June 30, 2023 • 29 mins
What's Going On: "Lettie" at People's Light, Philadelphia Police Recruitment June 30, 2023 • 29 mins Re-entry for the formerly incarcerated is difficult. For women there are additional challenges including reuniting with children who may have limited contact during the course of a prison term. This and other issues are dramatized in a powerful play "Lettie" at People's Light which is open through July 13. I speak to members of the cast including Danielle Skraastad who play the title role, Teri Lamm, who play Lettie's sister Carla, Melanye Finister, who play Lettie's halfway housemate and co-worker and Bryanna Martinez-Jiminez, how plays Lettie’s daughter Layla.
https://www.peopleslight.org/whats-on/20222023-season/lettie/
Philadelphia needs police officers speak to Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Verdell Johnson who offers some compelling information about incentives that might interest potential recruits including family sustaining salaries and outstanding medical benefits. The current window for application ends July 16.
https://joinphillypd.com/
https://www.peopleslight.org/whats-on/20222023-season/lettie/
Philadelphia needs police officers speak to Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Verdell Johnson who offers some compelling information about incentives that might interest potential recruits including family sustaining salaries and outstanding medical benefits. The current window for application ends July 16.
https://joinphillypd.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to what'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow, Philadelphia needs police
officers, and I'll be joined byPhiladelphia Police Chief Inspector Verdell Johnson, who
offers compelling information about incentives that mightinterest you. But first, in all
the work that I've done in radioand in life, I've gotten to know
(00:22):
a lot of returning citizens. Andcertainly there are so many challenges re entering
into society, and there are specialchallenges with women coming back into the world,
and that is the topic of anew play at People's Light. It
is called Letty. I have theprivilege of being joined by members of the
cast, Danielle scrasstad Terry Lamb,Valadie Finster, and Brianna Martinez Jimenez.
(00:49):
Thank you so much for joining ushere today. Danielle, let's start by
telling us about the play. I'mDanielle a Playletty, and let's see.
The play starts out with a womanwho has just been in jail prison for
seven years, and she's a reentering society. She's out two weeks.
She's in a halfway house for women. She's part of a re entry program
(01:14):
training program for welding. She wantsto reconnect with her family two children,
a boy and a girl teenagers,and her sister Carla, And she befriends
a woman in the welding program.And then my sister is married to a
man named Frank, and we watchher try to reconnect with her family that
(01:36):
she really has not seen in sevenyears. Yeah, Terry Lamb, you
play Carla Letty's sister. Carla isLetty's half sister, older half sister who
has been raising the kids with herhusband Frank exclusively well Letty was imprisoned for
seven years, but has also beena support and a care for their children
(02:00):
since they were babies. As Lettywas coming in and out of different situations
with drug addiction and with incarceration.Throughout the course of her children's lives,
Frank and Carla have been the familythat has been caretaking the children. When
the play starts, Frank and Carlaand River and Layla, which are the
(02:23):
children, have formed a pretty intheir minds, a pretty secure family unit.
And Carla's intention is to put thekids what she perceives as their needs
first right there doesn't seem to havebeen a lot of support for them as
a as a foursome, but certainlynot for how to reintegrate or how to
(02:44):
bring back in their biological mom rightright into the story. And so,
Brianna Martinez Jimenez, you play Layla, Letty's daughter. Tell us about Layla.
Layla is fourteen years old. Lettyis her biological mom, but for
most of her life, she hasseen Carla and Frank as her parents.
(03:05):
She refers to them as mom anddad. And while she does have some
fond, good memories of Letty,yeah, I don't think she really has
the same connection with Lettie since she'sbeen incarcerated and we've only well, the
kids have only been able to seeLettie twice in like seven years, and
we write letters to her. Thekids write letters to her and talk to
her in that way, but it'sstill not the same. So yeah,
(03:28):
it's kind of hard, like navigatinglike my mom and my mom mom and
my dad and dad dad. Soyeah, yeah, yeah, Okay,
we're gonna take a deeper dive intoall those things. But before we do
that, let's talk to Melody's finister. You play Letty's halfway housemate and co
worker tell us about her. Mycharacter's name is Minnie, and Letty and
(03:52):
Minnie meet at a welding program that'sbeen set up specifically to try to give
some skills to women who are comingout of prisoner and trying to reintegrate into
society. Finding a job is alwaysa big challenge, and skill building is
a whole other set of challenges.So they set up this program, and
(04:15):
they both end up in this program, meet and their relationship has some ups
and downs, but they find theirway to help each other. Daniel,
what I've heard from all of youare so many of the same issues that
many returning citizens experience. Certainly reintegratinginto society is one, but one of
(04:38):
the most maybe heartrending aspects of thisis the relationship with your family, not
to be able to connect with yourchildren only having seen them twice over the
course of your the incarceration of yourcharacter. And I wonder if you can
unpack for us, what are someof the challenges and thoughts feelings that this
(05:00):
character, Letty, must be goingthrough and trying to get back into this
life that was moving on without her. It seems like she's under the impression
that we're going to have a gradualtransition back to moving together. I'm going
to kind of conflate two things,some of my research and some of the
stuff that's in the script, whichis the little bit that I read about
(05:26):
visitors going to visit, especially youngpeople, if you're not going to hang
in there and navigate what seems avery unpleasant thing. It seems like Carol
and Frank, you know, theyhave they have a tough situation, and
really tough. They're raising two kidson a factory income and then a part
(05:50):
time ihop waitress, which I waitressa little bit, so I have a
good idea of how much income thatis, right. You know that the
challenge of families connecting during incarceration isthat even when you get to visit that
that person who's behind the walls,sometimes it might take hours to get to
(06:13):
them. Sometimes it might they mightbe in another state. But even when
they're in the same state, theexperience of visiting a prison, it's it's
not an easy thing for sure.And it could be like three o'clock to
eight o'clock on a Tuesday night andthey could be like, you know,
hours and hours away. So Lettywas alone, And I think when you're
(06:36):
alone that long that you can createsomething that is not being disagreed with because
you're alone. Right, So Lettyinvents the situation that seems secure because there's
no feedback about what is the truthand what's not right exactly why sometimes she
(06:57):
comes in. Yeah, yeah,So essentially what happens is that you create
this idea in your own mind,this dream of what you think will happen
or should happen, and of coursereality is far from it. And Carla,
having been the primary custodian of thechildren, you develop certain ideas of
(07:17):
what works and what is best forthe kids. And I wonder if you
could tell us a little more aboutCarla's thought process in terms of what she
thinks is best, because being awayfrom Letty for so long, clearly,
you know, you get to connectwith them, You get to take them
the school, you get to goto their school plays, you'd get to
do whatever parents get to do.And then all of a sudden, here's
(07:41):
this person saying, hey, I'mback, right, So that's got to
cause some conflict, correct, Yeah, I mean, the thing that's so
amazing about Boo's writing is how shehas enormous backstory, enormous justification and history
for every character, and she conveysit very efficiently in the script. Right.
