>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE: On this
edition of Independent Sources-
Felons Unbound. Are communities
of color ready to deal
with a record number of prison
inmates returning to
their neighborhoods? And
Neighborhood Superheroes.
Small comic book publishers
give ethnic characters a
chance to save the day.
Those stories and more
coming up
on Independent Sources.
♪ [Theme Music] ♪
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
Welcome to Independent Sources.
Bringing you news
from New York's ethnic and
immigrant communities.
I'm Garry Pierre-Pierre.
There's been a lot of focus
lately on how America's prison
system has disproportionately
hamstrung the country's
black and Latino communities.
Now the issue is being
refocused as the justice
department prepares to release
six thousand federal inmates
by the end of October.
It's part of an effort to reduce
over crowding and roll back
some of the harsh penalties
given to nonviolent drug
offenders in the 80's and
90's. This is raising questions
as to communities readiness
to accept these felons and
curb recidivism. I spoke
with NYU professor
Nikhil Singh about
the issue.
So, Dr. Singh, the Department
of Justice is set to release
about six thousand
inmates by the end of October.
Is there going to come a time
where they pick five thousand
inmates and just say, you know,
you're free and that's it.
>>>PROF. NIKHIL PAL SINGH: My
sense of the process right
now is that at pretty much every
level of the criminal justice
system there's a move to
de-carcerate. So that's going
to be based upon people's
existing sentences and they're
going to be looking at every
way of shortening those based
upon good behavior, based
upon assessments of risk and
so on and so forth, internal
to the system. I'm not privy
to those kinds of judgments not
being a corrections official.
But I don't necessarily
have confidence that there is a
clear plan about how this is
going to unfold. I think they
have their targets, they have
their numbers and these
are being driven by all kinds
of exigencies that are
internal to the system. 
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
Sure. Do people have a reasons
to be fearful? Are
we talking about hardened
criminals or are we just
talking about people who
are you know over
sentenced?
How should the community react?
>>>PROF. NIKHIL PAL SINGH:
The bigger issue really is
how do we think about
this process and how do we
think about how we've
gotten to this point. 
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
Well answer that question.
>>>PROF. NIKHIL PAL SINGH:
Well you know we've had
the evolution of a system
of criminal punishment that
has spiraled out of control. It
has really largely replaced
the kinds of social supports
that we used to see as
essential to helping people to
make good lives. Not thirty
forty years ago we had an
understanding of crime itself
as something that was
conditioned by social causes
and if you look at the people
who are in prison you can
discern some things
very quickly about them.
Often they suffered
traumas as children,
violence as children. They grew
up in conditions of poverty.
They grew up with a lack
of educational opportunity
and social support as they
developed. As they came to
adulthood they were often
in situations where there
weren't access to good
high paying jobs or to a
pathway to greater success
and affluence so all of
those things condition a
situation in which someone
then ends up in prison.
But we tend to evaluate
this solely in terms of
whether someone committed
a crime and as a moral
individual failing.
That's our failing as a society
that we no longer examine
the causes that place people in
a situation where they
wind up inside the criminal
punishment system.
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
That's a very good point,
I agree but what's the
correction system doing to
help train these people
who that their about to release
to the general population?
Are they helping them?
Are they training them
so they can get jobs
when you come out?
>>>PROF. NIKHIL PAL SINGH: Well
see here's another dimension
really of the problem right so
we have this criminal
punishment system that grows
over the last thirty or
forty years and even as it grows
internal to that system the
supports that might help people
inside it are being removed
so you have the elimination of
college in prison programs,
the elimination of Pell
Grants, the elimination of
access to education, of
course there still some
state mandated programs
especially in New York State
where people in prison are
able to get their high school
diplomas and are mandated
to get their high school
diploma so there are some
limited opportunities and I
certainly know from the
facilities that I've
worked with, in my capacities
running a prison
education program, that
there is planning for discharge,
there's some family
reunification programs,
there some counseling
that goes on and there are
state mandated programs to help
people with issues of
drug addiction, issues of anger
and so forth. So there are
things go on within the
facility that are meant to
remediate some of the
problems that people in
prison have but in terms
of training and preparing
for life outside I would
say there isn't a great
deal beyond what I've
listed as far as I know. 
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE: Are
there community organizations
that are working and
able to help a lot of these
inmates back into communities?
