Student Activism: Gun Violence Awareness

Well, welcome back. KC, I cannot believe we are in January of the

new year. It is hard to believe. It is, it is.

Oh, yes, no. Everyone, KC's just nervous, it's the new year... Oh, come

on. We're in January, folks. Okay, we're pretending, we're recording in

December. Before Christmas. We're tired. We were just trying to like, summon

the New Year's vibes, the well rested, ready to start the new year,

'Cause that's when ya'll are listening to this episode. You're listening

2021. I'm hoping the new year will go better than this previous year.

And, you know, in higher education in K 12 education, it has been

a really brutal year, and particularly a brutal semester for folks.

on that, that load. And so we, you know, we just had a

really fun conversation with some of my students. Yes.

From the communication department, our department. Our department. Yes,

the capstone class talking about gun violence. Every 10 minutes in America,

one person dies of gun violence. So it's a serious topic and it

impacts many people, it impacts us here in Connecticut, and we had a

conversation talking about their experience planning your program around

raising awareness. Yeah, they, you know, I'm so proud of this group of

students, it was just five students who put on this huge event,

connecting the community and folks who are, you know, taking action around

youth gun violence, which is a really big problem in New Haven.

And connecting them with a campus community, helping us to really realize

our social justice mission, to get people involved.

Because a lot of times, even though we are of the community,

at this school, I think a lot of times people, they come here,

and then you know, teach their classes or go to their classes,

and then they leave, and they go home, even if they're still staying

in Connecticut, I think sometimes we're... We're not really serving the

community where we're located. That's a theme throughout our state. And

I can think of many ways in which

folks work in one area and live in others and what does that

mean for community belonging, but that's a different rant. But kudos to

you for assigning such a project to your students. Thank you. And I

hope this inspire faculty from our university and other universities to

think about critical ways that their students can solve social problems,

social change, connect with the community, you know, find something they're

passionate about, and use the skill that they're learning in the classroom

to do something powerful with it. Right, yeah. I mean, we do really

have a unique opportunity as educators that and people in higher ed,

like, How do we, How do we give back? How do we

create spaces for community events? Community organizing? How do we contribute

to our communities? We have a lot to offer, whether that's research,

whether that's, you know, students who might participate in a mentoring

program, in the community, all kinds of the ways that we can

engage and give back. And, as opposed to just sitting in the classroom

and just, you know, assigning... I think about like, you're in class,

right? You're a student, you write a paper, Professor reads it. Boom, that's

it. You get a grade. And then what, I mean, I can't like back

when, like, students were turning in paper... Papers. You know, what do

you see, like at the... When you get papers back? You see all

of them in the trash can. Not all of them.

I kept all of my papers, I will add. Of course you did.

I do did. And they're categorized by class. Oh, my gosh,

in your filing cabinet? They are, they are in a filing cabinet. Yeah. Like

the point is like, how can, and of course scholarship is important.

It's important to do things like writing is a way of understanding something

deeply. It's a big way that we learn. So I'm not saying that

that's not important. But I'm saying in addition to that,

how can we empower our students to be activists? Yes,

'cause it took many skills for your students to accomplish this event and

trust you all will hear more about this event in a little bit,

but skills like public speaking, organizing, contacting community members,

marketing, putting the word out, talking and facilitating with each other

around decisions they should make. Right. Deadlines. Yeah, so you'll get

a little sort of peek behind the curtain with three out of the

five students who put this event on hoping to inspire both students,

faculty folks listening, that you know, you can,

there's opportunity there to create meaningful change, where perhaps you

didn't see a possibility before. So today, KC, we are talking with your

capstone class. We are talking with some of my students today.

Yes. How exciting, how exciting. And they did a project on gun violence.

Yes. So in the capstone class, so this is seniors in communication,

some of whom have studied, like you did, Interpersonal Professional Communication,

some who are digital, like filmmakers, digital production, and then others

who do advertising and promotion. So we have all of these like amazing

skill sets. We bring the class together at the end,

and students come up with a social justice project, you know, like they

look for a problem where, you know, social justice problem where communication

can have an impact, and whether they can take the skills that they've learned

and really create a project that contributes to their community. Yes, mine

was food security. And yours, I was thinking about this yours was really,

Yes. And we all pulled it together. But it was...

I think we gave you all a great report on food insecurity. Yeah. Yeah, but

really it's too bad that that did get interrupted. Well, that's okay.

I'm glad... Theirs did not... Because I heard they had a very successful

program. Yes, one of the... Actually, one of the biggest events

on campus, all semester... I think the second biggest event

of the semester on campus. Well, congratulations to all of you. So today

we have... So actually, my class was split into two.

