Wednesday Webcast: Spotlight on Gun Violence Episode

Usually we use the Wednesday Webcast to listen to local podcasts and give our opinion on them in the form of a review and rating. This week, Bostonist thought we would take a break to mention one particular episode of a podcast that is produced on the other side of the Atlantic.

The story begins with the murder of Bobby Mendes in Boston back in 1995. Isaura Mendes lost her son and Alex Mendes lost his brother. Isaura Mendes, active in promoting awareness of the issues surrounding violence, recently made a trip to Birmingham, England with her son Alex. Both Alex and his mother Isaura spoke to the young people of Birmingham about gun violence. This is how they honored Bobby's memory.

Unfortunately, soon after returning back to Boston, Alex was fatally shot. This came just hours after Luis DeSouto was killed; a victim of gun violence as well. In fact, anyone who has watched the local news or read the local newspapers knows that Boston has seen an alarming rise in shooting incidents. The after-shock of this violence wasn't felt only in Dorchester (the neighborhood where this occurred), or in Boston, but made its way all the way to Birmingham and touched all those whom were fortunate enough to meet Alex.

The Grassroots Channel, a podcast which tells the stories of ordinary people who decide to change the world around them, began to tell the story of Curio City which acts as a place where artists get together to produce art. While speaking to one of the community artists, Simon Walker, the Grassroots Channel came across the story of Isaura and Alex's visit and the impact it's had on the people in the community.

This is one of the main reasons why Bostonist enjoys listening to podcasts over traditional broadcast radio. The content is often unexpected, and quite often more personal. There are interesting people out there telling interesting stories, all you need to do is find them. And, hopefully, through the Wednesday Webcast Bostonist can make that search much easier.

To learn more:
-Grassroots Channel, It Shouldn't Be So Common, Wed May 17 2006
-->Listen to episode
-The Dorchester Reporter article on the incident
-Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

Post contributed by Colin Rego. He can also be found at BostonGeek where you'll find more of his musings in both text and webcast form.