>>>PROF. NIKHIL PAL SINGH: In
New York City,
in New York State there's the
Osborne Society,
the Fortune Society, there are
smaller community based
organizations like the
Center for New Leadership
in Bed Stuy. There's the
Vera Institute, there's many
nonprofits who are interested
and concerned about how
to connect people coming
out of prison with the
social services that they
need. The primary things that
people are going to need coming
out of prison are housing,
employment, they're going to
need often to reestablish
some kind of productive and
positive support network,
interpersonal network,
that's not going to pull
them back in to negative
behaviors and then in
addition to that then a pathway
to two new opportunities,
which would most logically
be through education.
In my view.
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE: Dr.
Singh, thanks for joining us.
>>>PROF. NIKHIL PAL SINGH:
Thank you very much.
My pleasure.
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
Still to come on the show-
boot came for women
dealing with domestic abuse.
Before that, Abi
Ishola has some other news.
>>>ABI ISHOLA: Thanks Garry.
Here's a look at some headlines
from New York's ethnic
and community media.
The Bronx Free Press reports on
a new residence specifically
for LGBT youth with a
history of homelessness that's
opened on Jerome
Avenue in Bedford Park.
The dwelling is called "True
Colors" where tenants pay
subsidized rent in
accordance with their income.
The residence features studio
apartments, built by the
non profit, West End
Residences. That company
previously established a
successful LGBT housing
facility in Harlem. Occupants
are offered support service
that include case management
and ongoing assistance
with every aspect on independent
living as well as a range
of additional services including
GED classes and access to
healthcare. From Sing Tao Daily-
the greater Flushing Chamber
of Commerce and Chhaya Community
Development Corporation
recently announced the launch
of "Flushing Lending Circle."
It will be a joint program
that helps new immigrants
and small business owners
get informal loans while
the established their
credit records. Chhaya Community
Corporation is a Jackson
Heights based non-profit entity
that mainly serves South
Asian immigrants.
It is the first organization
in the city to launch the
lending circle program. The
entity has already raised
$16,000 to offer zero interest
loans to new immigrants in
the circle. The Open Source
Gallery in Park Slope will
feature "Back drop",
the stories of Kurdish guerrilla
fighters told through a video
installation and photography.
Kurdish artist Savas Boyraz
and his collaborator Martin
Nordstrom came together to
tell the stories of the war
to establish a homeland
for Kurdish people. Their work
explores internal struggles
of those fighting in the
war and Boyraz's relationship
with the subjects.
Kurdistan is an area that is
not a country but a region
spread across Turkey, Iraq, Iran
and Syria. It's inhabited by
the Kurds, a group considered
to be the largest ethnic
community without its own
country. "Back drop" will be
on display at the Open Source
Gallery from now until
November 1st. That
from the South Slope.
And finally "Sheroes" is a
new exhibit that seeks to
highlight the work of
female comic creators and
their characters. The collection
of art from numerous artists
is currently on display
at La Casa Azul in East Harlem.
Regine Sawyer, an artist
herself, is the founder and
curator of Women in Comics,
NYC Collective International.
She hopes to inspire
appreciation not just for women
who work in comics but the
industry in general.
>>>REGINE SAWYER: What
we do it we go into the
community, we have
panel discussions, we do
workshops, just a full
educational series to talk
about women and comics and
how different communities
can embrace that type of
work and career.
At the marginalized community
as a whole women have
not been promoted the way
they should be in terms of
marketing and seeing their
faces so it's been quite a
road in terms of equality and
all those different things that
come with that especially in
terms of women of color.
So they don't really get out
there as much. We don't see
them as much. We see more of a
white male dominated industry.
So this is just our way of
saying, well hey we're here,
you know, we matter too and
we work really hard and we
love what we do.
>>>ABI ISHOLA: The "Sheroes"
exhibit will run through
November 22nd at La Casa
Azul bookstore. Those were just
a few headlines from the city's
ethnic and community media.
Independent Sources
will be right back.
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
Thanks for staying tuned.
Boot camp for women dealing
with domestic abuse sounds
rugged but it's actually
all about creating a safe and
nurturing environment for women
who have been brutalized
by their partners. The former
FDNY Captain Dawn Diaz is
the founder of Milagros Day
Worldwide. She uses this
boot camp as one of her
many tools to help women
through a most trying
time. Zyphus Lebrun sat
down with Diaz to learn more. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: So Dawn,
thank you very much for
being with us
today in studio. 
