Cornel West and Carl Dix in dialog (event poster)

With the world in transition, and the future so unclear, what kind of promises can we make to our children? What can we do to ensure a just world for them? And what are the youth doing now to make it happen for themselves?

On this edition, we hear a dialogue between Princeton University professor Cornel West, and Revolutionary Communist Party USA spokesman Carl Dix about the future of America’s youth in the age of Obama.

Featuring:

Cornel West, professor at the Center for African American Studies and Department of Religion at Princeton University; Carl Dix, co-founder of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA.

Special thanks to Alton Byrd and Revolution Books.

***WEB EXCLUSIVES***

Full speeches by Carl Dix and Cornel West, which took place at the University of California, Berkeley on Dec. 2, 2011

Dialogue between Cornel West and Carl Dix

Question and Answer session with Cornel West and Carl Dix

For More Information:

Cornel West
Carl Dix
Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Revolution Books
Occupy Wall Street
Stop and Frisk policy
Sentencing Project
Critical Resistance

Books/Articles:

“The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander

Music:

“Someday We’ll All be Free” by Donny Hathaway

“Sinnerman” by Felix da Housecat ft. Nina Simone

If you’ve ever stepped into a nail salon, you know the smell of a chemical cocktail that hits you like an invisible wall. While consumers may tolerate it during a short visit, the nail salon workers find themselves stewing in a toxic bubble for years. On this edition, we take a look at the health impacts of chemical exposure, the shoddy regulation of cosmetics, and the movement towards greener nail salons.

Featuring:

Alisha Nga Tran, Patient Leadership Council facilitator, Asian Health Services; Dr. Thu Quach, epidemiologist, Cancer Prevention Institute of California; My Tong, associate, California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative; Lam Le, former nail salon worker and cancer survivor; Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins , CEO, Green For All; Jamie Silberberger, director of programs and policy at Women’s Voices for the Earth; Uyen Nguyen, owner, Isabella Nail Salon; Sarah Vuong , employee at Isabella Nail Salon; Jill Adams , client, Isabella Nail Salon; David Chiu,  president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Thanks to all of our supporters, to As You Sow‘s Environmental Enforcement Fund and to Spot.us for helping to crowd fund this story.

*** WEB EXCLUSIVES ***

Asian Health Services Educates Patient Leaders from pauline bartolone on Vimeo.

Nail Salon Workers Speak Up About Chemical Exposure

The amount of nail salons has nearly quadrupled nationwide in the past decade. In California, about two-thirds of nail salon workers are Vietnamese immigrants. In this next segment, Making Contact Producer Pauline Bartolone explores the health impact of chemical exposure on nail salon workers, and what groups are doing to protect them.

Nail Salon Businesses Go Green in Bay Area

Nail salon workers and advocates are pushing hard to change public policy around exposure to toxic chemicals.  But there’s also a movement coming from businesses themselves to make the salons greener and safer for workers and consumers. Correspondent Momo Chang has more.

For More Information:

Asian Health Services, Oakland, CA
California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, Oakland, CA
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Washington, D.C.
National Healthy Nail Salon Alliance, Washington, D.C.
Women’s Voices for the Earth, Missoula, MT

Music:

“P.S.” by Chromakey
“Warm Sound” by Zero 7

Prison windows. Image via Flickr (cc) user weirdo513.

From illiterate street kid, to world renowned poet, Jimmy Santiago Baca has lived a long and winding path.  It was in prison that Baca connected with his Native American and Chicano heritage, and began learning the lessons of his people’s past. On this edition, Progressive Magazine editor Matthew Rothschild sits down with Jimmy Santiago Baca.

Special thanks to the Progressive Magazine.

Featuring:

Jimmy Santiago Baca, poet and educator; Matthew Rothschild, Progressive Magazine Editor.

For More Information:

Jimmy Santiago Baca
A Place to Stand
Progressive Radio Show
Safe Streets Arts Foundation
Red Lodge Transition Services
Friends of Red Lodge
American Indian Prison Pen Pals
Prison Education.com
The Progressive Magazine

Articles, Blogs, Reports and Videos:

Jimmy Santiago Baca Reads Selections from his Work Before an Audience at La Jolla’s  Sherwood Auditorium
Healing Earthquakes by Jimmy Santiago Baca
19 poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca

Music:

“Spirits Abandoned” by Dark Noontide

Inter-Faith Protest Rally Against Islamophobia and Peter King's Congressional Hearings on Muslim Radicalization 2011 Credit: asterix611/ Flickr

Featuring:

Veena Dubal, Asian Law Caucus National Security and Civil Rights Program Staff Attorney; Lejla Duka, family member of the Fort Dix Five; Dominick Calsolaro, Albany Common Council Member; Noor Elashi, daughter of Ghassan Elashi of the Holy Land 5; Shaheena Parveen, mother of Siraj Matin; Marlene Jenkins, mother of Tarik Shaw; Sharmin Sadequee, sister of Shifa Sadequee; Tamer Mehanna, brother of Tariq Mehanna; Fred Korematsu, formerly interned Japanese American; John Frank, Clerk to Associate Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black; Tsuyako Kitashima, Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress spokesperson; Donald Tamaki, lawyer for Fred Korematsu; Peter Irons, UC San Diego Constitutional Law Professor.

