The limits of white-led nonprofits for "black on black" gun violence

In Search of Black Power

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The joy of summertime in too many Black communities is marred by the prospect of an all too common spike in violent crime. This summer has, unfortunately, not been different, with cities around the nation reeling from an up to 40% increase in murder since 2020.
But hope is, at least in theory, on the horizon. From the federal government to big foundations investing in a range of programs deemed "Community Violence Intervention" (CVI) - a suite of programs that promise to bring a "public health" approach to violence prevention. Their objective is to decrease violence and the need to rely on cops. These leave some important questions:

• What are the assumptions behind these programs?
• Who benefits from them?
• What are the limitations of surrounding the issue of urban gun violence to the nonprofit/public health industrial complex?

In this episode, Lawrence and Rasheem give a presentation tackling these issues:

• Discuss the limitations of the mainstream CVI programming,
• Expose some of the fundamental limitations of their approach,
• Propose structural interventions into the political economy of Black cities Help solve the root causes of violence
• Give practical advise community members can use to ensure CVI programming in their communities reflects the cultural and best practices of African people.

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In Search of Black Power is a Black-owned internet show and podcast. This podcast is sponsored and produced by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS).
The internet show is published in collaboration with Black Liberation Media (BLM)