(08:05):
Yes, so Carla herself was,in my way of thinking of her,
it was an abandoned child. Right. So we learned that Carla's mother,
Carla, and Letty's mom left Carlawhen she was a child to be
with Letty's father and to raise,in Carla's mind, to raise Lettie in
(08:26):
a separate family. So the ideaof being an abandoned kid to have these
two kids, who in Carla's mindare also abandoned by Letty by their mother.
Right, So she has layer uponlayer upon layer of intergenerational trauma woman
through the script. So Carla's thoughtprocess about how to protect those children is
(08:50):
incredibly primal and incredibly convoluted by bothher loyalty to those children her history with
her sister. As the play evolves, you learn more and more about how
tumultuous there Letty and Carla's relationship hasbeen, and the mistrust that I have
of Letty combined with my understanding ofwhat it feels like not to be connected
(09:15):
to your mom. Right, So, Carla is making decisions moment to moment
from different plots of trauma is sortof how I look at it, Like,
there are moments where she looks atthose two children and says you have
to yes. I say yes,you have to go. My daughter asked
me to see her mother, andI say yes. Even though up until
this point I have ignored Letty,I have manipulated Letty, I have done
(09:39):
all these different things to try tokeep It's an amazingly complicated situation and family
dynamic that Boo really lets the charactersnavigate moment to moment, and every character
does things that are shocking and seemhorrible, but then are later revealed to
becoming out to experience and understanding oftheir worldview. That makes sense. That
(10:05):
starts to make a very painful kindof sense, right. It sounds like
they're there are a lot of layersthat go into this decision making process and
shared trauma and inherited trauma. Andhere we have Layla, who is the
daughter of Letty, who has essentiallyonly known Carla as the primary mom figure,
(10:28):
and all of a sudden, here'sthis person saying, Hey, Mom's
home, come on, love menow. So how does Layla react to
all of that, Yeah, Ithink Layla because it's it's there's two kids.
It's me, I'm playing Layla,and then m Jacob who plays River,
who's my brother, and we bothhave very different relationships with Lettie.
(10:50):
I think like Layla is very kindtowards Letty and very open, and I
think Layla really wants that relationship withLetty because we spend so much time apart,
and like, I don't know whoyou are, what you've been up
to. You don't know who Iam or what you've been up to.
So I think Layla's just really wantingto catch up and also ask all these
(11:11):
questions. Another plot point in theplay is regarding like Layla's ethnicity because she's
half Puerto Rican and she never gotto meet or know her dad. When
she gets to talk with Letty andmeet up with her, it's like,
who was my dad? How areyou? What did you do? When
you? Like? Why did yougo to prison? Who am I?
Are you okay with how I seemyself? How I identify things of that
(11:37):
nature that she's maybe not as comfortabletalking to Carla and Frank about Minnie is
you're You're a character that meets Lettyat the halfway House. So as you
meet Letty, what is your relationshipto her and how do you guide her
or reject her, depending I supposeon the circumtan dances in this play and
(12:01):
in the relationship that you have withthis person who's coming in and is fresh
out of prison and is trying toget back into the world. But you
know, certainly lots of challenges areahead. Actually Many and Letty meet at
the back to work program, atthe welding program. Many, who has
(12:22):
been out a little bit longer,but who is also a little bit older
and has spent more time in prison, actually has I think some wisdom and
has maybe had to struggle and settlefor a lot of things, and has
had to grapple with the reality ofcoming out of prison and trying to reintegrate.
(12:48):
She's been in and out for twentyyears, so she's had some maybe
a little more experience with this inan out kind of thing under her belt.
Of the characteristic that I think isstrongest and mini is that of a
mother and a caretaker. And shesees Letty and I think immediately tries to
(13:09):
help to guide to mother, toshare her thoughts and wisdom, maybe Initially
it's a little much, a littlemuch for Letti, or a little much
for for me, a little muchRoletti. They do find their way to
helping one another for sure. Eventuallymini situation is that she's staying with family
(13:35):
and sort of CouchSurfing. She doesn'thave a spot to be in yet,
and Letty has has has wound upin this, you know, a place
for women who are re entering,who don't have any money. She's she's
found a spot. She's looking forsomething better maybe, but she's found a
place, and eventually Letty helps me. So I'm going to end with you,
(14:01):
Danielle, as you have inhabited thischaracter of Letty, What is it
that you walk away from this experienceof walking in the shoes of a woman
who has been through incarceration for anumber of years, trying to get back
into the world, but even moreimportantly, trying to connect with her family.
(14:22):
What is it? What is itthat you you got from it?
