VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE  131
AIR DATE  07 17 2020   
TRANSCRIPT
 
  
OPEN  ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Victims of Guns
((SOT))
He died the week before our 10th anniversary.  Guns are a totally 
different type of a tool when it comes to suicide because they are so 
much more lethal. 
     ((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Fears of a Parent
((SOT))
My biggest fear is having somebody come to my door and say, “Are 
you Delvontae Harrison’s mom?  This is what happened.  
((Banner)) 
Stress of the Pandemic
((SOT))
The biggest thing is being patient, understanding that we are going 
through a very traumatic time and a crisis.  
((Animation Transition))
     ((Open Animation))


BLOCK A
((Animated Banner with Music: 
Americans and Guns
Differing Perspectives))




((PKG))  GUNS & SUICIDE  
((TRT: 7:52))
((Banner: A Way of Life))
((Reporter/Camera:  Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C.)  
((Main character:  1 female))
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
I haven't looked at these pictures forever.  This is Scott, the day that 
we bought our first home.  This is our first home in Tampa, Florida.  
Here's a picture from our wedding.  Three or four years we knew 
each other before we got married.  He died the week before our tenth 
anniversary. 
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
He did attempt with pills and alcohol and it was not successful.  My 
husband did have a handgun that he liked to use for target shooting.  
After his first suicide attempt, I did hide the gun.  
I knew it was not safe for him.  A couple of months later though, he 
was doing a lot better.  He was getting a lot of help.  He was 
improving and we were going to our family's vacation home in North 
Carolina and that's where he'd like to shoot at targets.  
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
So, he asked me for the gun back.  I didn't want to give it to him, but 
he said he just wanted to feel normal and I understood that.  I wanted 
to feel normal. I wanted everything to be back to normal.  So, I 
returned his gun to him.  He went to the mountains and shot at some 
milk jugs and after that, I lost track of it.  Truly, life was up and down 
and there was a lot going on.  He had good days and bad days and I 
completely forgot about it. 
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
On the day that he died, I was at work.  And he called me to say 
goodbye.  And I raced home and found the closet just torn apart.  And 
I knew as soon as I saw the chaos in the closet, I remembered the 
gun.  He was in his car and the police approached him and tried to 
talk him out of it.  They talked to him for quite a while, but ultimately 
he ended his life surrounded by police who were trying to help him. 
((NATS))
     Right there??
Right there, yeah.
And what kind of gun was this?
((Jim Curry, Retired Episopal Bishop)) 
This was a .22 rifle and it was part of a buyback in New Haven, 
Connecticut.  We invite people to turn their guns in and working with 
the police, we get them destroyed and then we make them into tools.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
It was a really therapeutic experience to take this hammer and beat it 
into an instrument that will create life. 
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
I came to Washington, DC from Jenkin Town, Pennsylvania, to attend 
the national vigil for all victims of gun violence. 
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
It was an opportunity to gather together with survivors of gun violence 
loss.  There were children as young as six months old.  There were 
adults.  So, as we watched these people come one by one, it just 
reinforced how broad and deep this epidemic of gun violence is.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Julia Spoor, Jennifer Lugar’s Daughter)) 
I was robbed of my childhood on September 25, 2009 when my father 
took his own life.   
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
My 18 year old daughter, Julia, was seven when her father died of 
gun suicide. 
((NATS))
((Julia Spoor, Jennifer Lugar’s Daughter)) 
I miss my dad.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
And it's really hard for me to hear her express her grief and her loss.  
I so admire her for doing it and I think she's changing hearts and 
minds and I completely encourage her to keep doing it but it's rough 
for me to listen to. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
My friends, the vigil has ended and the work begins.  Let us be 
people of power and honor with action. 
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
So, it's time to be together to express our grief and express our 
appreciation for our loved ones.  And then, it's also a time to talk 
about how we can make change so other families don't have to go 
through what we have. 
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
The next day, we hit the streets.  We went to Capitol Hill and did a 
press conference.
((NATS))
Seven years ago, I lost my seven year old brother, Daniel, in the 
Sandy Hook school shooting.  My life is changed forever.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
At the press conference, there were survivors of domestic violence, of 
street violence, of suicide, of mass school shootings.  The common 
thread between all of those is that easy access to a gun turns an 
impulse into a tragedy. 
((NATS)) 
Darien Richardson, age 25.  
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
I want red flag laws in every state.  Right now, we've got 17 states. 
This law would allow a concerned family member or law enforcement 
to temporarily remove a gun from somebody who is in crisis. 
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
My husband, Scott Spoor, was 43.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
If that red flag law had existed, I would have taken advantage of it. 
And then months later, when my husband hit a low point again, there 
wouldn't have been a gun in the house.  It's that simple. 
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
Guns are a totally different type of a tool when it comes to suicide 
because they are so much more lethal.  There's no comparison to 
other less lethal method.  This isn't just about my family.  22,000 
Americans die every year of gun suicide including 1,000 children. 
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss)) 
I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed and powerless but when you 
do start to get involved, you see that individuals can have a say in 
things.
((NATS))
((Banner:
Next time on:
Americans and Guns))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((SOT))