Two different projects. One group worked on mental health. And this group

worked on preventing youth gun violence. So we have three of the five

group members here with us today. We have Shay Smith, Nik'Kiyah Brown, and

Kayla White. Welcome to the three of you. Thanks for being here. Thank

Yeah, thank you for having

us. Yeah, great to have you all here. Okay, so

I wanna start with you, Shay. So you're... At the beginning of the

semester, everyone comes up with an idea, they pitch their idea to the

class, and then we sort of hash it out from there.

So your idea... Your original idea was a different one, and it's the

one that sparked this particular project. So can you tell us about...

What was the genesis of this project? So the original idea was to

pair with Valley Street Community Center, kind of get in there, see leaders,

work with the kids, work with the youth. I wasn't aware that it

was opening back up, so when I saw a post on Instagram saying

that they needed help, I thought, "This is a great opportunity for my

classmates or for Southern to get involved with New Haven." So that was

the original thought, was to pair up with the Valley Street Community Center.

Yes, and so the Valley Street Community Center is very close to our

campus, and Shay you are from New Haven. Nik'Kiyah you're from New Haven.

The two of you are from this area, and both of you have

been directly impacted by youth gun violence. Would you talk about how that

led you to create this project? I lost my close friend to gun violence,

recently, and that was kind of the first interaction that I really had

that really hit home for me. So when that happened, I immediately thought,

like, "This is a big problem." And it just... It continued. So I

really wanted us to try to tackle this issue... The youth is a

big part of New Haven, and these innocent kids are dying. So I

felt like a great way to try to tackle the issue is was to first, raise

awareness. Because a lot of people don't know what really goes on in

New Haven, and how much it really affects the youth. So raising awareness

was my first thought, automatically. And I felt like using the senior capstone

course was a great opportunity to do this.

Yeah, and Nik'Kiyah, you've had some experience working directly with youth

as a mentor, and you've seen how that can make a difference,

right? Oh yes, I worked for... I worked at least for two years...

It's a non profit organization that works closely with the youth in high

poverty neighborhoods, around the city of New Haven. So during my time as

a counselor it's like, I would see how

the outside life impacts the children. Not only how they react,

but their mental state in school. And then it's like they have to

return back to it. And it plays a big role in their life,

because they're just kids so... They've been introduced to a lot of things

that they don't even understand, but they have to get accustomed to it

and they have to know that it's a part of their life now,

and I feel like it's sad. And then having to deal with it

personally I feel like if I can help prevent it

I would and I wouldn't hesitate and I would do it anytime. Yeah,

and Kayla, what was it that had you... You were one of the

first to join the project. There were actually some people who came,

some people who went during moments of trouble, we'll get into the sort

of behind the scenes... The difficulties in planning a large project.

But there were people who came and went. Kayla, you were there from

the start. So what brought you to the project?

Honestly, what brought me to the project was that I had recently

just had gone through my own experience with gun violence. My...

Last April, my ex boyfriend was actually shot with nine times in Stanford.

It was all over the news. He was murdered. And like Shay said,

I've been around gun violence, but like this is where it really hit home

for me. And I'm still healing from it. It's hard.

And it's just... I was one of the first people to raise my hand in

class to join because I just wanted to make a difference.

And I wanted to bring awareness to it, because I felt like I

couldn't really do anything else to prevent what happened. So I thought,

this would be a better way to kind of honor his life, and make a difference.

To make sure that this doesn't happen. It's not like... It doesn't happen

again, basically. I don't want it to happening happen again at all.

So that was my reason in joining. Yeah, and I... I'm so glad

that you are all here having this conversation with us today,

because it's such a big and complex problem. It impacts so many people,

and there is not a single or easy solution...

So what ended up happening... Let's just... Let's just... Let me pause on

this and say... Initially y'all were thinking like... Okay, this community

center is opening back up. We're gonna go. We'll hang out with the

kids. And we're gonna play some games. Michael Tompkins, he was really excited

to play some tabletop games with some kids and video games.

I'm getting flashbacks to Lighthouse. I used to volunteer for the Lighthouse

program like that. Right. And so that's what really we thought we would...

Hopefully develop partnerships with these... The community center to get

our college students mentoring youth... Our youth. Yeah. The youth in the

community. So then it turns out... Hey that... The center's not opening

remember this far back. This was probably September, a few months ago.

What happened once we figured that out? How did we sort of pivot

the project? So once we heard that, it was kind of like,

"Oh God, what are we gonna do now?" The team was kind of

like, "Well, now we have to pivot and go a different route,"

so we started brainstorming in class, we started

doing a lot of research into this topic, seeing where else we could

help and sit in and raise awareness. And actually,

one of my other group members, Michael, he came up with this great

idea of having an event, and from there we just took it and ran with

it. Meanwhile I was like, I don't know if you wanna have an

event. The stakes are high when you host an event, first of all,

second of all... There where definitely some like moments with the event

where I feel like we kind of were like all leading weeding off, but

honestly, Jamil honestly really helped us to be like, okay, set on an

event. 'Cause But he told us what we had to do,

who to contact, and then when we also got in contact with,

this is what we're doing, this is how we're gonna do a our project.

