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Who’s Afraid of DEI?: Interrogating Gender & Race in the Workplace (Encore)
Mar13

Who’s Afraid of DEI?: Interrogating Gender & Race in the Workplace (Encore)

“There was not a moment that I came into the workplace and thought that I would belong or be treated properly or equally.” Ruchika Tulshyan, a workplace inclusion expert, paraphrases an interview with Ijeoma Oluo, a thought leader on race in America, for Tulshyan’s book, Inclusion on Purpose.  In the conversation featured in this episode, these two women talk about Ruchika’s misassumptions about race and gender in the workplace in her...

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Giving Bayard Rustin His Flowers (Encore)
Feb14

Giving Bayard Rustin His Flowers (Encore)

Today, we continue celebrating Black history and heritage with a special encore episode honoring an often forgotten civil rights leader. We take a look at the life and legacy of Bayard Rustin, a central figure in the and organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin was a trusted advisor to labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Rustin’s methodology for challenging racial inequality and imperialism...

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Tulsa’s Black History Saturday School
Feb07

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...

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Uncovering the History of the Massacre of Black Wall Street (Encore)
Jan24

Uncovering the History of the Massacre of Black Wall Street (Encore)

In the first of our 3 part series leading up to Black History Month, we turn our focus to how journalists and historians today are covering the Tulsa Race Massacre. We hear from KalaLea, host of the critically acclaimed podcast Blindspot: Tulsa Burning. The series tells the story of the rise of Greenwood, a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street.  The podcast recounts the brutal 1921...

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Denial of the Funk: The Impact of Racism on our Nation’s Health
Jan10

Denial of the Funk: The Impact of Racism on our Nation’s Health

The problem in America is, America’s been in denial about its problems. And that’s a problem.  America doesn’t have a race problem, in reality there’s been catastrophes visited upon Black people. Catastrophes visited on Indigenous brothers and sisters. Catastrophes visited on Latino brothers and sisters. Catastrophes visited on working people. Catastrophes visited on women of all colors. We can go on and on.  This week on...

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Not Just Speed Traps: Alabama Community Fights Back Against For-profit Policing – A 70 Million Story (Encore)
Nov08

Not Just Speed Traps: Alabama Community Fights Back Against For-profit Policing – A 70 Million Story (Encore)

Just 20 minutes north of Birmingham on Interstate 22, Brookside, Alabama is a working-class town with less than 1,300 residents. From 2018 to 2020, income from traffic fines and forfeitures increased 640%, accounting for 49% of the town’s revenue. In 2019, Brookside saw its first lawsuit from a motorist that included allegations of racism and police misconduct. It caught national attention for being a predatory speed trap in 2022 and...

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Inclusion on Purpose
Sep27

Inclusion on Purpose

George Floyd’s murder sparked increased attention toward Black liberation and by extension, racial discrimination. Institutions raced to check boxes for workplace diversity, equity and inclusion, but how do we know whether real work has been done?  In this episode, two thought leaders around race and belonging, Ruchika Tulshyan and Ijeoma Oluo, discuss the finer points of how to create equity in the workplace. This conversation takes...

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70 Million – Highway Robbery: How a Small Town Traffic Trap Became A Legal Black Hole
Aug30

70 Million – Highway Robbery: How a Small Town Traffic Trap Became A Legal Black Hole

This week on Making Contact, we bring you a story from our podcast partners, 70 Million titled Highway Robbery: How a Small-Town Traffic Trap Became A Legal Black Hole. About 20 minutes north of Birmingham, Alabama, on Interstate 22, is the working-class town of Brookside. Its almost 1300 residents make it about the size of a large high school. According to the 2020 census, Brookside’s population is mostly White and 21% are...

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Mexicans Confronting Racism: Aztec myths to modern stereotypes
Aug23

Mexicans Confronting Racism: Aztec myths to modern stereotypes

There’s an idea in Mexico that racism doesn’t exist, that all Mexicans are “mestizo” – a homogenous blend of Spanish and indigenous. But cultural worker José Antonio Aguilar says racism is lived by Black and brown Mexicans in many ways.  He founded Racismo MX, an organization which seeks to dismantle racism, after coming to terms with his own racial reality as a “prieto” – a brown man.  We also hear from anthropologist...

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The Agony and the Ecstasy: Race and the Future of the Love Story Part 2 (Encore)
Aug09

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Race and the Future of the Love Story Part 2 (Encore)

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 although the online debate seemed to be isolated to a specific community of romance writers and their fans, it was really a microcosm of what’s been happening all over the US. In this episode we...

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