How To Keep Cool in a Crisis
How To! with Mike Pesca
Peach Fish Projects
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 October 2021
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last week we learned how to stop a public fight before it starts. But despite our best intentions, ugly confrontations still happen—sometimes with tragic consequences. On this episode of How To!, the second in a two part-series, Dan Christensen, a bus driver in Portland, Oregon, and Matt Smith, a crisis intervention trainer and the co-founder of Aegis Training Solutions, are back to teach you what to do when a fight is already underway. Dan talks about his experience with the 2017 Portland train attack that left two people dead. How do you stay safe? What is your responsibility to those around you? In short, how can you be a better bystander?
If you liked this episode, check out: "How To Have a Fight That Actually Helps Your Relationship."
Do you have a question with no easy answers? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Derek John and Rosemary Belson.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We want people to take action when there's injustice. |
| 0:04.0 | You know, we don't want people to just walk by and ignore. |
| 0:09.0 | But we also want people alive. |
| 0:13.0 | You're listening to How To. I'm Amanda Ripley. |
| 0:17.0 | Back in May of 2017, something terrible happened on a crowded train in Portland, Oregon. |
| 0:23.0 | It all started when a self-described white nationalist named Jeremy Christian started ranting and raving. |
| 0:29.0 | Police say he shouted racist anti-Muslim slurs at a 17-year-old Somali girl who was wearing a hijab and her friend a 16-year-old black girl. |
| 0:39.0 | Frightened the girls moved to the back of the train car and three other men tried to de-escalate the situation. |
| 0:46.0 | One told Christian in a loud voice, you need to get off this train. |
| 0:50.0 | Christian shoved a man and then the man shoved him back and everyone started screaming. |
| 0:58.0 | According to a witness, Christian said, touch me again and I'm going to kill you. |
| 1:04.0 | Christian then fatally stabbed two of the men and injured the third. |
| 1:12.0 | Last year, Christian was sentenced to two life terms in prison. |
| 1:17.0 | This is a tragedy in so many ways. |
| 1:20.0 | On the one hand, it's an example of humans heroically standing up to hate and trying to protect each other. |
| 1:27.0 | On the other hand, two people are dead. |
| 1:31.0 | This is not how anyone wants any public confrontation to end. |
| 1:35.0 | We'll never know if there could have been a better outcome and we'd hate to second-guess anyone who tries to stop a bad actor. |
| 1:43.0 | But we can't help but wonder, is there a way to defuse a volatile situation like this without getting hurt in the process? |
| 1:51.0 | Is that even possible? |
| 1:54.0 | This is a really hard question. |
| 1:57.0 | So today, we're continuing our conversation with two veteran conflict interrupters. |
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