And what do you think audiences willget from this play? It's great writing,
it's um you know, a greatproduction of it. The actings fabulous,
the directions wonderful, the design.As a theater goer I look at
it and go, man, thisis this is an amazing show. As
an actor, it's a very gratifyingexperience when you're doing a great story in
(14:48):
the company of great artists. Assomebody who is bearing witness to this particular
part of the world, I amhonored one to really kind of be able
to now have an inkling of howdifficult that journey back is to how little
(15:09):
support really is out there. Andthree, I love Jennifer Lopez, who
is kind of the first person Imet that was working in this area who
came to talk to us the wholecast, and she said, I'm not
a reformist. I am an abolitionist, meaning, and she'll just say it
(15:31):
right out, stop incarcerating women.They are not committing crimes worthy of completely
removing them from society like this,which is an idea that had never heard
of before. But the more Iwork on this script and this little part
of the thing, the more Ireally am beginning to understand why Jennifer says
(15:54):
that, and that is a completelynew idea. It has changed me.
I am not the same person asI was when I started working on this.
Well, hopefully those who come tosee Letty which has been getting wonderful
reviews. An extraordinary drama about awoman who comes out of incarceration into the
(16:15):
world and what the challenges are notonly getting back on her feet, but
also reconnecting with her family. Itis playing at People's Light now until July
thirteenth at People's Light. If youlike more information, go to People's Light
dot org. Thanks to all ofour guests today, Danielle Scrasstad who plays
Letty, Terry Lamb who plays CarlaLetty's sister, Melanie Finister who plays Minnie,
(16:40):
Letty's halfway housemaid and co worker,and Brianna Martinez Jimenez, who plays
Leila Letty's daughter. Thank you allfor joining us here today and everyone check
it out. Letty, It's awonderful play. You're listening to what going
(17:00):
on? Have you ever wanted togo above and beyond for your community?
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(17:23):
Me a Firefighter dot org. That'smake me a Firefighter dot Org. Join
Philadelphia City council Member Kenyatta Johnson andPennsylvania State Representative Jordan Harris for the Point
Breeze Night Market Thursday, July Isix, from four to ten pm along
the twelve hundred to fourteen hundred blocksof Point Breeze Avenue in South Philly.
The night market will feature live musicalentertainment, food vendors, and a fun
(17:45):
festival atmosphere for the entire family.For more info, contact council Member Johnson's
office at two one five six eightsix three four one two. That's two
one five six eight six three fourone two. One of the most important
(18:07):
jobs in the City of Philadelphia isbeing a Philadelphia Police officer. There is
an urgent need for new recruits totell us more about that and what the
benefits are of becoming a police officerin the City of Philadelphia. We are
joined by Inspector Verdell Johnson, athirty four year veteran of the Philadelphia Police
Department. He's currently assigned as thecommanding officer for Recruit Background and Investigations Division,
(18:32):
and that involves hiring, investigation,and processing of police applicants. Thank
you so much for joining us heretoday. Good morning, how are you.
I am good. Well, letme start out by asking you this,
what inspired you to become a policeofficer? Actually would inspire me to
become a police officer. I havea different path than most people. Most
(18:52):
of my interactions with the police werenegative. So in my community, I
wanted to become a police officer soI can improve police community relations. And
so that you did. You actuallywent to community college as a nursing program
person. Yes, I'm a graduateof CCP's nursing program and I'm a registered
nurse. Yeah, that is amazing. I love that. But nevertheless,
(19:15):
you pivoted and you decided you wantedto go back and make a difference because
of experiences that you had. AndI wonder if you can talk more about
about what that means to you goingout there and doing the work that you're
doing and interacting with the public,because sometimes there is something of a negative
impression of police officers. And Iknow that that's a very small minority of
(19:38):
individuals, but that is a perceptionthat people have. Yes, for me,
I like to interact with especially toyouth. I do a lot of
things with the youth to engage thembecause oftentimes when you see the police,
it's just you see them at yourworst time. You don't see them when
things are going good. So wePhiladelphia Police Department, we try to do
(20:00):
a lot of things. We havewater, ice with a cop, coffee
with a cop, We have alot of community events because we want to
engage the people outside of you havingto call nine one one when things are
going bad. Right exactly, Well, let's talk about one of the qualifications.
What kind of background do you needin order to apply to be a
police officer? All right, Soto ay to become a Philadelphia police officer,
(20:23):
you have to be twenty years ofage, you have to have a
high school diploma r ag day,and we're looking for people that care about
the city of Philadelphica. You donot have to be a resident of the
city. That's one of those mythsthat's out there because of something happened in
twenty twenty. But that's no longerrequired. So you don't have to live
in a city. But we needpeople that care about the city, care
(20:45):
about the community, want to makethis one of the safest cities in America,
and just people of good character,honest, loyal, and just dependable.
That's what we need. Well,let's talk about the steps that you
need to take in order to apply. What step one? All right?
Step one you got to go tojoin phillypd dot com. I will repeat
(21:06):
that. Join phillypd dot com.Once you go on the website, you
apply to become a police officer.Now, once you apply, we will
reach out to you and let youknow when you will appear for our orientation.
Orientation is two phases. The firstphase is you have a reading comprehension
and a vocabulary tests. So wewill give you some things that help guide
(21:27):
you study so you can prepare forthat test. Then we have our agility
tests. We lose a lot ofpeople with that. The agility test consists
of running one point five miles threehundred meters, sit ups and push ups,
and its age and gender based.But we also prepare you for that
(21:47):
every Tuesday and Thursday, we're atthe Philadelphia Police Academy starting at four thirty.
So once you pass both of thosesteps, then you have an interview
with one of our investigators. Onceyou get the interview, then or have
a medical exam or polygraph exam.Then you'll also have a psychological exam.