—WEB EXCLUSIVES—

NYC Town Hall on Preemptive Prosecution

Full audio from December 2010 NYC Town Hall featuring family members of “wrongly accused” terrorists. Recorded by Jaisal Noor.

Full-length Interview with Veena Dubal, Staff Attorney with the Asian Law Caucus

Dubal talks about Preemptive Prosecutions, racial profiling, Department of Justice and White House strategies, and the effect they have on Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities. Is there a valid comparison to the Japanese internment during WWII?

——

For More Information:

ACLU-Northern California Civil Rights Groups Call on Bay Area Police Departments to Cease Joint Operations with the FBI
Asian Law Caucus San Francisco, CA
Coalition For a Safe San Francisco San Francisco, CA
Council on American Islamic Relations Washington, D.C.
Free the Fort Dix 5 Fort Dix, N.J.
Information on the Newburgh 4 Korematsu Institute San Francisco, CA
Manufacturing the Muslim Menace: A report by Political Research Associates
New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress Of Civil Rights and Wrongs: The Fred Korematsu Story Project Salam
San Francisco Human Rights Commission San Francisco, C.A.
Sikh American Legal Defense & Education Fund (SALDEF) Sikh Coalition
10 Years After 9/11: National Priorities Project resources
Surveillance in the Homeland: Investigative reports: Truthout and ACLU project
David Ray Griffin
Noliesradio.org
Patriots Question 911
9/11 Ten Years Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed
NYPD CIA Anti-Terror Operations Conducted In Secret For Years

9/11 videos:

Beyond the Frame Alternative Perspectives on the War On Terrorism:  Klein Chomsky
Hijacking Catastrophe 9/11 Fear & the Selling of American Empire
Building a Landmark Event in the History of the 9/11 Truth Movement:  Susan Wolfe (19min in)
Making of Out of the Ashes: 9/11 Podcast
Out of the Ashes: 9/11 Trailer
RadioActive: 9/11 reflections by teens and women
Jeff Siddiqui, Pakistani-American, Muslim, blogger on his efforts to combat anti-Muslimism in the US

9/11 Audio (PRX):
Treating heroes still dealing with 9/11 related illnesses
Crockett Grabbe: the World Trade Center collapses were the result of pre-planted explosives
Hasan Elahi, “Hiding in Plain Sight”
Radio Rootz: Racial Profiling of the South Asians: Hear our Voices’

Articles, Blogs, Reports and Videos:

Muslims Reject SFPD Surveillance Program San Francisco Human Rights Commission Hearing:  US Law Enforcement Profiling & Surveillance of Muslims-Arabs-South Asians

Music:

Halou – Seperation
Halou – Alaska
Mark Lingard – In a Lonely Place

Maria Hinojosa; Photo courtesy of Michael Paras.

President Obama promised to change America’s broken immigration system. But the dehumanization of immigrants persists, and the immigration detention industry continues to grow. On this edition, Mexican-American journalist Maria Hinojosa speaks about the United States’ loss of humanity in dealing with immigrants and immigration; the consequence of enforcement only policies and the need to connect with people we have little in common with.
Special thanks to the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, NM.

Featuring:

Maria Hinojosa, host of NPR’s “Latino USA” and PBS’ “Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One,” contributing correspondent on PBS’ “Need to Know.”

— WEB EXCLUSIVES —

Maria Hinojosa
Latino USA
Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One
Now on PBS
The Business of Detention
Summary of the 1996 immigration reform laws
Detention Watch Network
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human rights
ACLU’s Immigrant’s Rights Project
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
National Council of La Raza
Asian American Justice Center

MUSIC:
Santana – Migra
M.I.A. – Pull Up the People

Renowned author Chris Hedges describes a world in rapid economic, environmental, and spiritual decline. He says we have a chance to turn things around—but only if we stand up for our rights, and stop holding out hope that political parties or other global leaders will act in our interests. On this edition, Chris Hedges speaks about his new book, The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.
Special thanks to KPFA Radio in Berkeley, California.

Featuring:

Chris Hedges, author of The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress, columnist for Truthdig and senior fellow for The Nation Institute.

— WEB EXCLUSIVES —

For More Information:

Chris Hedges
Truthdig
The Nation Institute
New York Times articles by Chris Hedges
Daniel Berrigan
KPFA Radio
Chris Hedges on War is a Force that Gives us Meaning
Chris Hedges on the death of Osama bin Laden
Books by Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges “Empire of Illusion” 2009 video lecture at The NewSchool

MUSIC:
Resurrection by Common
Change The World by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Jason Smith Candlelight Vigil; Photo courtesy of Madeleine Bair

In May 2010, New York prosecutors issued an extradition request for Jamaican Kingpin Christopher Coke – gangster to some, local hero to others. The search for Coke triggered a government crackdown on the neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens in Kingston, leaving 73 civilians dead in a span of just a few days.

The majority of those victims were innocent and their loved ones continue to fight for justice and accountability, despite Jamaica’s long record of police violence and government corruption. Today we bring you a documentary on police violence in Jamaica.

