Groundings

Guest hosts Yasmina and Tarik  interview filmmaker Merawi Gerima, who discusses his new film Residue. The film puts the spotlight on gentrification in DC, and all the racist, violent baggage and displacement that accompanies it. They discuss the process of 'community filmmaking' that helped create the film, the role of capital in dictating creative directing choices, the importance of Black film and narrative-shaping, the Gerima  legacy of filmmaking and community building, the power of DC's go-go music, and much more.  

Writer, educator, and author of Policing Black Lives: State violence in Canada from slavery to the present, Robyn Maynard joins me to discuss policing, state violence, and prisons in Canada, as well as the connections between Indigenous and Black struggles against state violence. We also talk about the 'post-racial' mythmaking which is synonymous to Canada, despite its centuries-long history of enacting structural and systemic violence on colonized communities globally.  

Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly discusses the history and institutionalization of Black Studies, the often overlapping relationship between anti-communism and anti-Blackness, and the 'elision' of political economy in capitalist academia. Moreover, she also talks about 'academic McCarthyism', academic celebrities, ideological battles, and the current state of Black Studies. [cover image: student activist Don McAllister beaten bloodied and arrested by pigs during San Francisco State College protests, 1968]

Writer and activist Benji Hart discusses the multitude of ways grassroots movements against police in Chicago are challenging the Black misleadership class. We discuss the struggle around the struggle against the construction of a $95 million cop academy in Chicago, the many movements and educational moments birthed from this struggle, and how individuals like Mayor Lori Lightfoot represent the 'Black misleadership class'.You will here audio from a 2017 Chicago City Council meeting which can be found here. In this audio clip you will also hear chants stating "NTA is here to stay" - you can find out more details about that chant and the struggle surrounding it here. You can also learn more about LVEJO's ight against environmental racism here. You can find more of Benji's work at Benjihart.com.If you enjoyed the episode, consider supporting the podcast on Patreon here. Money goes to transcription of episodes (releasing soon!), production assistance, equipment, and more to keep the show running. 

Community organizer and educator Dustin Gibson discusses the white supremacist, colonial, capitalist roots of ableism which structures capitalist society, why a disability justice framework must be abolitionist, and why "the state always has a carceral response to disabled Black people."Throughout the episode, you will hear the following audio clips:Leroy Moore discussing the erasure of Emmett Till's disability Members of Fairfax County, Virginia, at a public forum following the killing of Natasha McKennaJennifer Msumba describing the abuse faced at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass.Cover image: “Back of the Neck,” (1983) by Jean-Michel Basquiat    

Mumia Abu-Jamal, world-renowned political prisoner, former Black Panther, and award-winning journalist, gives me his opinion on the movement taking place in the streets right now against police violence, the outpouring of international solidarity we've witnessed, and more. Because he is incarcerated, our interview was cut very short, but he still manages to pack intense amounts of wisdom into only a few minutes.Then we hear from author, professor, and longtime activist Johanna Fernández, who has spent nearly two decades working on the campaign to free Mumia and all political prisoners. We discuss what it is about Mumia specifically that makes millions around the world demand his freedom, why this new generation of activists and everyone else has a moral duty to free political prisoners, and why the creation of political prisoners inevitably means the ruling class shooting themselves in the foot.Mumia is arguably the most recognized political prisoner in the world, having served three decades on death row for a crime he was framed for. Millions across the world have read and engaged with his writings, listened to his audio analyses from incarceration, and found clarity in the always stellar commentary in his multiple top telling books. As we discuss abolition, tearing down prisons, defunding the police, and all related topics, it's imperative that we continue to uplift the fight to free all political prisoners, including Mumia. You can find out how to donate, write letters to, and spread the word for Mumia's freedom here. You will hear an audio interlude which includes clips from old news coverage of the cases of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Assata Shakur, Jamil Al-Amin, Herman Bell, and Angela Davis.// Transition music produced by 23djTbone 

I spoke with scholar, writer, and professor Charisse Burden-Stelly about W.E.B. Du Bois. Charisse recently co-authored the new book W.E.B. Du Bois: A Life in American History with historian Gerald Horne, and has an extensive amount of insight, knowledge, and research on the life of Du Bois. Moreover, she's apt to think deeply on the intellectual, political, and ideological history within his life trajectory.We speak about Du Bois, the many ways his ideological positions shifted over the century (!) he lived, where Du Bois fell short and where he accelerates, how to position him between Pan-Africanism, communism, and Black Nationalism, his internationalist politic, and much more!Throughout the episode you will hear excerpts from his speech "Socialism and the American Negro" given in 1960. You can read the speech here. You can purchase Charisse's book here. 

Philadelphia based community organizer and writer Steven Powers helps run a community based, free, socialist gym, the People Power Gym, and is involved in a number of other community survival projects. In this episode we discuss how his organization was able to turn these survival programs into a Covid-19 mutual aid grocery program, delivering free groceries throughout their neighborhood. We also discuss how capitalism has exacerbated this pandemic into a crisis with blood on its hands, the need for community organizing, a cautious understanding of 'mutual aid', and Sock'em Boppers. Support their fundraiser here. You can read Safiyah Bukhari's The War Before here, and George Jackson's Soledad Brother here. Audio samples used:Assata Shakur, Eyes of the RainbowMumia Abu-Jamal, Safiyah Bukhari: Lioness for LiberationFred Hampton, On the Importance of EducationEricka Huggins, On Meditation

Professor Johanna Fernandez introduces listeners to the Young Lords, a revolutionary Puerto Rican organization that radically shifted international discourse on Puerto Rican politics.Fernandez recently publish The Young Lords: A Radical History, a groundbreaking and foundational new book which compiles 20 years of research to create the authoritative history of the Young Lords. In our conversation we discuss the roots of the Young Lords organization, how they transformed from a street gang to revolutionary socialist organization, the political and ideological motivations of the group, why they took a specific, relevant focus on health issues, and much more. The poem you hear recited throughout the episode is titled "Puerto Rican Obituary",  written and performed by the late Pedro Pietri, poet, activist, former Young Lord, and one of the founding members of the Nuyorican Movement. If you enjoyed this episode, consider purchasing Johanna's book and support her work, and you can also support the host on Patreon as well. 

I speak with community organizer, researcher, and writer Taiza Troutman to discuss urban development, trap music, Tyler Perry, activism, homelessness, neoliberalism, displacement and, above all else, gentrification in Atlanta. Audio used throughout the episode was provided graciously by Eva Dickerson, activist, educator, and all around comrade. Watch the full video in which this audio is from here.  Some of the books mentioned in the episode:Rashad Shabazz, Spatializing Blackness: Architectures of Confinement and Black Masculinity in ChicagoLester K. Spence, Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black PoliticsSaidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval