70 Million: How New Orleans Could Set a New Course for Bail Reform
70 Million: NOLA See Transcript Below New Orleans could become the battleground for bail reform. The city has one of the highest per capita incarceration rates in the world. And most people are there because they can’t pay their bail. The current arrangement with the local bail industry gives the impression that judges there could have a financial conflict of interest when setting bail. In this episode, Sonia Paul digs into how...
I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin Master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, Remember This House. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material. I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black ...
Afrofuturism: Imagination and Humanity, Ytasha Womack
Afrofuturism According to Ytasha Womack, use of the imagination for self-development and social change is one of the greatest tenets of Afrofuturism. This show features Womack’s presentation at the 2017 Sonic Acts Festival, Afrofuturism: Imagination and Humanity. She explores resilience encouraged through the championing of the imagination, tensions that arise from embracing hope, the separation of humanity from itself through the...
Spare the Kids, Dr. Stacey Patton
Dr. Stacey Patton We speak with author Dr. Stacey Patton about her book, Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Won’t Save Black America. The book examines the unique cultural and historical specificity of corporal punishment in Black communities. Given the prevalence and acceptance of spanking in American culture, the discussions will be useful to a wide and diverse audience. Dr. Stacey Patton is an adoptee, child abuse survivor, and...
The Future of Abolition: Marc Lamont Hill, Michelle Alexander and Vonya Quarles
The Future of Abolition “Prison Abolition” had been a widely discussed idea for centuries, and was adopted –even by centrists– in the 1970’s. During the last 40 years and a staggering boom in imprisonment – prison abolition seemed like a fringe idea. “Get rid of prisons?!” Only radical activists thought that was possible. But in the last decade the tide has been turning. We’ve had the work of Michelle Alexander and...
The Far Right and Antifa (Encore)
Greek Raps Anti-Fascism In this episode of Making Contact, we explore the past and present of the far right and anti-fascism. We begin with a story from Athens on the murder and investigation of Greek rapper, Pavlos Fyssas. In the second half of the show, historian and author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, Mark Bray, describes anti-fascist responses to Hitler and Mussolini in the 1920’s and 30’s. Image Credit: seven_resist on...