Yeah so there were a couple of moments, and we're gonna talk about

phoning a friend, I don't know where ever that comes from,

the game show where you phone a friend and they help you answer

the question. Anyway that's... Yes, yes. 'Who wants to be a millionaire?'

Yeah that one, we're... None of us are millionaires, but Jamil, you were

a key part of this project because a lot of... For a little

while, I was really trying to steer you all away from doing an

event to think like, "Okay, maybe we can could do a documentary,

maybe we can do something else, but is an event the thing,

is that the thing that's gonna make the biggest difference?" And I was

not sure about that. And can five people pull off this big thing?

Absolutely. Right. So, we're in class one day and I honestly,

I had no idea what advice to offer you all we were at

a dead end, and I texted Jamil real quick. Hey are you around...

Always happy to help. "Can we call you?" And we FaceTimed him. And

then so, what happened in that conversation, like you're just... What were

you even doing when we called you, you had no... I think I

was taking a nap. I'm not gonna lie to you, I think I

was taking a nap, but it was a good reason to disturb a

nap, I think so myself. But yeah I was excited to hear what

the students had in mind in terms of for our their an event.

I have lots of experience with events on campus, as you know,

creating large events, small events for different organizations on campus.

So it's really about figuring out where they were, to get them to

where we needed them to be, in order to pull off such a

large event because honestly, it's a few simple skills, like

booking the room, who are you going to invite, how many speakers,

who's going to be in charge of what. And so I don't think

my contribution was huge, it was just helping you all get organized in

terms of what needed to happen next. And also the confidence piece.

Nik'Kiyah, I remember your attitude, walking out of the classroom that day,

you were like, "Wow", you were like a new person.

Yeah, I don't know, I know we were stressing a lot because our

grade was on the line, but it wasn't only our grade, it's like... It

was something we had been passionate about, and we already set our hopes

high... So we felt like we have had to settle for less just

to get a grade, and then to hear that, get some the motivation,

take some notes, finally get some structure or some sort of idea of

what we wanted to do. It made a big difference, 'cause we knew

we were was heading in the right direction, we knew it was something

we were capable of doing, and I think

that's what was holding us back, we didn't think we were capable of

doing it, we were selling ourselves short. And Kayla, talk to us about...

So the initial idea was, "Hey, let's mentor some youth," we know that

makes a difference in preventing youth gun violence, and especially around

age 14, 15, 13, but the event ended up being a little different. So Kayla,

would you talk to us about what the event

ended up being? And then we're gonna actually hear some clips from the

event. Honestly, the event really, how big the turnout was really shocked

me 'cause we... From the get go we wanted this to feel be very

impactful. Because of the fact that we were all very passionate about it.

So, we ended up having so many speakers come, thanks to Michael reaching

out to a lot of people with... A lot of people turned out

and there were some doubts with... Not with the speakers, but with students

coming, we were very worried that, there's there was gonna be a lot

of speakers and not a lot of audience members to listen to what

we wanted to say and what they wanted to say.

But it ended up like for example, I reached out to President Joe

to come speak and he didn't really know if he's gonna come, and out of now

where he just popped in at the event and we were all like do you wanna speak?

Say something if you want? I think we all were just very very

shocked at the turnout, 'cause we were not... We were expecting a small

event. But KC said we had the second biggest event on campus,

I was shocked, I was not expecting that big of a turnout and

it exceeded our expectations. And so Shay, what was the goal of the

event? Who was speaking? Who was the audience? What was the purpose,

the intention? So of course, it was to raise awareness. It was also

to connect the SCSU community with New Haven,

Southern makes up a huge part of New Haven, so just making that

connection was really our main goal, we we've had organizations come speak,

we we've had mothers, parents of victims who lost their lives to gun violence,

so it was really about just here is who is available in New Haven where

who you can go to. And this is also what happened

to these victims. So It was a mixture of raising awareness and also

it was kind of like an emotional touch side to the event as

well. So yeah. Yeah, I think college students,

there's a lot of... Have y'all heard the term slacktivism? Where you're

like, Oh, if you like this, or you reshare this and then you're

like, "Okay, I did my activism today." I think that there are a

lot of students, a lot of people in general want to make a

difference, who want to get engaged with the community and they don't necessarily

know how to do it. Yeah, I think college students have access and

resources during this period of their life that they necessarily won't necessarily

have in others. When you go to a university, you're connected with hundreds

or if not thousands of students around your similar age, having similar

interest, tends to be around other faculty that can help shape and provide

further resources, you can tap into the resources of your administration,

to help further social causes, like we have been doing for the last

couple of decades. Yeah. And there are also a number of different programs

on campus, from communication to sociology to folks training to be mental

health counselors, social workers. Social workers. And there are placements

and internships and all sorts of opportunities to connect, to better connect

our campus to the community that we live in. And you're right, Shay, I mean,

there are folks who listen to this podcast from other universities,

from other places not affiliated with the universities.

