November 17, 2025 • 40 mins
Boston community leaders and activists are calling for action after a recent string of gun violence in Mattapan. One incident of an 18-year- old Malden student G’Kiyah Lewis, who was shot in Oct. and died of her injuries in Nov. has especially sparked concerns with leaders like Rev. Kevin Peterson saying, “None of our children should die in the streets." Lewis is Boston's 29th homicide of 2025. Rev. Peterson joined us to discuss the calls for action as Lewis’ murderer or murderers are still at large.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, welcome back everyone, as we move into our
talk topics, our talk hours from nine o'clock through midnight.
My name is Dan Ray, the host of Nightside, and
delighted to be joined by a gentleman who's been a
guest on this program previously and comes back and joins
(00:29):
us again tonight. Unfortunately, it's a tough topic with us,
as Reverend Kevin Peterson, he is with the a group
called the the New Democracy Coalition. But most of you
know Reverend Peterson as a religious leader in the Roxbury, Dorchester,
(00:52):
Mattapan community. He has also been involved in a number
of issues that you're renaming a fanal hall being first
and foremost in my mind. But tonight we want to
focus on what Reverend Peterson first referred to as a
(01:12):
murder triangle in a Boston Globe op ed piece that
he co authored with Robert Lewis back two years ago.
Now in June of twenty twenty three. Reverend Peterson, welcome
back to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Good?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Evening?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Unfortunately here under unfortunately we're here under difficult situations different, well,
not positive oh.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
No, Well, this is the most serious issue that any
community can deal with because this involves in the murders
of young people, young people who are often totally innocent,
in including this young student from Malden, year old Jakiah Lewis.
(02:03):
She was shot in October and there were two other
young men with her who was shot. They suffered serious wounds,
but they have survived. She survived for you know, six weeks,
but unfortunately has passed on and becomes another murder victim.
(02:28):
Still no arrest in this case as far as I know.
And you speak out on this, and you speak out
with a great deal of conviction and force, and I
admire you for it. I hope you know that, and
I am here to try to, you know, give you
an opportunity not only to reach people in your community
(02:52):
who are impacted by this, but also to reach other
sections of the city which you know, are not dealing
with the murder rate that that that you're seeing, uh,
and also people who live in in suburbs who uh
don't seem to think about this reference And you know,
(03:14):
I don't live in Roxbury, Dorchester a Matapan, but I
can't tell you how much I admire your courage to
stand up and speak out, because obviously you're you're suggesting
that the police need to do more. And I'm sure
there's a lot of folks in your community who are
(03:34):
not happy with you.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
There are some who are not happy with me. Again,
thank you for allowing me to come on to talk
about this ongoing conversation related to the murder triangle as
we call it. It's an area of the city of
Boston that ranges from the South End and through Roxbury
and Dorchester, Mattapan and High Park where dan there has
(03:59):
been over the last twenty years, and this disproportion a
number of murders compared to the rest of the city.
And this murder triangle is mostly people of color, more
specifically mostly black men between the ages of twenty five
and forty ninety five percent in fact, of those who
are who have been murdered over the last ten years
(04:21):
in Boston had faced the end of their life through
violence in the murder of Triangle. And so we're grieving
tonight collectively across the across this community, across the city,
quite frankly, around the death of this young lady, eighteen
year old lady who lived in Boston at one point
(04:44):
and left the City of Boston with her family in
order to be in a safer environment and was visiting
Mattapan on Hiawaka Street in Madapan on October eleventh, and
unfortunately was shot in the heads randomly. It seems so
we're grieving around that, But as much as we focused
(05:08):
on Jekiah, she fits within the larger a larger context
of violence that hasn't been addressed on two levels, hasn't
been addressed by the City of Boston, the murder triangle. Unfortunately,
it has been institutionalized. It has become a common trope
(05:30):
or common theme within the City of Boston where Black
people die disproportionately. The city bears a great deal of
responsibility for that, the Police Commissioner, Commissioner Cox, and particularly
good Mayor, because they set a standard in terms of
what policing policies should be in place in the in
the city of Boston, and they bear the heavy responsibility
(05:53):
of engaging in those communities so that people are safe.
At the same time, the black community itself bears responsibility
in terms of this problem because we should not have
guns in our homes, and if there are guns, illegal
guns in our homes. We need to get rid of them.
And we also need to be the first line of
(06:16):
the fence in terms of surveillance and reporting to the police.
Those individuals in our community who we know are violent
and who we know have committed specific crimes like the
killing of the car, we need to report that. So
we need to do our job within the black community.
But the police, the city needs to do this job
(06:39):
in ways that it has failed this community which suffers
this crisis of murder and disproportionate ways.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You know, in looking at the article from June of
twenty twenty three that you will live with Robert Lewis,
I remember the Graham. She was about sixty years old
and on a I believe it was a sad was
it a Saturday or a Sunday. She's sitting on the porch,
(07:09):
sitting on her porch, and she she was shot to death.
It was around six o'clock at night, if I recall,
and I am just doing this from from recall, Kevin,
I have not looked this one up. And and the
call went out, and yet no one came forward. Some
(07:30):
people have to know who fired that shot. Absolutely it
took her life and and some people have to know
what happened to the to uh Zakiah Lewis. You know
she was at death's door now for you know, about
five weeks and and she and she finally lost her life.
(07:54):
A young eighteen year old woman with her life in
front of her. She's still in high school. And if
this was going on in and I keep talking about,
you know, some of the Tony suburb you know, the
more Tony, you know, Weston Whaland I call them the
w communities, Winchester and all of that. Rightfully, so the
(08:15):
community of up at arms and they would have the
National Guard on every police corner if they if they
had to. Is that is it time in your opinion
for if the Boston Police Department can't prevent these crimes
from happening, is it time for?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Well two things. I think that if the Boston Police
Department continues to fail the black community, the black community,
it is incumbent upon the black community to protect itself.
And by that, I mean that the black community was
organized in ways where they began to engage in public
(08:51):
surveillance uh and and and public practices of protection, a
sort of passively getting the guns out of the community.
Be identifying and maybe aprehending. I'm not sure if that's
legal or not, but maybe apprehending is turning in those
(09:12):
people in the community who are suspected of committing the murders,
such as the one that occurred with this young lady.
If this were I'll take it up a notch and
racialize this issue as it is obviously so. If this
was a white woman eighteen years old who died on
the streets of Mattapan of last month within forty eight hours,
(09:38):
there would have been National Guards and there would have
been the full employment deployment of police resources to afrahend
arrests the person who or persons who did this. There is,
in my opinion, Band, a total disregard institutionally from the
level of the city, a total disregard for black life
(10:02):
within the murder triangle which I live in and which
I choose to live in, UH, and which I choose
to defend. Despite those as you suggested, UH in my community,
who would go to argue that we shouldn't arrest people
in our community to commit these crimes and then we
should look the other way. I totally disagree. I totally
(10:23):
disagree with that, and there and there needs to be
There needs to be some chastisement around that, around that issue,
that attitude within the black community, as much as there
ought to be severe criticism to Mayor Woolen Commissioner Cox
for not responding to this issue in a serious way.