Where the gun debate bothers me, as a hunter, is when we are 
teaching people that guns are dangerous or that guns are something 
that you should fear to the extent that becomes the way our culture 
thinks instead of teaching them to respect them and to teach them 
how to lawfully use them.

TEASE  ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
A Reckoning
((SOT))
With the police brutality, I'm not seeing no repercussions for the same 
action that they're doing as if somebody of my color would do it. 

 
BREAK ONE                                                                                  
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                                  


BLOCK B 
 

((PKG))  Race Through the Lens of Young Black Men & Their 
Mothers 
((TRT: 08:34))
((Banner:  Mothers and Sons))
((Reporter:  Marsha James))
((Camera:  Jeff Swicord))
((Producer: Jacquelyn De Phillips))
((Map:  Bowie, Maryland)  
((Main characters:  2 males))
((Sub characters:  2 females))
((NATS:  Protesters chant))
Black lives matter!  Black lives matter!
((Lisa McDougal, Mother of Josef))
The protests, as a result of the murder of George Floyd, has been 
really, really painful to watch.  Just from the standpoint of,
((Stills Courtesy:  Lisa McDougal))
I'm the mother of three Black men and I'm the younger sister of three 
brothers.  You think that a person, humanity would put value on a 
person's life.  That's what you’ve always been taught.  That's what 
you've always taught your children.  And then to see someone 
murdered in cold blood is just, it’s heartbreaking.  It makes you angry.  
It’s a very focused agenda that you have to have as a parent of a 
Black son to make sure that they stay alive.
((Delvontae Harrison, College Student))
I think I told my mother this, but one time I was sitting in the parking 
lot at McDonald's.  We had just graduated and everything.  So, me 
and my friend wanted to celebrate.  You know, we were just all sitting 
in the parking lot, eating food and just listening to music, basically.  
So then, a police officer shined a light in the car and everything.  
Then he came to us like, ‘Do you guys have anything in here?’  And 
so, I just said, I said, ‘No.’  It wasn't about like two minutes later, six, 
seven more police cars came and came.  And they had pulled me out 
the car, pulled the other people out the car.  But later on, I realized 
that the person who fit my description, so-called, didn't even fit my 
description.  I mean, he was, he was bald.  He was like light skinned. 
((Jovon Harrison, Mother of Delvontae))
That’s just my biggest fear, is having somebody come to my door and 
say, ‘Are you Devontae Harrison's mom?  This is what happened.’ 
((Lisa McDougal, Mother of Josef))
What I worry about the most is not their actions, but the actions of 
other people.  That someone will decide that this is the day and that 
is the Black man that I'm going to target. 
((NATS:  Delvontae and Josef playing football))
All right, it’s been a minute.
((Jovon Harrison, Mother of Delvontae))
The conversations that I have with Delvontae, just the simple stuff, 
just walking in a store.  And that's why I teach him a lot about 
manners and being respectful.  You say, ‘Yes ma'am’, you say, ‘No 
ma'am’, and that goes for everybody.  It's kind of like defense 
mechanisms to keep him as this gentle giant so that he's not seen as 
somebody that's overbearing or he's a thug or when you see him, you 
instantly don't want to grab your purse or don't want to lock your door. 
((Delvontae Harrison, College Student))
The way that my mother is, she's very protective.  She always makes 
sure I keep my head on straight, makes sure I get in no trouble and I 
go through all types of protocol whether that's driving, me walking, 
me coming to the police, even my father because I am his only son.  
So, they always make sure I do the right thing. 
((Lisa McDougal, Mother of Josef))
There's no difference than what happened in Minneapolis than what 
happened on plantations in Virginia and North Carolina and Georgia 
since the founding of this country.  We have to decide as people that 
we're not going to take it anymore.  They have a right to be who they 
are, to learn how they can, to function, to drive, to walk, to run, that is 
their inalienable right.  And anybody that attacks them because of 
that is dead wrong.  To think that you may not come out of a run or a 
walk alive, but if you come out of it alive, then let that fuel your fire to 
make you want to make sure that somebody else doesn't die.  And 
that's the kind of injustice that you raise them to tackle.
((Josef McDougal, College Student))
I was fortunate to not have experienced it, but I know that it's still 
going on today.  And I know that I want to do my part any way that I 
can to end it and advocate for others.
((NATS:  Protest))
No justice, no peace.
((Josef McDougal, College Student))
Seeing all of these protests on social media is kind of like 
overwhelming because all of it is happening at once.
((Delvontae Harrison, College Student))
With the police brutality, I'm not seeing no repercussions for the same 
