Q&A with Emily Reeves from Violence Week

Emily Reeves is the host of Violence Week and former professional performer and theatre artist. She’s also an award-winning audio producer, podcaster, and storyteller based in Brooklyn, NY.

In Violence Week, she returns home to East Lansing, Michigan to unpack the rampant violence that overtook the local high school after the discovery of a gun.

In Violence Week, she returns home to East Lansing, Michigan to unpack the rampant violence that overtook the local high school after the discovery of a gun.

SO:  I think I have to get this out of the way at the jump, it took me some time to wrap my head around how to form meaningful questions to ask you about Violence Week and by extension, gun violence in America and its schools.

How did you know that you wanted to revisit and recount the story of what went down at East Lansing High School?

ER: I first heard about this controversy from my Mom and it immediately sparked my interest. After a bit of research, I realized there were a lot of questions and tensions embedded in it that might appeal to a broader audience, so I pitched the story to a radio show. I returned to my hometown with an assignment to create a 15-minute piece that was just going to outline the fundamental tension of the story: the desire to remove police in schools to improve racial equity clashing with a post-pandemic rise in violence and the fear of school shootings.

It was a really complicated topic to fit into a short piece and the more I researched and the more stones I turned over, the more my head spun with all these complex questions and the more I started worrying about fitting it all in such a short story.

Then I interviewed an old classmate of mine about this horrific incident that happened when we were in high school—he was tased by our school’s police officer two times in the chest. I never knew the full story and it was so much more complicated than I expected. The interview felt really powerful to me and I just knew that this topic deserved a deeper exploration. From there, it eventually evolved into a limited series.

SO:  Were you confronted by similar hesitations at all? How delicate or forceful did you want to be with your contribution to the open and ongoing conversations around gun violence in schools?

ER: I knew going in that it was a complex situation, but I really had no idea just how complex it would be. I didn’t have hesitations about reporting on gun violence—I specifically am passionate about telling stories about big issues, so that was exciting to me. But, I did know right off the bat that it wasn’t going to be a story where at the end I could be like, ‘okay, and here’s the solution! We solved it!’ which is always a challenge as a storyteller.

I was, however, hesitant about the racial aspects of the story because I’m white. I think that the burden of anti-racism should be on white people so it wasn’t because I was hesitant to talk about race—I believe we have to talk about it! But a lot of the stakes of this story impact students of color, so I knew I had to be incredibly intentional with my reporting. In the end, I tried to use my own experiences around race and diversity in East Lansing as an entry point into the story, but let people of color lead in the parts that most heavily focused on systemic racism.

SO:  In the first episode you touch on the notion of diversity being a pride point and a differentiator for East Lansing High School and how COVID put all of that in flux and ultimately underscored the racial inequality encoded in the school’s policy.

This is one example where equity commitments, while well-intentioned, end up wallpapering over issues that need to be seen and addressed for what they are. Can you speak to the parallels that exist outside of the school setting where efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion are also being challenged?

ER: Yeah. In many ways this story is about America’s polarization. We’ve all seen the ways that COVID and George Floyd’s murder heightened that polarization, especially when it comes to how we view racial equity. We’ve seen this play out in school settings in a lot of different ways, whether it’s book bans or fighting over critical race theory. We’ve seen it play out in workplaces as organizations made equity commitments during 2020’s protest movement, but then often haven’t lived up to those promises in the years since. And we’re also seeing this in legislation being passed across the country in a myriad of ways.

Often, we’re hearing about how conservative fears are impacting policy, but this story at my old high school was interesting to me because it was almost like the other side of that coin. The community at large supported the equity commitments that the school made that led to the removal of the School Resource Officer. The community prioritizes and values diversity and equity. But, then a gun is found at the school, and these efforts to improve racial equity clashes with this other uniquely American problem of gun violence and the fear of school shootings. It was so interesting to me.

SO:  School Resource Officers are also a uniquely polarizing concept that assumes law enforcement is the answer to violence and that equity and safety are antithetical to one another. Where do your opinions fall in the matter? Have the changed at all while creating Violence Week?

ER: It was really important to me when making Violence Week to genuinely give credit to each side of the argument. Especially because if you listen to something and the host clearly has their mind made up already, there’s not a curiosity to lead us through the story.

I think for a lot of people, it’s easy to look at the problems of policing in schools and say we should never have them. For others, it’s easy to get scared about school shootings and other violence at schools and think they’re the best solution. I don’t think there is a cut and dry answer, but I do think it’s important to look at the true impact of policing in schools and the data about school safety when making this choice, both of which I examine in the series.

However, my big takeaway was that communities should be talking about this proactively–not just when a gun is found at a school or when they see another mass shooting happen and get scared. In those moments, fear becomes the main driver in the room and that doesn’t lead to clear decision-making or long-lasting solutions.

SO:  Were there other similar incidents that you discovered throughout your research?

ER: Totally, and that was part of why I knew I had to tell this story—especially because there were a lot of local stories, but I could only find a handful of articles that talked about it as a nationwide trend.

East Lansing was just one of dozens of schools that removed their school police after George Floyd’s murder. But just like in East Lansing, gun violence, or the fear of it, has made some reconsider. For example, Denver schools removed police but after a school shooting, they brought back armed guards to the school.

SO:  A podcast about gun violence in schools is a lot to work with. Factor in racial inequities, the realities of a community’s diversity, and general socioeconomics and you’ve got a lot of contexts and a lot to unpack for listeners.

Are there aspects of what you researched and revisited that you had to keep out of Violence Week so you could stay focused?

