Making Contact

On this edition of  Making   Contact  we present, The Struggle Inside: The Murder of  George   Jackson , a program about the modern anti-prison movement. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Black August, first originated in the California prisons to honor fallen Freedom Fighters,  George  and Jonathan  Jackson , Khatari Gaulden, James McClain, and William Christmas.

Some call it "Paradise", but  Hawaii  isn't just a tourist getaway. Look beyond the resorts, and you'll find a history of opposition to US occupation. From sacred sites, to indigenous language, Hawaiians are fighting hard to protect their traditions, and their future. On this edition we hear excerpts from the 2012 film by Catherine Bauknight " Hawaii : A Voice for  Sovereignty ," which explores th...

The US dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Three days later, the small fishing city of Nagasaki also fell victim. On this edition, we hear the voices of the most deadly attacks the world had ever seen.  We commemorate the anniversary of the bombings with excerpts from two documentaries: "Hiroshima Countdown" and "Nagasaki Journey."

In this episode, we explore new safe at-home abortion options and the growing movement for "self-managed abortions." Amidst changes to the Supreme Court of the United States, and after decades of restrictions to abortion access across the country, people continue to find ways to make this vital procedure safer, more affordable, and more accessible. Advances in medicine and discoveries made by wome...

According to Ytasha Womack, use of the imagination for self-development and social change is one of the greatest tenets of Afrofuturism. This show features Womack's presentation at the 2017 Sonic Acts Festival,  Afrofuturism: Imagination and Humanity.

A handful of companies are making millions off of ankle monitors strapped to undocumented immigrants in  ICE custody. The makers pitch the monitors as an alternative to being jailed, but are they simply another form of bondage? Reporter Ryan Katz looks at what life is life while wearing one of these monitors. He untangles the complicated web of ICE, immigration bail agent companies, and the attorn...

Lewis Wallace was a reporter at Marketplace. You may have heard his voice on the Marketplace Morning Report with David Brancaccio. That was until he publicly questioned the role of objectivity in a Medium post. This line of questioning ultimately got him fired from Marketplace. Dive into one journalist's reckoning with truth .

Wartime. Disaster. Trauma. Charges of mutiny for 50 Black sailors in a Jim Crow courtroom. Discrimination and a battle for civil rights. Listen to this World War II story via oral histories from five of the Black sailors who survived the Port Chicago explosion, court-marshal and imprisonment.

We go back to the night in June 1969 at the New York City Stonewall Inn that sparked the LGBT rights movement. On today's show we'll hear about the day that galvanized a generation and the continued fight for LGBT civil rights. The first Pride parades took place in June 1970 marking the 1st anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Michael Schirker and David Isay bring us an oral history Remembering...

Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.  In this show, we'll explore the history of Juneteenth and we'll expand our conversation of Juneteenth to include a case for reparations. The topic of reparations for African Americans has recently resurfaced with Democratic presidential candi...

June 2019 marks ten years since then President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted in a military coup. In this program, Dr. Dana Frank, author of the Long Honduran Night, examines the long term impact of the coup in Honduras, and the evolution of resistance movements in its aftermath.

I Am Because I Am, explores the  expansion  of  gender   identi ty  and presumed roles in our society. A look beyond the socially constructed ideas of what is male, female, masculine or feminine. Especially considering Trump's administration attempts to redefine  gender  to be solely based on a person's genitalia at birth. Thus potentially threatening Transgender, Intersex and Non-Binary  Identity...

We think of enhanced interrogation as being a new invention - a kind of torture in use only since 9/11. But Rebecca Gordon disagrees. In this episode she joins us to talk about the United State's long history of using torture domestically and abroad, and its connection to power and race.

In this episode, we honor the life and legacy of civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs through the lens of the documentary film, AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS. Produced and directed by Grace Lee. 

People with disabilities or disabled people?   "Disability: Our Culture Ourselves"— in this episode we discuss disability, culture and identity from the perspective of disability communities themselves.  

In this episode we explore racial disparities in end-of-life care: How mistrust keeps many African Americans away from hospice. And later we examine particular challenges and cultural barriers faced by Asians and Latinos at the end of life. 

We think of Artificial Intelligence as being the stuff of science fiction movies, set far in the future. But it's already having an impact on our lives. We look at a kind of decision made by artificial intelligence called a risk assessment and how it impacts the poor and people of color and we talk about ways to fight back.

Jails in Miami-Dade County double as de facto mental health facilities. But Miami-Dade's Criminal Mental Health Project has become a national model for negotiating the interplay between mental illness and criminal justice.

President Donald Trump's tax plan may exacerbate wealth inequity in the US. Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality at the Institute for Policy Studies addresses the complex history of the wealth gap. Also, producers from the Upstream podcast ask: is it time for Universal Basic Income?

Lewis Wallace was a reporter at Marketplace. You may have heard his voice on the Marketplace Morning Report with David Brancaccio. That was until he publicly questioned the role of objectivity in a Medium post. We need to let go of idea that objectivity is dying. A more useful framework is that objectivity is a mythology that we're urgently debunking to figure out what can stand in its place. That...

Cesar Chavez has made it to the big screen. Millions of people are now learning about the legendary farmworker organizer. But where did Chavez get his organizing philosophies? This week, Paul Ingles and Carol Boss of Peacetalks radio take us down The Non-Violent path of Cesar Chavez , through conversations with Chavez colleague and friend Dolores Huerta, and Jose Antonio Orozco, author of the book...

Abortion and reproductive rights for women are being fought over across the globe.  Women Rising Radio  visits with key organizers of the Polish Women's Strike and the Irish Together for Yes campaign, both successful efforts to give women more control over our bodies, our health and our family planning.  Women Rising Radio also profiles Catholics for Choice and the Latina Institute for Reproductiv...

Fresh water is one of our most precious natural resources. This week contributor Maria Doerr looks at what's being done to protect the watersheds of Mexico City-- natural water systems that provide water to one of the largest metropolises in the world.

African American students across the country are much more likely than any other student group to be placed in special education. This week, we hear what is and isn't working for black students with special needs today.

New Orleans could become the battleground for bail reform. The city has one of the highest per capita incarceration rates in the world. And most people are there because they can't pay their bail. The current arrangement with the local bail industry gives the impression that judges there could have a financial conflict of interest when setting bail. In this episode, Sonia Paul digs into how an ong...