But one thing I'll say about our school is that... And it's true,

a lot of states have schools that are similar to ours in some

way or another, where 96%, 97% of our students come from Connecticut.

And most people stay in Connecticut. Yes. So we really serve this community,

it's very different than a place like Yale, where people come from outside,

they come from around the world, to go to school there.

And then they leave, some people stay, obviously. But

that's a very different model for a school. So I think that we

have... I mean, any university has a responsibility to the community they

reside in and the people who work there, and the people who they

serve as an institution of higher education, but I think that we have

a particularly strong relationship with our community. But also, there's

some pretty big gaps that I think especially as a so called social

justice University, we can do better. And I think that all three of

you, all five of you really saw that, that gap and wanted to

help fill it. So how did you all feel? Because I'm curious.

It's not every day in a college classroom, that you get assigned to

do a project around activism, around social change. Did you enjoy this as

being a part of your formal education as an assignment? So I did,

I enjoyed it a lot. I'm a senior. So I've had many classes,

many communication classes. But this class actually made me get out and

do something that I was passionate about, that I found

very close to home. So when he assigned this, I was like,

"Yes, this is my opportunity to do something that

I really care about." So when I saw the Valley Street community center

or all this stuff, I was like, "This is a great opportunity."

Unfortunately it didn't work out. But the event still allowed me to broadcast

my interest in what I was passionate about. So

at the end, it was kind of like...

This was amazing... And I personally have never had KC Before. I was

actually scared to take his class because I thought he was...

Stop. Yes. Why? So what when wait a minute. I

thought... I don't know... I thought KC was mean just... I don't know. What?

I'm so used to having three professors in communication. So when I took

KC I was like, "I don't know what to expect in this class,

it's a capstone class, I'm gonna write a paper."

My mind was all over the place. But when he assigned this assignment,

I was like, "Wow, this is something that I could do."

KC is a great professor. I mean I had him before and this was

the beginning stages of my communication degree. It was a fun class.

And I haven't had him for a while. But when I seen him for

Comm 450, I knew it was gonna be a great class.

He always challenges his students to do something different. And I feel

like that's why I enjoyed this his class a lot because it challenged me

to do something different. Come out of my comfort zone. I know if

it wasn't for this class I would never have probably hosted an event on

campus. It's just something I'm not I used to... You know I like

to speak on things I'm interested in but as far as like hosting an event,

I knew I couldn't do that. But like with KC's urge to challenge us, it definitely

gave me that push that I needed to do something different.

And it had a great outcome. I enjoyed every part of it and in

the class itself it made me interested in the class and want to come

to the class and want to engage in the class.

Well, let's... At this point, I wanna play

for our listeners some audio from the event. So Shay and Nik'Kiyah, you

two were the hosts and I took a couple of clips from

your introductory speeches to the crowd. So we're gonna listen to those

clips now. And then I wanna talk to you about, what was the

experience of emceeing a large event you all put a lot of time

and effort into preparation and making sure that you

were mentally, physically prepared to do this. So let's listen to this and

then I wanna ask you about your experience. We have people from all different

walks of life in this room here today.

We have some people who have been deeply affected by the issues of gun violence

and others who have not. In this room here today we have community

members, Southern alum, students, faculty, staff, parents, but although

our times may be different, we all have the ability to help tackle the issue

of gun violence. In my time as a counselor I've noticed that the youth is

being dragged into the reality of the violence in the city...

Lives are being taken. Hearts are being shattered, families are being broken...

I took on the task to do this project,

so we can provide the SCCM family with the right resources to help

prevent gun violence ourselves. Being in the a university big on social

justice, this is a social injustice we can

all prevent ourselves. Alright, so it's not every day that you emcee, an

event of this size bringing in people from the community to talk about

something that's really hard to talk about, to have the media there,

to have all of those people in the audience, I mean,

standing remotely in the ballroom. So what was that experience like?

If you think about your growth as a student, as a person,

is it this something that you felt like you could have done before?

I mean, does this change how you think about what you might do

in the future? So for me, let me just say this, I am

very shy. What? I am very shy. I spoke to KC prior to

the event at in the beginning of class, expressing my interest in what

I wanna do after leaving College. So when he gave me this task of

emceeing the event, I was like, Oh my God, how am I going to emcee an event

like... Perfect, great. I It was like What?

I'm so nervous, I was nervous before we even started planning,

like it was crazy, but throughout the process, my team, my team was

very very helpful. They kept giving me words of encouragement, you know,

they just made me go harder, and made me actually want to emcee the event.

