Name: Impact Initiative 2024: Turning Pain Into Purpose - A Conversation On Gun Violence
Uploaded: 2024-10-09
Duration: 16 min 44 s
Description: Moderator: Kristin Stoller, Editorial Director, Fortune Titania Davenport, Takeoff's Mother Greg Jackson, Deputy Director,White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Edna Maddox, Takeoff's Grandmother and Quavo's Mother

Moderator: Kristin Stoller, Editorial Director, Fortune Titania Davenport, Takeoff's Mother Greg Jackson, Deputy Director,White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Edna Maddox, Takeoff's Grandmother and Quavo's Mother  

Impact Initiative 2024: Turning Pain Into Purpose - A Conversation On Gun Violence

Photography by Rebecca Greenfield/Fortune

Conferences

Moderator: Kristin Stoller, Editorial Director, Fortune Titania Davenport, Takeoff's Mother Greg Jackson, Deputy Director,White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Edna Maddox, Takeoff's Grandmother and Quavo's Mother  

Impact Initiative 2024: Turning Pain Into Purpose: A Conversation On Gun Violence

Titania Davenport, Takeoff's Mother Greg Jackson, Deputy Director, White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Edna Maddox, Takeoff's Grandmother and Quavo's Mother  

Welcome. And thank you so much for joining us, detain. I wanna start with you because I think tonight is really about turning pain into, to purpose for you and your family. So, before the tragedy occurred and your son unfortunately was shot, did you have a stance on gun violence? And did this tragedy change your thoughts? Well, yes, I had a stance on, on gun violence. I'm totally against gun violence, you know. Um, I'm not against people having a gun and owning a gun because guns don't kill people, people behind the gun kill people. So, um, all the tragedy and stuff that was happening like nationwide where, um, and everybody was watching, um, it just really touched my heart and in your body when the kids about elementary school, um, that really touched my heart by me having a school age child, you know, and how that came about. Um, and then now right now it has you see it on TV, and then it's in your backyard, you know, right now in Georgia, um, that high schools, Appalachia, high school trauma, that's about like maybe 30 35 minutes from Athens. So it's like, right, in our backyard. So that really taught me to revisit my trauma in reference to take and really pushed me to do more, you know, like because this is a uh ongoing problem and it's, it's just, it's growing bigger and bigger and it just needs to, we know the problem, but we need to come up with more solutions to the pro to the problem. Um And you came up with one with the, the Rocket Foundation. Can you tell me about how you came up with that and how it started? Ok. Um In my pain, um I was in the kitchen and uh a vision came up on me and it was like, I want my son's name, he to continue his legacy to continue to go. So while I was crying, I was like, I need something that can help impact other people because I know I'm one individual person and I can't change the world, but um I can do my part. And so turn your pain into um passion in my opinion is you take what you're going through and then you flip it because I like to say you grow and then you go, you, you, you, you dissect what you're going through and then you pick out what and, and the positive and make a huge, you know, impact collectively. We can do a lot, you know, one individual, but it has to be everybody taking their part to come together to work as a whole. So when you grow, you get that and then you go, you help because I found what helps me is helping other people. So if I can help, that's where I get my satisfaction from helping others. You know. So if I can prevent one mother from experiencing where I'm experienced, so I can help one father, one grandmama, one aunt, two cousins, friends, any family member not to walk in my shoes. I'm willing to do my part. Turn my pain into passion, helping someone get through. Absolutely. That's amazing. That's amazing. And Greg, you, you're doing similar work in the, in the, from the federal government angle of it. Can you tell me about what prompted you to get into gun violence prevention? Yeah, I'm uh a little emotional right now. I'm so proud, you know, because um unfortunately I met this family when they were in mourning. Uh and I saw and mama and I saw my mom, you know, and uh for me, I started in this movement because I was shot in April 2013. Uh very similar circumstances to how takeoff was killed. It was an argument that got out of control and the bullet that hit me hit two arteries, uh nearly cost me my life and I spent six months in recovery uh and got within 20 minutes of dying from blood loss. And all I could think about in that time was man, like I can't my life can't end like this. I gotta figure out how to, how to make something of this moment. And when you are, when your entire world is disrupted and you are bedridden for six months, all you can think about is how do I prevent someone else from going through the same type of tragedy. And so that's what sparked the fire in me. Um First, just telling my story, the second uh act act being an activist at the local level, uh helping to address crisis in, in DC where I lived at the time. Uh But then my, my family friend Trey was shot