>>>DAWN DIAZ: Thank you
Zyphus for having me here.
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: All
right. So let's start and talk
a little bit about
what you do. You started the
Dare to Dream Program and the
Legacy Boot Camp Programs.
Tell the audience a little
bit about what those
programs are all about.
>>>DAWN DIAZ: Yeah. So
they all fall under the umbrella
of Milagros Day Worldwide, which
is a nonprofit organization
that empowers survivors
of domestic violence in a very
unique way because we are
based on leadership with the
leadership approach. And the
programs some of them are
Dare to Dream, which is a
workshop that we bring to all
different groups and
organizations just to give
an introduction of what
we do and really to get
people to start thinking that
they're worth whatever it is
that they want to have in their
lives and then the boot camp
is specifically for survivors
of domestic violence or
childhood trauma where we
take them away on a three
day retreat to have all
different types of challenges.
These would be spiritual,
emotional, physical and just
really to completely
change their life in three days.
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: So what,
why did you decide to create
this organization and have
these different programs?
>>>DAWN DIAZ: Well
Milagros in Spanish means
miracles and that's my
mom's name and my mom was
a victim of very severe
domestic violence and I
was a young girl growing
up in that environment.
And so I know how that
damages a person. And it
was just something that I
always felt like I wanted
to do something about. And
I'm very fortunate that
I'm able to actually
make that a reality. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: OK now
I want to go back to the
boot camp and you said in
three days so kind of walk
me through a little
bit. What are some of the
activities, you mentioned,
what is some of the ways
that you try to get to
these women to get them to
deal with their trauma? 
>>>DAWN DIAZ: Yes.
Well first of all. It's a
sisterhood so we begin
to create a community and
that happens from the
minute that they get on
the bus. So we actually
charter a bus from
New York City and we take
them up to the mountains
whether it's Pennsylvania
or New Jersey or Upstate
New York and have them
begin to connect with each
other as to why they
decided to take this trip.
And so that immediately
creates bonding. After that
we want to take them
away from their everyday
routine and give them
complete you know full
immersion into being,
giving themselves a break
and also giving themselves
a chance to explore. And
then we do some really
deep activities like
taking your things that
you want to leave behind
and burning them in a
ceremony and then we do a
forgiveness ceremony. We
do the flight of freedom,
which is a physical
challenge. So you know
there's really just all
kinds of ways that we have
them look at what they've
been through and where
they want to go from here.
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: Now I know
that we've done stories
on the show about domestic
violence in the past and it
seems that the issue kind of
you know it gets the hype
when something happens like
when an athlete you know
something happens to an
athlete and their spouse
and so forth. Do you think
that the consciousness
about the issue is where
it needs to be or does it flag?
Does it wax and wane?
>>>DAWN DIAZ: That's a great
question and I'm really glad
that you brought that up. You
know October is Domestic
Violence Awareness Month
among other women's issues
month and so the attention
comes up when it's the
month to observe that or
whenever there's a major
incident in the news.
And obviously we know that
this happens day in and
day out to many different
families regardless of
social status, economic,
education and so forth.
You know one statistic
that really really hits
home for me is that up to
ten million children a
year witness domestic
violence in the home. And
that is continuing that
negative legacy throughout
the generations. And so no
I don't that it's something
that has enough attention.
And also I think it doesn't
have the adequate attention.
So when I say that is
you know let's look at
something different. Let's
look at different approaches.
Right? So instead of focusing on
crisis intervention.
What's next? What happens
when the system leaves off
and that's what Milagros
Day provides is that
leadership component. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: Now
are women becoming more
comfortable coming out to
talk about you know when
they've been abused or
faced abuse in their
relationships? Do you
think, do you get the
sense that they're more
comfortable coming and
talking about these issues? 
>>>DAWN DIAZ: Well I
mean historically we have
evolved you know as a
society. I mean technology
has evolved and all of
that so looking back from
you know fifty years ago
it's definitely leaps and
bounds however there still
are, we still have a long
way to go. I feel
personally, in my
interaction with a lot of
women, you'd be surprised
and I think that women
that are more successful
and wealthy and educated
are less prone to come
forward because they feel
like they have so much
more to lose. But you know
I think that we are making
progress and I think
that if we focus on the
possibilities rather than
the problems that I think
we'd move forward a lot faster. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: So
you're thinking in the
case of the post of the
event or preparing the
women more so that how to
come forward you know and
say, hey, listen. This
is something I faced.
