Making Contact

It’s election season! But since the 2013 Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, many states have pushed changes to voter laws that raise disturbing connections to the past. On this week’s show, we’ll hear about hard fought battles for voting rights and the implications of new laws. Featuring: Reverend Tyrone Edwards, civil rights historian in Plaquemines Parish Louisiana Tyrone Brooks, Georgia State Representative Clifford Kuhn, Professor of History at Georgia State University JT Johnson, civil rights organizer Allen Secher, rabbi Jerel James, Tamia Adkinson, docents at Civil Rights Museum of St. Augustine August Tinson, testified in U.S. vs Fox (1962) Gary May, professor of history at the University of Delaware and the author of Bending Towards Justice: The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy.

During the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009 millions of people lost their jobs and hustled to survive. Since then, the economy has regained more than 8 million jobs. Still wage growth remains low and many simply can’t find a full time work. On this edition of Making Contact we’ll hear from a panel of labor experts on the state of labor market especially for part-time and low-wage workers. The Panelists include former New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, Ann Boger, Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy for the Freelancers Union; Tsedeye Gebreselassie, Senior Staff Attorney for the National Employment Law Project; and Rick McGahey, the first voice you’ll hear. He’s a Professor of Professional Practice and Director of Environmental Policy and Sustainability for The New School for Public Engagement. The moderator is David Gray, Senior Fellow at New America NYC.

This is a special encore edition. Renowned biologist Sandra Steingraber has made fighting environmentally induced cancers her lifes work.  Steingraber’s book, Living Downstream, has been turned into a movie chronicling a year in her life trying to create a world free of cancer causing toxics.  On this edition, we hear excerpts of the documentary film, Living Downstream.   Special thanks to The People’s Picture Company for allowing us to excerpt the film ‘Living Downstream’.    

From unpaid bills to entire governments facing bankruptcy, debt is never far from our minds or the news. It’s deeply embedded in our lives: our language, culture, even major religions. It’s also at the heart of many of our most pressing political debates. But have you ever thought about where debt comes from? On this edition of Making Contact we hear from Anthropologist David Graeber, author of “Debt: The First 5,000 Years.” Graeber traces the history of debt and asks what might we learn from how societies in the past dealt with it. His 2011 talk was recorded by Allan Campbell, producer of People United at KOOP radio, in Austin Texas and featured on Bread and Roses Radio. Debt is deeply embedded in our lives: our language, culture, even major religions. It’s also at the heart of many of our most pressing political debates. But have you ever thought about where debt comes from? On this edition of Making Contact we hear from Anthropologist David Graeber, author of “Debt: The First 5,000 Years.” Graeber traces the history of debt and asks what might we learn from how societies in the past dealt with it. His 2011 talk was recorded by Allan Campbell, producer of People United at KOOP radio, in Austin Texas and featured on Bread and Roses Radio.

The female body as medium, and as message. How can a woman determine how she is perceived by the world, and even by herself? On this edition, we hear stories of women who are using their bodies for political protest, and as tools of self-empowerment…forcing everyone to reevaluate their perspectives on the female form. Featuring:   Neda Topaloski & Xenia Chernyshova, Femen members Galia Ackerman, author of the book “Femen” Catherine King, Executive Producer, Global Fund for Women Yolando Y'Netta Harbin-Venson, Big Ol Pretty Girls owner Jenny “Diva” Davis, clothing designer Diva’s Exquisite Designs.

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 part of the Lannan Foundation's Pursuit of Cultural Freedom Series. 

Over 6,000 migrant deaths were recorded on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico between 1998 and 2013. The true number of deaths is likely higher, and thousands of families never hear from their loved ones again. This documentary travels to the desert ranch lands of Brooks County and the border town of Reynosa, Tamaulipas to introduce us to the human cost of “prevention through deterrence,” a border enforcement strategy introduced during the Clinton administration.

This show takes a look at issues within the foster care system in the U.S. from the high rate of teen pregnancy to the alarming use of psychiatric medications in California’s foster care system.   Featuring: Nicole Rocke, former foster youth Kyle Lafferty, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy Linda Bryant, Clinical Professor at New York University’s School of Social Work Benita Miller, Deputy Commissioner of Family Permanency Services at the Administration of Children’s Services Lorraine Jacobs, caseworker Yolanda Vasquez, former foster youth Adriane Fugh-Berman, Pharmacology Professor at Georgetown University’s Medical Center Bill Grimm, Attorney at National Center for Youth Law Susan Bullard David Arrendondo, Child psychiatrist Dr. Edmund Levin, at the Lincoln Child Center Nancy Forster, Therapist at the Lincoln Child Center April Rene Sanders, former foster youth and recipient of AB12 Kyle Sporleader, Statewide Legislative Coordinator for California Youth Connection (CYC)

What do our voices say about us? On this edition we explore voice and identity. We'll hear from someone who nearly lost their voice, the challenges that come with ordering a pizza with a speech generating device, and and how voice contributes to trans women's sense of safety and of self. Featuring: Mya Byrne, singer-songwriter Kathe Perez, creator of EVA app Samuel Sennott, assistant professor of special education at Portland University Bob Segalman, author “Against the Current, My Life with Cerebral Palsy” April Bryant, UC Berkeley student Hannah Simpson, Nika Jewell, Tela Love, 13th Philadelphia Transgender Health Conference, attendees. This show features Lateef McLeod, our 1st Community Storytelling Fellow. Donate now to help this year’s class of fellows tell their stories.  

We go back to the night in June 1969 at the New York City Stonewall Inn that sparked the LGBT rights movement. On today’s show we’ll hear about the day that galvanized a generation and the continued fight for LGBT civil rights. The first Pride parades took place in June 1970 marking the 1st anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Michael Schirker and David Isay bring us an oral history Remembering Stonewall: The Birth of a Movement. Editor at large of the Huffington Posts’ Gay Voices Michelangelo Signorile says while there have been a series of recent wins for the LGBT rights movement, bigotry remains a daily reality for many. At a  New America NYC forum Signorile spoke with June Thomas, Culture Critic and Editor of Outward, Slate’s LGBTQ Section about what he calls “victory blindness”. It’s a central theme in his new book, “It’s Not Over, Getting to Beyond Tolerance Defeating Homophobia and Winning True Equality.”