Page 35 - BusinessWest June 9, 2021
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Disrupting the Cycle
Tackling Urban Violence Begins by Addressing Root Traumas
By Joseph Bednar
The past year has been a difficult one in many ways, Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capula said.
“It’s been a tough time with COVID. We’ve had a lot of uncertainly, a lot of loss, and we’ve also had a rise in racial tension and a disruption in the relationship between law enforcement and the community,” the psychiatrist and author of Train- ing for Change noted.
“If you can imagine a life that is completely consumed and shaped by fear, then it is not abso- lutely outside the realm of possibility to under- stand how toxic that can be on someone’s life,” Moreland-Capula said.
The occasion for her words was the keynote address of a virtual forum last month hosted by Roca, an organization that aims to disrupt incar- ceration, poverty, and racism by engaging young adults, police, and systems that impact urban
to child welfare.
“We know from brain science that the external
environment around us impacts who we are and who we become,” Moreland-Capula explained. “What Roca says is that we have to work with those environments, change the systems, and help to change the trajectory of the young adults we seek to serve.”
Mike Davis, vice president of Public Safety and chief of Police at Northeastern University, as well as a Roca board member, understands that concept.
“We have before us a moral imperative to be better as individuals and collective members of society,” he told forum attendees, adding that, too often, people lose hope because change hasn’t happened fast enough or, worse, believe working for change is someone else’s responsibility.
“Both of these thoughts are not only wrong, but but if they serve as the guidance for our behavior, they will guarantee failure,” Davis went on. “Substantive change is everyone’s responsi- bility, without exception. What needs to animate our actions now is a sense of urgency based on a vision for what is possible.”
Roca has such a vision, he explained, based on the premise that all people have intrinsic value and potential to contribute something unique to their society — and has not only helped steered
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“Roca has been a relentless force in disrupting incarceration, poverty, and racism by engaging young adults, law enforcement, and systems at the center of urban violence and relationships to address
trauma, find hope, and drive change.”
violence.
Fear can be a posi-
tive, she noted, when it heightens one’s senses in order to escape a dangerous situation or seek help.
However, “being afraid is meaning- ful until it’s not,” she said — when it’s a constant presence in a young person’s life, due to stressors like
 But when addressing an issue like urban vio- lence, what many people — even those working to solve the problem — often don’t understand is the impact of fear. Not occasional fear, but long- term, lived-in fear.
racism, poverty, and violence. That’s why Roca aims to tackle the issue of violence by addressing the causes of other traumas first — engaging not only with young people, but with the systems that impact them, from education to law enforcement
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