(10:44):
When you have a certain area of the city suffering
disproportionate amounts of murder over two generations, we got a problem.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That we need to get when we get back from
what I want to do is talk to you about
Mayor Wu. I mean, this has been going on and
during this last year, which was a campaign year, obviously
a lot of her attention was focused on getting re elected.
She is now re elected. It would seem to me
that as opposed to going up to Canada to take
(11:20):
possession of a beautiful Christmas tree and Halifax or wherever
it was, she'd be better off meeting with community leaders
in Roxbury, Matapan and Dorchester as well as throughout the city. Uh.
And so I want to ask you, and I'll ask
you to hold off on an answer when we get back,
have you what what sort of relationship have you developed
(11:45):
do you have with the Mayor's office, with with with
Boston City Hall and with councilors. There's a there's a
new councilor who was just elected. Well, I think as
a man of the cloth, is the new District seven
councilor a relic. Yeah, So I want to talk to
(12:05):
you about that dynamic. And I also want to invite
phone callers, and I would hope to hear not only
from people who live in this community and are impacted
by it, but I also love to hear from some
people who live outside of Boston or live in other
portions of Boston to lend their voices to support of
the community that has been so besieged, as you say,
(12:27):
for generations. My name is Dan Ray. This is night
Side six one seven, two five four ten thirty. We
also have the line six one seven nine three one
ten thirty. Please uh. Silence is tacit approval, ladies and gentlemen,
And this is a situation that has to be called out.
(12:47):
I'm not never going to get religious with a with
a reverend, because he's going to know a lot more
about this than I do. But we are all God's children.
If you happen to believe, and I don't care where
you live, I don't care where you were born. Each
one is precious, Each life is precious, and we need
to understand that, and we need to address that. And
I'll be back with my guest, the Reverend Kevin Peterson
(13:10):
of the New Democracy Coalition. Right after these messages.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
My guess is Reverend Kevin Peterson, the New Democracy Coalition,
talking about what he refers to as a murder triangle
beginning at the tip of the triangle, the top of
the triangle, the south end and cutting through portions at Roxbury, Dorchester,
Mattapan and High Park. Reverend I finished that last segment,
and in a moment we're going to speak with the
(13:41):
mom of this young eighteen year old Malden student who
has lost her life in this shooting in October, and
she battled mightily to live in past. How is the
mayor treating this issue? I mean, the campaign is now over.
She's up in Nova Scotia cutting down a Christmas tree.
(14:03):
I guess, uh, what has has she been responsive? What
about the counselors who in many cases represent you know,
parts of these communities. Have they been helpful?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I would say overall they have not been helpful. If
they were to be graded, including the mayor, that the
great would be a D D minus.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
UH.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
We UH hundreds of people two years ago, and this
is how the Murder Triangle designates. UH was designated in
terms of in terms of the maiming, hundreds of hundreds
of people two years ago got together in the cold
of winter over four successive weeks in the South End Matapan,
Dorchester and Roxbury and agreed we should call this place
(14:50):
the Murder Triangle, so as the highlight. So it's in
some ways to embarrass the mayor and and and the
and the commissioner that this was a crisis. So we
we identified the area. We we we ran the numbers
over two generations and identified this place as a crisis
point for black people in this city UH in proportion
(15:13):
or disproportioned in terms of how white life persists in
a more positive sense with regard to public safety. So
we we we we we went through formal steps and
produced a report which was delivered to the mayor and
to the city council. And then there has been no
measurable progress. There has been no communication to these to
(15:35):
the hundreds of people who UH set in these meetings
and and they asked me from time to time, what's happening, Kevin?
Why have we not been able to capture the attention
the mayor wou with regard regard to this And the
only thing I can say to them is that we
need to keep trying. And this is this situation is
reflective of, as mentioned before, institutionalized racism with regard to
(16:00):
public safety and bostment. It's not. It's one of the
safety cities in the in the country with regards to
black life.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, and you know a lot of folks had Black
lives matters and black lives bumper stickers and those black
lives matter too. By the way, as as you know
better than anyone, Reverend, we have, Uh, the mom of
Jakia Lewis on the phone. I'm gonna identify Raheema Raheema Grayson.
(16:30):
Welcome to Night's side. I'm gonna hold you over through
the news, but I didn't I wanted to get you
on the air first of all, So sorry about the
loss of your daughter. Uh, there's there's no words that
come to mind. Thank you for calling in tonight. Tell
us a little bit about your daughter and what her
(16:52):
hopes and aspirations were hopes and aspirations rahema that sadly
will never be fulfilled.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yeah, my daughter, Jakia Lewis, she was eighteen. She was
hurt in the street of Boston. She was killed in
the street of Boston. She was a good girl. She
stayed to herself. She had a lot of friends. She
was ably outgoing, beautiful. She just was white to herself.
She likes to go outside for somebody to tell her,
(17:21):
get out the house, guy, get out the house, wilside.
She doesn't want to go off of there's nothing to
do alf in the sheep of Boston. There's nothing for
kids to do, and she's not any any games or anything.
It's just the people she hangs around with. It could
be the wrong place, wrong time. It's just my baby
did not deserve this. She doesn't even know people in Boston.
(17:42):
She stays in London. She leaves behind two sisters, fifteen
and seven. I just want justice for my daughter, and
I want it now. I want some to say her name,
Jakaia Lewis.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, well we will say her name. I assure you that.
So she was your oldest child, I.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Assume yes, my firstborn.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah, my best friend, my world.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
What what what did she ever talk to you about?
What what her hopes and dreams and aspirations were. Did
she uh? Did did she ever? And again, when you're
eighteen years old, maybe most eighteen year olds don't think
about that. But I just wanted to give you a
chance to help our audience get to know your daughter
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
She was herself. She was into beauty. She loves to
do here, she herself where she was just Kaya like
the fashion de Stio, like the outside, the music. She likes,
the actors. You like to dance, she likes sports. Yeah, Kaya,
she could do ten backflips at once like Chica.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, we have. You know, Reverend Peterson with us has
been on our show before. Uh, and I.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Know that that he is really trying to raise the
You know what happens is these young kids are killed
and people forget them and they become a statistic.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And I don't want them to become a statistic. We're
gonna talk later on a little bit about the little
boy Lens Joseph, who was killed killed by by the
bus that he had just gotten off of. And you know,
there's been no action on that to the best of
(19:41):
my knowledge. Reverend Peterson will know it better than I do,
but I want to find out. You know, we can't
forget the names of these children. Uh. And I say children,
I mean your daughter is she's a teenager, but young
people who are cut down before their life even even starts.
So I got to take a break for news. Will
(20:02):
you stay with us for a couple more minutes and
we'll come back to you right after the news with
Reverend Peterson. Is that okay with you?
