On Violence Featuring Pastor Michael McBride and Dr. Shani Buggs
In this episode we address violence, particularly gun violence, in the African American community. Pastor Michael McBride, Director of the LIVE FREE Campaign, and Dr. Shani Buggs, Assistant Professor at the UC-Davis Violence Prevention Research Program, give their unique perspectives on how to end the violence.
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Shani Buggs
Shani Buggs is a health and public policy scholar with expertise engaging federal, state, and local officials, agency leaders, and organizations on comprehensive and community-driven violence intervention and prevention efforts. She uses qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches to examine state-level firearm policies and local-level violence reduction initiatives.
In her research, Buggs strives to consistently center the experiences of individuals most impacted by violence and interrogate structural determinants of health to advance equity, safety, and well-being. In 2021, she was named the inaugural California Wellness Foundation Fellow in recognition of her commitment to high-quality and community-centered firearm violence research.
Pastor Michael McBride
“Pastor Mike”
Pastor Michael McBride (known as “Pastor Mike”) is a native of San Francisco and has been
active in ministry for over 20 years. Pastor McBride's commitment to holistic ministry can be
seen through his leadership roles in both the church and community organizations. A graduate
of Duke University’s Divinity School, with a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Ethics and
Public Policy, Pastor McBride founded The Way Christian Center in West Berkeley, where he
presently serves as the Lead Pastor.
In March 2012, he became the Director for the LIVE FREE Campaign with Faith in Action, a
campaign led by hundreds of faith congregations throughout the United States committed to
addressing gun violence and mass incarceration of young people of color. He is one of the
national leaders in the movement to implement public health and community centered gun
violence prevention programs, which have contributed in 50% reductions of gun related
homicides in Oakland and many other cities across the country. He is a co-founder of
Community Justice Reform Coalition and the National Black Brown Gun Violence Prevention
Consortium which work to center black and brown gun violence prevention practitioners and
scale up life-saving interventions related to urban and communal violence.
Regarded as a national faith leader, active in the Ferguson uprisings and many subsequent
uprisings, he helps bridge, train and support millennials and religious institutions working on
racial justice and black liberation. Pastor McBride has served on a number …
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