I had a great team, and then getting closer to the event, I felt like so

I was getting stronger, like I was capable of doing it.

I saw my growth, personally, I saw my own growth, and then just

watching the clips from the event and just watching myself on the news,

I was like, Shayna, what were you scared of? You literally killed it,

you killed it. So just looking back from the first day thinking of

planning the event, to after the event it was like a tremendous growth,

like it was just crazy. I'm so glad to hear you own that,

because I think a lot of times people diminish their own accomplishments,

I'm obviously so proud of you all, but for you to say like,

Wow, I did that. Yes, it's a big deal, and when the more

you do it, the more confident and better at it you're you'll get

'cause it's the idea that is scarier than the actual task itself.

Yep, absolutely. How about for you, Nik'Kiyah? I just wanna say... Oh, go

ahead, Kayla. I'm sorry. I just wanted want to say, I am so

proud of Nik'Kiyah and Shay because they were naturals at this. They just

were so comfortable speaking, and I would have been nervous. And like Shay,

she memorized her thing in like two days, she like read it to class

and then two days later, she's reading it for us and I was

like, with nothing, I was like, you memorized that in two days?

That's insane. When but you guys did so well, and I saw both of you grow,

'cause you were both nervous. And I was like they, they're gonna kill this.

They do not doubt yourselves because you you've got this and I am so

proud of you guys. Thank you. I definitely... I think I was insulted at

first... No Now, I wouldn't say I was scared because

I don't know, I'm always the one that do does the talking out

of everybody, like my friend groups and stuff, like I'll speak up first

but I definitely was scared because I didn't know

what type of crowd we were walking into. I knew that this was

a serious matter, and I knew how much... How many doors this can open

for us, so having that little pressure, it did make me nervous.

I didn't even memorize what I was supposed to say, I just was

like, if I keep trying to read it off the cards, I'm gonna

mess up, so I just said Forget it, and I just started to

talk and it started to come and I'm like, Alright, I got this.

But to actually just be up there, having all those faces looking at

you... It's all so good because it's definitely not something that I thought

I can do. I definitely appreciate everyone in my group because we all

worked together, it's not like anyone have has to feel like they did

it on their own, we all were there to help each other and

build off of each other. Yeah, and Nik'Kiyah, one thing that... Like the

care with which you all emceed that event is one thing,

like what you were talking about like this is a serious issue and

people are coming with a lot of... Trauma. Trauma. Frustration. Yes. Sadness,

hardships, you know when gun violence happens to a person, it doesn't just

happen to that individual, it happens to their family, their friends,

their loved ones, it takes a toll on entire communities.

Yeah, and you know, actually, Jamil, you didn't plan this, but that's a

really good segue to hearing... I have two more clips to play for

us, I'll play one of them right now,

this is Marlene Miller Pratt, one of the founders,

the main founder of the New Haven Botanical Garden for Healing,

which is also... It's very close to that community center that'll be opening

up, a beautiful healing space, but let's hear from her now,

People, I'm... This is Pamela Jane Henson. And Pam is also working with

me on in the botanical garden. I am a Southern Connecticut State University

I don't even know how to comfort the Scott, or Nikki, or

anyone else because, going back that long and to say to them that the

pain never goes away. A mother's love, and then to lose that child

from here. It leaves a void. And so at that time,

I thought when I went to the mayor's office, and then looking for a spot

to do a botanical garden, I was thinking maybe 50, 60 people,

70 people. And when I went to the police station to get the list, it was

684 names in New Haven alone. And then, looking at those names, and

looking at the years and the ages, while I was accumulating that list. It's

on my mind of knowing that this was my city. This is was where I

grew up. And what my city had become. So I was on a mission, there for something

to remember every child. I didn't want a parent to have to go

to the cemetery like me, and say " We do know the cemetery but when

you go to the cemetery, you sit in that cemetery, and that cemetery reminds

you of the day that you have had to put on your all black, and

you have had to lower that casket into the ground. It's not a

good feeling. It reminds you of that tragedy that took place. So, we

had to create something that was gonna to be beautiful. Something that was

gonna not just be beautiful for the parents and their families, but to

bring awareness to the city. That's a speaker there. That's a speaker.

Oh I felt that. I did. So, in Connecticut, I'm thinking about how

gun violence is the second leading cause of death for children and teens.

Disproportionately affecting young Black men in Connecticut, right? It's

happening in our major cities. It's happening in New Haven. It's happening

in Hartford. It's happening in my hometown of Bridgeport. And I think about

growing up in the inner city and how normalized gun violence feels as

a young person, right? Knowing that your friends are walking around with

guns, because that's the lifestyle so many folks in our inner city are having

to live. And to think about children, 15,

16, 17, young people, vulnerable people in our inner cities

that are losing their lives every day to gun violence.