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yes, thanks, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Stay right there, Reverend, stay right there. We've got a
news break and we'll be back right after that. We
have other phone calls. The only lines that are open
right now are six one seven nine three one ten thirty.
If you'd like to get on board six one, seven
nine three ten thirty. I have other callers that we
will talk to after we talk with Zekaia's mom, Rahem
(20:34):
Grayson uh and Reverend Peterson right after the news break.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Back after this, it's Night Side with Dan Ray on
w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
We're talking about the loss of many lives in one
section of Boston. With us is Reverend Kevin Peterson in
the New Democracy Coalition joining us on the phone is
the mom of the latest UH murder victim, Jakiah Lewis.
Jakiah was shot on October eleventh. She was doing nothing wrong.
(21:10):
She was you know, what some might call collateral damage
or whatever phrase someone wants to use. But her life
was taken from her, and her life was taken from
her mom, Raheema, Obviously you've been living with this nightmare
now since October eleventh. Can you describe to my audience
(21:34):
how how you can ever get past this? I mean,
I have no clue how you could possibly even get
out of bed in the morning or or even face
the day under these circumstances. How I guess my question
is you must still be in a in a state
(21:55):
of shock. So I'm trying to ask questions that that
that our general and I don't want to I'm not
trying to pry. But yes, God love you. I hope
that you're a person of faith.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I know reference.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
I had to go up and back and forth to
the hospital. It was hard seeing my baby like it
was hard. I'm telling me that she may not recover,
she may never wake up, she might have to have
a breathing too for the rest of my life. Yeah,
and I hold on to my faith. And a week
(22:31):
went by, they tell me she's not there. I have faith.
Another week go by, my baby was not brain dead
and she was still breathing. Yeah, so I donated my
baby organ. She saved a life, said, three lives. But
(22:55):
it's just a lot. Did I deal with.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well? I can'd of imagine what those decisions must have been,
but obviously you have. You have been through something that
no mom, no parent should should ever be through. And
I pledge to you that we will try to keep
this issue alive and talk with Reverend Peterson about it.
(23:21):
But please stay strong. For your younger daughters. I'm sure
that this has changed their lives forever, but you know,
just stay I thank you for just go ahead. I
didn't mean to or please go ahead.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
The damage is done, my family, The damage is done.
We're grieving. Anything that I do from this point on
is a part of my hearing. The damage is done.
This is my second child. I'm getting ready to bury.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Raheema. Please stay strong. Hopefully your story has reached a
lot of people tonight. Thank you for having the courage
to even pick up the telephone, never mind talk with
us tonight. You're selling an amazing mom.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
That's all I do is take care of my kids.
My daughter showed me how she so. Now from now on,
I'm going to show how so.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
And I am that a lot of my listeners will
say a prayer for you and your daughters. What are
you the daughters of your younger children? What are their
first names?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Janaiah and Jah.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
They're blessed to have you as a mom. Raheema, thank
you for your time tonight.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
You're very welcome. You're very welcome. Good night, Reverend. I'm speechless,
uh and I'm not often speechless how she could have
the courage to come in and uh uh and and
pick up the phone and talk with us tonight after
what she's been true and anyone who who wasn't reached
(25:00):
by what she had to say, they must have a
heart of stone, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And it's hard to summon words that capture the grief
of these mothers and these families. Over the last three years,
I've gone to the crime scenes. I've seen the blood
on the streets, and I've seen families greeting and crying
out for justice. As Rahima Grace is crying out for justice.
(25:29):
I do want to put a point on this before
you go to callers that Miss Grayson's daughter died. Finally
last Friday, Dan. On this past Friday, uh, there was
a double shooting on Standard Street in Mattapan. The day
after that, which is day before yesterday, there was just
(25:51):
another shooting in Matapan. Yesterday there was a stabbing murder
in Madipan. All this within the context of what we
call the murder triangle.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
UH.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
So for for those city officials and even if those
in our community who who remain it seems willfully to
be oblivious to the carnage that's happening within the community
and how that carnage is impacting uh, not just the
individual families, but an entire community in terms of the
(26:23):
collective grief and trauma, but also in terms of public safety.
If we in our community, in my community do not
come out and service the first line of defense, then
we allow murderers to go free. That's a tragedy. We
have to address it. But again that we put as
(26:44):
much pressure on the City of Boston who was supposed
to provide public safety, notwithstanding race or geography or class,
they're not doing the job. So I if blame was
to be direct to do any one. And today it
would be the city of Boston and Mayor Woo in particular,
and Commissioner Cox, who ironically is a black man who
(27:06):
grew up in the triangle, grew up in the murder triangle. Uh,
and for dared not to be any visible presence by
the city and by by the city in particular the
police commissioner in terms of dressing by addressing by name
the murder triangle as the number one crisis in our city.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Then uh, they must be criticized by failures.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Well, we will, we will continue to focus on this.
I want to get to a couple of more calls,
a few more callers before the end of the hour. Reference.
But so just stay with me. At this point people
probably will want to talk to you and ask you questions.
Let me go to Steve in Cambridge. Steve, welcome back
to Night's side. Reverend. This is one of my more
thoughtful callers. He always he's he's a he's a very
(27:52):
interesting individual, and he very smart and but has that
has a big heart.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Steve Dan, thank you. That's very kind of you, Reverend Peterson.
Chicago has a much worse crime rate, particularly in the
black population than Boston, I believe, and the president UH
(28:19):
sent the National Guard. UH is that something you approve of?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
I would approve of it if if that, if the situation,
the crisis in Boston persist, I would be h more satisfied.
If tomorrow UH mayor and warn the Commissioner came out
and and UH embrace this identified crisis as an important
failure agenda item in terms of public policy with regard
(28:49):
to policing tomorrow, if it comes to the black community
deploying its own of forms of protection UH, surveillance, vigilance.
If it comes to the point that we may have
to collect uh a a bounty from the black community
(29:10):
to to to at least the rest of particularly Jakiah UH,
then so be it. UH. We're not left with many alternatives.
If the if the city of Boston turns A turns
away from this as a as a as a major
UH issue UH and unfortunately they have so calling from
(29:31):
the National Guards is not with that. It is not
outside of my attention in terms of leading to solutions.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
A hard question, why is it that there are so
many young black men who seem intent on killing other,
mostly male young blacks, UH.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
You know, this is is a very complex response to that.
Some of it, most of it, I would say, has
to do with UH environments that they're are raised in UH,
some of which are connected to the their socio economic status.
I would suggest that most of these young black men
(30:20):
who encounter both gangs and are are involved, who are
the victims of violence, are are poor, lacking, unemployed, lacking employment,
lacking in full robust education. So there are institutional UH
stumbling blocks, are barriers that prevent their active, robust engagement
(30:43):
in civic life that is on the positive side. So
they're led to UH or they're led into situations where
they act out violently UH and that leads to death.