ER: So many! It was a real challenge to figure out how to present this story in a way that was interesting and gave out the right amount of information at the right time. This story exists in the middle of a Venn Diagram of so many different issues and I wanted to give each of them their fair due without overwhelming the listener.

I cut a lot of logistics about how school policy is set because it varies from district to district and state to state, so while it’s a big part of this story, getting too much into the policy-making was a bit too heady when there were so many other aspects to explore.

I also wish I could’ve gotten even more into the history of school discipline, especially when it comes to No Child Left Behind and the era of Zero Tolerance. I also would love to explore the use of restorative justice in schools more, which is a big theme in the podcast, but again, I had to be careful about how many themes we could really get deep into in one series and there was definitely a lot more to mine there.

SO:  At one point, you uncover a pretty surprising situation that involves the doctoring of video evidence after a teasing incident at the high school. Not uncovering this undoubtedly changes the course of someone’s life pretty dramatically. How did it feel to wrap your head around this and then go onto include it in the podcast?

ER: Yeah, that was one of the most shocking things that came up during my reporting for me personally. For those who haven’t listened, I went to meet my old classmate Marcus, who was tased by our school’s police officer when we were in high school. It was a big deal back then but there are still differing takes about what happened in the community. I had heard from students that he didn’t do anything wrong, but I’d also heard that some adults at the time said that he was out of control.

When I went to meet him, I went in knowing that I was going to be hearing one side of that story. I had no idea that we would be able to watch the security camera footage and it ultimately became really important to me as a reporter, because it proved everything he had told me about what happened.

And yes, this video showed evidence that there had been some sort of tampering with the video file in a way that suggested there might have been an attempted coverup. My spidey senses as a reporter were going wild with that discovery—it was so shocking that I felt like I needed to investigate it further, but I had to pull myself back for a few reasons. It’s been so long since it happened that it would’ve been very hard to investigate, but more importantly, no one in a position of power back then still works at the school, so focusing on who may have tampered with the video wouldn’t be in service of holding people in power accountable. And I had to remind myself to focus on what matters most in Marcus’s story, which is the impact of school policing on students—not that someone maybe tried to tamper with a video file thirteen years ago, even though if that is what happened, it’s totally despicable and could’ve led to Marcus going to prison for years.

Luckily, the video file was found back then and it stopped Marcus from being convicted or being expelled. But I do hope that if people from my hometown listen to the podcast, it might have the power to expand their perspective on what happened that day.

SO:  You even make a quick reference to Serial and Sarah Koenig. Can you share how other podcasts and their creators might have influenced you and Violence Week?

ER: Yes, I mean, like so many others, I listened to Serial and it was a big moment for me as a podcast listener—it showcased what the medium could do and I fell in love with the depth of storytelling that podcasting allowed. Other big influences on me as a podcast producer have been Appearances, S-Town, Reply All, Heavyweight, Love+Radio, Ear Hustle and On the Media. A lot of those shows carry themes that I value in storytelling: analysis of big issues through specific and unique stories, an intimacy with the subjects, and sound-rich and engaging storytelling. And then I love shows that find moments for levity even in serious topics—it makes the journey more tolerable as a listener.

SO:  Name a few podcasts you’re listening to. 

ER: After listening to my podcast, someone told me about Southlake from NBC News. They described our two shows as being like companion podcasts. I’ve been listening to Southlake and totally agree—there are a lot of similar themes and it’s fascinating to listen to.

SO:  Is there a sense of hope that stems from the student advocacy that we’ve seen in the wake of everything taking place in January 2023?

ER: I have a lot of hope in young people right now. The students I talked to were in 8th or 9th grade when COVID hit, so their formative years have been really defined by unrest and isolation. They’ve been through it. But at the same time, I see a lot of young people facing these big and daunting issues like global warming and racism and gun violence, and instead of just feeling depressed or being apathetic, they’re responding with a passion for advocacy and change—that’s really exciting to me. I think Gen Z will be the generation to save the planet.

SO:  Any advice for kids who have had to deal with the effects of gun violence in school?

ER: I don’t think I’m qualified to give any real advice on this. I could say something like ‘it’s so statistically rare and it probably won’t happen to you,’ but statistics don’t have a fighting chance against a fear as visceral as a school shooting. It’s really unfair that this generation has to be afraid of that and that we live in a country with this horrifying problem.

However, I have learned from my reporting and from talking to school safety experts that the most powerful thing schools can do is make sure they have really clear plans and that everyone actually knows what to do if a crisis occurs. If you are worried about gun violence in schools, I would recommend students show up at their school board meetings and make their voices heard. Let the adults know that you expect them to do their absolute best to establish clear plans and provide lots of training for your teachers.

SO:  What’s next for you? Do you plan to revisit Violence Week down the road?

ER: If I were to do another season of Violence Week, I’d be really interested to explore more of the discipline angle. I would need to find a specific story that would allow us to engage with that topic, so I’m curious to investigate that further. I love stories that engage with big ideas and issues but that are told through a specific and complex story, so I’ll also certainly be pursuing other topics beyond gun violence and school safety that relate to that idea.

I am also really excited for the Silver Podcast Network’s next project—My Phantom Memory. It’s produced by my colleague Mark Blumberg and follows an actor who has performed in the Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera during the show’s final days. It’s been this actor’s job for over twenty years, so it’s a really interesting moment in his life and I think theatre fans will especially love the show.

Emily can be found on Twitter at @EmReeves8, follow her on LinkedIn, or on Instagram at @Reeveseee.

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