I feel more comfortable
dealing with that.
>>>DAWN DIAZ: Well I think
it's actually after women
have made that choice
to get out of an abusive
relationship you know
there are so many a vital
services that are
available to them now and
those all include, those all
encompass crisis intervention.
You know? So
they need to have those in
place but they definitely
need something after that.
You know so something to
fill their soul. You know?
Definitely career
counseling and financial
counseling and things like
that but also spiritual
you know fulfillment and
that's not religion it's
just like who you are in the
world and what is your role.
Like what is the
impact that you're going
to make in your community?
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: What do
you find is probably one of
the reasons, the major reasons,
that women stay in these sorts
of relationships in your
own experience with these
women that you deal with?
>>>DAWN DIAZ: Sure. You know
there's a hashtag it's called
#WhyIStayed, it's not mine
but it's something that I
encourage a lot of women to look
at, to see all of the
different reasons why. I
can say to you that you
know me as a third
generation survivor why I
stayed was because I
didn't feel that anyone
else would want to be with
me. You know? As ludicrous
as that may sound, being
intelligent, being attractive,
being educated
and all of that but a lot
of women have that low
self-worth. I mean, why
they stay, financial
reasons. Why they stay,
because they want to keep
the family unit together.
All of those things and so
the women that I work with
that's one thing that I
say to them is you know as
a child growing up in
domestic violence believe
me keeping that family
unit really is not the
best choice. And it's
a difficult decision
absolutely. And I always
say to women it's not
going to be easy. By no
means is it going to be
easy but it's
definitely worth it. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: So
for persons who may be
watching this, who may
be interested in your
program, how can they
reach out and find out
more about what
you're doing. 
>>>DAWN DIAZ: So our
website is MilagrosDay.org
and there's also a phone
number they can also call,
718-496-7050. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: All
right, well Dawn Diaz,
pleasure meeting you.
Great talking to you. 
>>>DAWN DIAZ:
Thank you so much. 
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
When we come back,
sense shattering. Augmented
reality comic books.
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
Droves of comic book fans
recently descended on the
Jacob Javits Center for
the 10th Annual New
York Comic Con. Convention
organizers say more than
one hundred sixty five
thousand people attended
the event, a far cry from
when it was confined to
one hall at the location.
Zyphus Lebrun covered the
convention and filed this
story about how smaller
publishers are trying to
ride the wave of geek chic
and bring more characters
of color to comics. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: While
comic giants D.C. promoted
the upcoming Batman verses
Superman film and Marvel
their forays into
animation and their new
line of comics, the
minnows of the industry
were hard at work selling
their stories to a curious
but cautious few. 
>>>ERIC DEAN SEATON: The
book is called Legend of
the Mantamaji and it's
a story of a shallow
conceited district
attorney of New York who
finds out he's the
last in a race called the
Mantamaji who used to
protect us from the forces
of evil. So he's the last
person you every want to
be a hero has to defend
us from an evil sorcerer
who've been resurrected
in New York City and is
posing as a religious leader. 
>>>JAIMEL HEMPHILL: I have
a comedy book coming out
called Son-Lar. It's a
buddy comedy. We have an
alien who gives this
drunken fry cook in east
LA powers and so he becomes
kind of a bumbling idiot.
So it's these two
going on adventures.
The superhero is trying to get
the best shoe deal he can
possibly get and get fine
wine and loose women and
the alien is not
having any of it. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: Jaimel
Hemphill and Eric Dean
Seaton were just two of
the small publishers at
this year's New York Comic
Con. Trying to get their
piece of the ten
percent of the sector that
independent creators like
them represent. They both
agree that it's
tough selling people on
characters that are not
Superman or Spider-Man.
But Hemphill says that's
changing as the audience
becomes more diversified.
>>>JAIMEL HEMPHILL: In my
tenure in making comics I've
noticed that the clientele
has gotten more diverse at these
cons and I think that's
helped me. When people see
characters that look
like them they want to buy them.
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN:
Diversity has become a big
buzzword in comics these
days with the success of
films like Captain
America: The Winter Soldier and
Guardians of the Galaxy.