We also have to be the cognizant of the the
UH how the cultural institutions within the Black community are
(31:05):
responding to this. Our black churches, for example, in terms
of this issue of violence, UH has not been collectively
have not been collectively engaged in focus and UH directing
their actions in a very conscious, everyday way on this
issue of violence and and what happens to our young
(31:25):
black men as they move from prepubessence to UH to
their teenage years where much of this violence begins to occur.
So it's a very complexish complexia. But nothing but but
it has nothing to do I want to I want
to be clear, and it has nothing to do with
a certain strands genetically or biologically within the black community
(31:50):
where they are deemed specifically immoral.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
Last question, last question, reverend, and I'm sure you've heard
this before. Does ingle parent households have a factor in that?
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yes? Unfortunately, yes.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
All right, Well, good luck, and I wish you the
very best. Thank you for answering my questions.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
See, thank you for your interest. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
Thank you, Thank you. Dan.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Good take quick break. I've got more calls coming, reverend,
so let's let's get to the commercials and then we'll
be right back. I believe we also are going to
speak with an aunt of this murder victim. And by
the way, I believe that we have now exceeded the
number of murders that this city had in twenty twenty four.
(32:37):
That is not the sort of number we want to exceed, ever,
because one one death is one too many in my opinion.
Back with night's I with my guest, Reverend Kevin Peterson
of the New Democracy Coalition.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
My guests is Reverend Kevin Peterson, the New Democracy coal
talking about an unacceptable murder rate in parts of Boston.
Let me go next to Sue and Mendon, Massachusetts. Sue
appreciate you taking the time to call from Menden. Go
right ahead. You're on with Reverend Kevin Peterson.
Speaker 7 (33:16):
Good evening, Reverend and Dan. I'm hoping that I can
give some help in this situation. As you know, many
cities have pockets of crime that that's nothing new, And
in Fresno, where I'm from, they took a model from
(33:37):
San Diego called Priority oriented policing. The mayor and the
police chief got together and handpicked police unit individuals to
form a POP team, and then that POP team went
out and investigated. They identified the criminal l within these
(34:02):
pockets of crime, and they researched it enough so that
they knew what other agencies they could get involved to
help to apprehend and to prosecute these folks and get
them out of the community. So whether they were behind
(34:23):
in their rent or they hadn't paid their taxes, they
did the research to then get these other agencies involved
in the arrest and conviction. Then once the criminal elements
were taken out of the community, there are those people
who were on the fringe who were being influenced by
(34:45):
the criminal elements but weren't as hardened as the original criminals,
and so they would set up like an apartment within
a complex, for example. They would get at the apartment
manager or the owner to turn that into a community
(35:05):
resource area for the people living in that near assentity.
And then one of the officers within the POP team
was a liaison with local churches. They would go out
and talk about the program to the churches and get
a church to sponsor one of these these resource centers,
(35:27):
and the people from the church would donate things like
computers and televisions and games and things to put in
this apartment where the people could come together and form community.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
That all sounds great, and maybe a reverend get in
touch with some folks who said, that's in San Diego.
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Huh, the original was in San Diego, and then Fresno
also adopted it.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So I have to grab one of the calls because
the the the aunt of this young murder victim is
on the line, so I'd like to get to her
before the Denal Doogue News. But thank you for your
for your suggestions. Those are all good ones.
Speaker 7 (36:12):
Thank you, good night, good night.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Uh let me go to Erica in Dorchester. Erica, this
is you're the aunt of this young eighteen year old victim. Correct, Yeah, yeah,
you're right ahead.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
She's not a victim. Say her name, Hi is a
survivor victim.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
We've said her name repeatedly tonight, and you have my
word that it would be said many times in this program.
That's why I'm doing this program tonight with Reverend Peterson.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
Thanks. What I want to speak on about is Michael
Cox and Mayor Wounds. I see them on the news
all the time when they're shooters in Dorchester Roxbury matter pans.
They are there when this happened to my niece, they
weren't there. Didn't not step up to speak up for
my niece. Mayo Wool attended the mom's graduation. We graduated together.
(37:04):
Mayo Woo was there. This happened to Hikaya. She did
not speak up. Michael Cox, nobody was there. The city
got to do better as far as all these crimes
that are happening in the streets, and I blame it
on the parent. The parents are not maintaining their kids.
Whatever the kids seem growing up as little kids, that's
(37:24):
what they're doing as as adults. I don't know how
they get in a hold of these guns where they're
coming from, but the streets got Boston has to do better.
The police department has to do better to figure out
where these guns are coming from. Takaya was an eighteen
year old little girl. Her mom kept her home all
the time. You know she wants she She just turned
eighteen four months ago. You know, her mom tried to
(37:45):
give her a little bit of freedom. You know the streets,
the guys say, the street mayor woo claims that these
streets are safe. If it was safe, none of this
would have never happened. Chikaia was an innocent little girl
who accidentally got hurt in these streets. We need their help.
As far as the police department, all they can tell
the mom is everything's going in the right direction. She
needs more information, She needs more than that. Something should
(38:08):
have been done a long time ago. When this first happened,
a month ago, a week later, they should have been
on it just for us. The only thing we can
hear is always going in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Well, Erica, I appreciate your calling. I hear in your
voice the anger, the justified anger that your family has endured.
And Jakaiah's name will be mentioned in this program many
times the weeks and months ahead, just as I've mentioned
Lens Joseph's name, the little boy who was run over
by the bus on April twenty eighth of this year,
(38:44):
and there's still no report from the city, no arrests,
no indict Well, I think sometimes sometimes I think the
city thinks that over time people will forget. I'm not
going to forget. I'm not going to forget lend Joseph
lends Joseph's name, and I certainly am not going to
(39:07):
get your name or Raheem's name either. I want you,
I want you.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
To will not be slept under the rocks. Jahaia was
an innocent little girl streets. A lot of kids are
losing their lives out here in the streets.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
The city of Bostor have to come up with a plan.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
I got to do better, yep, Erica, thank you. I
wish I could have got you one a little earlier,
but I thank you for your time tonight and Uh,
I promise you my sister.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
And your prayers. She are screeving, she's hurting, and she's
really really hurt, and she's trying to be as strong
as she can. But this is really, really, really hard
on us.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
It's unimaginable what your sister and two and and also
what you have now have to experience. So our thoughts
in PRIs are clearly with you, and I will go
to this topic as often as I have to.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
You have my okay.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
We need justice and we need it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Now.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
Say her name, say her name. Say her names are
Kaya Lewis.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
All right, Eric, we got thank you, Thank you, good night, Reverend.
I got a couple of other calls. You want to
stick with me.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Into the next hour for absolute absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Let me do. Let me do that. I wanted to
get Eric in, so let me take a break. If
someone anyone else wants to join us, I'll be happy
to talk about this and we can say her name
more often. Six one seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
I got a couple of lines there and six one
seven nine three thirty. You've heard the pain. Uh, let's try.
