Making Contact

In this edition of Making Contact, we look at two major changes to statewide curriculum in California, and where schools nationwide may be headed under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Women Rising Radio profiles three healer activists, two M.D.'s and an indigenous healer/psychologist, caregivers for the Water Protectors at Standing Rock,  and witnesses to the violence of police, sheriffs and private security forces hired by Energy Transfer Partners  -  the fossil fuel giant building the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Paris is in flux. How are Parisians-native and immigrant, still dealing with terrorist attacks? If mixite, or social mixing, provides an answer, what does that look like, especially when immigrant, capitalist, and the hip are housed together?

"Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal" a film chronicles the life and revolutionary times of the former death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.

As President Trump moves to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., we look at two moments where we found ourselves at a similar crossroads.  First, the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans 75 years ago.  Then, how people fought to stop the Muslim registry after 9/11. 

11 million. That's the estimated number of people living in the US who are undocumented. In this show we'll look to previous administrations to see how former Presidents treated people who were undocumented, and how immigrant movements of the past responded.

Whether you're a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the nature of the working relationship depends on mutual respect and dignity. On this edition of Making Contact, we'll explore the dynamic and complex relationship of care receiving and giving.

On this edition, we hear from Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. Dr. Taylor most recently wrote, " From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation ." We'll be sharing a talk with Dr. Taylor's insights on Black Liberation as framed through this most recent election.

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most famous speeches of all time. But it nearly didn't happen. On this special edition of Making Contact for MLK Day, Gary Younge, author of "The Speech" talks about Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream and the story behind it. Special thanks to The New School for the recording.

"Mirrors of Privilege" is a film and conversation guide designed to help bridge the gap between good intentions and meaningful change. From Shakti Butler, director of "Cracking the Codes: The System of Inequity" and "The Way Home: Women Talk About Race in America," "Mirrors of Privilege" features stories from white men and women on overcoming issues of unconscious racism and entitlement.  

After a mass shooting, two common responses are to examine gun laws and mental health services. In this show, we revisit the tragedy in Isla Vista where a survivor is using his experience to talk about toxic masculinity, mass shootings, and violence.

Thousands of local social justice organizers passed away this year. People doing crucial work in their communities, whose deaths didn't make the headlines.  On this edition of Making Contact, we'll hear about some of the fallen heroes of 2016.

The Get on the Bus program provides support and free transportation for children and families throughout California to visit their mothers and fathers in prison.  

On this edition of Making Contact we look at some of the struggles and victories in the fight for transgender access to gender-specific spaces and programs.

The Black Panther Party combined Black Power's militancy with socialist ideology, and infused funk music with Franz Fanon's writings.  Their impact on American culture, from music to style to community organizing, continues to resonate today.   Fifty years after the birth of Black Panther Party, we take a look at the lasting cultural legacy of the Black Panther Party through the eyes of the genera...

The Murder of Fred Hampton began as a film on Hampton and Illinois Black Panthers, but midway through the shoot, Chicago police murdered Hampton. Filmmakers arrived to shoot crime scene footage later used to counter news reports and police testimony.

The actions at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline continue. We share interviews from the Voices of Standing Rock. Vincent Medina is a Chochenyo Ohlone Native working to revitalize the Chochenyo language for future generations.

Given Trump's winning the election, and the difference between his popular votes and electoral votes, we revisit our show on the Electoral College. It's history in the era of slavery, and how it works today.

As relations between the United States and Russian governments continue to deteriorate, people are growing concerned that we're on the brink of another nuclear arms race.  Both the U.S. and Russia are modernizing their nuclear arsenals.  According to Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, "it's frighteningly easy to imagine how something could go wrong in that s...

Greg Palast , is an investigative reporter and documentary filmmaker. His new film, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: a Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits," unmasks the continuing and unrelenting Jim-Crow attempts by America's "Billionaire Bandits" to prevent minority communities from exercising their constitutional right to vote.  Featuring: Greg Palast , Investigative reporter, documentary...

In the US, the right to vote is one of the country's most cherished and hard-fought rights. But it doesn't mean that everyone has equal access to the polls.  In 2013 the Supreme Court struck down a key civil rights provision of the Voting Rights Act. This November will be the first presidential election in 50 years where voters will not have the full protection of the original law. In this second...

Since the 2013 Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, many states have pushed changes to voter laws that raise disturbing connections to the past. Before the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act on August 6th, we revisit the hard fought battles for voting rights and the implications of new laws. Featuring: Reverend Tyrone Edwards,  civil rights historian in Plaquemines Parish Louisiana Tyr...

As relations between the United States and Russian governments continue to deteriorate, people are growing concerned that we're on the brink of another nuclear arms race.  Both the U.S. and Russia are modernizing their nuclear arsenals.  According to Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, "it's frighteningly easy to imagine how something could go wrong in that s...

Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem was founded on a promise to serve all patients with the same, excellent care. This week, against the backdrop of military occupation, we go inside Hadassah 's Mount Scopus maternity ward. There, the separation of Jewish and Arab mothers resulted in conflict between midwives at the hospital.

In a world that increasingly seems to strive for uniformity, afro-descendant Creole people on the eastern coast of Nicaragua seek to hold on to their unique culture through their food. Incoming palm plantations are fragmenting traditional Creole farmland and making it difficult for local coconut oil businesses. Overfishing and pesticides from the palm fields are reducing stocks of fish in the lago...