People Feel Unsafe–and It’s More Than Crime
Notes from America with Kai Wright
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2022
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The social fabric is torn. People nationwide are scared, some going so far as to arm themselves. What can we learn from our history as we react to this fear? Scholar James Forman Jr., author of the book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, helps break down what’s real, vs perception, about the rise in violent crime. Plus, a conversation with Nina Jankowicz, author of How to be a Woman Online: Surviving Abuse and Harassment, and How to Fight Back, about how to make the internet safer for women with political expertise and opinions.
If you’re experiencing abuse or harassment online, here are two links with more resources about steps you can take:
https://womensmediacenter.com/speech-project/tools-resources
https://onlineviolenceresponsehub.org/
Companion listening for this episode:
Episode 6: The Kids Are Not Alright (10/27/2016)
Gang violence and a drug epidemic might not be the first things one thinks about when they picture the American suburbs, but they have become prominent facts of life for many residents in Suffolk County, Long Island. In fact, the leafy New York suburb led the Empire State in opioid and heroin overdose deaths in 2014. WNYC Studios and The Nation set out to explore how these problems emerged in the first place.
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We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at anxiety@wnyc.org.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Where are you from? |
| 0:02.6 | Fronts with Maryland. |
| 0:03.6 | Alexandria, Virginia. |
| 0:05.2 | I'm from Macallan, Texas. |
| 0:06.8 | I actually just graduated a few months ago from GW. |
| 0:10.3 | I'm from California, but I live in Japan. |
| 0:12.2 | Do you feel more or less safe in the city where you live now? |
| 0:16.6 | I'm safe. |
| 0:17.6 | Well, a policeman with an assault rifle just walked by, |
| 0:20.1 | so that was a little dodgy, so I guess safe, yet wildly unsafe. |
| 0:24.6 | DC's kind of as a blade has become very pseudo militarized, |
| 0:29.0 | where you always feel like there's a presence. |
| 0:30.8 | It always feels like someone's watching you. |
| 0:33.3 | I feel less safe. |
| 0:34.5 | There's a gym nearby, and I used to go all the time, |
| 0:37.1 | and every time I would go by, there's like guys |
| 0:39.1 | caught calling me, honking at me. |
| 0:41.6 | Is there anything that you're doing |
| 0:42.8 | to make yourself feel more safe under the circumstances? |
| 0:45.2 | I carry pepper spray and a taser when I go over there, |
| 0:48.3 | and I just try to be more aware of my surroundings, |
| 0:51.2 | some more cautious. |
... |
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