Then you have to go through ourchain of command and once you pass everything,
(22:10):
you'll get a start there. You'llbe a filled off your police recruit.
The academy is about thirty nine weeksor something like nine most then you
being filled off. The police officertell us about the benefits of being a
police officer. Not to talk aboutthe suburbs, but the suburbs usually pay
a little more than we do.Right now, after five years you top
(22:30):
out at ninety thousand, but ourbenefits are top notch, top notch.
We have no copeck. When Isay copay, I'm talking we have there's
no deduction out your paycheck. Manyjobs, if you have yourself, they'll
cover you, but if you havea family, they want you to pay
two three hundred dollars of pay.We do not do that. Your medical
(22:51):
benefits are at no cost to you, no cost, so we have the
best benefits in the region. Asa Lorraine said, I'm also a nurse
and when I was working in ahospital, all the nurses used to be
like, oh, we need tomarry you because you don't pay nothing to
salary for benefits, So we havesome of the best benefits in the region.
That's great. So let's talk aboutstability. This is a job that
(23:15):
you get the job and it's notlike you're gonna get laid off, right,
non phil offic police to become aPhiladelphic police officer, we have great
room for advancement. I used toteach at the Philadelphic Police Academy. I
like to tell the recruits right now, and I told you police officers started
at ninety thousand vote. We havecivil service exams, so you can go
all the way up to chief inspectors. Chief inspectors close to two hundred thousand
(23:38):
dollars without a college degree. Iknow no profession that's going to pay you
that kind of money without a collegedegree. Now, let's talk about the
application period. Is there like awindow in which people can apply. Oh?
Yeah, we're in one of ourbiggest recruitment draws right now and it
started June the fifth is going toend July to sixteenth, So you haven't
told July to sixteen to get yourapplication in. I'd like to talk a
(24:03):
bit about you know, Philadelphia isfull of some amazing people, but some
people that maybe made a few errorsin their past and tell us more about
what people need to be aware ofwhen they're going into applying for the job.
Do you have to have an absolutelyclean record misdemeans obviously, no felonies,
But what about people's backgrounds? Allright, well, you said the
(24:26):
big thing, no felonies, that'syou're not going to be a police officer.
Another thing, if you have arestrain in order, having a restrain
in order prohibits you from carrying agun, can't carry a gun, you
can't be a police officer our state, the Philadelphia Police Department, in all
of municipal police agencies in the Commonwealthof Pennsylvania regulated by the state. So
(24:48):
if you use marijuana within one yearof getting certified, you can't be a
police officer. Certain misdemeanors and druguse will stop you. But at the
interview stage we'll let you know.But definitely, if you got a restraint
order, any felonies, you usemarijuana within a year to start, you
can't be a police officer. Whatabout citizenship is that's still something that someone
(25:15):
who may be a dreamer or someonewho I know, like in the military,
to allow people who are not citizensto enlist and then become citizens later.
Is that possible you have to bea US citizen or naturalize, So
okay, so that's still is ineffect of it. Maybe in the future
there'll be something that can open upto a possibility of someone who's like a
(25:37):
dreamer, But in the case ofright now, not so much. A
lot of folks are you have acertain perception about policing based on television because
you know, we're we are soimmersed in the media, and we know
that the reality of policing and whatyou perceive through the media, through TV
(25:57):
shows and all that sort of thing. There's a huge gap there. And
I wonder if you can talk alittle bit about perception versus reality. Well,
the perception, I'll give a bigperception. The big perception is when
police officers get it have to usedeadly for us, they could have shot
him in the arm. That's oneof the perceptions. High speed chases,
(26:18):
those things. Most I remember whenI was in a police academy, my
instructor said to me, most ofyou will not have to ever use your
firearm, and that's true. Alot of times you see a lot of
police shootings on TV. That's TV. We have over five thousand police officers.
We may have forty police shootings ina year, so when you do
(26:40):
the math, that's like one percent. So a lot of that high speed
chases all at most of your dayis interacting with people, and that's a
big thing, interacting with people,and we like our police officers to interact
in positive manners with the public.Yeah, and let's talk about diversity and
inclusion. I know the police departmentis really making an effort to be a
(27:00):
more a police department that reflects ourcommunity more. Yes, we are.
We're trying to reflect the community.You'll see my recruiters at different areas in
the city. We're being hitting likeBroaden Only, Broaden, eery Bridge,
and Pratt. So we're trying toget out in the community just so the
department can reflect the demographics of thecity. So we're at different events,
(27:22):
churches, a lot of festivals,like we were at a Done Day.
We're just trying to increase our diversity. Absolutely. Any final words before we
close. If you're interested in becominga police officer, like I said,
join phillipde dot com. We haveonce you fill in the application, we
have some things that can help youpass the reading and we always Tuesdays and
(27:45):
Thursdays at the Philadelphia Police Academy forthirty will help you pass the agility tests.
And you don't have to live ina city, so that's a false
thing. And just to let everyonealso know, if you do apply with
an eighteen months of the data hire, you do have to move into the
city of Philadelphia. So you haveto follow me on this. So eighteen
(28:06):
months you have to move into thecity. Once you get hired, three
and a half years after that youcan move back out the city. And
you have to live in a stateat Pennsylvania. You can't live in Georgy
at Delaware, but theoretically you canlive in Pittsburgh and still be a Philadelphia
That would be some commute, right, yes, but that's the rules we
have as a right now. Yeah, well, that's good to know.
