The Healing Project: An Abolitionist Story (Encore)
Composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes tells us about The Healing Project. The Healing Project, a fundamentally abolitionist project, explores the structures of systemic racism and the prison industrial complex. This story first aired February 2023. The Healing Project takes action towards abolition with forms such as musical songs, films, an exhibition, community gatherings, live performances, and a digital library of...
Family Matters: How Communities Support Trans Kids in Conservative States
In 2023, Kirin Clawson’s endocrinologist placed a puberty-blocking implant in her arm, a medical intervention that is associated with improved mental health for many trans kids with gender dysphoria. In February, Indiana joined several other conservative states banning this treatment for minors. In the first of a 2-part series, we hear from the Clawsons how the ban has impacted their family. And, we hear from psychologist, Dr....
The Art of Healing: Finding Strength Through Frida Kahlo
This week on Making Contact we take a look at one of the most prolific Mexican artists, Frida Kahlo, and how she inspired the Latina artist collective “The Phoenix Fridas.” Producer Anthony Wallace tells the story of Thania Betancourt Alcazar, a member of The Phoenix Fridas, in a piece brought to us by In Confianza, with Pulso. Alcazar discovered a lifeline in the art of Frida Kahlo and her artistic message of resilience and...
Survival for All: Securing Vaccines for the Global South
At the beginning of the pandemic, we reported on the extreme inequality of the vaccine rollout to low income countries. Their access was hindered because of a Western patent system which was imposed globally through the WTO. At the time, activists tried to pass the TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Waiver, which would have suspended all patents related to COVID. This would have allowed...
America’s Black Capital
“America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy” chronicles how a center of Black excellence emerged amid virulent expressions of white nationalism as African Americans pushed back against Confederate ideology to create an extraordinary locus of achievement. Alongside author Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, in this episode we examine the methods in which Black Atlanteans pushed for social,...
Tulsa’s Black History Saturday School
2021 marked the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre – a horrific attack white people waged against Greenwood, a once prosperous Black neighborhood in north Tulsa, Oklahoma. Also in 2021, state legislators passed a law that limits how race is discussed in classrooms. Tulsa activists say HB 1775 prevents descendants of those who built Greenwood from being able to acknowledge the attack, and also Greenwood’s success. In...