How many mothers, how many fathers, how many brothers, are carrying caskets

or are mourning? And so, it's beautiful to think about us as a

community coming together and healing. I often think about because I'm first

gen and this always comes to my mind.

How can we re enter the communities that raised us?

Especially being from Bridgeport, everyone would tell me you have to get

out of the city, you can't be here.

Go get your degree Jamil, go get a nice job and leave is

what I was always told. But I think about the impact

that we have as college students. The impact that we now have to

have access to this kind of resources that we probably did not grow

up with. I know I didn't ain't grow up with this kind of

resource. And the impact we can could have going back and talking to

our young teens, telling them the opportunities that we have, things that

we see, the dreams that we're living. Because it's often hard for folks

that are growing up in these communities to see and believe,

and even know somebody that are experiencing what we're experiencing, and

maybe provide a little hope for them to escape gun violence.

I didn't meet a person with a degree until I got to college

that looked like me. And so, it's powerful going home

to our inner cities and telling our youth that there's another way to

live. And being a part of that change. So, I really enjoyed that

speaker. So, Marlene, yes, Marlene is a an educator in our community.

So, she's like so many people, she went to school here.

She learned how to be a teacher here.

She lost her son and has been a lifelong activist in his honor,

in creating these healing spaces. But one thing

we talked a lot about as a group was trauma, and

wanting to be mindful of... We can't just...

You can't just go up to someone and ask them to bare their

soul and talk about the worst thing that has ever happened to them

in their life. That we to be take care with people who have

experienced trauma. But also, we have to talk about this issue.

And how do we balance that ethically? And how do we also not

lay too much on the audience so that they just people feel re

traumatized and whatever they've experienced. So, that question about

how do we deal with people's with what they've experienced, but do that

in a careful, mindful, thoughtful way towards making a difference and towards

healing? Do you all remember any of those conversations, or how we

came to the decision to invite some mothers to speak? I know I personally

feel inviting the mother to come speak would be probably one of the

most impactful ways to get the audience to understand where we were coming

from. I felt like we needed someone who

not only experienced it, but experienced it first hand, that's a mother

losing their child. So I feel like that was one person that could relay

their feelings and relay a message the best way, because they've been there

for every part of that person's life. So

maybe them experiencing that and hearing their experience, can get people

to understand that's not a path they would like to walk.

I know personally, when the mother spoke at the event, I started crying.

And just to look around the room and to just see how everyone

felt, that pain that they were feeling, it was like,

this is why we're having the event. It's like the aura in the

room, it was crazy. It was very touching, I felt like having a mother

speak at the beginning really set the tone for the rest of the

event. Yeah, I was crying too when the mothers were speaking because it

was so emotional and it just hit home. And I was looking around the

audience when those mothers were speaking and the looks on people's faces,

some of them was kinda like, oh, like they're realizing the reality of what

is happening, what these families are going through, they're losing their

loved ones, they're realizing the harsh reality of what gun violence is

doing to everyone, with whether you've experienced it or not, it's crazy.

There was no dry eyes in audience, everyone was crying. In seeing people

reacting that way to the mothers, it honestly was kinda moving in a

way because it really looked like what the mothers were saying and sharing

their stories was really impacting them and really making them think like,

"Wow, I don't wanna have to go through that." I'm thinking about the

role of universities in all of this. And

we're talking about students organizing, and because you assigned them this

project, we allowed a space to open up on campus

where folks can mourn, folks can be in community, folks can feel a sense

of belonging, a sense of kinship. 'Cause we get folks from all over

the state at Southern, students from all different walks of life, so students

that may have never even experienced gun violence can sit in that space

and understand its impact to all of us. And I even think about

how at Southern we do have a special connection to gun violence,

we have the Sandy Hook Memorial outside, how that's impacted our university.

Yeah, absolutely, gun violence is one of the great...

I don't know what to call it, problems of our time?

Tragedies of our time? But yeah, four of the educators who were killed

at Sandy Hook went to school here, were trained here, and we do

a memorial on campus, Sandy Hook is what, half hour? 40 minutes from

campus? Not even. Yeah, and that's all really close. And then we've had

a bunch of school lock downs since you all did the event the

threats, it just continues, it continues on. I hear gunshots in my neighborhood,

and it's just the magnitude of the problem, but the ability also for

us to know that we can make a difference, 'cause I think when

we really get into trouble is when we think that nothing we do

matters in that case. And so I wanna play one last clip, this

is from Gwendolyn Williams, and Jamil she was another phone a friend moment

for the team. So she's the Director for Youth and Recreation Services for

the city of New Haven. And I, in my naivete thought that,

that meant basketball rec leagues, I'm thinking youth recreation, I'm thinking

basketball, that's the first thing I'm thinking, it's basketball. No, they

are a full family services, social services organization. So

she really breaks down some of the really like poverty issues that lead

to gun violence, but also creating hope and possibility for youth in the

city. So let's hear from her. Mental risk doesn't cost you a thing, it is

just your time. And you're pouring it and investing in another person who

may not have the same thing that you have, they may not have

a person giving them positive affirmations every morning, I love you,

you're beautiful, you're dope, you're my king, you're my home, you're my

princess, they may not have any one in their life that's giving that

to them, except they have to wake up every day,

and I am not giving you a hypothetical, I am telling you something we've

experienced because mum and dad weren't there. I need to get up, get my

younger siblings fed and off to school. I need to figure out a

way to get some money, so I can have some food for them when they get home,

keep the lights on. Stop the kids from bullying not just me.

