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Meet our immigration and elections reporters -Valeria Fernandez and Marco Vera
We’re moving full steam ahead with our Immigration and Elections project and now’s the time to join in. Your contributions help us hire all these special reporters. Meet the first two journalists: Welcome Valeria Fernandez and Marco Vera! Both journalists are experienced multi-platform media makers with deep roots in immigrant communities. They each bring a wealth of knowledge and energy to this project. We’re already impressed with the ideas they’ve pitched. Scroll down to learn more about our newest team members and donate today to fund our...
read more#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: Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter co-founder Cephus Johnson, uncle of Oscar Grant Grace Anderson, protestor...
read moreLet’s talk about immigration and elections
Immigrants and Elections a special miniseries Part 1 From Dreamers in Arizona to Muslims in Michigan: Immigrant Communities Upholding Democracy From Dreamers in Arizona to Muslims in Michigan, we’ll meet immigrant communities upholding democracy. We’ll also have a conversation with the Brennan Center for Justice President and author of the Fight to Vote, Michael Waldman about how immigrants throughout history have expanded the right to vote. Part 2 Barriers to the Ballot In 2013 the Supreme Court struck down a key civil rights provision...
read moreNot Throw Away Women: Black and Indigenous Women Disrupt Violence
On this week’s show we’re exploring how some women have been dehumanized to the point of indifference. We’ll learn how one community is undoing the silence around the violence women of color face. We’ll also hear about how serial killers were able to hunt down mostly Black women for three decades in South Los Angeles. Then we’ll take you to the Yucatan where pregnant indigenous women struggle under a health care system failing to provide proper medical care. Featuring: Rochelle Robinson, Making Contact Fellow Kimberly Smith, community...
read moreBipolarized: Rethinking Mental Illness
Ross McKenzie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but after 15 years on Lithium, he wasn’t getting any better. He decided to take matters into his own hands, get off the drug, and find out why so many people are being told they have mental illnesses. This week on Making Contact, we bring you an abridged version of the film Bipolarized; Rethinking Mental Illness, chronicling McKenzie’s journey. Featuring: Ross McKenzie, diagnosed with Bipolar disorder Ross McKenzie’s mother and sister Gwen Olsen, former pharmaceutical rep...
read moreChanging Communities, Imminent Threats: Katrina’s Legacy
On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Southern Gulf Coast. Drawn by reconstruction work, the number of Latino immigrants has nearly doubled. Reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina drew thousands of people from India, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, and other Latin American countries. Workers were charged with pulling dead bodies from abandoned homes and rebuilding New Orleans. But the influx of migrant workers also increased immigration crackdowns. Making Contact’s Jasmin Lopez follows Jose Monterubio, a reconstruction...
read moreGetting Out: the journey out of prison
Nationally, American prisons release more than 650,000 people into society every year. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Memphis or Boston. On this edition, producer Aaron Mendelson followed ex-prisoner Kevin Tindall on his journey out of prison. Special thanks to Claire Schoen and the University of California Berkeley, School of Journalism. Featuring: Gordon Brown, ex-prisoner Monta Kevin Tindall, ex-prisoner Jerry Elster, ex-prisoner Tom Gorham, Program Director Options Recovery Services Barry Krisberg, Director of Research...
read moreNot a Drop to Drink: our dwindling access to clean drinking water
It’s something many of us take for granted: access to clean drinking water. But for many Americans it’s not something they can rely on. From chemical spills in West Virginia to ecoli in the water on the Texas-Mexico border, to contamination from farming in California. On this edition, we hear what happens when there’s not a drop to drink. Featuring: Angela Walker, Charleston resident Neena Satija, environment reporter Texas Tribune Daisy Gonzalez and Vicente Lara, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Horacio Amezquita, resident San...
read moreThwarting 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 Representative Clifford Kuhn, Professor of History at Georgia State University JT Johnson, civil rights organizer Allen...
read moreSpoken word: Police trained victims
As with any generation the oral tradition depends upon each person listening and remembering what we have heard together-that creates the whole story of the people. This poem, “Statistically Speaking,” endeavors to share a chronological documentation of a process, in which young people in the inner cities across the nation are conditioned to become victims if they internalize negative childhood messages, or allow other’s negative opinions to become their reality. Portions of this poem will be included in my final Making...
read moreFull time Struggle, Part time Work: Making a living post recession
During the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009 millions of people lost their jobs and hustled to survive. Since then, the economy has regained more than 8 million jobs. Still wage growth remains low and many simply can’t find a full time work. On this edition of Making Contact we’ll hear from a panel of labor experts on the state of labor market especially for part-time and low-wage workers. The Panelists include former New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, Ann Boger, Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy for the...
