Making Contact produces media that analyses critical issues and showcases grassroots solutions in order to inform and inspire audiences to action.
The Agony and the Ecstasy: Race and the Future of the Love Story Part 1
In 2019 a well known romance writer began tweeting about other writers in her community and concerns about racism. It led to a huge reckoning within an organization called the Romance Writers of America, which is still unfolding. And...
Jerusalem Calling from Kerning Cultures
The Palestine Broadcasting Service started airing in 1936, from a brand new transmitter tower in Ramallah. It was a British station in three languages, aimed at promoting the message of the mandate government throughout the region....
Escaping The Narcissism of The American Dream
Next, a conversation with Tiffanie Drayton, author of the new book Black American Refugee: Escaping the Narcissism of The American Dream. Black American Refugee examines in-depth the intersection of Drayton’s personal...
The Pseudo-Science of Whiteness: Biology as a Social Weapon ENCORE
This week, filmmaker Stephanie Welch explores the role that racist, unscientific propaganda has played in promoting white supremacy in the U.S. She traces the history of the Pioneer Fund, the primary funding source for research...
Angelic Troublemaker: Bayard Rustin (ENCORE)
On today’s program we honor Bayard Rustin, one of the most central figures in the African American struggle for Civil Rights and Freedom. Rustin was a pacifist, homosexual and practitioner of nonviolence who dedicated his...
re:Work – Redemption
In today’s political climate, immigration is often discussed within the context of who “deserves” to be here versus who does not. Many politicians have strayed away from addressing immigration as a humanitarian issue...
- Climate Justice
- Criminal Justice
- Immigration
- Indigenous
- Labor & Economics
- Women's Issues
Juristac and the Amah Mutsun: Indigenous Resistance and Regeneration
In this episode, we take a deep dive into Indigenous resistance against extractivism and the forces behind climate change. We’ll look at an underreported story in California about the Amah Mutsun Ohlone’s fight to save their...
But Next Time Part 2: From the Ashes
Making Contact · But Next Time Part 2: From the Ashes As fires ravaged California’s world-famous wine country in 2017, a community radio station, emergency dispatcher, and tenant organizers helped the most vulnerable in...
But Next Time Part 1: Toward the Fire
Making Contact · But Next Time Part 1: Toward the Fire As fires ravaged California’s world-famous wine country in 2017, a community radio station, emergency dispatcher, and tenant organizers helped the most vulnerable in...
The World’s Largest Methanol Refinery (and the fight to stop it)-ENCORE
Making Contact · The World’s Largest Methanol Refinery (and the fight to stop it) – Encore The Fight to Stop the World’s Largest Methanol Refinery Barbara Bernstein’s story of several communities in the Pacific...
Unequal Justice: the Criminalization of Black Youth
Nearly two thirds of all children in the U.S. juvenile justice system are kids of color. That’s according to a recent report by the Children’s Defense Fund. In this episode of Making Contact, we’ll hear from Dr. Kris Henning on the...
Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons (Encore)
Making Contact · Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid-19 and Prisons In a two-part series, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release inmates in...
Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons (Encore)
Making Contact · Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid 19 and Prisons – Encore In this encore episode, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to...
70 Million: Where Juvenile Detention Looks More Like Hanging Out
Making Contact · 70 Million: Where Juvenile Detention Looks More Like Hanging Out There’s a place in rural St. Johns, Arizona, where teens who have encounters with officers of the law can play pool, make music, and get mentored...
re:Work – Redemption
In today’s political climate, immigration is often discussed within the context of who “deserves” to be here versus who does not. Many politicians have strayed away from addressing immigration as a humanitarian issue...
September 11th 20 Years Later: Surveillance, Policing, and Torture
Making Contact · September 11th 20 Years Later: Surveillance, Policing, and Torture September 11th, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. In today’s program, we turn our attention not to the...
70 Million: How the Asylum Process Became Another Carceral Matrix
Making Contact · 70 Million: How the Asylum Process Became Another Carceral Matrix The Trump administration has issued numerous policies to systematically dismantle asylum as a legal right. They’re also locking up asylum...
Election 2020 Special: More Than a Vote
Making Contact · Election 2020 Special: More Than a Vote Image Credit: Verónica Zaragovia Voting in one of the most momentous presidential elections in the nation’s history is over. The morning after polls closed nearly 136 million...
Juristac and the Amah Mutsun: Indigenous Resistance and Regeneration
In this episode, we take a deep dive into Indigenous resistance against extractivism and the forces behind climate change. We’ll look at an underreported story in California about the Amah Mutsun Ohlone’s fight to save their...
Beyond Recognition: The Ohlone (Encore)
Making Contact · Beyond Recognition: The Ohlone (Encore) Beyond Recognition: The Ohlone Our radio adaptation and update of the film Beyond Recognition by Underexposed films: “After decades struggling to protect her...
70 Million: A Special Court Keeping Native Americans out of Jail
Making Contact · 70 Million: A Special Court Keeping Native Americans out of Jail Kirsten made her way out of jail and addiction with the help of a special court on the Penobscot Nation reservation in Maine. There, culture and...
The Many Faces of Justice: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls of North America (Encore)
Making Contact · The Many Faces of Justice: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls of North America (Encore) As reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act awaits a vote in the U.S. Senate, missing and murdered...
70 Million: An Effort to Hold Prosecutors Accountable
Making Contact · 70 Million: An Effort to Hold Prosecutors Accountable Prosecutors hold immense power in the criminal justice system. They decide who to charge with what crime, when to offer deals, what sentences to recommend, and...
Re:Work Radio: Stranded
Making Contact · Re:Work Radio: Stranded In 2020, India suddenly went into a national lockdown without advance planning or adequate government support. This led to a humanitarian crisis in addition to the COVID-19 public health...
Witch Hunts and Enclosures: Bodies, Land and Women
Witch Hunts and Enclosures: Bodies, Land and Women How are witch hunts and Capitalist economies linked? Silvia Federici, wrote the groundbreaking book, Caliban and the Witch. In that book she argues that the witch hunts of the...
Caring 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...
She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry
In this week’s show we’re presenting excerpts from the documentary “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry,” a reflection on the rise of the women’s liberation movement in the United States, which explores the emergence of...
It’s Magic: Birth Justice and Black Maternal Health (Encore)
Black women are three times as likely as White women to die from pregnancy-related complications. Yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two-thirds of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable when people...
Black Women In History (ENCORE)
Making Contact · Black Women In History (Encore) Ever since the first Africans were brought to North America on cargo ships, Black women have helped build America. While Black women have played a critical role in the development of...
70 Million: How Black Women Are Rightfully “Taking Seats at the Table”
Making Contact · 70 Million: How Black Women Are Rightfully “Taking Seats at the Table” Nearly one in two Black women in the US have a loved one who has been impacted by our prison system. Many become de facto civilian experts...