Let us try uh to give this family some hope, Reverend,
(40:39):
give us five minutes. We'll be right back with you. Okay,
you can stretch your legs and get a glass of water.
Back on Night Side with Reverend Kevin Peterson right after
this
It's night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, welcome back everyone, as we move into our
talk topics, our talk hours from nine o'clock through midnight.
My name is Dan Ray, the host of Nightside, and
delighted to be joined by a gentleman who's been a
guest on this program previously and comes back and joins
(00:29):
us again tonight. Unfortunately, it's a tough topic with us,
as Reverend Kevin Peterson, he is with the a group
called the the New Democracy Coalition. But most of you
know Reverend Peterson as a religious leader in the Roxbury, Dorchester,
(00:52):
Mattapan community. He has also been involved in a number
of issues that you're renaming a fanal hall being first
and foremost in my mind. But tonight we want to
focus on what Reverend Peterson first referred to as a
(01:12):
murder triangle in a Boston Globe op ed piece that
he co authored with Robert Lewis back two years ago.
Now in June of twenty twenty three. Reverend Peterson, welcome
back to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Good?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Evening?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Unfortunately here under unfortunately we're here under difficult situations different, well,
not positive oh.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
No, Well, this is the most serious issue that any
community can deal with because this involves in the murders
of young people, young people who are often totally innocent,
in including this young student from Malden, year old Jakiah Lewis.
(02:03):
She was shot in October and there were two other
young men with her who was shot. They suffered serious wounds,
but they have survived. She survived for you know, six weeks,
but unfortunately has passed on and becomes another murder victim.
(02:28):
Still no arrest in this case as far as I know.
And you speak out on this, and you speak out
with a great deal of conviction and force, and I
admire you for it. I hope you know that, and
I am here to try to, you know, give you
an opportunity not only to reach people in your community
(02:52):
who are impacted by this, but also to reach other
sections of the city which you know, are not dealing
with the murder rate that that that you're seeing, uh,
and also people who live in in suburbs who uh
don't seem to think about this reference And you know,
(03:14):
I don't live in Roxbury, Dorchester a Matapan, but I
can't tell you how much I admire your courage to
stand up and speak out, because obviously you're you're suggesting
that the police need to do more. And I'm sure
there's a lot of folks in your community who are
(03:34):
not happy with you.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
There are some who are not happy with me. Again,
thank you for allowing me to come on to talk
about this ongoing conversation related to the murder triangle as
we call it. It's an area of the city of
Boston that ranges from the South End and through Roxbury
and Dorchester, Mattapan and High Park where dan there has
(03:59):
been over the last twenty years, and this disproportion a
number of murders compared to the rest of the city.
And this murder triangle is mostly people of color, more
specifically mostly black men between the ages of twenty five
and forty ninety five percent in fact, of those who
are who have been murdered over the last ten years
(04:21):
in Boston had faced the end of their life through
violence in the murder of Triangle. And so we're grieving
tonight collectively across the across this community, across the city,
quite frankly, around the death of this young lady, eighteen
year old lady who lived in Boston at one point
(04:44):
and left the City of Boston with her family in
order to be in a safer environment and was visiting
Mattapan on Hiawaka Street in Madapan on October eleventh, and
unfortunately was shot in the heads randomly. It seems so
we're grieving around that, But as much as we focused
(05:08):
on Jekiah, she fits within the larger a larger context
of violence that hasn't been addressed on two levels, hasn't
been addressed by the City of Boston, the murder triangle. Unfortunately,
it has been institutionalized. It has become a common trope
(05:30):
or common theme within the City of Boston where Black
people die disproportionately. The city bears a great deal of
responsibility for that, the Police Commissioner, Commissioner Cox, and particularly
good Mayor, because they set a standard in terms of
what policing policies should be in place in the in
the city of Boston, and they bear the heavy responsibility
(05:53):
of engaging in those communities so that people are safe.
At the same time, the black community itself bears responsibility
in terms of this problem because we should not have
guns in our homes, and if there are guns, illegal
guns in our homes. We need to get rid of them.
And we also need to be the first line of
(06:16):
the fence in terms of surveillance and reporting to the police.
Those individuals in our community who we know are violent
and who we know have committed specific crimes like the
killing of the car, we need to report that. So
we need to do our job within the black community.
But the police, the city needs to do this job
(06:39):
in ways that it has failed this community which suffers
this crisis of murder and disproportionate ways.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You know, in looking at the article from June of
twenty twenty three that you will live with Robert Lewis,
I remember the Graham. She was about sixty years old
and on a I believe it was a sad was
it a Saturday or a Sunday. She's sitting on the porch,
(07:09):
sitting on her porch, and she she was shot to death.
It was around six o'clock at night, if I recall,
and I am just doing this from from recall, Kevin,
I have not looked this one up. And and the
call went out, and yet no one came forward. Some
(07:30):
people have to know who fired that shot. Absolutely it
took her life and and some people have to know
what happened to the to uh Zakiah Lewis. You know
she was at death's door now for you know, about
five weeks and and she and she finally lost her life.
(07:54):
A young eighteen year old woman with her life in
front of her. She's still in high school. And if
this was going on in and I keep talking about,
you know, some of the Tony suburb you know, the
more Tony, you know, Weston Whaland I call them the
w communities, Winchester and all of that. Rightfully, so the
(08:15):
community of up at arms and they would have the
National Guard on every police corner if they if they
had to. Is that is it time in your opinion
for if the Boston Police Department can't prevent these crimes
from happening, is it time for?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Well two things. I think that if the Boston Police
Department continues to fail the black community, the black community,
it is incumbent upon the black community to protect itself.
And by that, I mean that the black community was
organized in ways where they began to engage in public
(08:51):
surveillance uh and and and public practices of protection, a
sort of passively getting the guns out of the community.
Be identifying and maybe aprehending. I'm not sure if that's
legal or not, but maybe apprehending is turning in those
(09:12):
people in the community who are suspected of committing the murders,
such as the one that occurred with this young lady.
If this were I'll take it up a notch and
racialize this issue as it is obviously so. If this
was a white woman eighteen years old who died on
the streets of Mattapan of last month within forty eight hours,
(09:38):
there would have been National Guards and there would have
been the full employment deployment of police resources to afrahend
arrests the person who or persons who did this. There is,
in my opinion, Band, a total disregard institutionally from the
level of the city, a total disregard for black life
(10:02):
within the murder triangle which I live in and which
I choose to live in, UH, and which I choose
to defend. Despite those as you suggested, UH in my community,
who would go to argue that we shouldn't arrest people
in our community to commit these crimes and then we
should look the other way. I totally disagree. I totally
(10:23):
disagree with that, and there and there needs to be
There needs to be some chastisement around that, around that issue,
that attitude within the black community, as much as there
ought to be severe criticism to Mayor Woolen Commissioner Cox
for not responding to this issue in a serious way.