(28:26):
I'm glad you clarified that one moretime. What is the website to apply
join phillypd dot com. Inspector VerdellJohnson a thirty four year veteran of the
Philadelphia Police Department. He's currently assignedas the Commanding Officer Recruit, Background and
Investigations Division. Thank you so muchfor all you do. Thank you for
your service and we appreciate it andhopefully some folks out there will hear your
(28:49):
words and be inspired to join.So thank you, thank you. You
can listen to all of today's interviewsby going to our station website and typing
in keyword. Community can also listenon the iHeartRadio app yee Words Philadelphia Community
Podcast. Follow me on Twitter andInstagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard
Morrow and I stand for service toour community and media that empowers. What
(29:12):
will you stand for? You've beenlistening to what's going on ED. Thank you
Good morning, and welcome to what'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine Balladmorrow, Philadelphia needs police
officers, and I'll be joined byPhiladelphia Police Chief Inspector Verdell Johnson, who
offers compelling information about incentives that mightinterest you. But first, in all
the work that I've done in radioand in life, I've gotten to know
(00:22):
a lot of returning citizens. Andcertainly there are so many challenges re entering
into society, and there are specialchallenges with women coming back into the world,
and that is the topic of anew play at People's Light. It
is called Letty. I have theprivilege of being joined by members of the
cast, Danielle scrasstad Terry Lamb,Valadie Finster, and Brianna Martinez Jimenez.
(00:49):
Thank you so much for joining ushere today. Danielle, let's start by
telling us about the play. I'mDanielle a Playletty, and let's see.
The play starts out with a womanwho has just been in jail prison for
seven years, and she's a reentering society. She's out two weeks.
She's in a halfway house for women. She's part of a re entry program
(01:14):
training program for welding. She wantsto reconnect with her family two children,
a boy and a girl teenagers,and her sister Carla, And she befriends
a woman in the welding program.And then my sister is married to a
man named Frank, and we watchher try to reconnect with her family that
(01:36):
she really has not seen in sevenyears. Yeah, Terry Lamb, you
play Carla Letty's sister. Carla isLetty's half sister, older half sister who
has been raising the kids with herhusband Frank exclusively well Letty was imprisoned for
seven years, but has also beena support and a care for their children
(02:00):
since they were babies. As Lettywas coming in and out of different situations
with drug addiction and with incarceration.Throughout the course of her children's lives,
Frank and Carla have been the familythat has been caretaking the children. When
the play starts, Frank and Carlaand River and Layla, which are the
(02:23):
children, have formed a pretty intheir minds, a pretty secure family unit.
And Carla's intention is to put thekids what she perceives as their needs
first right there doesn't seem to havebeen a lot of support for them as
a as a foursome, but certainlynot for how to reintegrate or how to
(02:44):
bring back in their biological mom rightright into the story. And so,
Brianna Martinez Jimenez, you play Layla, Letty's daughter. Tell us about Layla.
Layla is fourteen years old. Lettyis her biological mom, but for
most of her life, she hasseen Carla and Frank as her parents.
(03:05):
She refers to them as mom anddad. And while she does have some
fond, good memories of Letty,yeah, I don't think she really has
the same connection with Lettie since she'sbeen incarcerated and we've only well, the
kids have only been able to seeLettie twice in like seven years, and
we write letters to her. Thekids write letters to her and talk to
her in that way, but it'sstill not the same. So yeah,
(03:28):
it's kind of hard, like navigatinglike my mom and my mom mom and
my dad and dad dad. Soyeah, yeah, yeah, Okay,
we're gonna take a deeper dive intoall those things. But before we do
that, let's talk to Melody's finister. You play Letty's halfway housemate and co
worker tell us about her. Mycharacter's name is Minnie, and Letty and
(03:52):
Minnie meet at a welding program that'sbeen set up specifically to try to give
some skills to women who are comingout of prisoner and trying to reintegrate into
society. Finding a job is alwaysa big challenge, and skill building is
a whole other set of challenges.So they set up this program, and
(04:15):
they both end up in this program, meet and their relationship has some ups
and downs, but they find theirway to help each other. Daniel,
what I've heard from all of youare so many of the same issues that
many returning citizens experience. Certainly reintegratinginto society is one, but one of
(04:38):
the most maybe heartrending aspects of thisis the relationship with your family, not
to be able to connect with yourchildren only having seen them twice over the
course of your the incarceration of yourcharacter. And I wonder if you can
unpack for us, what are someof the challenges and thoughts feelings that this
(05:00):
character, Letty, must be goingthrough and trying to get back into this
life that was moving on without her. It seems like she's under the impression
that we're going to have a gradualtransition back to moving together. I'm going
to kind of conflate two things,some of my research and some of the
stuff that's in the script, whichis the little bit that I read about
(05:26):
visitors going to visit, especially youngpeople, if you're not going to hang
in there and navigate what seems avery unpleasant thing. It seems like Carol
and Frank, you know, theyhave they have a tough situation, and
really tough. They're raising two kidson a factory income and then a part
(05:50):
time ihop waitress, which I waitressa little bit, so I have a
good idea of how much income thatis, right. You know that the
challenge of families connecting during incarceration isthat even when you get to visit that
that person who's behind the walls,sometimes it might take hours to get to
(06:13):
them. Sometimes it might they mightbe in another state. But even when
they're in the same state, theexperience of visiting a prison, it's it's
not an easy thing for sure.And it could be like three o'clock to
eight o'clock on a Tuesday night andthey could be like, you know,
hours and hours away. So Lettywas alone, And I think when you're
(06:36):
alone that long that you can createsomething that is not being disagreed with because
you're alone. Right, So Lettyinvents the situation that seems secure because there's
no feedback about what is the truthand what's not right exactly why sometimes she
(06:57):
comes in. Yeah, yeah,So essentially what happens is that you create
this idea in your own mind,this dream of what you think will happen
or should happen, and of coursereality is far from it. And Carla,
having been the primary custodian of thechildren, you develop certain ideas of
(07:17):
what works and what is best forthe kids. And I wonder if you
could tell us a little more aboutCarla's thought process in terms of what she
thinks is best, because being awayfrom Letty for so long, clearly,
you know, you get to connectwith them, You get to take them
the school, you get to goto their school plays, you'd get to
do whatever parents get to do.And then all of a sudden, here's
(07:41):
this person saying, hey, I'mback, right, So that's got to
cause some conflict, correct, Yeah, I mean, the thing that's so
amazing about Boo's writing is how shehas enormous backstory, enormous justification and history
for every character, and she conveysit very efficiently in the script. Right.
