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Fighting for the Ballot: Race and Voter Suppression in the 2020 Election
Making Contact · Fighting for the Ballot: Race and Voter Suppression in the 2020 November’s upcoming election has already become one of the most contested elections in US history, with the president questioning the validity of mail-in ballots, “unofficial” ballot drop off boxes popping up in California, and the threat of armed militias patrolling the polls. But, voter suppression and its target’s aren’t new phenomena. People of color and the poor have always been dissuaded from voting. We take a look at how race and voter suppression...
read moreSelf Care as Selfless Act: Mental Health at the Root of Activism (Encore)
Making Contact · Self Care as Selfless Act: Mental Health at the Root of Activism Activists in the Latinx immigrant community of Los Angeles share what they do to take care of their mental health. The issues these activists work on often impact their personal lives, and people who work in the service of others are particularly at risk of burnout and compassion fatigue. Self-care becomes a “selfless act” when it allows activists to stay healthy and do their work in a sustainable way. Image Credit: Eládio Moraes Like this program? Please...
read moreUnblock the Vote 2020
Making Contact · Unblock the Vote 2020 This week we’ll explore felon disenfranchisement and the political battle to restore the voting rights of over 6 million people not eligible to vote because of laws that restrict people convicted of felonies from voting. We’ll meet criminal justice activists in California pushing to restore the rights of 50,000 individuals on parole, through the advocacy of a ballot measure in November’s election. We will also turn our attention to the Native vote. In 2019 and early 2020, Native...
read more70 Million: Voting from Jail is a Right, and Now a Reality in Chicago
Making Contact · 70 Million: Voting from Jail is a Right, and Now a Reality in Chicago Today, in the lead up to the next general election, many Americans in custody still cannot vote. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, of the almost 740,000 people in jail, about two-thirds are awaiting court action on a charge. In other words, nearly 500,000 of them may be eligible to vote. A year ago, Illinois passed a law requiring all jails to ensure that pre-trial detainees have an opportunity to vote. In Chicago’s Cook County Jail, the...
read moreWomen Rising Radio: Women Challenge Capitalism
Making Contact · Women Rising Radio: Women Challenge Capitalism Women are challenging male-dominated power structures, and creating alternatives to the profit-driven economic model of capitalism. Women Rising Radio features Jinwar, a women-led village in Northern Syria. And we meet worker-owners of Up & Go, a cleaning cooperative in New York city. To place this global movement in historical perspective, we speak with feminist scholar Silvia Federici. Her books chronicle centuries of persecution and violence against women, including witch...
read more‘A pandemic within a pandemic’: Intimate partner violence cases rise during pandemic
By Emily Rose Thorne, Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism On March 23, residents of the United Kingdom were ordered to shelter in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. Two weeks later, calls to the domestic abuse helpline shot up by 110% within a single 24-hour window. As the pandemic continues to rage, experts say that the U.K. is not alone in seeing an alarming uptick of another public health crisis: intimate partner violence. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies IPV as a public health...
read moreDomestic Violence in Lockdown: COVID-19 and the UK’s Domestic Abuse Bill
Making Contact · Domestic Violence in Lockdown: COVID-19 and the UK’s Domestic Abuse Bill Domestic abuse affects everyone it touches—intimate partners, children, and elders. COVID-19 created new problems for victims of domestic violence and made some worse. This show looks at the challenges to survivors and their advocates posed by the pandemic and examines a landmark piece of legislation in the UK that could change the way countries there handle domestic abuse cases. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Image Caption: October is Domestic Violence...
read moreWomen Rising Radio: Election Protection and Democracy (Encore)
Making Contact · Women Rising Radio: Election Protection and Democracy (Encore) Election protection is increasingly seen as a critical issue in the US. Since the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court, there have been problems with voter purging, voter ID laws, what some call modern-day ‘poll taxes’, precinct closures, and difficulties with voting machines. Congress has noted serious attempts to hack into voting systems in the US based in partisan politics. Women Rising Radio joins two election protection activists to talk...
read moreWolves at the Well: The Corporate Grab of Public Water
Making Contact · Wolves at the Well: The Corporate Grab of Public Water Water is critical to maintaining the balance of all life on Earth. As humans go, the United Nations estimates that each person needs about 50 to 100 liters a day for drinking and washing. It must be safe, accessible, and affordable. Some corporations claim ownership of fresh water sources to bottle and sell for profit. Others use water as a tool to extract oil and gas from the ground. In this episode of Making Contact, we’ll hear from communities fighting to...
read moreThe fight to reclassify some gig workers in California
By Emily Rose Thorne, Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism In California, gig workers that drive for companies like Uber and Lyft, got a win August 10 in federal court when the court sided with drivers to enforce Assembly Bill 5, AB5, a law that forces companies to reclassify contractors as employees. The move would force the companies to offer employees job benefits. The federal court granted a preliminary injunction request but the fight is far from over. In November’s election, voters will weigh in on the ballot...