(10:44):
When you have a certain area of the city suffering
disproportionate amounts of murder over two generations, we got a problem.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That we need to get when we get back from
what I want to do is talk to you about
Mayor Wu. I mean, this has been going on and
during this last year, which was a campaign year, obviously
a lot of her attention was focused on getting re elected.
She is now re elected. It would seem to me
that as opposed to going up to Canada to take
(11:20):
possession of a beautiful Christmas tree and Halifax or wherever
it was, she'd be better off meeting with community leaders
in Roxbury, Matapan and Dorchester as well as throughout the city. Uh.
And so I want to ask you, and I'll ask
you to hold off on an answer when we get back,
have you what what sort of relationship have you developed
(11:45):
do you have with the Mayor's office, with with with
Boston City Hall and with councilors. There's a there's a
new councilor who was just elected. Well, I think as
a man of the cloth, is the new District seven
councilor a relic. Yeah, So I want to talk to
(12:05):
you about that dynamic. And I also want to invite
phone callers, and I would hope to hear not only
from people who live in this community and are impacted
by it, but I also love to hear from some
people who live outside of Boston or live in other
portions of Boston to lend their voices to support of
the community that has been so besieged, as you say,
(12:27):
for generations. My name is Dan Ray. This is night
Side six one seven, two five four ten thirty. We
also have the line six one seven nine three one
ten thirty. Please uh. Silence is tacit approval, ladies and gentlemen,
And this is a situation that has to be called out.
(12:47):
I'm not never going to get religious with a with
a reverend, because he's going to know a lot more
about this than I do. But we are all God's children.
If you happen to believe, and I don't care where
you live, I don't care where you were born. Each
one is precious, Each life is precious, and we need
to understand that, and we need to address that. And
I'll be back with my guest, the Reverend Kevin Peterson
(13:10):
of the New Democracy Coalition. Right after these messages.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
My guess is Reverend Kevin Peterson, the New Democracy Coalition,
talking about what he refers to as a murder triangle
beginning at the tip of the triangle, the top of
the triangle, the south end and cutting through portions at Roxbury, Dorchester,
Mattapan and High Park. Reverend I finished that last segment,
and in a moment we're going to speak with the
(13:41):
mom of this young eighteen year old Malden student who
has lost her life in this shooting in October, and
she battled mightily to live in past. How is the
mayor treating this issue? I mean, the campaign is now over.
She's up in Nova Scotia cutting down a Christmas tree.
(14:03):
I guess, uh, what has has she been responsive? What
about the counselors who in many cases represent you know,
parts of these communities. Have they been helpful?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I would say overall they have not been helpful. If
they were to be graded, including the mayor, that the
great would be a D D minus.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
UH.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
We UH hundreds of people two years ago, and this
is how the Murder Triangle designates. UH was designated in
terms of in terms of the maiming, hundreds of hundreds
of people two years ago got together in the cold
of winter over four successive weeks in the South End Matapan,
Dorchester and Roxbury and agreed we should call this place
(14:50):
the Murder Triangle, so as the highlight. So it's in
some ways to embarrass the mayor and and and the
and the commissioner that this was a crisis. So we
we identified the area. We we we ran the numbers
over two generations and identified this place as a crisis
point for black people in this city UH in proportion
(15:13):
or disproportioned in terms of how white life persists in
a more positive sense with regard to public safety. So
we we we we we went through formal steps and
produced a report which was delivered to the mayor and
to the city council. And then there has been no
measurable progress. There has been no communication to these to
(15:35):
the hundreds of people who UH set in these meetings
and and they asked me from time to time, what's happening, Kevin?
Why have we not been able to capture the attention
the mayor wou with regard regard to this And the
only thing I can say to them is that we
need to keep trying. And this is this situation is
reflective of, as mentioned before, institutionalized racism with regard to
(16:00):
public safety and bostment. It's not. It's one of the
safety cities in the in the country with regards to
black life.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah, and you know a lot of folks had Black
lives matters and black lives bumper stickers and those black
lives matter too. By the way, as as you know
better than anyone, Reverend, we have, Uh, the mom of
Jakia Lewis on the phone. I'm gonna identify Raheema Raheema Grayson.
(16:30):
Welcome to Night's side. I'm gonna hold you over through
the news, but I didn't I wanted to get you
on the air first of all, So sorry about the
loss of your daughter. Uh, there's there's no words that
come to mind. Thank you for calling in tonight. Tell
us a little bit about your daughter and what her
(16:52):
hopes and aspirations were hopes and aspirations rahema that sadly
will never be fulfilled.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yeah, my daughter, Jakia Lewis, she was eighteen. She was
hurt in the street of Boston. She was killed in
the street of Boston. She was a good girl. She
stayed to herself. She had a lot of friends. She
was ably outgoing, beautiful. She just was white to herself.
She likes to go outside for somebody to tell her,
(17:21):
get out the house, guy, get out the house, wilside.
She doesn't want to go off of there's nothing to
do alf in the sheep of Boston. There's nothing for
kids to do, and she's not any any games or anything.
It's just the people she hangs around with. It could
be the wrong place, wrong time. It's just my baby
did not deserve this. She doesn't even know people in Boston.
(17:42):
She stays in London. She leaves behind two sisters, fifteen
and seven. I just want justice for my daughter, and
I want it now. I want some to say her name,
Jakaia Lewis.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, well we will say her name. I assure you that.
So she was your oldest child, I.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Assume yes, my firstborn.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah, my best friend, my world.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
What what what did she ever talk to you about?
What what her hopes and dreams and aspirations were. Did
she uh? Did did she ever? And again, when you're
eighteen years old, maybe most eighteen year olds don't think
about that. But I just wanted to give you a
chance to help our audience get to know your daughter
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
She was herself. She was into beauty. She loves to
do here, she herself where she was just Kaya like
the fashion de Stio, like the outside, the music. She likes,
the actors. You like to dance, she likes sports. Yeah, Kaya,
she could do ten backflips at once like Chica.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, we have. You know, Reverend Peterson with us has
been on our show before. Uh, and I.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Know that that he is really trying to raise the
You know what happens is these young kids are killed
and people forget them and they become a statistic.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And I don't want them to become a statistic. We're
gonna talk later on a little bit about the little
boy Lens Joseph, who was killed killed by by the
bus that he had just gotten off of. And you know,
there's been no action on that to the best of
(19:41):
my knowledge. Reverend Peterson will know it better than I do,
but I want to find out. You know, we can't
forget the names of these children. Uh. And I say children,
I mean your daughter is she's a teenager, but young
people who are cut down before their life even even starts.
So I got to take a break for news. Will
(20:02):
you stay with us for a couple more minutes and
we'll come back to you right after the news with
Reverend Peterson. Is that okay with you?
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yes, thanks, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Stay right there, Reverend, stay right there. We've got a
news break and we'll be back right after that. We
have other phone calls. The only lines that are open
right now are six one seven nine three one ten thirty.