(08:05):
Yes, so Carla herself was,in my way of thinking of her,
it was an abandoned child. Right. So we learned that Carla's mother,
Carla, and Letty's mom left Carlawhen she was a child to be
with Letty's father and to raise,in Carla's mind, to raise Lettie in
(08:26):
a separate family. So the ideaof being an abandoned kid to have these
two kids, who in Carla's mindare also abandoned by Letty by their mother.
Right, So she has layer uponlayer upon layer of intergenerational trauma woman
through the script. So Carla's thoughtprocess about how to protect those children is
(08:50):
incredibly primal and incredibly convoluted by bothher loyalty to those children her history with
her sister. As the play evolves, you learn more and more about how
tumultuous there Letty and Carla's relationship hasbeen, and the mistrust that I have
of Letty combined with my understanding ofwhat it feels like not to be connected
(09:15):
to your mom. Right, So, Carla is making decisions moment to moment
from different plots of trauma is sortof how I look at it, Like,
there are moments where she looks atthose two children and says you have
to yes. I say yes,you have to go. My daughter asked
me to see her mother, andI say yes. Even though up until
this point I have ignored Letty,I have manipulated Letty, I have done
(09:39):
all these different things to try tokeep It's an amazingly complicated situation and family
dynamic that Boo really lets the charactersnavigate moment to moment, and every character
does things that are shocking and seemhorrible, but then are later revealed to
becoming out to experience and understanding oftheir worldview. That makes sense. That
(10:05):
starts to make a very painful kindof sense, right. It sounds like
they're there are a lot of layersthat go into this decision making process and
shared trauma and inherited trauma. Andhere we have Layla, who is the
daughter of Letty, who has essentiallyonly known Carla as the primary mom figure,
(10:28):
and all of a sudden, here'sthis person saying, Hey, Mom's
home, come on, love menow. So how does Layla react to
all of that, Yeah, Ithink Layla because it's it's there's two kids.
It's me, I'm playing Layla,and then m Jacob who plays River,
who's my brother, and we bothhave very different relationships with Lettie.
(10:50):
I think like Layla is very kindtowards Letty and very open, and I
think Layla really wants that relationship withLetty because we spend so much time apart,
and like, I don't know whoyou are, what you've been up
to. You don't know who Iam or what you've been up to.
So I think Layla's just really wantingto catch up and also ask all these
(11:11):
questions. Another plot point in theplay is regarding like Layla's ethnicity because she's
half Puerto Rican and she never gotto meet or know her dad. When
she gets to talk with Letty andmeet up with her, it's like,
who was my dad? How areyou? What did you do? When
you? Like? Why did yougo to prison? Who am I?
Are you okay with how I seemyself? How I identify things of that
(11:37):
nature that she's maybe not as comfortabletalking to Carla and Frank about Minnie is
you're You're a character that meets Lettyat the halfway House. So as you
meet Letty, what is your relationshipto her and how do you guide her
or reject her, depending I supposeon the circumtan dances in this play and
(12:01):
in the relationship that you have withthis person who's coming in and is fresh
out of prison and is trying toget back into the world. But you
know, certainly lots of challenges areahead. Actually Many and Letty meet at
the back to work program, atthe welding program. Many, who has
(12:22):
been out a little bit longer,but who is also a little bit older
and has spent more time in prison, actually has I think some wisdom and
has maybe had to struggle and settlefor a lot of things, and has
had to grapple with the reality ofcoming out of prison and trying to reintegrate.
(12:48):
She's been in and out for twentyyears, so she's had some maybe
a little more experience with this inan out kind of thing under her belt.
Of the characteristic that I think isstrongest and mini is that of a
mother and a caretaker. And shesees Letty and I think immediately tries to
(13:09):
help to guide to mother, toshare her thoughts and wisdom, maybe Initially
it's a little much, a littlemuch for Letti, or a little much
for for me, a little muchRoletti. They do find their way to
helping one another for sure. Eventuallymini situation is that she's staying with family
(13:35):
and sort of CouchSurfing. She doesn'thave a spot to be in yet,
and Letty has has has wound upin this, you know, a place
for women who are re entering,who don't have any money. She's she's
found a spot. She's looking forsomething better maybe, but she's found a
place, and eventually Letty helps me. So I'm going to end with you,
(14:01):
Danielle, as you have inhabited thischaracter of Letty, What is it
that you walk away from this experienceof walking in the shoes of a woman
who has been through incarceration for anumber of years, trying to get back
into the world, but even moreimportantly, trying to connect with her family.
(14:22):
What is it? What is itthat you you got from it?
And what do you think audiences willget from this play? It's great writing,
it's um you know, a greatproduction of it. The actings fabulous,
the directions wonderful, the design.As a theater goer I look at
it and go, man, thisis this is an amazing show. As
an actor, it's a very gratifyingexperience when you're doing a great story in
(14:48):
the company of great artists. Assomebody who is bearing witness to this particular
part of the world, I amhonored one to really kind of be able
to now have an inkling of howdifficult that journey back is to how little
(15:09):
support really is out there. Andthree, I love Jennifer Lopez, who
is kind of the first person Imet that was working in this area who
came to talk to us the wholecast, and she said, I'm not
a reformist. I am an abolitionist, meaning, and she'll just say it
(15:31):
right out, stop incarcerating women.They are not committing crimes worthy of completely
removing them from society like this,which is an idea that had never heard
of before. But the more Iwork on this script and this little part
of the thing, the more Ireally am beginning to understand why Jennifer says
(15:54):
that, and that is a completelynew idea. It has changed me.
