Meet Jelani Gibson, an RFA reporter on The Star’s Missouri gun violence project
During my childhood in Southeast Washington, D.C., every time yellow crime scene tape went up after a shooting, I remember reporters descending on my neighborhood only to cover my community through the lens of crime.
I wasn’t upset that the crime was being reported on.
I was angry that it was the only way my community was being portrayed.
My mentors challenged me to be the change I wanted to see in the newspapers I read, so I became a reporter. I was and still am the product of dedicated neighbors, teachers, organizers and multiple community members who cared enough to lift me to where I am today.
Years later I find myself at the Kansas City Star through Report for America as part of a three-person investigative team starting a long-term project on gun violence in Missouri.
This project will have statewide perspective, and gun violence is not just an urban or rural issue. That means our team will travel around the state — to St. Louis, Springfield, the Ozarks, Ferguson and smaller communities. Rural environments will be familiar to me as a former education reporter from Texas.
Reporting on gun violence means listening to more than government officials.
We’ve embarked on a listening tour across Missouri, meeting residents, community activists, gun owners, lawyers, first responders, doctors, readers and other stakeholders who may feel like they have not been heard in the past to get a comprehensive view on the subject.
Gun violence is not exclusively a crime or law enforcement issue. It is something that doctors deal with in the ER, that teachers are navigating with students, that families are losing lives over and being traumatized by.
We’re going to delve into the systemic causes of gun violence.
Our analysis will come at the intersection of history, economics, education, community trust, public health, politics, law and racial inequality.
As a veteran — I was a photojournalist in the U.S. Air Force — the issue of suicide also hits close to home.
There is no one expert on such a topic that touches so many lives.
That means that readers and residents statewide are, and will continue to be, the biggest asset in my reporting.
If you have any questions or ideas, reach out to me or one of my teammates — Humera Lodhi and Kaitlin Washburn. You can contact our team by phone at 816-226-7746 or by email at gunviolence@kcstar.com. You can also send us a letter at 1601 McGee Street, Kansas City, MO 64108.
You can reach me directly at jgibson@kcstar.com. We hope to hear from you soon.
Jelani Gibson is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
The Star is undertaking this project in partnership with Report for America. It is sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this work, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