If you'd like to get on board six one, seven
nine three ten thirty. I have other callers that we
will talk to after we talk with Zekaia's mom, Rahem
(20:34):
Grayson uh and Reverend Peterson right after the news break.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Back after this, it's Night Side with Dan Ray on
w Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
We're talking about the loss of many lives in one
section of Boston. With us is Reverend Kevin Peterson in
the New Democracy Coalition joining us on the phone is
the mom of the latest UH murder victim, Jakiah Lewis.
Jakiah was shot on October eleventh. She was doing nothing wrong.
(21:10):
She was you know, what some might call collateral damage
or whatever phrase someone wants to use. But her life
was taken from her, and her life was taken from
her mom, Raheema, Obviously you've been living with this nightmare
now since October eleventh. Can you describe to my audience
(21:34):
how how you can ever get past this? I mean,
I have no clue how you could possibly even get
out of bed in the morning or or even face
the day under these circumstances. How I guess my question
is you must still be in a in a state
(21:55):
of shock. So I'm trying to ask questions that that
that our general and I don't want to I'm not
trying to pry. But yes, God love you. I hope
that you're a person of faith.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I know reference.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
I had to go up and back and forth to
the hospital. It was hard seeing my baby like it
was hard. I'm telling me that she may not recover,
she may never wake up, she might have to have
a breathing too for the rest of my life. Yeah,
and I hold on to my faith. And a week
(22:31):
went by, they tell me she's not there. I have faith.
Another week go by, my baby was not brain dead
and she was still breathing. Yeah, so I donated my
baby organ. She saved a life, said, three lives. But
(22:55):
it's just a lot. Did I deal with.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Well? I can'd of imagine what those decisions must have been,
but obviously you have. You have been through something that
no mom, no parent should should ever be through. And
I pledge to you that we will try to keep
this issue alive and talk with Reverend Peterson about it.
(23:21):
But please stay strong. For your younger daughters. I'm sure
that this has changed their lives forever, but you know,
just stay I thank you for just go ahead. I
didn't mean to or please go ahead.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
The damage is done, my family, The damage is done.
We're grieving. Anything that I do from this point on
is a part of my hearing. The damage is done.
This is my second child. I'm getting ready to bury.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Raheema. Please stay strong. Hopefully your story has reached a
lot of people tonight. Thank you for having the courage
to even pick up the telephone, never mind talk with
us tonight. You're selling an amazing mom.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
That's all I do is take care of my kids.
My daughter showed me how she so. Now from now on,
I'm going to show how so.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
And I am that a lot of my listeners will
say a prayer for you and your daughters. What are
you the daughters of your younger children? What are their
first names?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Janaiah and Jah.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
They're blessed to have you as a mom. Raheema, thank
you for your time tonight.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
You're very welcome. You're very welcome. Good night, Reverend. I'm speechless,
uh and I'm not often speechless how she could have
the courage to come in and uh uh and and
pick up the phone and talk with us tonight after
what she's been true and anyone who who wasn't reached
(25:00):
by what she had to say, they must have a
heart of stone, you know.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And it's hard to summon words that capture the grief
of these mothers and these families. Over the last three years,
I've gone to the crime scenes. I've seen the blood
on the streets, and I've seen families greeting and crying
out for justice. As Rahima Grace is crying out for justice.
(25:29):
I do want to put a point on this before
you go to callers that Miss Grayson's daughter died. Finally
last Friday, Dan. On this past Friday, uh, there was
a double shooting on Standard Street in Mattapan. The day
after that, which is day before yesterday, there was just
(25:51):
another shooting in Matapan. Yesterday there was a stabbing murder
in Madipan. All this within the context of what we
call the murder triangle.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
UH.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
So for for those city officials and even if those
in our community who who remain it seems willfully to
be oblivious to the carnage that's happening within the community
and how that carnage is impacting uh, not just the
individual families, but an entire community in terms of the
(26:23):
collective grief and trauma, but also in terms of public safety.
If we in our community, in my community do not
come out and service the first line of defense, then
we allow murderers to go free. That's a tragedy. We
have to address it. But again that we put as
(26:44):
much pressure on the City of Boston who was supposed
to provide public safety, notwithstanding race or geography or class,
they're not doing the job. So I if blame was
to be direct to do any one. And today it
would be the city of Boston and Mayor Woo in particular,
and Commissioner Cox, who ironically is a black man who
(27:06):
grew up in the triangle, grew up in the murder triangle. Uh,
and for dared not to be any visible presence by
the city and by by the city in particular the
police commissioner in terms of dressing by addressing by name
the murder triangle as the number one crisis in our city.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Then uh, they must be criticized by failures.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Well, we will, we will continue to focus on this.
I want to get to a couple of more calls,
a few more callers before the end of the hour. Reference.
But so just stay with me. At this point people
probably will want to talk to you and ask you questions.
Let me go to Steve in Cambridge. Steve, welcome back
to Night's side. Reverend. This is one of my more
thoughtful callers. He always he's he's a he's a very
(27:52):
interesting individual, and he very smart and but has that
has a big heart.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Steve Dan, thank you. That's very kind of you, Reverend Peterson.
Chicago has a much worse crime rate, particularly in the
black population than Boston, I believe, and the president UH
(28:19):
sent the National Guard. UH is that something you approve of?
Speaker 3 (28:26):
I would approve of it if if that, if the situation,
the crisis in Boston persist, I would be h more satisfied.
If tomorrow UH mayor and warn the Commissioner came out
and and UH embrace this identified crisis as an important
failure agenda item in terms of public policy with regard
(28:49):
to policing tomorrow, if it comes to the black community
deploying its own of forms of protection UH, surveillance, vigilance.
If it comes to the point that we may have
to collect uh a a bounty from the black community
(29:10):
to to to at least the rest of particularly Jakiah UH,
then so be it. UH. We're not left with many alternatives.
If the if the city of Boston turns A turns
away from this as a as a as a major
UH issue UH and unfortunately they have so calling from
(29:31):
the National Guards is not with that. It is not
outside of my attention in terms of leading to solutions.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
A hard question, why is it that there are so
many young black men who seem intent on killing other,
mostly male young blacks, UH.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
You know, this is is a very complex response to that.
Some of it, most of it, I would say, has
to do with UH environments that they're are raised in UH,
some of which are connected to the their socio economic status.
I would suggest that most of these young black men
(30:20):
who encounter both gangs and are are involved, who are
the victims of violence, are are poor, lacking, unemployed, lacking employment,
lacking in full robust education. So there are institutional UH
stumbling blocks, are barriers that prevent their active, robust engagement
(30:43):
in civic life that is on the positive side. So
they're led to UH or they're led into situations where
they act out violently UH and that leads to death.
We also have to be the cognizant of the the
UH how the cultural institutions within the Black community are
(31:05):
responding to this. Our black churches, for example, in terms
of this issue of violence, UH has not been collectively
have not been collectively engaged in focus and UH directing
their actions in a very conscious, everyday way on this
issue of violence and and what happens to our young
(31:25):
black men as they move from prepubessence to UH to
their teenage years where much of this violence begins to occur.