read moreEssential: Gig Workers and COVID-19 [ENCORE]
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Essential: Gig Workers and COVID-19 Gig Workers, driver’s for app companies such as Lyft and Uber, are struggling during COVID-19. They’re considered essential workers, so they can still work but many of them aren’t making enough to cover rent at maskulinum.se. Many have chosen to stay home, facing economic insecurity. Those who work, however, are continuing to drive without much protection in the way of personal protective equipment, and very little help from the app companies themselves. We take a look at the future of the...
read moreFrontline East LA: The Chicano Moratorium 50 Years Later
Making Contact · Frontline East LA: The Chicano Moratorium 50 Years Later Fifty years ago, 30,000 mostly Chicanos peacefully protested the disproportionate number of Latinos dying on the frontlines in Vietnam. They came from across the country to also protest substandard education, racism, police violence, and other issues negatively affecting Latinos. What started out as a peaceful march ended with an attack by riot-clad police, 400 arrests, and the deaths of four people, one of whom was Los Angeles Times journalist...
read moreActivism and The Fight for Black Trans Lives
Making Contact · Activism and The Fight for Black Trans Lives On this episode of Making Contact, we will look at transgender activism and the call for inclusion and intersectionality in the movement for Black lives. We’ll also meet Trans activists in Louisiana who have been organizing against a state law that has been used to unfairly target trans women for decades. TRANSCRIPT BELOW Like this program? Please click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring Sean “Saifa”...
read moreRe:Work: [No] Child Left Behind, the School to Prison Pipeline
![Re:Work: [No] Child Left Behind, the School to Prison Pipeline](https://i0.wp.com/focmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/phal.jpg?resize=184%2C184&ssl=1)
Making Contact · Re:Work: [No] Child Left Behind, the School to Prison Pipeline We often see children as innocents who need love, support, and stability. But not all young people are nurtured this way. Too often youth from marginalized communities of color are not seen as needing protection — they are treated as the ones we need protection from. We see this in this episode, brought to us from Re:Work Radio, with Phal Sok, who was once a kid in Long Beach forced to grow up too soon. Transcript below. Featuring Phal Sok,...
read moreCall for pitches on prisoners during COVID-19
How do prisoners and their loved ones cope during COVID-19? People in prisons, jails, and immigrant detention centers are at an exceptionally high risk for coronavirus. Meantime, family members of those locked up are worried sick. Relatives along with advocates and prisoners themselves organize to limit the spread of the virus. They demand prisoner releases and reimagine a world without humans in cages. But releases are slow. By some estimates, over half the prison population is non-violent drug offenders. How do advocates challenge the trope...
read moreSelf Care as Selfless Act: Mental Health at the Root of Activism
Making Contact · Self Care as Selfless Act: Mental Health at the Root of Activism Activists in the Latinx immigrant community of Los Angeles share what they do to take care of their mental health. The issues these activists work on often impact their personal lives, and people who work in the service of others are particularly at risk of burnout and compassion fatigue. Self-care becomes a “selfless act” when it allows activists to stay healthy and do their work in a sustainable way. Image Credit: Eládio Moraes ...
read moreA Thin Black Line: Press Freedom, Repression, and Surveillance
Making Contact · A Thin Black Line: Press Freedom, Repression, and Surveillance Journalists have been violently targeted by police and arrested alongside demonstrators at Black Lives Matter protests across the country. In this episode we’ll look at the struggle for press freedoms during a time of repression and surveillance. Image Caption: “A U.S. Park Service Police Officer takes video of spectators observing an incident in which the USPP had kettled a group of people at 12th and L NW in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day....
read moreThe Deep: Rising Sea Levels and Corporate Control of Water
Making Contact · The Deep: Rising Sea Levels and Corporate Control of Water On this episode of Making Contact, we look at the privatization of our earth’s most precious resource – water. People around the world have been organizing against this privatization in the face of climate change and rising sea levels that threaten to contaminate our limited drinking water supplies. Come along to South Florida and Lagos, Nigeria. Transcript below. Image Credit: Water Vendor – Wikimedia Commons Like this program?...
read moreThe Bombing of MOVE, 35 Years Later (Updated)
Making Contact · The Bombing of MOVE, 35 Years Later (Updated) Our radio adaptation of the film, Let the Fire Burn explores the controversial, 1985 clash between police in Philadelphia and MOVE, a radical, non-violent, back-to-nature group. After a standoff with the group MOVE, Philadelphia Police dropped a bomb on the roof of MOVE’s home, killing 11 people including five children, and destroying approximately 61 homes. Thirty-five years later, Philadelphia is still known as “The City that Bombed Itself.” The city’s...
read moreYou’re invited!
Making Contact celebrates a new beginning. We invite you to celebrate with us! In June, we welcomed the third Executive Director in the organization’s 26 year history, Sonya Green. Her appointment is exciting for a few reasons. To start, we think Sonya’s great. You can judge for yourself at the soiree. However, we think you will agree. Additionally, her appointment adds to the list of great women leaders of the organization. Lisa Rudman is handing off the baton to Sonya, much like Peggy Law did with her 17 years ago. Making...
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