WEBVTT - How Gun Violence Affects Women 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.480 Hey, fam I'm Jada Pinkett Smith and this is the 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.840 Red Table Pop podcast, all your favorite episodes from the 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:10.000 Facebook Watch show in audio, produced by Westbrook Audio and 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.120 I Heart Radio. Please don't forget to rate and review 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:16.840 on Apple podcasts. As we are witnessing our black men 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.919 being murdered in the streets, very rarely do we talk 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.640 about the women who are left behind, grief stricken and shattered. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.920 George Floyd has a six year old daughter, a sister, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:38.880 a girlfriend, a maud, a very, a mother, a sister. 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.920 Both men have countless heartbroken women, aunt's, cousins, friends in 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:47.560 their lives who love them. We are dedicating this Red 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:52.920 Table Talk to how gun violence affects women, and we're 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.840 starting the conversation with my beautiful little sister Lauren London 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.160 to talk about the traumas of gun violence and how 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:12.040 she's helping other women through loss and grief. Lauren lost 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.679 her life partner, visionary and artist Nipsey Hustle, when he 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.279 was gunned down outside his l a clothing store. Lauren 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.880 had been in a relationship with nip for six years. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.000 They share a son together. My pain is for my 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.960 two year old day. I probably won't remember how much 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:32.360 his dad loved. Since Nipsey's passing, Lauren has remained committed 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.600 to keeping his legacy alive. Grief is the final act 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.720 of love. I'm so grateful that I had you. And 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:46.080 until we meet again, the marathon continued. Here we are, here, 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:54.360 we go, Yes, Lauren, Hi, mamma, thank you. So you've 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.120 lost someone who is very close to you, who is 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.000 a public figure, and you're a public figure, and having 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.560 to go out into the world. What can people do 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:10.400 to be helpful? I love to meet people that nip 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.440 has like really inspired because it feels like he's still 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.800 here even though he is in a way, but um, 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.040 it's like his purpose that was completely outside of any 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.760 of us. His purpose. He's touching people still. And I 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.840 find that when I run into people that tell me 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.200 how he's changed your life, what they're doing with their 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.000 life right now, Like it feels me up. Yeah, like, oh, 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.600 he would have loved to hear that, you know, And 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:40.440 it fills me up. And when my kids are there 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.520 and my kids here, they're like proud, like man, you know, 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.160 those are always very special moments. What would be some 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.919 of the things you could offer to other people who 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:56.160 are warning the loss of a significant other. You know, 0:02:56.320 --> 0:03:01.040 there's been lost. For me. What's really been important connecting 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:06.320 with God. Uh. And that's been a struggle because something 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:09.760 horrible happens in your eyes and you're like, how God? 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:15.880 You know? And knowing that there is life after this life. 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.799 It's not easy. I don't always wake up on the 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.240 enlightened side of the bed, you know, in the days 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:26.320 that I don't, I let myself because I'm human, and 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.360 you know, I'm not always gonna feel so this is 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.560 I'm gonna be okay. I don't and that's okay too. 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.960 So I let myself be human. I'm gentle with myself 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.280 and I m find things that matter, and so I 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.680 try to live with the purpose. You know, when I'm 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:47.520 having a bad day, I meditate, I go within. What 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.960 about your community, like your your network of family and friends. 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.320 I think it's important for people that love you to 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:58.440 remind you on who you are because trauma and violence 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.800 and just life can make you feel down. So to 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.040 have people that love you that remind you like, no, 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.800 you know you matter and you'll be okay and that 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:10.920 you can do this. That's been very important for me. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.320 People that see me like my heart being around me 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.120 is really important and it's been even outside of my 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.600 family and like the people that I know personally, um 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:25.680 just loved it has been very helpful. So you're raising 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.720 two black boys as a mother, like, what are some 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.800 of your precautions are, like some of your messaging. What 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.479 I instill in them is more about the police, got it, 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.919 how to handle yourself when you get pulled over. That's 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:45.320 more of my education, Yes, protecting them being black men 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.880 in America. When would you say was the first time 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.760 that you can remember that you were affected by gun violence? 