action that they're doing as if somebody of my color would do it. 
((Josef McDougal, College Student))
George Floyd was the final straw.  The police department needs to 
change.  I know there are petitions going around for police reforms 
and there are other things that we don't know about that need to 
change.  But as much as you want to do our part, the other 
ethnicities, other communities need to step up as well.  I know there 
are some white people that are advocating for change, but needs to 
be all of them, not some of them. 
((Lisa McDougal, Mother of Josef))
The target needs to come off of the back of the Black men in this 
country.  I don't care how many laws are passed until people have a 
change of heart in a systematic environment that breeds the kind of 
contempt that leads to racism, then I don't know how much is going to 
change, but it starts very, very young. 
((Jovon Harrison, Mother of Delvontae))
I tell him every day, ‘You're Black, but you're just as powerful as any 
other race.  There's nothing you can't do.  We have successful 
politicians that are Black.  We have inventors.  Your only limitation is 
you.’
((Delvontae Harrison, College Student))
I am really proud to be Black.  It's a lot that comes with it, of course. 
((Josef McDougal, College Student))
I am proud to be a Black man.  There's no one like us.  And we are 
only individual beings, but we are equal to them as well.  We have the 
same opportunities, the same goals, the same drive, creativity, 
everything.  We have a voice just like you do and just like everyone 
else does. 
((Lisa McDougal, Mother of Josef))
I believe the change in this country is going to come from this 
generation, the generation now that's marching, the generation that's 
graduating from college, the millennials and the generation that have 
the resources.  They have the tenacity, they have the nerve and they 
don't have fear.  They are very open in ways that the older 
generations were not so much.
((Delvontae Harrison, College Student))
I think it all starts out with the people in power.  A president should 
govern themselves as somebody who, yes, I'm a regular person just 
like you, but I still have a bigger responsibility and that's everybody.  
So, I shouldn't be spending all my time on social media when I should 
just be spending my time, okay, how do I fix certain issues in the 
world?  Like yes, homeless people.  Yes, racism.  Yes, creating 
peace with other countries so that we can have allies in certain 
situations.  And also, like helping us get out of debt and all.  All types 
of issues that even we don't know but he does. 
((Lisa McDougal, Mother of Josef))
My boys, they're frustrated that people don't see the content of their 
character, that the first thing they do is judge them by the color of 
their skin and their own insecurities.  But that goes all the way back to 
the demonization and the villainization of Black men, period.
((NATS:  Martin Luther King
((Chyron:  Martin Luther King – August 28, 1963))
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal.
((Delvontae Harrison, College Student))
It all comes down to, we have to be treated equally.  You know, that’s 
what our founding fathers, so called, wanted us to believe in and 
that's what all the activists want us to believe in too.  I do have white 
friends, you know.  I guess they traveled around so, nowadays, our 
conversations are limited, you know.  They feel as though they can't 
joke around me as much because they feel as though they are 
everything going on, one joke, I might take it the wrong way.  From 
the start, we had a mutual agreement, you know.  I know what type of 
person they are.  They know what type person I am.  So, it’s like, 
okay, we both comfortable, you know.  We both can talk and 
everything.  I know they would never cross that line because they 
wasn't grown up to be that way, but they still kind of feel, you know, 
hesitant a little bit, which is understandable. 
((Lisa McDougal, Mother of Josef))
They walk around with the world in their hand.  At the time when I 
was their age, I don't know if I would have been able to handle the 
influx of information.  So, they're already smarter than us.  We can't 
be threatened by that.  We have to empower them in order to make 
sure that when we're old, they are able to create the kind of society 
that we can live in and thrive in our old age.  We can't fear them and 
we definitely cannot control them.  We need to empower them to 
move forward and change this society because they are ready. 
((Delvontae Harrison, College Student))
Yeah, older people say we are the future.  So, it's really going to take 
all of us.  Yes, they did their part.  They set the foundation.  Now we 
got to be on top of that.  We got to actually take that farther than what 
it is, because we're the next presidents, lawyers, governors, all that.  
So, we do have to take that role and to come together and actually 
push that along, build that up. 
((Josef McDougal, College Student))
The world is changing.  Each passing year, each passing generation, 
things are different.  When it comes to us and what we're living on 
now, we, it's our turn.
 
