CBH Talk | The Cost of Gun Violence: Black Men, Trauma, and Community Repair

Across the United States, Black men bear a disproportionate share of the trauma created by gun violence—its physical toll, its psychological weight, and its generational consequences. Journalist and Pulitzer Prize–winner Trymaine Lee, in his powerful new book A Thousand Ways to Die, chronicles this crisis through intimate reporting that reveals how systemic neglect, racism, poverty, and political abandonment converge to shorten Black lives and constrict Black futures.

In a conversation anchored by his book, we bring Lee together with two leading practitioners on the front lines of healing and prevention: Barry Cooper, founder of The B.R.O. Experience, a mentorship and brotherhood network focused on mental health, emotional resilience, and holistic support for Black men; and Dr. Rob Gore, founder of KAVI—Kings Against Violence Initiative, which provides hospital-based and community violence interruption programs.

Led in discussion by Irvin Weathersby, author of In Open Contempt, these remarkable leaders examine the structural forces that perpetuate harm and the grassroots efforts working to disrupt violence, nurture young Black men, and build pathways toward safety, dignity, and belonging.

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Participants

Trymaine Lee is the best-selling author of A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America, a sweeping investigation into the generational toll of gun violence and the systems that shape Black life in the United States. A Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award–winning journalist, Lee is a contributor for MSNOW (formerly MSNBC) and the past host of the acclaimed Into America podcast, where he explored race, power, and democracy through deeply reported storytelling.

Lee has created, produced, reported, and hosted a wide range of documentaries and televised specials, including Hope in High Water: A People’s Recovery Twenty Years After Hurricane Katrina (2025), Black Men in America: The Road to 2024 (2024), Into America: Power of the Black Vote (2022), Can You Hear Us Now (2020–2022), Lift Every Voice (2021), and Stone Ghosts of the South (2018). A contributing writer to The 1619 Project, his work has received multiple Webby and Signal Awards, NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards, NAACP Image Award nominations, and recognition as Adweek’s Podcast Host of the Year. His reporting on gun violence in Chicago earned an Emmy in 2018, and in 2006 he shared the Pulitzer Prize as part of the Times-Picayune’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

He has been named to The Root 100 and Ebony Power 100 lists of the most influential African Americans, and is a former fellow at New America and Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Lee has written for The New York Times, The Philadelphia Tribune, The Trentonian, and HuffPost. He lives with his family in Brooklyn.

 

Barry Cooper (Coach Coop) is an educator, author, and organizer with more than a decade supporting young men of color in challenging circumstances. Barry established The B.R.O. Experience Foundation in 2020 to expand the scope of this transformational work. The B.R.O. Experience, which stands for Brothers Redefining Opportunity, engages and develops young men of color to build strong leaders of tomorrow.

As an educator, facilitator, and certified mindfulness instructor, Barry has led hundreds of workshops on navigating emotions, identity, and decision-making. In a career dedicated to youth development, he has served as Dean and Director of Culture at Eagle Academy for Young Men, has taught at CUNY Fatherhood Academy as an adjunct Life and Wellness Educator, and has mentored formerly incarcerated youth through the New York Department of Probation.

He has been Vice-Chair of the Brooklyn NAACP Educational Committee and has run for local office.Most recently, he was announced as one of the 2025 David Prize Winners. As an experienced event and program organizer, Barry created Little BROs Summer Camp. And his books include The Provider: A Guide for Co-Parenting Dads and a forthcoming children’s book.

 

Rob Gore, MD, is an emergency room physician and community activist. For close to 20 years, he has been exploring and developing programs and solutions that focus on community violence and other disparities affecting urban and global health. He has been named a "CNN Hero" and has been included on the ROOT 100 list. He has been featured on CNN, NBC, ABC BET, and in the New York Times, among others. He has lectured around the U.S, the Caribbean, South America, and Asia, and has worked in East Africa, Haiti, and South America. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with his family. 

 

 

 

Irvin Weathersby is a Brooklyn-based writer and professor from New Orleans. His work has been featured in Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. He has earned an MFA from The New School, an MA from Morgan State University, and a BA from Morehouse College and has received fellowships and awards from the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, the Research Foundation of CUNY, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Mellon Foundation. His first book, In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space was released in January 2025.