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.880 Just growing up in l A in the area that 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.279 I was around, just in high school, a lot of 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.200 the boys were in gangs, and I remember that a 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.640 lot of our friends that by summertime, you know, they 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.360 were gone, they had transition from gun violence. So you 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.359 kind of got a little bit I don' wouldn't say numb, 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.520 but used to hearing it. Yeah, I think for me 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.000 it was kind of like middle school, high school. Um, 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.640 you know, it just became unfortunately like a norm. But 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.080 even going to like a party in high school, you know, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.360 you would like putting your life in the man and 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.279 you you always like walked in you knew where the 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.080 exit was because you knew at any time you know, 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.640 something could jump on, something can happen, especially house parties. 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.560 That's traumatizing to be sixteen years old having to be 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.800 on guard when you go into a party. You just 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.240 get used to figuring out how to keep yourself safe 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.800 in these environments. And I try to tell people all 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.560 the time, it's like most of us grow up in 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.640 war zones. And I did not even really realize that 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.200 until my life changed. When I started to look at 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.159 how my kids were growing up versus me, and then 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:04.400 me trying to train them in a way, I was like, 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.800 but no, they don't. That's not their reality. They don't 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.440 have to worry about that, they have that guard up. 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.240 One of my best friends her first time, you know, 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.440 she was four years old, four or five, and her 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.400 uncle got shot and killed in front of her on 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:22.560 the porch, you know, And so she carries that, I'm 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.320 so grateful for you, because I wouldn't have known about 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:30.480 Erica Ford without you. I was doing an event with 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.679 Puma in New York and a part of the event 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.040 was that we were going to donate some money and 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:41.480 close to an organization and a friend of mine brought 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.800 up Erica and I go do some research and like 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.200 the first five seconds, I was like, this is it. 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.440 They were practicing the same ideas and practices that I 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.200 do in my everyday life. I was able to go 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:57.720 and talk to the girls. It was a group of 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.760 girls that were affected from gun violence. They lost fathers, brothers, 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.599 and they're traumatized by that. We could all relate together. 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:10.560 We were all grounded and solid together from by gun violence. Absolutely, 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:16.320 because you feel the medicine of you actually being there 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.400 with them and being able to share your process of healing. 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.560 Oh man, they healed me in a lot of ways, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:27.600 because you know, I think trauma feels so lonely, and 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.440 just in talking to them, they gave me so much 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.680 more than I feel like I gave to them. They 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.440 gave me just their stories and just there like rawness, 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.880 and it made me not feel so alone. And it 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.560 was very magical. It was magical, it was very healing. 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.000 It's like, you know, this is what you're supposed to do. 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:54.120 I was like, Nips, super proud. You would have loved her. 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:05.600 Thank you, Oh are you to you know what? The 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.880 The interview with Lauren was so moving and I could 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.160 really really relate to what she was saying because we 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:17.000 have family members that are going through trauma right now. Yeah, 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:19.080 And one of the things that she said that was 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.720 so important to me and really clicked in my head 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:28.360 was trauma feels so lonely. That was really important for 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.360 me to hear because if you haven't been through it, 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.880 if you're not actually going through it, you really don't 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.800 know what that feels like. And as we all are 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.560 trying to understand and help and and be there, we 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.160 don't we don't know what the other person is really feeling. Yeah, 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.480 I think sometimes it's just great to just show that 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:54.160 you're there. So, as Lauren shared, one of the women 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.839 she is most inspired by is Erica Ford. Erica has 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:02.520 devoted her life to end gun violence and created the Peacemobile, 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:07.199 a big orange bus she turned into a mobile trauma unit. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.040 Erica Ford is a woman on a mission what's going 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.560 on day and night. She and her team risked their 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:23.320 lives to save lives. Whenever there's a shooting or violence, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.520 her Peace Bus is on the scene to intervene, going 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:31.000 into these hot spots mediating conflict. When we look at 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.640 the number of mothers who've lost their sons to gun 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:39.240 violence in America. It is horrific. Erica also started a 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:44.280 camp for at risk youth dealing with trauma and anger. Exactly, 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.800 let me tell you what we're not gonna have. No no, no, no, no, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:48.480 no no no. Let me tell you what we're not 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:53.000 As always, Erica keeps the peace. What we're not gonna 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.679 have is you being disrespectful, trying to go past and 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.520 do anything inside here. Do you understand what I'm saying. Yes, 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.240 our mission to provide young people with the tools that 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.200 they need to change their life. Real people are getting killed. 