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The Response: Occupy Sandy
Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! This week, we explore the remarkable communities that arise in the aftermath of natural disasters; namely, Hurricane Sandy, and its impact on the Rockaway Peninsula. It’s a story about unlikely friendships, radical recovery efforts, and disaster collectivism. The Response documentary podcast series is part of the “Stories to Action” project, a collaboration between Shareable, Post Carbon...
read more10 Years After The Crash: Recovery Not For All
Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! This month marks the ten year anniversary of the stock market crash of 2018. And we commemorate the crash by looking at what’s changed in the world of banking and what hasn’t. Nomi Prins, former managing director at Goldman Sachs, discusses her new book, “Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World” She explains the history of the banking system in the US and how, since the crash and despite the fact that big investment entities caused...
read moreClimate Change & Sacrifice Zones
Since 2003 a rash of proposals have surfaced in communities throughout the Northwest to export vast amounts of fossil fuels to Asian markets via Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. If these plans go through the Northwest would become home to the largest oil terminal in North America, the largest coal export facility in North America, and the largest methanol refinery in the world. This week we present Part One of Sacrifice Zones by Barbara Bernstein. It’s the first in a two-part series on the pressure to transform a region of iconic...
read more70 Million: Locals Divided Between Diversion and Border Security
In Pima County, where Tucson is located, formerly incarcerated individuals and local government officials have joined efforts to send fewer people to jail. Meanwhile, a federal program designed to stop drug and human trafficking at the border is also sending people to jail for months over traffic violations and minor drug offenses. Reporter Jesse Alejandro Cottrell explores just how complicated it can be to reform a local criminal justice system. 70 Million is made possible by a grant from the Safety and Justice Challenge at the John D....
read moreAbout Last Night: How HBCU Students are Addressing Sexual Assault on Campus
Students at several prominent historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), have demanded that school administrators address sexual assault more vigorously. Last year, student protests at Morehouse College, Spelman College, Hampton University, and Howard University focused on inadequacies in the way sexual assault and rape cases are handled. Two current students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and two alums join our roundtable discussion to explore what is particular about reporting and...
read moreNo Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America. Darnell Moore
When Darnell Moore was fourteen, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire. They cornered him while he was walking home from school, harassed him because they thought he was gay, and poured a jug of gasoline on him. He escaped, but just barely. It wasn’t the last time he would face death. Three decades later, Moore is an award-winning writer, a leading Black Lives Matter activist, and an advocate for justice and liberation. In No Ashes in the Fire, he shares the journey taken by that scared, bullied teenager who not only...
read moreThe Struggle Inside: The Murder of George Jackson
SPECIAL FOR AUG 21st + “Black August” –a radio documentary by the Freedom Archives about the roots of the modern anti-prison movement. This year marks the 39th 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. Jonathan Jackson was gunned down outside the Marin County courthouse on August 7, 1970 as he attempted to take hostages in a plan to negotiate the release of his brother, George....
read moreParenting From Prison, Inside Out
When one or both parents are incarcerated the family is also incarcerated and are adversely affected in profound ways that exacerbate existing structural inequalities and struggles. Programs for inmates and families like FamilyWorks and the Storybook Program, encourage rebuilding and maintaining relationships despite being separated by prison. The Osborne’s FamilyWorks program, the first comprehensive parenting program in a men’s state prison founded in 1986. FamilyWorks operates as a counterbalance to the numerous challenges in keeping a...
read moreCall for Pitches
We’re seeking sound-rich radio stories with ear-grabbing characters, interesting angles, and solid facts. We encourage you to explore grassroots solutions and the ways communities are organizing. We look forward to hearing from you on these topics below and others you have, at pitches@radioproject.org. Making Contact is accepting pitches for 7-10 minute segments or 29-minute documentaries for upcoming shows in our Fall schedule. Although we’re always looking for stories on many topics (so send those over, too), we’re particularly interested...
read moreUprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice
On this edition of Making Contact, we speak with author Paul Kivel about his book, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. This book offers a framework for understanding institutional racism. It provides practical suggestions, tools, examples, and advice on how white people can intervene in interpersonal and organizational situations to work as allies for racial justice. Completely revised and updated, this expanded third edition directly engages the reader through questions, exercises, and suggestions for action, and...