But my siblings because we don't have all the fancy clothes. I go

outside and it's cold and I only have a sweatshirt to wear because

I don't have a coat. I'm struggling in school but the teacher constantly

kicks me out of class because I don't understand what's going on and

I start talking and misbehaving. But instead of asking me,

what's wrong, they accuse me of being bad for I had no value

and no good. That's the reality, and that

is what we're trying to change. You ma'am, you sir are the change

agent today in order to change the pattern of a young person.

Is it possible? I might be living in a dream world, well, guess what? I

like living this world, I truly believe that we can stop all of the gun

violence, I believe it. Yes, that is so perfectly said

as a way to explain to people that don't grow up in that

environment. I don't think folks can understand the weight that's on some

young people's shoulders, people that are 12, 13 taking care of their siblings,

taking care of themselves, probably taking care of their elders.

That's why I always believed in it takes a village to raise a

child. When a child enters school and their teacher views them as a

bad student, probably doesn't even live in that neighbourhood that child

lives in, unaware to the circumstances of this child's life will label them

as a bad child, even probably put them up for suspension without actually

going to the root of this child's issue.

So many children in our inner cities that don't have access to food.

There's so many problems that lean into gun violence,

that lean into that, our needs are not being met.

Yes, absolutely. And then there's addiction and then there's all kinds of

things that lead kids into not having that village of support that they

need and really, I think of the event as sort of an invitation

to people in the audience to join that village. Yes, especially with us

producing most of the educators going into our state.

Our School of Education is huge here, it's a big deal.

So for even those students to have access to event like this,

to hear speakers like that, that will better equip them to enter classrooms,

to understand their students and think of creative ways of being a part

of that solution, 'cause I even think about growing up in Bridgeport, where

are the places that our youth can go and be safe?

When my parents were growing up, they have the Boys and Girls Club,

they had the YMCAs. So many of those programs are not receiving funding,

so many of those programs are closing in cities across America,

programs where your parents that work throughout the night can drop you

off during the day, so you'll stay off the streets and stay safe.

I think about that often and how are we as young college students

going back to whatever little spaces we do have in our hometowns and

impacting those spaces? This is a good event. This was a good event, I

tell you. If we had more time, I'd play the full two hours

for you. So let me get... Yeah, before we let you go,

Shay and Kayla, what were your... What advice would you have for

students who wanna make a difference? Whether or not you all thought of

yourselves as activist before, you are now, so what advice would you have

for students who wanna make a difference but maybe they don't

have the confidence or the sense that... Or even where to start,

what advice do you have? I'll say the same thing that I told the news...

Boom. Like I told Channel 3. The news. The news. Alright, go ahead, girl.

I would say go to these organizations, they always need help.

Just get out there, put yourself out there, even if you think that you're

not helping in making a change, you are, you never know,

you just never know. So I would definitely say reach out to these organisations,

just start finding ways yourself to try to make a change. There's multiple

opportunities out there that are interested in these young students, especially

young students, because hearing stuff from up here, it's better. People

don't... A lot of kids don't listen to what adults have to say. Here we

have somebody who's close in age, they go to school, who are put in the

same team with you, something like that, it means a lot to them.

Yep. So I think there are two big takeaways on what you just

said, one being the opportunities are out there, just go connect with these

organisations. There are folks who are looking for your help. And the second

piece is to really... And I saw you do this this semester,

is to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. So when you have

that moment, when you're like, "Oh my God, what did I just do?"

then you do it or you know that that's sort of pushing the

edge in helping you grow. So if you're like, "Oh, I'm nervous to

call this person," or, "I'm nervous to show up to this event,"

to just pause for a second and then go ahead and do it.

Yes. Staying comfortable does not allow for growth. No, it does not.

Growth is not comfortable. But I can think of a thousand ways for

students to be impactful. Even with the issue of gun violence in America,

gun deaths, if you're a student and you're listening to this and you're

a Political Science student, maybe it's your job to work with legislators,

maybe go intern in Capitol Hill, go talk to politicians and come up

with creative issues. If you're a Comm student, host an event.