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:12.240 Let's make peace in these streets. Stop the violence. Let 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:18.839 me start by saying, I love your hair's powerful, powerful 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.199 handclap for you, yes, yeah, for real, because you are 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.160 in it, in it, in it, in it in. Can 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:31.320 you explain how gun violence affects women? First, the trauma 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.600 of losing your soul mate, right and then having to 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.480 raise your children. And I see women stop living. I 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.040 see them losing their lives from a broken heart, and 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.959 so we teach them how to move past that pain. 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.240 If you help the mother hill, you helped save the family, 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.480 You helped change the family, you helped change generations, You 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.840 helped change the world. We work for the people who 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.199 are pulling the trigger, and we work for the people 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.560 who are the victims. We gotta work with everybody because 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.319 they're all victims of generational trauma. You know. So how 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.720 did you come up with this idea of the peace bus. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.040 We want to pull up with peace, you know, and 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.000 we want peace to flood the streets in a way 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.679 that it becomes a constant in your mind. And so 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.040 you see it, you live it, you believe it's subliminally 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.760 it becomes part of you. And so you can't overlook 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.840 that big orange bus. And actually I was googling tour 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:30.959 buses and so will's toll buses and use that as 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:33.400 a symbol to you know, we gotta get you one 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:39.880 of those. That's fire. You know. We need to have 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.480 a mobile trauma unit. We pull up on situation, just 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.120 like the police pulls up with their you know unit. 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.959 It has to start in the streets first. You know, 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.079 violence is a disease. When you look at the disease 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:56.680 of violence, it impacts those around you. One of the 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.679 ways Erica makes peaces by bringing together used to face 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.200 former gang members and mothers whose children have been victims 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:12.040 of gun violence. We're just gonna sit right here. Primo 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.040 grew up on these streets, in and out of gangs. 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:20.240 In jail, he's been shot twice. Now Eric is trying 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:22.840 to help him break free from the cycle of violence. 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.840 But it's not easy. I walk around with these demons 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:28.000 every day. I wanted to do certain things to certain people. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:29.640 I might have gonna lie to you. Do you know 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:31.800 what it's like, toad, to watch my bag, to go 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.040 to the corner store. Do you know what it's like 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:36.720 to tell my daughter we're not going down that block. 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.800 I lost my whole life from these streets, lost my 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.520 family to these streets. And I hear you and I 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:49.240 feel your pain, right, But where do we go? Because 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.719 if we don't change the trajectory, then it's just mean 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:58.160 more people diet. To give Primo a wake up call, 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.960 she introduces him to a grief ricken mother now Orleans. 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.240 Son was shot five times at point blank range. I 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.400 wanted him to hear your story because we were having 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.880 a conversation just about the impact of gun violence and 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.880 gang violence on mother's and women. It's like, good, you 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.559 know my son like he's got shot August thirty a 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:29.440 multiple times. I'm still hurting. I don't know if my 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.319 son is gonna walk again. You have a mother. You 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.000 don't want to put your mother through that. You don't 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.199 have to prove anything to no one, and I understand 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.680 that you have to strive, struggle and survive. But not 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:50.560 with a gun Flocks, not with a gun Bucks. At 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:53.120 the same time that your son was shot, I lost 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.280 three friends in the same day, Jesus. But I probably 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.520 would have thrown a little bit more about certain things 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:01.160 if I would have at a conversation with a mother 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.760 like you've seen, how the pain help me realize what 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:13.160 changes I need to make and never stop to think 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.880 about the con the consequences and the people that are 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.040 left behind. What would you say to all the people 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.800 watching how we can help stop gun violence. We got 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.520 to change the culture of how we relate to each other. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.600 You've got to change the culture again. And that's what 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.880 people can do, like stop making that stupidness cool, like 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:38.120 yoga and how we speak to each other. You know, 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:42.240 it's so important. I think I get overwhelmed because there's 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:46.560 so much violence and and trauma in the world. There's 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.240 a lot that happens with those one bullets. You know 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.680 that that no one ever thinks about. You know, no 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:55.680 one ever goes down that long line of where this 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:58.120 bullet is going to end up, in the impact that 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.800 it's going to have on so many people. It is 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.360 like one step at a time, one day at a time, 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.920 like you can't tackle the whole. The marathon continues, right, 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:13.200 and so we are the marathon. Thank you, so inspiring. 