project.

---

Gabe Castro is a Philadelphia-based Latiné multimedia professional specializing in the horror genre. Gabe believes media can be used as a tool to bring social change and works in all she does to create impactful and inspiring media. Gabe is a former cinéSPEAK Philly Beat Fellow.