I was very pleased and excited to be called upon from Akiba Abaka, Audience Development Manager of ArtsEmerson to photograph the first campus event for the Elma Lewis Center for Civic Engagement, Learning, and Research

The Elma Lewis Center for Civic Engagement, Learning, and Research and ArtsEmerson:The World On Stage presented a panel discussion on the presence of race and class disparities in media responses to urban and suburban acts of violence. Presented in conjunction with ArtsEmerson’s presentation of Columbinus, a powerful and poignant drama based on the 1999 school shootings at Columbine High School.

The panel discussion was moderated by Kelly Bates, Esq., Founding Executive Director of the Elma Lewis Center with an introduction by Lee Pelton, President of Emerson College, who has been a national leader on the issue of gun safety. Panelists included Phillip Martin (Senior Investigative Reporter, WGBH-FM), Courtney Mark Grey (Director of Trauma Services, Boston Public Health Commission), Michael Patrick MacDonald (Author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie and Easter Rising, co-founder of Boston’s city-wide gun buyback program), Betty Shoels (Aunt of Columbine shooting victim Isaiah Shoels), and Taisha Akins (Activist).

TALK OF MEDIA AND GUN VIOLENCE by Dan O’Brien, Journalist & News Editor for Emerson College.