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.480 Thank you. Every single month, in average of fifty two 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.400 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner. Nearly 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:26.120 one million women alive today have reported being shot. The 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:31.520 beautiful Brianna Taylor was struck by eight bullets while sleeping 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.440 in her own home, and four point five million women 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:39.640 report being threatened by a gun. Before Rain's Tippic, she 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.560 never even saw it coming. Rain loved to dance from 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.720 the time she was a toddler all the way to adulthood. 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.480 But that all changed one night when an unidentified gunman 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:54.560 fired over twenty bullets into her car. She had been 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.920 shot in the back eight times with less than a 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.840 five percent chance to live. It really didn't expect her, 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.120 and they replaced oliver blood five times in the first 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:07.760 six hours or so, but then her heart stopped. She 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.640 was dead for a full minute. Doctors were able to 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.520 bring Rain back to life. He said she would never 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:20.080 walk or dance again. All right, we have Rain here 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:25.720 with us today. Rain, come join the table. Wow, little 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:31.840 twirl for you. All right, guys, I have a seat. 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.320 Wow from someone who they didn't expect to even survive, 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.480 and you come out with a twirl. You came life 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:44.480 with a twirl. Girl, don't stand still. So you have 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.920 made a miraculous that's like a miracle. Yeah, I mean 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.480 I am a medical miracle. That's doctors tell me a 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.200 five percent chance to live and I am here walking, talking, eating, 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:59.640 breathing with you today and twirling. How many surgeries did 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.720 you have in that first twenty four hours? It was fourteen. 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:08.080 They took my left kidney, my spleen, my pendix, small intestine, colon, 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:09.879 and bowel. There was holes in my liver, holes in 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.199 my stomach that took a third of my pancreas, and 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.040 my back was fractured at L three and O five 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:18.400 and uh. After that, the first week was really touch 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:19.760 and go. They weren't sure if I was going to 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.560 wake up or not. And all of a sudden, one 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.760 of my nurses told my family she got into work 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:28.600 that morning and I was sitting up, breathing, smiling, talking. 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:30.800 It was a long road. I mean, don't kid yourself 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:32.520 like that. There was a point in time where I 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.240 couldn't even hold a toothbrush. It was a long effort 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.520 and finally getting back to a dancer by trade. So 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.360 I'm getting back to teaching and dancing again. And they 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.600 never figured out they had two men in custody for 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:48.600 a while, but it's something that they currently just speculate 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.640 that it was a random gang initiation because they didn't 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.080 take the car, they didn't rob us, we didn't see 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.959 who it was, the fact that the shooting was just 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:01.840 completely random, Like, how do you wrap your mind around that? 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.960 Because then I'm in my mind, I'm like, then how 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:07.520 am I safe? Well? And as a woman, you were 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.320 conditioned to look over your shoulder when you're walking down 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.560 the street. You're conditioned to maybe that car drove by 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.440 two times, don't walk your dog at night. There's things 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.040 that we are already dealing with as women as it is. 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.359 So I know for myself, I'm not as trustworthy of 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.399 people in everyday situations anymore because it's it was so 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.920 random and who would have thought that just this random night, 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.080 I was gonna get shot in the back eight times. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.480 The person that you were with they survived. Yes, Um, 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:35.439 he had a bullet go through his hand and his 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.240 shoulder and one actually went through my back into his leg. Wow, 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:40.199 So you really got the brunt of it. Yes, I 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.360 was like a human shield. Wow. I feel like I'm 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.639 sitting here literally with a miracle. Yeah, honestly, And just 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:50.119 how like You're just radiant, like you're you're smiling, you 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.240 have this air about you that is just so amazing. 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:55.359 I have to say it was the support that I had, 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.760 Like my sister literally slept in the hospital with me 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.480 eighty somehow days out of the days I was there, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.640 she was playing chakra music and we were doing word 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:08.960 in meditations and things while I was laying You posted 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:13.040 a really empowering photo of yourself on social media. What 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:15.800 was your motivation for that? The photo that I posted. 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.040 It started out honestly that I just this is what 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.200 people need to see. I'm still me, I really am. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.240 I'm happy, I'm confident, I'm going to continue to push 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.880 forward with what I'm doing. And if I can give 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.440 that back to people and show them give them a motivation. 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.400 I have strangers that message me and just to say 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.680 thank you for sharing and for being inspiring. There was 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.040 plenty of days that I was struggling that I would 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:42.000 just cry and defeat because how did this happen to me? Like? 