and killed in Greensboro, North Carolina. And I saw a big difference between how big cities were attacking this problem and how smaller towns and really the entire South was being overlooked um on the crisis of gun violence. And so that's why I started speaking up towards Congress and started pushing for change there. Simple things like investing in victim services, supporting communities, supporting families after loss, um which the federal government was not doing. Uh And all of that activism um started to take hold. And uh in 2022 Congress passed the first bill on gun violence in 30 years, the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. And I was a big part of the activism that made that possible and most importantly, made sure to include it. Yeah, please. Um But we made sure that that law included investment and resources, not just regulations, but how do you provide resources for families that are hurting for leaders who wanna take on more organizations like the Rocket Foundation that wanna get out and support others in the community? How do we uh resource that, you know, you know, uh recognizing that they're extremely effective at reducing violence. And so that's how I got involved. And then uh once the law was passed, we were celebrating, it was a big White House event and everyone was clapping and I was in the back like, oh yeah, we did it and uh we talked to a few of the staff and said, all right, who's gonna implement this? And they said, well, maybe you man. So, yeah, well, you know, yeah, I still, I still worry about it and I, I really uh I really in my mind said no, five times like I can't do this. Who am I to do this? Um But honestly, it was meeting survivors along the way, you know, me ta Tanya and uh Miss Edna here and hearing their pain and their activism and them pushing all of us to do more. Um And then thinking about Trey and thinking about my own tragedy that why not survivors, why not people who've been through it? Be the ones leading the charge to change things. And so that's what embolden me to take this position and be a part of this first ever office, the gun violence prevention. Now, I think one of the things that frustrates me and I'm sure it frustrates all of you too is that, you know, for me it's been 12 years since Sandy Hook happened almost and every year I wonder why hasn't more been done. And I'm sure you feel the same way with, with your instance as well. Why do you think progress has been so slow? What, what needs to be done that is not being done. Yeah. Well, I think a big thing that's changed because I do think we've seen a lot of progress in the last two years. So uh since 2022 we passed the first law in 30 years. Uh The federal government has invested $30 billion into public safety. Uh since the end of COVID, uh and President Biden has done 54 executive actions on the issue of gun violence. Um That's more than any other president combined just to give you some context. The previous three administrations only did four and we've done 54. Um and that's huge. That's huge. And there's two parts of that. There's the story of leadership and vision and want to do that. But I think the real historic story is so many survivors and activists that have stepped up and demanded change and said, look, we're not gonna just cry and grieve alone. We're gonna demand action and we need more than thoughts and prayers. And so if it's ok, I wanna yield to Miss Edna because she uh cornered me at an event in Atlanta. And that's kind of how we met. And I would love to kinda yield to her to talk about. This is really one of those survivors who demanded more. Uh and I would love for you to share your story. Oh Hey, how everybody doing tonight? I am so grateful that you all taking this time out to hear a little bit of our story. Although it's still devastating, we're still hurt. We're still sad. But at the same time, we know we got to keep going because if we could prevent one person from going through what we going through now, it will be a great accomplishment. A lot of people say, well, how you are going to change the world, people. We don't, I don't think we could change the world. I said, if we could change one person or one family that has to go through what we're going through because on October, the 30th would be two years. If I have not talked to my baby, I have not seen him. Although I talked to him in the spirit, I have not seen him in flesh and it really hurt us so bad. It devastated my whole family. We know that with God's help, we're going to get through, but we know it's going to take time. And that's the only thing I'm asking from God to help us get through it because one thing about it, I know and I taught them, Quavo is my son. We got to lean on God for the understanding. We don't know. But if we just trust in God and, and, and let him help us and lead the way we might, we could get through it and going back to what Greg said, he came to my sons. Um He had this thing called Honcho Day annually and I didn't know who he was. At first. I thought he was my son, coach and I was like, you, you, you, I said my son was really good and you didn't. He said, wait a minute, what are you talking about? I didn't. And instantly he said, wait a minute, you know, I'm not, I'm, I'm starting a fundraising thing for God. I said, oh, yeah, let me help, please. Thank you. I'm