So it's a very complexish complexia. But nothing but but
it has nothing to do I want to I want
to be clear, and it has nothing to do with
a certain strands genetically or biologically within the black community
(31:50):
where they are deemed specifically immoral.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
Last question, last question, reverend, and I'm sure you've heard
this before. Does ingle parent households have a factor in that?
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yes? Unfortunately, yes.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
All right, Well, good luck, and I wish you the
very best. Thank you for answering my questions.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
See, thank you for your interest. I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
Thank you, Thank you. Dan.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Good take quick break. I've got more calls coming, reverend,
so let's let's get to the commercials and then we'll
be right back. I believe we also are going to
speak with an aunt of this murder victim. And by
the way, I believe that we have now exceeded the
number of murders that this city had in twenty twenty four.
(32:37):
That is not the sort of number we want to exceed, ever,
because one one death is one too many in my opinion.
Back with night's I with my guest, Reverend Kevin Peterson
of the New Democracy Coalition.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
My guests is Reverend Kevin Peterson, the New Democracy coal
talking about an unacceptable murder rate in parts of Boston.
Let me go next to Sue and Mendon, Massachusetts. Sue
appreciate you taking the time to call from Menden. Go
right ahead. You're on with Reverend Kevin Peterson.
Speaker 7 (33:16):
Good evening, Reverend and Dan. I'm hoping that I can
give some help in this situation. As you know, many
cities have pockets of crime that that's nothing new, And
in Fresno, where I'm from, they took a model from
(33:37):
San Diego called Priority oriented policing. The mayor and the
police chief got together and handpicked police unit individuals to
form a POP team, and then that POP team went
out and investigated. They identified the criminal l within these
(34:02):
pockets of crime, and they researched it enough so that
they knew what other agencies they could get involved to
help to apprehend and to prosecute these folks and get
them out of the community. So whether they were behind
(34:23):
in their rent or they hadn't paid their taxes, they
did the research to then get these other agencies involved
in the arrest and conviction. Then once the criminal elements
were taken out of the community, there are those people
who were on the fringe who were being influenced by
(34:45):
the criminal elements but weren't as hardened as the original criminals,
and so they would set up like an apartment within
a complex, for example. They would get at the apartment
manager or the owner to turn that into a community
(35:05):
resource area for the people living in that near assentity.
And then one of the officers within the POP team
was a liaison with local churches. They would go out
and talk about the program to the churches and get
a church to sponsor one of these these resource centers,
(35:27):
and the people from the church would donate things like
computers and televisions and games and things to put in
this apartment where the people could come together and form community.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
That all sounds great, and maybe a reverend get in
touch with some folks who said, that's in San Diego.
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Huh, the original was in San Diego, and then Fresno
also adopted it.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So I have to grab one of the calls because
the the the aunt of this young murder victim is
on the line, so I'd like to get to her
before the Denal Doogue News. But thank you for your
for your suggestions. Those are all good ones.
Speaker 7 (36:12):
Thank you, good night, good night.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Uh let me go to Erica in Dorchester. Erica, this
is you're the aunt of this young eighteen year old victim. Correct, Yeah, yeah,
you're right ahead.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
She's not a victim. Say her name, Hi is a
survivor victim.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
We've said her name repeatedly tonight, and you have my
word that it would be said many times in this program.
That's why I'm doing this program tonight with Reverend Peterson.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
Thanks. What I want to speak on about is Michael
Cox and Mayor Wounds. I see them on the news
all the time when they're shooters in Dorchester Roxbury matter pans.
They are there when this happened to my niece, they
weren't there. Didn't not step up to speak up for
my niece. Mayo Wool attended the mom's graduation. We graduated together.
(37:04):
Mayo Woo was there. This happened to Hikaya. She did
not speak up. Michael Cox, nobody was there. The city
got to do better as far as all these crimes
that are happening in the streets, and I blame it
on the parent. The parents are not maintaining their kids.
Whatever the kids seem growing up as little kids, that's
(37:24):
what they're doing as as adults. I don't know how
they get in a hold of these guns where they're
coming from, but the streets got Boston has to do better.
The police department has to do better to figure out
where these guns are coming from. Takaya was an eighteen
year old little girl. Her mom kept her home all
the time. You know she wants she She just turned
eighteen four months ago. You know, her mom tried to
(37:45):
give her a little bit of freedom. You know the streets,
the guys say, the street mayor woo claims that these
streets are safe. If it was safe, none of this
would have never happened. Chikaia was an innocent little girl
who accidentally got hurt in these streets. We need their help.
As far as the police department, all they can tell
the mom is everything's going in the right direction. She
needs more information, She needs more than that. Something should
(38:08):
have been done a long time ago. When this first happened,
a month ago, a week later, they should have been
on it just for us. The only thing we can
hear is always going in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Well, Erica, I appreciate your calling. I hear in your
voice the anger, the justified anger that your family has endured.
And Jakaiah's name will be mentioned in this program many
times the weeks and months ahead, just as I've mentioned
Lens Joseph's name, the little boy who was run over
by the bus on April twenty eighth of this year,
(38:44):
and there's still no report from the city, no arrests,
no indict Well, I think sometimes sometimes I think the
city thinks that over time people will forget. I'm not
going to forget. I'm not going to forget lend Joseph
lends Joseph's name, and I certainly am not going to
(39:07):
get your name or Raheem's name either. I want you,
I want you.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
To will not be slept under the rocks. Jahaia was
an innocent little girl streets. A lot of kids are
losing their lives out here in the streets.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
The city of Bostor have to come up with a plan.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
I got to do better, yep, Erica, thank you. I
wish I could have got you one a little earlier,
but I thank you for your time tonight and Uh,
I promise you my sister.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
And your prayers. She are screeving, she's hurting, and she's
really really hurt, and she's trying to be as strong
as she can. But this is really, really, really hard
on us.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
It's unimaginable what your sister and two and and also
what you have now have to experience. So our thoughts
in PRIs are clearly with you, and I will go
to this topic as often as I have to.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
You have my okay.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
We need justice and we need it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Now.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
Say her name, say her name. Say her names are
Kaya Lewis.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
All right, Eric, we got thank you, Thank you, good night, Reverend.
I got a couple of other calls. You want to
stick with me.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Into the next hour for absolute absolutely.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Let me do. Let me do that. I wanted to
get Eric in, so let me take a break. If
someone anyone else wants to join us, I'll be happy
to talk about this and we can say her name
more often. Six one seven, two, five, four, ten thirty.
I got a couple of lines there and six one
seven nine three thirty. You've heard the pain. Uh, let's try.
Let us try uh to give this family some hope, Reverend,
(40:39):
give us five minutes. We'll be right back with you. Okay,
you can stretch your legs and get a glass of water.
Back on Night Side with Reverend Kevin Peterson right after
this
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