read moreLiving Downstream-creating a world free of cancer causing toxics
Renowned biologist Sandra Steingraber has made fighting environmentally induced cancers her life’s work. We hear excerpts of the documentary film, Living Downstream, which chronicles her efforts to create a world free of cancer causing toxics.
read moreWhy We Owe: David Graeber on the Origins of Debt
From unpaid bills to entire governments facing bankruptcy, debt is never far from our minds or the news. It’s deeply embedded in our lives: our language, culture, even major religions. It’s also at the heart of many of our most pressing political debates. But have you ever thought about where debt comes from? On this edition of Making Contact we hear from Anthropologist David Graeber, author of “Debt: The First 5,000 Years.” Graeber traces the history of debt and asks what might we learn from how societies in the past dealt with it. His 2011...
read moreMy Body My Message: women’s bodies as tools of self-empowerment
The female body as medium, and as message. How can a woman determine how she is perceived by the world, and even by herself? On this edition, we hear stories of women who are using their bodies for political protest, and as tools of self-empowerment…forcing everyone to reevaluate their perspectives on the female form. Featuring: Neda Topaloski & Xenia Chernyshova, Femen members Galia Ackerman, author of the book “Femen” Catherine King, Executive Producer, Global Fund for Women Yolando Y’Netta Harbin-Venson, Big Ol Pretty Girls owner...
read moreWhy we need more voices to speak the unspeakable.
My Community Radio Storytelling Fellowship with Making Contact (MC) has come to an end and I’m confident that my voice has been heard! I am happy to have had the opportunity to be one of the first cohort of fellows to participate in what was both a challenging and engaging project, which I want to dedicate to Kimberly Robertson (may she forever rest in peace) and to all of the black female (including transwomen) victims and survivors of violence. My challenge stemmed from my topic about the unspeakable and perpetual violence...
read moreBodily Safety: Ta-Nehisi Coates on Police Shootings
When journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates set out to write about police killings he went to visit Mable Jones. Back in 2000, Jones son, a friend of Coates from their time at Howard University, was shot and killed by police in Virginia. He was twenty five years old. Written in the form of a letter to his own teenage son, Coates’ book “Between the World and Me” puts police shootings in a wider context. Ta-Nehisi Coates spoke as part of the Lannan Foundation’s Pursuit of Cultural Freedom Series. Featuring: Ta-Nehisi Coates,...
read moreDeadly Divide: Migrant Death on the Border
Congratulations to Jasmin, George, Bradnon, Mitra and team for this show’s Excellence in Journalism Award from Society of Professional Journalists NorCal, for Feature Storytelling (radio/audio) 2015 ! Over 6,000 migrant deaths were recorded on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico between 1998 and 2013. The true number of deaths is likely higher, and thousands of families never hear from their loved ones again. This documentary travels to the desert ranch lands of Brooks County and the border town of Reynosa, Tamaulipas to introduce...
read moreWe need to tell our own stories, no matter how the voice sounds
Lateef McLeod was Making Contact’s first Storytelling Fellow. Listen to his segment, read his reflection on his experience and donate to support this year’s class of fellows. My tenure as the first Making Contact Storytelling Fellow was an extraordinary experience. I had an amazing time producing the radio segment on the public’s perspective of people who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (A.A.C) devices. Making Contact’s George Lavender and Kwan Booth assisted me greatly in production and marketing and I’m excited...
read moreAlice Wong investigates interdependence between the disability and caregiver communities
I am a disabled person who uses personal assistance for almost every aspect of my activities of daily living. If I did not have paid and unpaid personal assistance (including family members), my life chances and opportunities would look drastically different. Without the usage of Medicaid-funded personal assistance programs such as IHSS (In Home Supportive Services) in California and family support, I know I would have to enter a nursing home to survive. In my conversations with people in the disability community, we joke and laugh about how...
read moreIvan Rodriguez is fighting the toxic effects of environmental racism in Southeast LA
Southeast Los Angeles is my home, it is also one of the most heavily industrialized areas in Los Angeles, a community about six and a half miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. My Making Contact story is about my experience of institutional environmental racism and the hidden effects it has on my community. The greatest challenge to the area is the large number of toxic polluters, superfund sites, brownfields and freeways. This so called “toxic hot spot” houses a wide range of polluting industries including chrome platers,...
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