Media Humanized Through Forgiveness with Darryl Green, Loretta Blackledge, & Daniel O’Connor From Panacea Media & Deep Forgiveness
The Most Important Thing
Our media is fundamentally broken. Messages of hate, anger, and fear spread like wildfire. Video clips and soundbites travel at the speed of light. They are carefully crafted to support whatever agenda the poster believes. Data is weaponized to push narratives, all while the brighter aspects of our humanity are ignored.
Dan O’Connor started Panacea to create Media Humanized that emphasizes narratives of empathy, forgiveness, healing, and dialogue. Please check them out and if you have a positive story to share reach out to Dan!
About Today’s Guests
Daniel O’Connor started Panacea when he saw that there so much wrong with our modern media system and the narratives that are promoted. He saw a lack of positive narratives around themes of dialogue, empathy, forgiveness and better human interaction. Dan is also a volunteer at NEXUS Global.
Darryl Green is the President and Consultant of Deep Forgiveness. Darryl’s business, coaching and consulting background extends over two decades throughout the northeastern region and most recently extended his consulting offerings internationally. Darryl currently holds a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice with special interest in Crime and Delinquency Prevention and Control from Coppin State University, a Masters Degree in Social Work with special interest in Urban Children, Youth and Families from Morgan State University and a B.A. degree in Criminal Justice from Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina.
Loretta Blackledge is a member of SAVE, a non-for profit organization in Baltimore. Loretta is a mother of 2 and grandmother of 6. In 2006, her son "Smook" was killed in Baltimore. Today she works to reduce violence in the city and emphasizes the need for more love and forgiveness in the city through her organization MOMS (Mothers of Murdered Sons & Daughters).
About Panacea
The world has been calling for a better media system. Panacea was created to answer this call by leveraging the power of media to promote empathy, healing, understanding through dialog, forgiveness, humility and the pursuit of truth. The negative and destructive narratives in our media have dominated for too long.
The mission of Panacea is to inspire viewers to rethink their own views on topics like forgiveness, remorse and ‘uncomfortable conversations’. We can provide examples and testimonies of how our videos have, in fact, inspired others to do so -- this works.
In the short term, Panacea aims at bringing more people into the story in order to create more opportunities for further growth and influence. In the long-term, Panacea aims to be part of a paradigm change from conflict to dialogue
Founded in 2016 by Daniel O'Connor, Panacea has produced and published over a dozen videos that have attracted more than 1 million views. The flagship video was "Prison Dialogues" which alone, attracted 1/2 million views and media exposure throughout the city of Baltimore.
About Deep Forgiveness
Deep Forgiveness is a Non-Profit Organization which focus on Healing, Reconciliation and Forgiveness. Healing One Person, One Family and One Community at a Time. Deep Forgiveness delivers a variety of staff training such as Healthy Relationships, Mediation, Mentoring, Youth Leadership, Healing, Building Trusting Relationships, Retaliation vs. Forgiveness, Restorative Justice Fatherhood Services, Boys To Men, Individual Coaching, Family Coaching, Community Coaching. The foundation also offers workshops & seminars and organizational development.
Episode Overview
I loved this episode. We heard from Darryl Green and Loretta Blackledge - two individuals who have lost loved ones to murder, but used this horrible loss as a catalyst to create change in this world.
We also dove into challenging topics of race, violence, the rising hatred of police, George Floyd, and Black Lives Matter.
Finally, we were able to discuss why media is broken and how we can improve it by sharing more stories of our shared humanity, forgiveness, and resilience. I’m excited to further explore Panacea’s work and to share more with you as it is released.
My Favorite Quotes
“Hurt people hurt people”
“I knew that the hand I was shaking was the same one that had killed my brother. But I told him, ‘You’re known for taking lives, so let’s change that and go save some lives together.’”
“A mother knows. It’s a mother’s intuition…”
“If you lost a loved one, you are not alone.”
“Forgiveness is not about the other person, it’s about you.”
“We can’t legislate our way out of this man, this is a heart thing.”
“Folks are hurting all over the world, and I thank God for my white allies who are standing shoulder to shoulder with us saying we can’t do this anymore.”
“I need to let folks heal and go through this grieving process before I begin to talk to them about forgiveness and healing, because it’s so raw man.”
“We’ve got to sit before we stand. Sit, listen, and learn.”
“We are better than what we’re seeing right now.”
“To me, it’s not just about cops killing us and Black Lives Matter”
“Sometimes we need to be uncomfortable, in order for us to be OK in the space that we’re in.”
“If I look a certain way, maybe they won’t fool with me.”
Episode Breakdown
00:00 – Dan introduces Panacea
5:00 – Darryl shares his story
13:00 – Darryl discusses the process of healing, reconciliation, and forgiveness
20:00 – Loretta shares her story
28:00 – What forgiveness means to Loretta
31:00 – Darryl talks about forgiveness in the context of George Floyd
35:00 – Darryl on Black Lives Matter
40:00 – White guilt & shame
44:00 – Dan discusses why we need to show more humanity and forgiveness in media
48:00 – Darryl’s experience with the police and criminal justice system
57:00 – Loretta explains her positive relationship with the officers & DA on her son’s murder case
1:05:00 – Darryl discusses #Alllivesmatter, the protests, and violence
1:10:00 – The importance of difficult and courageous conversations and why Panacea?
1:22:00 – Darryl shares how he experienced racism when he first moved into his white neighborhood
Episode Links
Dan & Panacea Info
Darryl & Deep Forgiveness Info
Buy Darryl’s Book, Deep Forgiveness
Darryl Speaking on Forgiveness
Loretta’s Info
Loretta’s Story (Behind the Statistics)
Marc’s Info:
Marc Weinstein, host of the Look Up! Podcast is a public speaker for corporations, universities, and conferences. Click here to view past talks and to book Marc
Look Up! Patreon Community
Look Up! Website
Marc's Instagram
Marc's Twitter
Look Up! On iTunes
Look Up! On Spotify
