鈥楢 deeper sense鈥�: In one interview, he found the story at the heart of a story
A new writer鈥檚 reporting put him face to face with a mother whose son had been lost to gun violence. For this episode, he worked with a producer to offer an audio annotation of the interview that informed his report, and that illustrated the mother鈥檚 strength and agency.
In 2022, Linda Smith lost her son, Dre鈥檚haun Johnson, to gun violence.听
She鈥檚 still making sense of what happened to her and her family. Through a lengthy interview, Ms. Smith gave me the privilege of a window into her thinking. That helped inform my story on Purpose Over Pain, a Chicago-based organization that supports people who have had experiences like hers.听
I met Ms. Smith in Boston. She had just participated in The Gun Violence Memorial Project, which Purpose Over Pain helped create. The traveling memorial features personal objects contributed by the loved ones of people lost to shootings. But I couldn鈥檛 fit much of her story into my report. So I suggested a special episode of our 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� podcast that I hope offers a deeper sense of how she moves through the world.听
I was so moved by Ms. Smith鈥檚 generosity and warmth, her agency and love. My aim was to illustrate not just her experience of grief, but also a little more of who she is, and how she has stayed resilient.
Show notes
Here鈥檚 a link to the story that Jacob wrote based in part on this interview.
You can find all of Jacob鈥檚 stories on his bio page.听
Episode transcript
Mackenzie Farkus: Hi, I鈥檓 Mackenzie Farkus, a producer here on the Monitor鈥檚 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� podcast.
This week鈥檚 episode is a little different. Rather than having a hosted conversation, we鈥檝e got writer Jacob Posner narrating an interview that he conducted with one of his sources for a recent story he wrote. Jacob covered a nonprofit called Purpose Over Pain, which supports those who have been affected by gun violence. The source, Linda Smith, has given him permission to use the interview in this way.
Jacob Posner: Hi, I鈥檓 the Monitor鈥檚 Jacob Posner.
It was late September when I got talked into going to an event at Boston City Hall. It was after work. I was tired and it was dark out. I knew it was the opening of a gun violence memorial, and that my best friend鈥檚 aunt had played a role in it 鈥� but that was all.
But when the night鈥檚 speakers got going, I began madly sending emails to myself with fragments of names and dates and ideas because I knew there was something really special happening. Every beat the speakers hit 鈥� turning grief into action, moving through deep sadness, healing from trauma 鈥� was personal and profound. I thought this was the perfect candidate for that special kind of Monitor story of people making a difference in their communities. It came through clearly in the name of the organization that started it all: Chicago-based Purpose Over Pain. The grassroots organization, started by two mothers who lost their sons in the early 2000s, had approached a design firm that builds memorials about creating a national gun violence memorial. The result was temporary exhibits that have been on display in Chicago, D.C., and now Boston.
At Boston City Hall, I was so struck that these two mothers, who provide grief counseling in Chicago, had brought their healing message all the way here 鈥� [beat] to people who, despite living almost a thousand miles away, had experienced the same terrible event: losing a loved one to gun violence.
I鈥檓 on 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� because I want to play you parts of an interview I did with one of the audience members, Linda Smith. She鈥檚 the mother of Dre鈥檚haun Johnson, who was shot and killed in 2022.听I found her generosity, openness, and love for kids deeply moving, but I couldn鈥檛 include everything she told me in the story I wrote. So I decided to put together an audio portrait that I hope illustrates Linda鈥檚 resilience.
I met her in Boston City Hall, and we sat near the memorial I first saw in September. It鈥檚 a house made of glass bricks, each holding objects representing someone who died by gun violence.听
To memorialize Dre鈥檚haun, Linda donated a Red Sox jersey, a chain with a small frame holding his photo, and a baby shoe he once wore. Dre鈥檚haun鈥檚 brick is housed at the Institute of Contemporary Art, or ICA, in Boston鈥檚 Seaport neighborhood 鈥� one of the three locations in the city where these memorials will be displayed until January 2025.
Linda is the kind of person who met staff photographer Melanie Stetson Freeman and me at Boston City Hall despite knowing she would have a very long ride on public transit to get there. She didn鈥檛 tell us she lived so far out 鈥� her first thought was she didn鈥檛 want us to go out of our own way. She鈥檚 also the type of person who, when I asked her how she felt seeing her son鈥檚 memorial at the ICA, told me about not wanting her grandson to stay too long so he wouldn鈥檛 be retraumatized. It would be an understatement to say she puts the needs of others before her own.
On top of that, while clearly struggling with her emotions, she opened up to me about some of the hardest moments in her life. We had a rich and deep conversation, thanks in large part to Mel taking photos for the interview. Mel is an amazing listener and journalist and I think she put both me and Linda at ease with her steady, empathetic presence.
Posner: Dre鈥檚haun, too, really liked kids, and especially liked playing with his nieces and nephews. Linda told me he wanted to be a football coach because he loved kids and his community 鈥� he could always be found in the barbershop or neighborhood restaurants.
Posner: What I really wanted to ask Linda was related to the speakers at the opening of the memorial at Boston City Hall. I could tell that participating in creating this memorial project 鈥� contributing objects, seeing their loved ones appear in it, connecting with others who had also participated 鈥� helped people heal. I wanted to figure out why, and Linda鈥檚 explanation of her activist work in Boston 鈥� like speaking at a peace walk for people who lost loved ones to gun violence 鈥� helped me understand.
Posner: Still, the grief remains.
Posner: Linda knew something was wrong the day her son died two-and-half years ago because he didn鈥檛 text or call. Usually, they were in constant touch.
Posner: Linda and her family have done so much to keep Dre鈥檚haun鈥檚 name alive. Her niece makes these chains that hold a photo of him, which the family gives out to friends who participated in the Boston Peace Walk. More importantly, it鈥檚 helped Linda鈥檚 youngest niece, who is only two-years-old and never met Dre鈥檚haun, know who he is.
Posner: Linda has made herself a force of activism. She鈥檚 been to a Crime Survivors Walk in Washington. Done the Boston Annual Mother鈥檚 Day Walk for Peace for three years. And, partly because her son loved kids, done fundraising dinners for college scholarships and given away backpacks filled with school supplies. She does all of this to keep Dre鈥檚haun鈥檚 memory alive, she told me. It鈥檚 hard, she says, 鈥渂ut we have to step forward and try to make this community and this world a better place.鈥�
I asked Linda what she hoped visitors to this memorial 鈥� visitors, maybe, who had not lost anyone to gun violence 鈥� might take away. 鈥淚 hope they take away how meaningful that memorial is,鈥� she told me, 鈥渢o people who have been through this kind of trauma.鈥�
Farkus: This special episode of 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� featuring Jacob Posner鈥檚 interview with Linda Smith, was produced by me, Mackenzie Farkus, for 海角大神. You can find the story that Jacob wrote using this and other interviews in our show notes. Sound design by Alyssa Britton, and music by Noel Flatt. Produced by 海角大神, copyright 2024. Let us know what you think of this special edition of 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� by emailing us at podcasts@csps.com.