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.639 What what happened? That? This is? This is what became 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.880 my normal. And I don't want that for anybody else ever, 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.600 No one should have to experience this what my family 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.560 and I have been through. It's it's unfathomable and it's 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.320 there's no actual words that you can describe this process 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.199 of mourning and grieving. Because you are mourning this lie 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.760 that you once had and grieving through this. What would 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.720 be the message that you would give other people to 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:07.920 help them keep going. I just want to tell them 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.040 there's gonna be bad days, and I want people to 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.239 understand that if you can accept the fact that there 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.680 are bad days, that also means that you're going to 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.440 have good ones. And once you have a good one, 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:20.840 you're alive to have a good one. Take it one 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.160 day at a time, one second, one minute, one hour, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.399 one day, because if everything can change an instant like 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.080 it did, what can happen in twenty four hours. You 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:36.680 just don't anything is possible. You better preach the word today. 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.320 I'm just flabergasted. I mean yeah, and I mean as 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.719 a young beautiful woman to go through this, but really 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:51.080 find your power, power, Yes, your strength, Yes, find superhero story. Yeah. 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:53.240 My doctors were calling me the woman of Steel in 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.840 the hospital because they just kept going and I've taken Yeah. 0:20:57.359 --> 0:20:59.680 Thank you so much for being here, you for me. 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.760 Every sixteen hours, a woman is killed by our current 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:10.520 or former intimate partner. An abusers access to firearms increases 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:16.320 the risk of homicide, but at least four Danny Robinson 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.640 knows this all too well. Danny was shot five times 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:22.880 at point blake range by her ex boyfriend and lived 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.399 to tell about it. Tell us what happened, Danny. I 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:30.000 never ever thought that I would ever be a victim 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:32.760 of gun violence, you know, I mean, I was shot 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:38.960 five times. I was with a man for about six years, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:44.280 and throughout our relationship there were some signs that he 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.040 was a little controlling. He was possessive, verbally abused me, 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:53.000 emotionally abused me, and I had two daughters with him, 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:56.119 and um I finally left him. I decided I was 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:57.919 done with him. I was going to have him control 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.560 me anymore. He had made this calm it to me, 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:04.320 and he said something to the fact that he was 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.520 going to hurt me with a gun. I said, what 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:09.399 are you saying that you're going to kill me. You 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.399 can't get a gun, and he said, well, you'd be 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.840 surprised what you can find on the street. And when 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:21.080 he said that to me, I knew that something was wrong. 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:24.040 I called the police department and they said, well, there's 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.000 nothing we can do about it. And I told my sisters, 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:29.840 I said, I'm scared, like and they're, oh, no, he's 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:32.120 just trying to scare you. I'm like, no, no, this 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.240 is different. This is really different. Because I went and 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:38.240 I got a restraining order and I didn't hear from 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:40.880 him for a couple of weeks. And I drove home 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:43.159 and I pulled up in the driveway and I was 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:45.719 getting out of my car, and all of a sudden, 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.760 I just felt this huge, like like breeze, just like 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:53.400 blow me over. And it was him. And I had 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:55.479 my daughters in the back of the car and they 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.760 were still in their car seats, and I said, what 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:00.919 are you doing here? And he told me that we 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:04.040 needed to have a conversation, and I said, I'm not 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:07.560 going anywhere with you. I saw my grandfather in the 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:10.600 house getting ready for dinner. I decided that I needed 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:12.840 to get away from the house so he would not 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.239 hurt my grandfather or my daughter's and I walked a 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:19.919 few houses down with him, and all of a sudden, 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.600 there was this white van and he opened it up, 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:26.040 and I just remember hearing that sound of the van, 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:29.840 that the rolling on the door exactly, and he tried 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:32.760 to pull me into the van, and at that moment, 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:35.919 I screamed and I started to fight back, and he 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:40.600 was holding me, and I was shot two times, and 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:42.879 from there I fell on the ground. I fell on 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.600 my back and he stood over me and he shot 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:50.320 me three more times, point blank in my stomach. Um. 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:54.480 I went to the hospital. I was in intensive care 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:56.800 for about three days. While he was on the run. 0:23:57.359 --> 0:24:03.160 My focus was about living for my daughters. Like when 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:05.959 I was on the ground and I was burning, and 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:08.760 I smelled that I was going to live for my girls. 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:12.879