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Changing Communities, Imminent Threats: Katrina’s Legacy

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Southern Gulf Coast. Drawn by reconstruction work, the number of Latino immigrants has nearly doubled. Reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina drew thousands of people from India, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, and other Latin American countries.  Workers were charged with pulling dead bodies from abandoned homes and rebuilding New Orleans. But the influx of migrant workers also...

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Getting Out: the journey out of prison

Nationally, American prisons release more than 650,000 people into society every year. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Memphis or Boston.  On this edition, producer Aaron Mendelson followed ex-prisoner Kevin Tindall on his journey out of prison. Special thanks to Claire Schoen and the University of California Berkeley, School of Journalism. Featuring:    Gordon Brown, ex-prisoner Monta Kevin Tindall, ex-prisoner Jerry...

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Bodily Safety: Ta-Nehisi Coates on Police Shootings

When journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates set out to write about police killings he went to visit Mable Jones. Back in 2000, Jones son, a friend of Coates from their time at Howard University, was shot and killed by police in Virginia. He was twenty five years old. Written in the form of a letter to his own teenage son, Coates’ book “Between the World and Me” puts police shootings in a wider context. Ta-Nehisi Coates spoke as...

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After 31 years in prison, Al Sasser is giving a voice to men still inside
Jun09

After 31 years in prison, Al Sasser is giving a voice to men still inside

My piece is everything about the relationships fostered while under the most traumatic circumstances of sensory deprivation, political pressure and uncertainty.  The reality of human confinement is extremely difficult to describe adequately.  However I will endeavor to share the Truth of our existence while we struggled to rise above it. I hope to honor each individual involved with the process of building us up. Encouraging us to...

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Making Contact’s Violence Against Women of Color Live Chat
May21

Making Contact’s Violence Against Women of Color Live Chat

“This hierarchy of human life where if you are a woman of color and you’re impoverished, you’re at the very bottom and your life is seen as not worth anything.” –Margaret Prescod Join us on May 21st at 3pm PST as we discuss domestic, healthcare and police violence against women of color. This conversation continues our ongoing coverage on the cultural and structural dimensions of how violence against women...

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East Oakland Mural honors women effected by violence
May20

East Oakland Mural honors women effected by violence

Her Resilience, the arts organization featured in Not Throw Away Women is an art-based, women-centered project intended to honor, commemorate and celebrate the lives of women affected by violence in the Oakland community. The project was created by Hazel Streete in honor of Kimberly Robertson, a young Black woman who was raped and murdered in Oakland last spring. Participating artists include Kira Marriner, Melody Shaiken, Nicole...

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A story and a call to action: It’s time to end domestic violence
May12

A story and a call to action: It’s time to end domestic violence

I had internalized the belief that being Black and female automatically puts me at a disadvantage and the only way to change these odds was to tie the knot.  Well, that knot was tight and uncomfortable and only added to my oppression not ease its burden. At nineteen, I wanted to be a wife.  I’d had faith in the fairytale, the happy-ever-after meme, and was sure my life would be better for it.  But to my surprise and dismay, getting...

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Follow #Blackspring social media coverage here
May01
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Loretta Ross on Trust Black Women and the fight for Reproductive Justice
Apr09

Loretta Ross on Trust Black Women and the fight for Reproductive Justice

When such a racialized strategy is used to weaken the prochoice movement, as an African American women I felt the best people to respond would be the black women who were under attack. For over 20 years Loretta J. Ross has been fighting for the rights of women of color. As a co-founder of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective she organized women of color in the reproductive justice movement and was one of the...

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Deadly Force- Interview with Julie Perini
Feb27

Deadly Force- Interview with Julie Perini

Following up on last week’s show on police shootings, Making Contact’s George Lavender interview Julie Perini one of the producers of “Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence in Portland, Oregon” about the “ghostly scratchings” she created at the sites of police violence. Listen to the entire show here: https://www.radioproject.org/2015/02/deadly-force-police-shootings-in-black-and-white/ And for...

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