TEASE  ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Mental Health Care
((SOT))
I think I have always been someone that people go to as a sounding 
board, as like a helper and I really enjoy it.  So, there wasn’t anything 
that specifically happened but just made me.  I’ve always wanted to 
help people.
 
BREAK TWO                                                                                 
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                                  


BLOCK C


((PKG))  MENTAL HEALTH AND COVID-19
((TRT: 3:17)
((Banner:  Self Care))
((Reporter/Camera/Producer:  Jeff Swicord))
((Map:  Washington, DC))  
((Main characters:  1 female))
((NATS))
((Danielle Blessing Taylor, Mental Health Therapist))
I wanted to be a therapist when I started going to college.  I thought I 
was going to be a teacher and then I took psychology 101.  And I 
really got fascinated by wanting to learn about people and how they 
work and why they do and say the things that they do and….
I think I have always been someone that people go to as a sounding 
board, as like a helper and I really enjoy it.  So, there wasn’t anything 
that specifically happened but just made me.  I’ve always wanted to 
help people.
((NATS))
((Danielle Blessing Taylor, Mental Health Therapist))
Everybody is working from home and getting to, some more time with 
their family.  So, the commute time that people used to have from 
work to decompress and to be able to just unplug and get away from 
all the stimulation is lost during the pandemic.  And so, people were 
experiencing a lot of stress, anxiety, a lot of difficulty trying to set 
routines in their life again.  
((NATS))
((Danielle Blessing Taylor, Mental Health Therapist))
It’s really helpful for people to set a routine in their life just like when 
they were working, they had a routine.  They would wake up at a 
specific time, exercise at a specific time, eat dinner at a specific time, 
all of those things trying to recreate that.  Also creating time where 
you are not thinking or talking about the pandemic or stress or 
anything negative for yourself and your relationship, I think is really 
helpful.  
((NATS/Music))
((Danielle Blessing Taylor, Mental Health Therapist))
So the stage that everyone’s in now is where do you go that’s safe for 
me and for my partner or whoever I am living with.  If people want to 
come into my home, you know, who should I allow?  And, should I 
wear a mask?  Shouldn’t I wear a mask?  Is the news accurate and 
what to listen to?  And so now that anxiety is ramping up.
And so, trying to find little pockets of what you can do to keep 
yourself in control of whether it be your mind and your body, 
breathing and things like that.  But then also switching gears and 
training the brain on how to think of what you can do instead of what 
you can’t do in your immediate future, in your life, in the moment.
((NATS))
((Danielle Blessing Taylor, Mental Health Therapist))
There’s a lot of financial anxiety right now.  People that have lost their 
job or who are being furloughed or who are being laid off. 
Right now, it is kind of a shock and a bit of the beginning stages.  So, 
they are not stressing too much about it.  They are just kind of taking 
it step by step.  The biggest thing is being patient, understanding that 
we are going through a really traumatic time and a crisis and also 
looking at the positives.  A lot of people are looking at, ‘Okay, so I’m 
not getting a job.  Let’s look at why that is a good thing right now.  I 
can have more time with my family I’ll never get.  I hopefully will never 
get this time again.’  And so, trying to be grateful and appreciating all 
those, the small things.
((NATS))

