{"id":37396,"date":"2024-12-03T14:45:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T20:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swopehealth.org\/?p=37396"},"modified":"2024-12-03T15:09:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T21:09:01","slug":"johnny-waller-jr-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swopehealth.org\/johnny-waller-jr-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"One on One with Swope Health: Johnny Waller Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Swope Health announces a new edition of its podcast, One on One with Swope Health, featuring Johnny Waller Jr., a community activist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric Wesson, founder and publisher of The Next Page KC, a newspaper focused on the Black community, hosts the show\u2019s conversations with Kansas Citians about issues of importance to the community\u2019s health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode, Waller talks about how he came to Kansas City following a period in prison in Nebraska in 2001. His lived experience includes guns, violence, and gangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cites the extraordinary amount of violence<\/a>, coupled with the lack of investment on the East side, as the city\u2019s most pressing issues. He notes the significant developments in the Riverfront, the Crossroads, and downtown \u2013 yet no development in the city\u2019s East side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He traces the root cause of the violence to poverty, lack of education, and the lack of livable wages for jobs. We struggle to address the root causes of violence and the culture of violence, and mass incarceration is not the answer, he said. In some tracts on the city\u2019s East side, the average annual household income is listed at $15,232.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to start thinking \u2013 what would people do to eat and survive? The lack of investment, people living in abandoned houses, it\u2019s a breeding ground for something to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t do a good job of tackling the real issues that contribute to violence and the culture of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waller calls on the city, businesses, private organizations, nonprofits and individuals to do more to break the cycle of failure and hold leaders accountable for the violence, poverty, and poor health outcomes in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKansas City is used to failure,\u201d he said. “That shouldn\u2019t be normal. We shouldn\u2019t normalize failure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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