Beyond the Bullet: Building a Life After Violence

Building a Life After Violence: Leon Harris’ Story

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“I’m Leon Harris. I’m a husband. I’m a father. I’m funny as hell. I’m in a wheelchair. I’m saved. I’m going to be rich. I take life as it comes, and I’m proud to be Black.” Leon is awesome, for sure, but his positive outlook on life has been a long time in the making.

At age 17, Leon was a victim of an armed robbery on his way home from work one evening. The violence left him paralyzed, and he has been in a wheelchair for 14 years. Leon is part of a group of remarkable men and women in Philadelphia that gather to share a journey of trauma—the Gun Violence Survivors’ Support Group. Group members gather to collectively heal, support and uplift each other.

Headlines may convey death tolls from gun violence. But what they don’t chronicle are the formidable challenges of being a survivor.

 

Beyond The Bullet: Life After Violence

OC87 Recovery Diaries is proud to present the fifth in our series “Beyond the Bullet: Gunshot Violence Survivors Speak.”  The series presents members of the Gun Violence Survivors’ Support Group telling of their journeys of pain and healing, isolation and community, and, most beautifully, stories of recovery, love and support.

While Leon has experienced a great deal of pain and loss in his life after violence, love and laughter have been key ingredients for his recovery. And therapy is also a key component to his wellness.

Leon and his wife, Tierra, have been married since 2014. They are parents to daughter, Noel, since 2017. They host a YouTube channel titled “Harris Hope and Humor,” wherein they navigate life as an interabled couple with a child in a very public manner, to inspire others who may be traveling a similar journey.

I hope you enjoy listening to and learning from Leon as much as I have. All of the voices in this series deserve our attention. Their lives are the window into the very human suffering that gun violence has on our society. Yet their stories are filled with a strength and resilience that is awe-inspiring.

life after violence

 

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Gabriel Nathan | EDITOR: Glenn Holsten | DESIGN: Leah Alexandra Goldstein | PUBLISHER: Bud Clayman

See Related Recovery Stories: Beyond The Bullet, BIPOC Mental Health Recovery Stories, Depression, Mental Health Short Films

Tags: Beyond The Bullet, depression, Glenn Holsten, Gun Violence, humor, Leon Harris, love, Paralyzed, therapy

Glenn is an award-winning director who loves to create compelling documentary story experiences of all lengths for screens of all sizes. He is an avid reader, studied literature in college, and his passion for stories with strong characters and interesting narratives stems from those years. His career as a visual storyteller began at WHYY (the public television station in Philadelphia) where he worked for 15 years before becoming an independent filmmaker. In addition to his PBS documentaries about arts and culture, he has directed films about justice and human rights, and now, mental health. He was emboldened to undertake his current documentary project, Hollywood Beauty Salon, a colorful feature-length documentary about surviving mental illness and finding the courage for recovery, after his transformative experience directing OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger’s Movie, along with Bud Clayman and Scott Johnston.