If you're in the School of Education, come up with comprehensive plans to

deal with students that are being impacted by gun violence in your class,

it's your project, right? The CDC for 20, 25 years were not allowed

funding for gun violence research. We need gun violence research badly,

at a university, faculty, grad students, undergrad students... That's what

we do right? Research. We do research. That's one of the most meaningful

ways we could actually help, is providing folks, non profits, government

officials with actual data and numbers. Absolutely. And you know Leonard

Jahad, one of our speakers, he called... Or no, was it Stacy Spell,

project longevity. He specifically asked for research. Yes. Like that as

well... And some folks are looking for people to play with kids after

school, some places are looking for that hard data to help them

really get at the root cause of the problem or raise grants.

All sorts of reasons. Yeah, especially if you go to a research institution.

I'm thinking of UConn. Yes. That's what we have. We have resources...

Yes. To do research. We have researchers that were trained,

and we can make a big difference in creating that... And I'm thinking

of faculty right now too. Faculty should be

assigning these kind of projects to students, you'd be amazed at what can

happen. Yeah. I mean, that's part of why I wanted to do this

podcast, was to sort of demystify, to show a behind the scenes for

how can we... We didn't solve gun violence,

but we also did more than raise awareness because there's a lot of

awareness out there for all that we know about, all the horrible things

happening in the world, right? We know about most of them,

many of them. But beyond that, what are we gonna do about it?

Alright. So Kayla, what were some of your... What advice would you have

for young student activists? I would just say,

if you're passionate about something and you wanna make a difference, do

it. Don't second guess yourself. And if you're scared to do it by

yourself, find people who have the same belief and have the same passion

of the same thing. If it wasn't for Shay and Nik'Kiyah, I would... I

don't know what I would have been doing in that class,

I don't know what our project would have been, but

we all have the same common passion and wanted to make a difference

about this. So just don't be scared, but just put yourself out there, get

out of your comfort zone, because you don't realize how much of a

difference you're gonna make until you do it. So just be confident in

yourself and do it. Like host an event, that's... To me,

that was a really impactful way to just raise awareness, so

just do it. Get to... You're gonna get stuck in the mud, but

you're gonna get out and... That's a great point. Just do it. Yeah.

I mean, there were so many times when you all were literally stuck

in the mud. And I don't know if you know this,

but it keeps me... I act like I'm fine all the time,

but I'm not, I'm not fine. This keeps me up at night.

You could ask my wife. There are weeks when I'm like,

I'm up at night, I can't fall asleep 'cause I'm thinking,

"I'm worried about this," or when I wake up at 3:00 in the

morning, I'm like, "Oh no, the event. What about this? What about that?

Can you all pull it off?" And obviously, I'm pushing you

outside of your comfort zones, but knowing full well that I have complete

confidence in your ability to do it. I'm not pushing you to do

something that I don't think you can actually do. But no,

this has been keeping me up at night also, so I think really...

Maybe that's a pretty important takeaway, is when people say no to you...

I mean, we experience setbacks at every point, whether that's getting the

brochures printed, inviting people, getting the space. I mean, it was like,

No, no, no, no, no, over and over and over.

And we had to keep going. And sometimes you just fail at things, and that's

perfectly fine as well. Which is also fine. I told them like, "The

project can fail. It doesn't mean you're gonna fail the class."

Yes. I have failed plenty events. I've had events where I have put

so much, I think about... There was this

Black voting program I hosted trying to get the Black residents of my

residence hall to vote, and I put together this gorgeous table of information,

I had this whole TED Talk speech I was ready to give about

Black voting rights and the rights of college students and organizing,

and only 25 students showed up, 25 Black students showed up.

And I was so sad 'cause I was like, "Oh my God,

I was preparing for 70 students, 80 students. I only got 25."

And then I sat down and I talked to them.

And I was giving them my TED Talk, and we started talking,

and the conversation expanded larger than voting rights. And I got all 25

of them registered to vote with a plan to vote,

and it became a healing space. So even though it wasn't the event I

expected, it was a really good event. That's a good takeaway too,

is like those 25 people needed to be there. Yes. And if you

get lost in the, "Oh, I wanted 75,"

then you're sort of missing what's actually happening right in front of

you. And sometimes smaller events is more intimate, they're just better

than an event with 500 people. Right, right. Yeah. So I think

that's another great takeaway, is to know that

on your path, that you will fail many times.

Yeah. And you will... Sometimes you'll exceed your expectations and sometimes

you'll fall below them, but it's all a part of the learning process

to get you to where you're gonna go, and all of it has a... Makes

an impact. Yes. You can't let nos and

"Failures", whatever that means, stop you. Yes. Work within your social

circles, work within your resources, and I guarantee you there is something

you can do. Look at us sounding all inspirational now, how great.

Starting off Season Four. Yes. Well, thank you all so much.

Thank you for being here. Shay, Kayla, and Nik'Kiyah, stay in touch with

us and let us know what you get up to next. Thank you