On the Ground w Esther Iverem

More than a week after the shooting death of a 37-year-old mother in Minnesota, protests are growing, as are calls to abolish or defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. And what does this ratcheted up violence in our neighborhoods mean? We speak to historian Gerald Horne for this month’s episode of the F-Word on fascism. “ On the Ground: Voices of Resistance from the Nation’s Capi...

After more than two years of supporting  genocidal violence in Palestine, the United States is waging war on Venezuela, killing up to 100 people during a January 3 attack, and kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Meanwhile, the U.S. is ramping up violence against its own people, with ICE shooting and killing another American citizen, in cold blood and in broad daylight....

PART TWO OF  DC residents speaking out about the impact of increased policing by federal agents, including ICE officers, since August 2025. Those presented here are among  the 130 people who testified for nearly 12 hours on December 4th 2025 before the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee of the DC Council. The Trump administration ordered a multi-million dollar surge in policing and deployment o...

SUPPORT OUR END OF YEAR APPEAL! On this show, we hear from residents of DC, speaking out about the impact of increased policing by federal agents, including ICE officers, since August 2025. Those presented here were among the 130 people who testified for nearly 12 hours on December 4th 2025 before the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee of the DC Council. The Trump administration ordered this mu...

Immigrants, their families and supporters march in DC for International Migrants Day demanding justice here in the U.S. and their home countries. And on this final episode of the F-Word on fascism for 2025, Gerald Horne tells us why things may not be as bad as we think. Plus Headlines on Gaza, Venezuela, DC Residents Speak Out on Federal Occupation. The show is made possible only by our volunteer...

As the U.S. escalates its provocations and attacks on Venezuela, we hear from people in the U.S. saying no to war. And we talk to Gerald Horne about the war against the people here at home. Plus, headlines on Gaza, federal workers win, Noem lies and FBI clueless in Congressional hearing, Google erases Palestine content from YouTube. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resol...

News coverage of extrajudicial killings of boaters by the United States, as well as continued lies about wars in Ukraine and Gaza are some topics for this month’s episode of “On the Media” with Jon Jeter. Plus headlines on massacres in Gaza and Sudan; Supreme Court allows racial gerrymandering in Texas; Rodney Taylor, an amputee from Liberia is abused in ICE detention; National G...

END OF YEAR SUPPORT: Give a one-time or recurring donation on  PayPal . Or click  here  or click on the  Support-Donate tab  on our website to subscribe for as little as $3 a month. We are so grateful for this small but growing amount of monthly crowdsource funding on  Patreon . PATREON NOW HAS A ONE-TIME, ANNUAL DONATION FUNCTION! On the 2025 Thanksgiving holiday, th...

PLEASE SUPPORT US IN YOUR END OF YEAR GIVING ! As the number of South American boaters murdered by U.S. airstrikes continues to rise, protesters speak out at the White House against the Trump administration’s threatened war on Venezuela. For people in South America and throughout the Global South, the genocide in Gaza is a grim reference point for the the U.S. empire’s barbarism. Plus...

On Veteran’s Day, U.S. military veterans rally in D.C. against policies that continue to slaughter innocent people abroad, and put soldiers and weapons of war onto American streets. The live-streamed genocide in Gaza has awakened not only civilian populations globally to the depravity of U.S.-backed war crimes, it is spurring a new generation of active military and veterans to oppose endless...

From the win by a Democratic Socialist in New York City, to Trump’s threats against Nigeria, Gerald Horne weighs in on the news. And a majority-Black suburb of Washington, DC continues the fight against a massive, polluting AI data center. Plus headlines on SNAP, Gaza, the “Refuse Fascism” protest, the Black March on the White House, pending strike at Starbucks, and the DC premie...

The call for a general strike was the most concrete demand coming from the massive no kings day protests. And labor and pro-Palestine advocates are picking up the baton, demanding that unions in the U.S. shut it down and end US weapons and shipments to the apartheid state of Israel. And, after a border patrol agent shoots at man in DC during a routine traffic stop, a coalition of African American...