read moreCaring Relationships: Negotiating Meaning and Maintaining Dignity
The vast majority of care recipients are exclusively receiving unpaid care from a family member, friend, or neighbor. The rest receive a combination of family care and paid assistance, or exclusively paid formal care. 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. During this week’s anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we’ll revisit the...
read moreThe Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban
After the US Supreme Court’s June 2018 ruling on Trump’s travel ban, we’ll discuss how the new order impacts people from affected, Muslim-majority countries. We also talk about what’s different about the new ban and how to fight it. We begin with the story of a woman who was in flight to the US when President Trump signed his first travel ban. Special thanks to the Stanford Storytelling Project and State of the Human podcast Managing Producer, Jake Warga. Image Credit: Deigo Cupolo – Creative Commons Like this program? Please show...
read morePatrisse Khan-Cullors, “When They Call You A Terrorist” (Encore)
Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! This week is the five year anniversary of Black lives matter. We hear from Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and the author of the new book, WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, a meaningful, empowering account of strength and resilience. In this conversation, hosted by long-time organizer Cat Brooks, we hear Patrisse Cullors’ insights on Black Liberation, Police Terrorism and the criminalization...
read moreAfrofuturism: 3 Women You Need to Know
Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! From Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time to Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu, Afrofuturism is gaining popularity. Filmmaker and author Ytasha Womack more defines Afrofuturism as “the intersection between black culture, technology, liberation and the imagination, with some mysticism thrown in, too,” On this episode of Making Contact, authors Nalo Hopkinson, Nnedi Okorafor, and Jewelle Gomez discuss the role of history and politics in...
read moreBeyond Stonewall: The Push for LGBT Civil Rights
With Anthony Kennedy announcing his retirement from the Supreme Court this week, Trump has a chance to replace him and move the court even further to the right. Scores of the hard-fought rights: of Black people, of women seeking abortion care, of travelers from Muslim countries, immigrants, and LGBTQIA people… are under attack. Amidst this, communities will strategize, organize and celebrate as we learn from history. This week, we go back to the night in June 1969 at the New York City Stonewall Inn that sparked the LGBT rights...
read moreYour Home, Your Right… or My Business?
Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Making Contact looks at California’s fight over rent control. The stage is set for a political battle between two worldviews. Is housing a human right, or is real estate property an investment commodity? And where on that continuum is California’s common ground? What does this mean for housing nationally? A statewide initiative, if approved, would allow local governments to create their own rent control laws. In this episode, we go to...
read morePushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools is an examination of the experiences of Black girls across the country whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged “by teachers, administrators, and the justice system” and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. In her book, Morris shows how, despite obstacles, stigmas, stereotypes, and despair, Black girls still find ways to breathe remarkable dignity into their lives in classrooms, juvenile facilities, and beyond. Special thanks...
read moreThe Seekers Part 2: The Cost of Deportations
The Cost of Deportations looks at deportation through the lens of one Central American nation that sends migrants north— Guatemala. About two million Guatemalans live in the US. But, half of those here lack legal status, and tens of thousands of Guatemalans are deported back to their country each year. Thus, the question arises… are the countries these migrants left prepared for an influx of returnees? This week, journalist Maria Martin explores that and other questions— including whether some Guatemalans still plan to migrate north, even...
read moreFinding Home: Displacement and Homelessness from Cape Town to California (Encore)
On this edition of Making Contact we go from Cape Town, South Africa to Los Angeles and Oakland, California— three cities grappling with evictions, displacement, and homelessness. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Needa Bee, Oakland-based Housing Advocate Messiah Ali, Oakland Resident Tom Waldman, Director of Communications, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Flora Harris, C-3 Program Director, St. Joseph Center Chyheeb Joseph, Outreach Worker, Los Angeles...
read moreKorea: The Ghosts of the Gwangju Uprising (ENCORE)
On May 18, 1980, the people of Gwangju, South Korea came together for reunification and an end to an era of martial law imposed by U.S.-backed military dictators. Over the course of ten days, they staged mass protests, battled riot police and soldiers, and were met with brutal repression. Together, they successfully drove the military out Gwangju and governed the city together. Their actions changed the course of Korean history. On this encore edition of Making Contact, we hear from survivors of the Gwangju Uprising about how they took on...
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