I am not the same person asI was when I started working on this.
Well, hopefully those who come tosee Letty which has been getting wonderful
reviews. An extraordinary drama about awoman who comes out of incarceration into the
(16:15):
world and what the challenges are notonly getting back on her feet, but
also reconnecting with her family. Itis playing at People's Light now until July
thirteenth at People's Light. If youlike more information, go to People's Light
dot org. Thanks to all ofour guests today, Danielle Scrasstad who plays
Letty, Terry Lamb who plays CarlaLetty's sister, Melanie Finister who plays Minnie,
(16:40):
Letty's halfway housemaid and co worker,and Brianna Martinez Jimenez, who plays
Leila Letty's daughter. Thank you allfor joining us here today and everyone check
it out. Letty, It's awonderful play. You're listening to what going
(17:00):
on? Have you ever wanted togo above and beyond for your community?
Volunteering for your local fire or EMSdepartment is your opportunity join a family that
will serve with you, always haveyour back, and train you to be
the best version of yourself. Asa volunteer, you will meet new people,
learn new skills, and make ameaningful impact. Learn more at make
(17:23):
Me a Firefighter dot org. That'smake me a Firefighter dot Org. Join
Philadelphia City council Member Kenyatta Johnson andPennsylvania State Representative Jordan Harris for the Point
Breeze Night Market Thursday, July Isix, from four to ten pm along
the twelve hundred to fourteen hundred blocksof Point Breeze Avenue in South Philly.
The night market will feature live musicalentertainment, food vendors, and a fun
(17:45):
festival atmosphere for the entire family.For more info, contact council Member Johnson's
office at two one five six eightsix three four one two. That's two
one five six eight six three fourone two. One of the most important
(18:07):
jobs in the City of Philadelphia isbeing a Philadelphia Police officer. There is
an urgent need for new recruits totell us more about that and what the
benefits are of becoming a police officerin the City of Philadelphia. We are
joined by Inspector Verdell Johnson, athirty four year veteran of the Philadelphia Police
Department. He's currently assigned as thecommanding officer for Recruit Background and Investigations Division,
(18:32):
and that involves hiring, investigation,and processing of police applicants. Thank
you so much for joining us heretoday. Good morning, how are you.
I am good. Well, letme start out by asking you this,
what inspired you to become a policeofficer? Actually would inspire me to
become a police officer. I havea different path than most people. Most
(18:52):
of my interactions with the police werenegative. So in my community, I
wanted to become a police officer soI can improve police community relations. And
so that you did. You actuallywent to community college as a nursing program
person. Yes, I'm a graduateof CCP's nursing program and I'm a registered
nurse. Yeah, that is amazing. I love that. But nevertheless,
(19:15):
you pivoted and you decided you wantedto go back and make a difference because
of experiences that you had. AndI wonder if you can talk more about
about what that means to you goingout there and doing the work that you're
doing and interacting with the public,because sometimes there is something of a negative
impression of police officers. And Iknow that that's a very small minority of
(19:38):
individuals, but that is a perceptionthat people have. Yes, for me,
I like to interact with especially toyouth. I do a lot of
things with the youth to engage thembecause oftentimes when you see the police,
it's just you see them at yourworst time. You don't see them when
things are going good. So wePhiladelphia Police Department, we try to do
(20:00):
a lot of things. We havewater, ice with a cop, coffee
with a cop, We have alot of community events because we want to
engage the people outside of you havingto call nine one one when things are
going bad. Right exactly, Well, let's talk about one of the qualifications.
What kind of background do you needin order to apply to be a
police officer? All right, Soto ay to become a Philadelphia police officer,
(20:23):
you have to be twenty years ofage, you have to have a
high school diploma r ag day,and we're looking for people that care about
the city of Philadelphica. You donot have to be a resident of the
city. That's one of those mythsthat's out there because of something happened in
twenty twenty. But that's no longerrequired. So you don't have to live
in a city. But we needpeople that care about the city, care
(20:45):
about the community, want to makethis one of the safest cities in America,
and just people of good character,honest, loyal, and just dependable.
That's what we need. Well,let's talk about the steps that you
need to take in order to apply. What step one? All right?
Step one you got to go tojoin phillypd dot com. I will repeat
(21:06):
that. Join phillypd dot com.Once you go on the website, you
apply to become a police officer.Now, once you apply, we will
reach out to you and let youknow when you will appear for our orientation.
Orientation is two phases. The firstphase is you have a reading comprehension
and a vocabulary tests. So wewill give you some things that help guide
(21:27):
you study so you can prepare forthat test. Then we have our agility
tests. We lose a lot ofpeople with that. The agility test consists
of running one point five miles threehundred meters, sit ups and push ups,
and its age and gender based.But we also prepare you for that
(21:47):
every Tuesday and Thursday, we're atthe Philadelphia Police Academy starting at four thirty.
So once you pass both of thosesteps, then you have an interview
with one of our investigators. Onceyou get the interview, then or have
a medical exam or polygraph exam.Then you'll also have a psychological exam.
Then you have to go through ourchain of command and once you pass everything,
(22:10):
you'll get a start there. You'llbe a filled off your police recruit.
The academy is about thirty nine weeksor something like nine most then you
being filled off. The police officertell us about the benefits of being a
police officer. Not to talk aboutthe suburbs, but the suburbs usually pay
a little more than we do.Right now, after five years you top
(22:30):
out at ninety thousand, but ourbenefits are top notch, top notch.