From Gaza to Venezuela, to attacks on immigrants here at home, elites use Corporate media to keep Americans blind to the facts, to make us “good Germans.” We speak to journalist Jon Jeter for this month’s episode of ‘On the Media.’ And though millions in the U.S. attended the October 18 “No Kings” protests against the Trump agenda, Mayor Brandon Johnson of...

The United States is in a politically turbulent time, one that calls for residents to stand up against injustice. We speak to historian Gerald Horne for this month’s episode of The F-Word on fascism. And do voting rights for Black people discriminate against whites? We hear from attorneys who just argued a landmark voting rights case before the Supreme Court. Plus headlines on No Kings Day,...

The enslaved and free African populations of what is now the Washington, DC area were pivotal in ending the scourge of slavery in the 19th century. And historian Gerald Horne argues that today’s African descendent population will be pivotal in fighting fascism in the 21st century. We spend the hour speaking to Professor Horne about his new book, The Capital of Slavery: Washington DC 1800 to...

This week, the Trump administration presented a Gaza peace plan that was neither about peace nor a plan. It claimed that U.S. cities should be used for military training. Then chose to standby its wealth transfer to the rich and shut down the government. We speak to historian Gerald Horne. Five cities threatened by Trump ban together for the fightback. And a celebration of life is held for communi...

As the far right continues their attack on U.S. constitutional rights, their latest front is news and information, as they gain more control over what people in this country can see hear and read. We speak to journalist Jon Jeter for this month’s episode of On the Media. And in his speech before the UN General Assembly, Colombian President, Gustavo Petro scolds the world for permitting the G...

As the death of right-wing organizer Charlie Kirk is used to jumpstart new attacks on the left, are we witnessing the U.S. version of Nazi Germany’s Reichstag fire? We speak to historian Gerald Horne for this month’s episode of the F-Word on fascism. And two survivors of the new U.S. censorship regime, Mahmoud Khalil, former student organizer at Columbia university, and Karen Attiah, a...

Trump’s so-called ‘crime emergency’ in DC is over, but thousands protest as federal police, masked ICE agents and armed soldiers remain on the streets of the capital. And as the DC Council takes a final vote on $1 billion in taxpayer funding for a new NFL stadium, Lydia Curtis exposes why hundreds of new housing units are built in DC that working families cannot afford. Plus head...

During the final days of Trump’s so-called crime emergency declared in DC, residents and lawmakers tell Congress that they want armed soldiers, masked ICE agents and federal police out of their neighborhoods. And survivors of serial sexual predators Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell speak out on Capitol Hill, demanding that all files in the case be released, and saying that they will cre...

Here in the nation’s capital, we refuse to normalize National Guard soldiers  with automatic weapons on the Metro, or racist checkpoints where Uber drivers are snatched up and handcuffed by men wearing masks. On this show, we hear from speakers at the massive ‘Solidarity Season’ labor march held Thursday, August 28th, we talk to our geopolitical analyst Gerald Horne about world happeni...

For this month’s episode of The F-Word, historian Gerald Horne discusses DC as a laboratory for an American brand of fascism. And with revolutionary optimism, DC activists are fighting back, defining the struggle in the district as the same as in the global south, against colonialism and snd imperialism. Plus headlines on vigil for murdered Al Jazeera journalists and more. The show is made p...

To thwart a redistricting scheme that will disenfranchise Black and Latinx voters in Texas, state Democratic lawmakers have fled the state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass the legislation. And Pro-Palestine activists hold an encampment outside the DC offices of several corporate news organizations, accusing them of complicity in enabling the genocide in Gaza. Plus headlines. The show...

The DC Council is set to vote on a controversial plan to spend one billion dollars in taxpayer funding toward a new NFL stadium for the Washington Commanders. In this debate, both sides do want to bring the professional football team home, but differ on whether the current deal is good, or whether DC should fight for a better deal. Plus headlines on Chris Smalls released from Zionist terrorist det...

From brutal immigration raids, to police attacks on peaceful protesters, to inhumane immigration detention facilities, the U.S. is looking more and more like a police state. And we speak to our media critic Jon Jeter about the continued murder of journalists in Gaza, and repression of free speech across Europe and in the U.S. Plus headlines on ‘Stop Starving Gaza’ protests, Gerald Horn...