The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Facing the Numbers, Asking the Hard Questions

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

In 2023, nearly 12,300 Black Americans were victims of homicide, accounting for more than half of all U.S. homicide deaths while making up just 13.7% of the population. This ad hoc episode was prompted by the murder of Charlie Kirk and by some challenging questions from someone I respect about why the deaths of thousands of African Americans are not called out with the same urgency. In this episode, "Facing the Numbers, Asking the Hard Questions," I examine the numbers, explore why some lives spark national outrage while others pass quietly, and highlight proven solutions that communities are using to reduce violence. Silence is not an option.

when conservative commentator charler kirk was murdered yesterday it dominated the headlines political pundits and everyday people called it out they spoke with urgency they demanded accountability and they offered sympathy and solutions and they should have murder is murder loss as loss here's a hard question where's the same energy when year after year thousands of african-americans are killed in twenty twenty three alone nearly twelve thousand three hundred black men and women were victims of homicide of the united states those 53.8% of all homicide victims, even though black Americans make up only 13.7% of the population. If we can raise our voices for one, why are we not raising them for many? Welcome to People Process Progress, where we own our mind, move our body, and anchor our spirit. I'm Kevin Pinell. Today I'm stepping into a hard conversation about violence in America. I want to be clear, I'm a 51-year-old white man. I have not lived the daily reality of the disparities.

I cannot pretend to speak for those who have. But I also believe silence is not an option. My goal is to share numbers reflect on what they mean for all of us and highlight solutions that work. When I first looked at the violence police center's latest data, part of me wanted to look away. The numbers are heavy. They are heavy.

They are heartbreaking. But the other part of me thought, if I do not talk about this, If we do not, we are complicit in letting it continue. That's why I'm here today. We're going to talk about the people process and hopefully progress that can be made. Again, from the standpoint of looking at data, not living this experience. But let us start with people because every number represents one.

In 2023, the U.S. homicide victimization rate was 5.9 per 100,000 people. Now, that's down from 6.7 the year before, so that's that, some progress. But for black Americans, the rate was 21.3 per 100,000, more than six times higher than for white Americans at 3.2 per 100,000. Firearms involved in 80% of homicides, making conflicts far more deadly. The highest rates were among 18 to 24 year olds, so are young folks, young lives just starting that then end violently. Nearly 40% of homicides were committed by someone the victim knew outside their family not faceless strangers but acquaintances peers and neighbors so i looked at that the mindset for me and i guess that i would suggest for other folks

is like each of these numbers is a person right a son a daughter a brother a sister and we have to show empathy by not refusing to let the deaths be invisible right because they're not so process wise when we think about homicide we often imagine chaos or randomness but the data shows clear patterns most incidents are not about robbery or organized crime they start as arguments fueled by stress and trauma and the easy availability of guns violence clusters in certain communities were poverty disinvestment and unhealed trauma increased the risks clearance rates meaning how many murders are actually solved. We're often lower in those communities, which erodes trust and leaves cycles of violence unbroken. And process means cause and effect, right? We want to do something and something else happens. We don't want something to happen, but it still happens. So when we start to look at these patterns, we can know where to intervene. And I know there's people out there interviewing, for sure. So progress is what works? There's something called community violence

intervention. It's a program like cure violence, which uses credible messengers to mediate conflicts and connect people to resources. So like in New York, there's neighborhoods where these programs solve 14% reduction in shootings compared to similar areas. We can work on the environment where these things happen. There's a thing called broken window theory, right? Where you see the breakdown of neighborhoods and then that makes people not care. We can clean vacant lots, fix the street lighting, remove the building in the buildings. These simple changes can reduce crime and fear. And I know we could do without a few Starbucks and redirect all that money to neighborhoods that really need it. We can focus on deterrence, right? Let's look at the groups that are responsible

for most of the violence. Let's offer both accountability and real alternatives like job training or counseling. And I know not everybody wants it. But maybe if there's more options and more offerings, more people will go that route. Gun policy. This is a tough one. I'm a gun owner. I believe in gun ownership. I don't think we all need machine guns, right? I believe there should be a practical balance. If you do have a gun, that it should be safe, locked up. If you have kids in the house, it should be safe and locked up, and they should be trained on it. But there's safe storage laws and universal background checks, right, that could reduce the chance. But I think a lot of the guns that are out there, you know, people aren't getting background checks and buy them in a store, anybody.

