EPISODE 083 | How a Former Cop Came to Understand Systemic Racism with Peggy Kingsbury

What does systemic racism in America actually look like in real life?Former police officer and criminal justice expert Peggy Kingsbury opens up about growing up white in the Jim Crow South, surviving childhood trauma, and realizing decades later that white privilege changed the course of her life.She shares how racism shaped schools, policing, foster care, opportunity, and the assumptions she carried as a young cop. We explore implicit bias, systemic racism in policing, childhood trauma, poverty, domestic violence, and the connection between unstable homes and the criminal justice system. Peggy also reflects on what changed her perspective, why she believes policing in America needs a more human-centered approach, and what it means to move from being “not racist” to actively anti-racist.TRIGGER WARNING: This episode does come with a trigger warning and especially for our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) listeners. We discuss in detail the topics of what it was like living in the Jim Crow south as a little white girl, a normal atmosphere of overt racism and covert racism, the integrating of public schools, domestic violence, gun violence, abuse, alcoholism, and resulting trauma. Listener discretion is advised.