How one Oregon community reduced gun violence by 60%

How one Oregon community reduced gun violence by 60%

Transcript¹

Neighbors in Portland's Mt. Scott community worked together to combat rising gun violence by changing the environment rather than relying on police. Other communities are learning from their example.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Like many cities, Portland, Ore., is seeing a devastating² increase in gun violence. Last year, Portland counted the highest number of homicides in three decades. Katia Riddle³ brings us a story about one community's creative strategy to try and make the gunfire stop.

KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE⁴: For most of the nine years she's lived here, Nadine Salama's working-class neighborhood in East Portland has been peaceful. Salama is sitting on a bench in Mt. Scott Park.

NADINE SALAMA: My baby grew up here.

RIDDLE: She points to the place her daughter took her first steps. This park is the crown jewel of the neighborhood. It stretches for blocks. One-hundred-foot Douglas fir trees tower over a community center and tennis courts. But in the last year, the neighbors say, gun violence stole the park from them.

SALAMA: Right over by Hometown Pizza right there.

RIDDLE: Salama looks out across the street where many shootings happened. The gunshots, she says, became relentless⁵.

SALAMA: Five, six, seven times a month, sometimes five days in a row.

RIDDLE: One night, during a drive-by shooting, the driver lost control of his car. He crashed into a fire hydrant in front of her apartment. Her daughter witnessed the whole thing.

SALAMA: That was a moment where I was like - it felt very surreal to me. And I knew that this can't go on.

RIDDLE: Salama wasn't just worried about her own child. She saw the shooters flee the car.

SALAMA: Couldn't have been more than 16 or 17 years old. And they were so scared.

JOEL SOMMER: I was doing a Zoom⁶ call. It was, like, a Monday night at 8 p.m.

RIDDLE: Joel Sommer is a pastor⁷ at a church just down the block. He recalls the first time he heard shooting at the park.

SOMMER: And just heard popping through the window.

RIDDLE: Sommer's church is called Access Covenant⁸. Their faith is in a nonviolent Jesus.

SOMMER: Who is this person who insisted on love in the face of violence?

RIDDLE: Many in his congregation are in helping⁹ professions, like social work or medicine. It's work that they believe emulates¹⁰ the teachings of Jesus.

SOMMER: Who believed that we change the world by starting from the bottom up and that we could do it all without weapons.

RIDDLE: These neighbors agreed. Police on every street corner was not the answer to gun violence. Instead, they started asking themselves how they could create peace.

JONATHAN JAY: Community members know a lot about what this problem looks like in their neighborhood and can generate great ideas - often the best ideas.

RIDDLE: Jonathan Jay is a professor at Boston University's School of Public Health. Jay studies how factors like traffic patterns and tree cover affect gun violence. He points to a case study in Philadelphia. Residents in one neighborhood lowered gun violence when they turned abandoned lots into green spaces.

JAY: By making people feel safer in the neighborhoods, it helps restore social processes.

RIDDLE: Processes like conversation and looking out for each other - he says making small changes in the built environment can make a big difference. That's what the Mt. Scott community in Portland set out to do.

SALAMA: So the barrels are in a six-block radius¹¹ around the park.

RIDDLE: Nadine Salama gestures toward orange traffic barrels. The neighborhood worked with the city to install them. They slow traffic, which deters¹² drive-by shootings. Among many other changes, Salama points to increased lighting¹³ in the park and reclaiming¹⁴ Mt. Scott for community events.

SALAMA: It worked.

RIDDLE: Shootings have dropped in the neighborhood by more than 60%. The data is still preliminary. And Pastor Joel Sommer says the work isn't over.

SOMMER: I do think that any individual who decides to take a nonviolent approach in a moment can absolutely create peace wherever they are.

RIDDLE: Peace, he says, isn't something people are entitled to. It's something communities have to work for every day.

For NPR News, I'm Katia Riddle in Portland, Ore.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

3 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

6 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

7 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

8 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 emulates   

v.与…竞争( emulate的第三人称单数 )；努力赶上；计算机程序等仿真；模仿

参考例句：

• A device or computer program that emulates. 一种可以进行仿真的设备或计算机程序。 来自辞典例句
• Sleep Timer Emulates the time found in most TVs. 睡眠计时器模拟时发现，大多数电视。 来自互联网

11 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

12 deters   

v.阻止，制止( deter的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The filth here deters all but the invited guest. 这里污秽不堪，除非有事，外人是裹足不前的。 来自辞典例句
• Many people believe that capital punishment deters crime. 很多人相信极刑能阻止犯罪。 来自互联网

13 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

14 reclaiming   

v.开拓( reclaim的现在分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• People here are reclaiming land from the sea. 这儿的人们正在填海拓地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• How could such a man need reclaiming? 这么一个了不起的人怎么还需要别人拯救呢？ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