     ((PKG))  COVID Neighbors Unite/Teddy Bears
((TRT:  02:33)) 
((Banner:  Teddy Bears Unite))
((Reporter/Camera:  Matt Dibble))
((Adapted by:  Zdenko Novacki))
((Map:  Oakland, California))
((Main characters:  2 females;  1 male))
((Sub characters:  1 female))
((NATS))
Eight O’clock
((Susan “Bernie” Bernstein, Local Resident))
I heard about this through a posting on Nextdoor.  And a group in Mill 
Valley has been doing the sound making or the music making in the 
evenings and somebody copied a post from Marin Posting and then 
mentioned it in our community and I just love the idea.  So, I put it out 
to the block and I said, “Hey, I'm going to be out at 8 p.m. if anybody 
wants to join me.” 
((NATS))
((Susan “Bernie” Bernstein, Local Resident))
And we started with five-ish houses, maybe, right in the immediate 
vicinity.  So, I talked to my immediate neighbors and asked them to 
come join me.  And it just caught on.  It caught on quickly and started 
spreading in both directions. 
((NATS))
((Susan “Bernie” Bernstein, Local Resident))
You know, we started with clapping and I would come out and whistle 
to kind of get everybody going and then people started bringing 
drums and a clarinet and saxophone and banging on pots and pans 
and clanking lids together.
((NATS))
Get it all out.
Okay, let’s go, guys.
((Emi Hofmeister, Local Resident))
I saw people that were posting pictures of their bears in their 
windows.  Then I realized that it was a thing.  That night we put a 
bear in our window and we went and looked around the 
neighborhood to see how many bears we could find. 
((NATS))
How many bears have you found, Ivy?
Ten.
((NATS))
Ivy, when you see the bears in the windows, how does it make you 
feel? 
Happy.
((NATS))
Where is it?
There are bears everywhere in windows and it's fun looking for them, 
right? Do you like looking for bears?
Yeah.
((Brendan Moriarity, Local Resident))
I've noticed people are talking to each other more on the street and 
we've made efforts to be outside more, sitting on our steps, or we put 
a hammock up in front of our steps just so that we can see life on the 
street.  And people want to hang out and talk more now, even if it's 
from six feet. 
((NATS))
((Susan “Bernie” Bernstein, Local Resident))
People love it.  They say how much they appreciate it.  They, I think 
it's a really good sense of community coming together in the evening.  
We all know that we can end our day without, or we can kind of close 
out the evening without it. 
((NATS))
     
      
CLOSING  ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect         
 
 
((PKG))  FREE PRESS MATTERS  ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten”
“They should not be protesting our president”
“They got what they asked for”
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters


BREAK THREE                                                                   
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))               
 
 
((PKG))  FREE PRESS MATTERS  ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
We make a difference
When we unmask terror
When we explain the impossible
When we confront an uncertain future
When we give voice to the voiceless
The difference is Freedom of the Press
We are the Voice of America where
A Free Press Matters


CLOSING  ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect         
 

SHOW ENDS