That's legitimizing an industry
once considered too infantile.
David Brothers is the content
manager at Image Comics one of
the largest independent
publishers. He says that it's
up to small publishers to be
more experimental with their
content.
>>>DAVID BROTHERS:
It's tough to make a new
character work in
superhero comics because
people want Spider-Man,
Batman, Superman and I
can't blame them because
those are great characters
but by shifting away from
the superhero theme,
your opportunities just widen.
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: Creators
like Maryam Awan who's a
school counselor and therapist
by day are doing just that.
>>>MARYAM AWAN: I've heard
students time and again
come and say they want to
be superheroes, they want
to be Spider-Man, they
want to be Superman and
it's heartbreaking for me
to try to convince them
that that is not an
attainable roll. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: Awan's
book also wants to empower
women. It focuses on a
group of female fighters
from around the world
who are trained in various
martial arts and are on a
quest to find out why guns
have disappeared
from the earth. 
>>>MARYAM AWAN: The strength
of women is usually accented
still in this industry through
super powers and they have to
have something that's not really
attainable. So combining women
and diversity was a huge part.
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: Another huge
part for publishers like
Anthony Fletcher is to speak
to his audience on their level.
>>>ANTHONY FLETCHER: I've
noticed like with kids and
teens, adults are always
talking down to them and
here I want to embrace
their intellect and talk
up to it because we
have to trust them to make
decisions of their own,
we don't tell them what to do,
we went them to figure it out.
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: Fletcher's
creation, C2 & Posse,
features a futuristic multi
racial group of inner city
kids who are fighting an
intergalactic horde bent on
world domination. He wants
readers to have fun with his
comics and wants to
teach life lessons as well.
>>>ANTHONY FLETCHER: I
want people to be able to
see themselves in what
I'm doing especially doing
futuristic stuff. If
you're doing futuristic
stuff and you're not
representing other people
what are you telling those
people? That they're not
go be in the future?
You know, it's not real. 
>>>ZYPHUS LEBRUN: What is very
real for these publishers
is the need for continued
support from an audience that
may be more comfortable
with the formula that some
may say is more tired
and trite then tried and true.
Zyphus Lebrun,
Independent Sources.
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE: While
roving the convention halls
we also ran into an Australian
immigrant who is merging
media and creating an
application called
Augmented Reality Comics.
>>>STEWART CAMPBELL: I
designed an app that works
specifically with my book
so when you've got the app
on your iPhone or your
iPad you just point the
camera at any page and the
page comes to life with
animation and sounds. So
here you can see this
page here, just a printed page
there, and I look at it
through the app and the guy is
moving. There's also an extra
layer of text so this story is
about a paranoid time traveler.
This is like his private
notebook and all the secret
information he hides inside
the app. I was doing a comic
series called Nawlz, which is a
web series, and it's all
about augmented reality in
the future and one of my
fans happy to get in touch
with me and he happened to
be a really hardcore
programmer and he said you
know what we can actually
make some of that *** that
you talk about in your
story. And I was like OK
let's do it. And then
this is what happened as a
result of that. It's available
online at my website,
which is modernpolaxis.com.
>>>GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE:
Finally what's Comic Con
without cosplay; the
practice of dressing as
your favorite hero. We'll
find out tonight with a
call to the
costume cavalcade. 
>>>I am cosplayed as
Green Arrow. This is the
second year that I've been
doing it. First year I
kind of, eh, and then this
year it's like OK trying
to make it look a little
better. I love to dress up
like this for like
children's hospital.
I do it sometimes when I've
worked because people like
to see it and the kids think
you're a real superhero.
It's really cool.
>>>I'm dressed
as Peggy Carter.
>>>And why did you choose
this character?
>>>Ever since Captain
America she really spoke
to me as a character and
when she got her own show
I started watching it and
I think she's a great role
model. I love to see other
people dressing up as
characters that they
resonate with especially
other strong female
characters. And I think a
lot of people see
themselves in the
characters that
they dress up as. 
>>>I am Wonder Wo-Man. 
Wonder Woman is my
absolute favorite
character and so I wanted
to try to do a take on
her character but still be
authentic to myself. 
>>>This is a very
intricate Scarecrow costume.
How long did
it take you to make it?
>>>About three months and
towards the last couple
weeks a few sleepless nights. 
