Documenting FREDY : Eight Years After the Shooting in Montreal
Fredy Villanueva was playing dice in a park in Montreal North when police officers arrived. In less than a minute, the 18-year-old was fatally shot by police. Eight years later, what happened in those sixty seconds remains unclear. The documentary play Fredy tries to untangle what happened before and after the shooting, as it asks questions about racial profiling, systemic discrimination, and the promise of art for social change....
Fallen Heroes 2015
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 2015. Featured Fallen Heroes Grace Lee Boggs, activist, philosopher and movement builder Danny Schechter, author and media critic John Warshow, anti-nuclear campaigner and hydro power developer...
Guns: An American Tradition
Love em or hate em, they’re an ever present part of American culture. And they’re not going away anytime soon. On this edition, recorded before the Oct. 1st mass shooting in Colorado, we talk guns…from the shooting range, to the black panthers, to red state America. The people behind the trigger are probably not who you’d assume. Featuring Matt Knox, gun owner Ed & Dave, gun owners Huey Newton, Black Panther Tamu Mcfalls, former...
#BlackLivesMatter: Alicia Garza on the Origins of a Movement
Black Lives Matter. This simple phrase has become the motto of a growing movement calling for true justice and equalty for black people. Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, first typed out those three words back in 2013. In March of 2015, Alicia Garza visited the University of Southern Maine to tell the story of how Black Lives Matter came to be, and express her hopes for where it’s headed. We hear her speech. Featuring:...
Thwarting Democracy, the Battle for Voting Rights
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 Tyrone Brooks, Georgia State...
Making Contact’s Violence Against Women of Color Live Chat
“This hierarchy of human life where if you are a woman of color and you’re impoverished, you’re at the very bottom and your life is seen as not worth anything.” –Margaret Prescod Join us on May 21st at 3pm PST as we discuss domestic, healthcare and police violence against women of color. This conversation continues our ongoing coverage on the cultural and structural dimensions of how violence against...