We have no copeck. When Isay copay, I'm talking we have there's
no deduction out your paycheck. Manyjobs, if you have yourself, they'll
cover you, but if you havea family, they want you to pay
two three hundred dollars of pay.We do not do that. Your medical
(22:51):
benefits are at no cost to you, no cost, so we have the
best benefits in the region. Asa Lorraine said, I'm also a nurse
and when I was working in ahospital, all the nurses used to be
like, oh, we need tomarry you because you don't pay nothing to
salary for benefits, So we havesome of the best benefits in the region.
That's great. So let's talk aboutstability. This is a job that
(23:15):
you get the job and it's notlike you're gonna get laid off, right,
non phil offic police to become aPhiladelphic police officer, we have great
room for advancement. I used toteach at the Philadelphic Police Academy. I
like to tell the recruits right now, and I told you police officers started
at ninety thousand vote. We havecivil service exams, so you can go
all the way up to chief inspectors. Chief inspectors close to two hundred thousand
(23:38):
dollars without a college degree. Iknow no profession that's going to pay you
that kind of money without a collegedegree. Now, let's talk about the
application period. Is there like awindow in which people can apply. Oh?
Yeah, we're in one of ourbiggest recruitment draws right now and it
started June the fifth is going toend July to sixteenth, So you haven't
told July to sixteen to get yourapplication in. I'd like to talk a
(24:03):
bit about you know, Philadelphia isfull of some amazing people, but some
people that maybe made a few errorsin their past and tell us more about
what people need to be aware ofwhen they're going into applying for the job.
Do you have to have an absolutelyclean record misdemeans obviously, no felonies,
But what about people's backgrounds? Allright, well, you said the
(24:26):
big thing, no felonies, that'syou're not going to be a police officer.
Another thing, if you have arestrain in order, having a restrain
in order prohibits you from carrying agun, can't carry a gun, you
can't be a police officer our state, the Philadelphia Police Department, in all
of municipal police agencies in the Commonwealthof Pennsylvania regulated by the state. So
(24:48):
if you use marijuana within one yearof getting certified, you can't be a
police officer. Certain misdemeanors and druguse will stop you. But at the
interview stage we'll let you know.But definitely, if you got a restraint
order, any felonies, you usemarijuana within a year to start, you
can't be a police officer. Whatabout citizenship is that's still something that someone
(25:15):
who may be a dreamer or someonewho I know, like in the military,
to allow people who are not citizensto enlist and then become citizens later.
Is that possible you have to bea US citizen or naturalize, So
okay, so that's still is ineffect of it. Maybe in the future
there'll be something that can open upto a possibility of someone who's like a
(25:37):
dreamer, But in the case ofright now, not so much. A
lot of folks are you have acertain perception about policing based on television because
you know, we're we are soimmersed in the media, and we know
that the reality of policing and whatyou perceive through the media, through TV
(25:57):
shows and all that sort of thing. There's a huge gap there. And
I wonder if you can talk alittle bit about perception versus reality. Well,
the perception, I'll give a bigperception. The big perception is when
police officers get it have to usedeadly for us, they could have shot
him in the arm. That's oneof the perceptions. High speed chases,
(26:18):
those things. Most I remember whenI was in a police academy, my
instructor said to me, most ofyou will not have to ever use your
firearm, and that's true. Alot of times you see a lot of
police shootings on TV. That's TV. We have over five thousand police officers.
We may have forty police shootings ina year, so when you do
(26:40):
the math, that's like one percent. So a lot of that high speed
chases all at most of your dayis interacting with people, and that's a
big thing, interacting with people,and we like our police officers to interact
in positive manners with the public.Yeah, and let's talk about diversity and
inclusion. I know the police departmentis really making an effort to be a
(27:00):
more a police department that reflects ourcommunity more. Yes, we are.
We're trying to reflect the community.You'll see my recruiters at different areas in
the city. We're being hitting likeBroaden Only, Broaden, eery Bridge,
and Pratt. So we're trying toget out in the community just so the
department can reflect the demographics of thecity. So we're at different events,
(27:22):
churches, a lot of festivals,like we were at a Done Day.
We're just trying to increase our diversity. Absolutely. Any final words before we
close. If you're interested in becominga police officer, like I said,
join phillipde dot com. We haveonce you fill in the application, we
have some things that can help youpass the reading and we always Tuesdays and
(27:45):
Thursdays at the Philadelphia Police Academy forthirty will help you pass the agility tests.
And you don't have to live ina city, so that's a false
thing. And just to let everyonealso know, if you do apply with
an eighteen months of the data hire, you do have to move into the
city of Philadelphia. So you haveto follow me on this. So eighteen
(28:06):
months you have to move into thecity. Once you get hired, three
and a half years after that youcan move back out the city. And
you have to live in a stateat Pennsylvania. You can't live in Georgy
at Delaware, but theoretically you canlive in Pittsburgh and still be a Philadelphia
That would be some commute, right, yes, but that's the rules we
have as a right now. Yeah, well, that's good to know.
(28:26):
I'm glad you clarified that one moretime. What is the website to apply
join phillypd dot com. Inspector VerdellJohnson a thirty four year veteran of the
Philadelphia Police Department. He's currently assignedas the Commanding Officer Recruit, Background and
Investigations Division. Thank you so muchfor all you do. Thank you for
your service and we appreciate it andhopefully some folks out there will hear your
(28:49):
words and be inspired to join.So thank you, thank you. You
can listen to all of today's interviewsby going to our station website and typing
in keyword. Community can also listenon the iHeartRadio app yee Words Philadelphia Community
Podcast. Follow me on Twitter andInstagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard
Morrow and I stand for service toour community and media that empowers. What
(29:12):
will you stand for? You've beenlistening to what's going on ED. Thank you
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