

Making Contact
Frequencies of Change Media
“Making Contact” digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Produced by Frequencies of Change Media (FoC Media), the award-winning radio show and podcast examines the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground, building a more just world through narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the environment, labor, economics, health, governance, and arts and culture.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 21, 2023 • 29min
Powerlands
On this week's Making Contact, we feature an extended interview with Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, a queer Diné filmmaker and director of the award-winning documentary Powerlands. Powerlands traces how multinational energy corporations extract resources and profits while displacing and harming Indigenous communities around the world. The film follows Indigenous activists in Navajo Nation, Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines who are fighting back against corporations like Peabody Energy, Glencore and BHP. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, an award-winning queer Diné filmmaker and director of Powerlands Host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman This episode includes excerpts from the documentary film Powerlands. Music: Documentary by Music_Unlimited Learn More: Powerlands

Jun 14, 2023 • 29min
A History of Development and Disruption: Hella Town
This week on Making Contact, we bring you a story of urban planning and how race has shaped American cities. In a new book, Hella Town: Oakland's History of Development and Disruption, Author Mitchell Schwarzer explores the origins and the lasting impacts of transportation improvements, systemic racism, and regional competition on Oakland's built environment. Schwarzer, an architectural and urban historian, pulls from his experience as a city planner, and educator to tell the story of a city divided. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Mitchell Schwarzer is Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Visual Culture at California College of the Arts. He has written books on architectural theory, visual perception, and the buildings of the San Francisco Bay Area. Making Contact: Host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Music: Blue Dot Sessions "Bedroll" Blue Dot Sessions "Messy Inkwell" Andy G. Cohen "Our Young Guts" Learn More: Hella Town: Oakland's History of Development and Disruption - https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520391536/hella-town Most Segregated Cities - https://belonging.berkeley.edu/most-least-segregated-cities Making Contact - https://www.radioproject.org/

Jun 7, 2023 • 29min
The Fight Over the Indian Child Welfare Act Is Not Just A Custody Battle (ENCORE)
Haaland v. Brackeen is a lesser-known case in the docket for the Supreme Court, but it could overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). This would create massive implications for the laws that govern Indigenous sovereignty in the United States. We talk with author and activist Rebecca Nagle about the case of "Baby O" and the Librettis and how their story led to this case. We also investigate the money and interests behind the lawsuit. There's a lot at stake, maybe even the very nature of tribal laws, which were enshrined in the Constitution. The overturning of the ICWA is not just another custody battle. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Rebecca Nagle, Cherokee writer and advocate, reporter at The Nation, host of This Land Making Contact Team: Host: Salima Hamirani Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Music: Johnny Ripper - Sundown Johnny Ripper - sfhk (mental breakdown) Metre- Construct Dieter van der Westen - Heading for Bamako Rocky Marsiano - Whatshappenin Pictures of the Floating World - Waves Learn More: Transcript of Supreme Court Arguments: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2022/21-376_k536.pdf This Land podcast: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/#all-episodes The Nation: "The Story of Baby O – and the Case That Could Gut Native Sovereignty": https://www.thenation.com/article/society/icwa-supreme-court-libretti-custody-case/

May 31, 2023 • 29min
Well Nourished: How Mutual Aid is Transforming Food Security for Single Moms in Ohio
Federal food programs, like WIC, face big changes coming out of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Meanwhile, a single moms collective in Ohio holds it down for the single pregnant and parenting people in their community. Motherful's resource pantry serves their 325-strong membership out of a garage three times a week. We talk to members and founders to learn what's it's like to participate, how it all started and where food justice is headed for them now and in their wildest dreams. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Kay Riley, college student and Mom to baby Wisdom, Motherful Member Rugi Ngaide, Ohio supreme court translator, Mom, Motherful member Lisa Woodrow, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Motherful, Mom Heidi Howes - Co-Founder and Co-Director of Motherful, Mom Rebecca Piazza: Senior Advisor for Delivery, Food and Nutrition Service, Mom Making Contact Team: Host: Amy Gastelum Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Music: HoliznaCC0, Sky Scrapers Learn More: Motherful: www.motherful.org Changes to WIC: https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2022/10/19/usda-makes-major-investments-wic-improve-maternal-and-child-health