Right. So that gun wanted America. is just, that's a tough nut to crack. I don't think we ever will, but it's something we should still look at. Trauma care, counseling, right? Kids and adults even in a lot of these areas where these crimes happen are around violence all the time that wears on you, desensitizes you.

We can provide more wraparound services or comprehensive individualized support, right, by multidisciplinary teams for individuals and families, right because no one family's needs are the same as the others we could create personal service plans the chief community living and independence right so basically have community services embedded and there are some areas like this it's all volunteering so involves a lot of trust building and there can be justice and accountability right when communities see murders investigated and solved then it grows the trust so when we talk about not solving murders and you know there's a lot of

challenges to that. I'm not saying it's easy, like, just go solve them. I have no idea. But these are just, you know, proven things from the study that it talks about that have been done in areas that have reduced violence, that have given more accountability, right? And that makes progress possible. And, you know, that while progress in slowing or reducing the homicide rate is great between years, right? There's a huge disparity that's still wide and, you know, highlights that we can do a lot more and have different perspectives and have perspectives that involve everyone of every, you know, race and creed and religion and political party and all that kind of stuff and have concern for all of us.

So there's a lot of reflection going on, I think, across a lot of different communities of various types this week and in the past few weeks. And Charlie Kirk's death was tragic and it deserved to be called out. right but another angle of that too is if if one life deserves our collective attention how much more should the 12,000 lives that are lost get right it's not about minimizing charlie's loss right it's about expanding our empathy it's about asking why the nation looks away when young black men are killed it rates six times higher than their white peers as white men i cannot claim the lived experience of those communities. I can use this platform, though, to say the silence is

unacceptable, right? I can point to the data. I can amplify proven solutions that have been implemented in communities that have a lot of violence and invite myself and all of us to care more broadly, right, not as selectively. So what do we do? I definitely don't have all the answers. But maybe some ways to starters ask our local leaders what's being done to fund and measure violence intervention programs. Like, what are we doing in our own communities, let alone looking at others? We can give support,

give our money to nonprofits in the area that provide youth mentoring, conflict mediation or trauma counseling, or volunteer and be part of that. Certainly, as I mentioned before, safe firearm storage, right? That starts at the individual weapon level. Right?

So anyone that has a weapon in their house. However you got it there, especially if you have kids, if you know somebody that can access to it, where they get it. You have to be very conscious of what you're doing there. And mostly, and this is a prompt from some of the deaths this week, Charlie Kirk's death, some prompts from other people that gave a different viewpoint. It's not that the lives of thousands go unnoticed to raise our voice with the same urgency. right we would want for our own families again I know I do not have all the answers

and I know I'm not the one living these disparities every day but it doesn't make sense to stay quiet there's clear data there's clear emotion there's clear real lives the lives are real and the solutions exist and they're not easy to put in place right but our choice collectively together in America

is whether we'll do something about it. I think if we do put people first, all people, all together, all in one human race, we find whatever that process is that helps, that helps across the board. And it's not going to be the same for everybody in every group, but we do that together, then I think we can make progress forward. And this country has in many ways, but there's still a lot of work to do, right? no big organization like this country, this entity, this thing we have that we call America, it's not perfect, never will be.

But I think we can progress forward. Got to be to everybody that's lost somebody recently, to those that will lose people. And I would just say, honestly, like I have for myself and like I try to do more and more and have in recent years is be self-reflective. Be self-reflective of who you are, what you believe, what you call out, what you don't, who you support, who you don't, why you're doing what you're doing. Don't just blindly follow it. Don't just fall prey to any biases you have, consciously or subconsciously,

and just be really objective with yourself and with others and empathetic. Godspeed, y'all.