sorry, let me help. And that's how we met each other on that day. And since then I've been wanting to just go out there and do whatever I could. Like I say, I know I'm not superwoman, take off with my first grandson, my first grand, the consolation that I get from that. I know he knew that I loved him and, and it was vice versa. He loved me too. But like I said, I could prevent one person, one family. Yeah. Yeah. Excuse me, not to go what we're going through. My mom passed and I was devastated but she did live to be 75 almost 80. This was a young man that was out there trying to make it his thing that he used to say all the time. It's not about me, it's about my family. He said this thing is bigger than me and I never knew what that meant up until this tragedy happened. He loved us and we loved him too. One of the things he always used to tell me all the time, even the hard times that I was having, I'm pretty sure everybody went through not being able to pay their bills. And he said, mama, we're going to make it. And he said, you won't have to worry about nothing. I got you. And from that day I told him, I said, look, I don't care if you work at mcdonald's fry and fries, we are going to make it, we going to do it because we love each other and we got to stick together. But just like I say, it's hard for me to talk about it. I don't know when and how I'm going to be able to get over it. But I'm trusting in God to help me through and help my family through. And I really appreciate y'all just listening to this. I got a lot more and a lot more story, but we don't have enough time. We'll save that. We'll save that for the dinner. Thank you again so much. Thank you. I thank you for sharing your story. Truly. Really. And Craig, I, I wanna go quickly to you and Titania too. I wanna end on what is giving you hope because I feel like with, with a lot of these stories, it's hard to, to believe and feel hope and that something could change. So really quickly, I'd like to ask each of you, what do you want your legacy to be and what, what's giving you hope and Greg, we can start with you. Look, this, this gives me hope. You know, they're sharing stories but I watched them March in the Capitol Hill, sit down with 24 members of Congress, share their stories, tears in their eyes, but demand policy change, right? And that turned into them, passing a budget that included. Uh Now we've invested over $400 million into community based violence intervention program. That's this, that's their story, right? Like we all saw March for our lives when that happened, when you saw youth from all over the country, march down Pennsylvania Avenue and demand change. And there are survivors in every community across the country that are pushing and fighting for change. Uh And that's what really inspires me every single day. Um That right now we know that one in five Americans know someone who have been shot or killed. Um But we're not just being survivors, we're not just being victims. All of us are turning in, turning around and fighting for change, helping our fellow community members pushing for policy. Uh and it's starting to work and that's the big thing that's really giving me hope. Last year in 2023 we saw the steepest decrease in homicides in American history, 11.6% reduction. And this year, the first six months of this year, we've seen a 22% reduction. And just to make this real tangible in Boston, we have 13 homicides in Newark, New Jersey. 27 right? And, and uh we just left. Philly. Philly has seen a 43% reduction in one year. So the investing in community based strategies, the activism of survivors, the policy changes that are happening at Congress all the way down are starting to really turn a corner on this issue and it really gives me a lot of hope and excitement. Amazing. Thank Greg and quickly for you Titanium. Do you wanna end on, on one word that gives you hope or what, what do you hold on to? What I hold on to is uh my belief in God. You know, that's what gives me the hope that continues to sit here and be in my same mind and speak to you guys. My belief, my second, my kids, I was talking to heaven one, that's my 16 year old and I was going through it and she would say mommy, I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. And that touched my heart that gives me hope. The third thing is people hurting, people, give me hope to help and wanna extend my heart. It, it left up to me. No one would have to go through anything but it's not up to me. You know, just me particularly just want me is collectively. But that is where my hope lies in my faith in God. I know that he, she promised to never leave me north of the site and she's with me and no matter what comes in my life, we're gone, she's still there and I can hope on him when man, I can put my hope in him. So that particular, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing your stories and thank the three of you for being here. I'm sorry. G five seconds, all of you room there are rocket foundations are important organizations to invest in. Almost every community has a violence intervention organization, whether you're in San Antonio or Los Angeles or Chicago, Illinois. And I deplore you. Please invest these organizations that are turning their pain to purpose and saving lives. But thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.