Episode Details

In the face of ongoing police brutality against African Americans and the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on people of color, the United States reached a tipping point in relation to racism, policing and public health. But what does it look like to adopt a “public health” approach to safety, policing, and economic development? Host Laura Flanders visits Newark, New Jersey, to look in-depth at one city where decades of police reform efforts failed to stop violence and crime. At the invitation of Mayor Ras Baraka, Aqeela Sherrills, a former gang-truce broker in Los Angeles, headed up the Newark Community Street Team, which leverages residents’ relationships to prevent violence before it starts. Flanders talks with Sherrills and other former gang members turned peacekeepers about how they address abuse and transform trauma for themselves and others, and to the city’s Public Safety Director about what it’s taken to build the team’s partnership with police. What does it look like when more responsibility for public safety is put in public hands?

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