70Million: The Work of Closing a Notorious Jail
70Million: The Work of Closing a Notorious Jail Five years after Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer galvanized criminal justice reform activists in St. Louis, they’re gaining serious momentum to shut down the city’s notorious Workhouse jail. Reporter Carolina Hidalgo spent time with the Close the Workhouse campaign and Arch City Defenders, their supporters, and detractors. [TRANSCRIPT BELOW] 70...
John Carlos Frey on America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border
America’s Stealth War In recent decades, U.S. immigration policies have aggressively targeted families fleeing violence and poverty in Mexico and Central and South America, spawning a network of detention centers that now exist indefinitely along our southern border. The US’s approach to tackling illegal immigration has come under fire for its use of brutal tactics such as deliberately separating families, placing them in...
70 Million: Undocumented Immigrants Are Tethered to ICE, and Private Companies
ICE 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 attorneys fighting them. 70 Million is...
Dana Frank on the Long Honduran Night
Honduran Coup’s Impact 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. Special thanks to KFPA for the recording. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here and support our...
Re:Work Radio. Trafficked, the Journey of Lester Ramos
Labor Trafficking: One of the most common forms of trafficking is labor trafficking: compelling people to work through fraud, force, or coercion. The International Labor Organization estimates 20.1 million people are trapped in forced labor globally, in industries including agriculture, construction, domestic work, and manufacturing. Who does this happen to? And how does it happen? In this episode, Re:Work...
70 Million: Undocumented Immigrants are Tethered to ICE & Private Companies
70 Million See Transcript Below 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 attorneys...
Michael Eric Dyson on Trump Truth and Race
Michael Eric Dyson America’s unwillingness to assess the ugly truth about systemic inequality has created a perpetual sinkhole of denial. A reality that existed long before Trump’s presidency. It’s AMERICA’s Legacy. On this edition, we hear from Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, one of the nation’s most prominent public intellectuals, a frequent contributor to the New York Times, and an editor of...
Call 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....
Uprooting 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...
The 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...