Special thanks to Madeleine Bair for producing this story, with support from Jamaicans for Justice and the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Featuring:

Paulette Wellington, mother of Sheldon Wellington, Earl Witter, Jamaican Public Defender, Carolyn Gomes, Jamaicans for Justice, Susan Goffe, Jamaicans for Justice, Monica Williams, mother of Jason Smith and activist, and Dr. Ademola Odunfa, Kingston Hospital.

— WEB EXCLUSIVES —

Victims Voices: Paulette Rose

For More Information:

Jamaicans for Justice
Jamaica Human Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Jamaica

Articles and Books:
A Case Built in New York Against a Jamaican Kingpin
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Jamaica Report
Amnesty International Report 2003 – Jamaica
Amnesty International May 27, 2010, calling for an investigation
Jamaican Forces Accused of Killing Unarmed Men, New York Times
January Jamaica Gleaner article on Witter’s investigations

MUSIC:
Urban’s fight, The Drastics off the album-Chicago Massive
The Alarm, The Drastics off the album-Chicago Massive

Photo credit: Common Cause Georgia www.commoncause.org

2011 marks the year for redistricting – the once-in-a-decade process to draw boundaries that determine your elected officials from local school boards and city councils to state and congressional representatives.

As all 50 states begin drawing lines, battles will ensue among political parties and other interest groups. On this edition, we examine the U.S. redistricting system and some of its pitfalls. What is gerrymandering and how does it affect us? How does the rise in prison population change power dynamics? What does the rise in Latino population mean for redistricting? And how can the redistricting process be fairer?

Featuring:

Barack Obama, U.S. president; Bernie Grofman, UC Irvine political science professor; Justin Levitt, New York University’s Brennan Center for Justicecounsel; Ed Rollins, former RNC chairman; Susan Lerner, Common Cause New York; Nancy Cordes, CBS News; Christina Hartman, Newsy.org; Alex Kellogg, NPR; EJ Dionne, NPR; Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Institute executive director; Neil Breslin, New York state senator; Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Hispanic Center associate director; Nina Perales, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund litigation director; Lydia Camarillo, Southwest Voters Registration Education Project vice president.

For more information:

Gerrymandering movie

Prison Policy Institute, Northampton, MA

Pew Hispanic Center, Washington, DC

Southwest Voters Registration Education Project, San Antonio, TX

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY

California Statewide Database, Berkeley, CA

The Redistricting Game

U.S. Census Bureau

Purdue University’s links to redistricting resources for each state

MUSIC

Across 110th Street by Bobby Womack
Honest Expression by Binary StarBrown
Boy by Ursula Rucker

Noor Elashi, Daughter of Ghassan Elashi of the Holy Land 5 Credit: http://antiauthoritarian.net

Featuring:

Veena Dubal, Asian Law Caucus National Security and Civil Rights Program Staff Attorney: Lejla Duka, family member of the Fort Dix Five: Dominick Calsolaro, Albany Common Council Member: Noor Elashi, Daughter of Ghassan Elashi of the Holy Land 5: Shaheena Parveen, mother of Siraj Matin: Marlene Jenkins, mother of Tarik Shaw: Sharmin Sadequee, sister of Shifa Sadequee: Tamer Mehanna, brother of Tariq Mehanna: Fred Korematsu, formerly interned Japanese American, John Frank, Clerk to Associate Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black; Tsuyako Kitashima, Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress spokesperson; Donald Tamaki, lawyer for Fred Korematsu, Peter Irons, UC San Diego Constitutional Law Professor.

—WEB EXCLUSIVES—

NYC Town Hall on Preemptive Prosecution

Full audio from December 2010 NYC Town Hall featuring family members of “wrongly accused” terrorists.  Recorded by Jaisal Noor.

Full-length Interview with Veena Dubal, Staff Attorney with the Asian Law Caucus

Dubal talks about Preemptive Prosecutions, racial profiling, Department of Justice and White House strategies, and the effect they have on Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities.  Is there a valid comparison to the Japanese internment during WWII?

——

For More Information:

ACLU-Northern California Civil Rights Groups Call on Bay Area Police Departments to Cease Joint Operations with the FBI

Asian Law Caucus
San Francisco, CA

Coalition For a Safe San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Council on American Islamic Relations
Washington, D.C.

Free the Fort Dix 5
Fort Dix, N.J.

Information on the Newburgh 4

Korematsu Institute
San Francisco, C.A.

Manufacturing the Muslim Menace:
A report by Political Research Associates

New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice

Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress

Of Civil Rights and Wrongs: The Fred Korematsu Story

Project Salam

San Francisco Human Rights Commission
San Francisco, C.A.

Sikh American Legal Defense & Education Fund (SALDEF)

Sikh Coalition

Articles, Blogs, Reports and Videos:

Muslims Reject SFPD Surveillance Program

San Francisco Human Rights Commission Hearing: US Law Enforcement Profiling & Surveillance of Muslims-Arabs-South Asians

MUSIC:

Halou-Seperation

Halou-Alaska

Mark Lingard-In a Lonely Place