May 24, 2023 • 29min
Queens Memory Podcast- Seeing Signs
Today's episode debuts our partnership with the Queens Memory Podcast, a project archiving stories from the most diverse community in the U.S., Queens, New York. “Little Manila” is a Filipino neighborhood dating back to the 1970s, but it still struggles to find its political footing. The community's presence is strengthened through grassroots coalitions and community art, like the mural of the greeting "Mabuhay," a word that encompasses feelings of welcome and good wishes and at its most literal "LIVE!" We also hear from Filipino care workers about their experiences battling COVID 19, and the stereotype Filipina women face of being "natural nurturers" which doesn't translate into care for them in return. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Potri Ranka Manis: Nurse, Activist and Artist; Joey Golja: Community Member; Mary Jane de Leon: Community Member; John Bahia: Community Member; Steven Raga: Assemblymember for District 30, Queens, NY; Jaclyn Reyes: Artist, Designer, and Cultural Organizer; Gemma Balagtas: Community Member, Nurse; Zenaida (Ida) Castillo: Community Member and Owner of PhilAm Food Mart Queens Memory Podcast: Producers: Rosalind Tordesillas, Melody Cao, Anna Williams, and Natalie Milbrodt. Mixing and editing by Cory Choy Music composed by Elias Ravin Voiceover work by Arianne Arreglado. Making Contact: Host: Amy Gastelum Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Learn More: https://queensmemory.org

May 17, 2023 • 29min
The Nakba: 75 Years On
This week marks the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, or the "catastrophe" in Arabic. It refers both to the events starting in late 1947, when Zionist militias expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their homes, and the ongoing destruction and occupation of their lands. Today, Palestinians continue to commemorate the Nakba by reclaiming their history, resisting the occupation, and calling for their right to return. We start today's show with a story about how the desperation of life in Gaza under the Israeli blockade is forcing Palestinians to leave by sea. Then, we'll learn more about the history of the Nakba and the role that foreign powers like Britain and the United States have played. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Rami Almeghari, Gaza-based journalist and poet; Marie Choi, former Making Contact producer and host; Rabab Abdulhadi, founding director and Senior Scholar of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies at San Francisco State University; Hasan Hammami, Nakba survivor from Jaffa, Palestine; Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University and author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine Host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Audio from Rashid Khalidi is drawn from a 2021 KPFA book event where he was in conversation with Nora Barrows-Friedman. Hasan Hammami's firsthand account is drawn from "The Nakba and its Generational Impact on Palestinian lives: Memory, Identity, and a Future rooted in Justice," organized by the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Project48 in 2021. Music Credits: Minimal Documentary by penguinmusic via Pixabay Qnoun instrumental with out mix from HOPE SPOKEN/BROKEN Learn More: Making Contact: The Nakba, the Naksa, and the Future of Palestine (2016) "The Nakba and its Generational Impact on Palestinian lives: Memory, Identity, and a Future rooted in Justice," organized by the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Project48 in 2021 Rashid Khalidi & Nora Barrows-Friedman: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, organized by KPFA in 2021

May 10, 2023 • 29min
70 Million: Grand Juries, The Black Box of Justice Reform?
Grand juries are supposed to safeguard against the government charging people with a crime when it lacks sufficient evidence. But because prosecutors control what happens in grand jury proceedings, they almost always get an indictment. That is, unless the accused is a police officer. This week on Making Contact, we hear a story from our podcast partner 70 Million about a case of police brutality in Dallas that evaporated after going before a grand jury in an edited version of “Grand Juries, The Black Box of Justice Reform?" Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: Parker Nevilles, Jantzen Verastique, Dondi Morse - protestors targeted by police Ric Simmons, Professor, The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law Roger Rudloff, police officer Unidentified Police Officer David Henderson, civil rights attorney 70 Million Team: Episode Reporter: Mark Betancourt Editor: Monica Lopez and Juleyka Lantigua Host: Mitzi Miller Sound Designer: Erica Huang Photo Editor: Michelle Baker Staff Writer and Designer: Kori Doran Lead Fact Checker: Catherine Nouhan Lead Producer: Pamela Kirkland Episode Photographer: Miles Moffeit & Eli Hiller Creator/Executive Producer: Juleyka Lantigua Making Contact Staff: Anita Johnson, Episode Host Amy Gastelum; Lucy Kang; and Salima Hamirani, Staff Producers Jina Chung, Executive Director Jessica Partnow, Interim Senior Producer Learn More: 70 Million: https://70millionpod.com/season-5 Making Contact is a 29-minute weekly program committed to investigative journalism and in-depth critical analysis that goes beyond the breaking news. On the web at www.radioproject.org.

May 3, 2023 • 29min
What the SVB Failure Teaches us About Investment Banking
The Silicon Valley Bank collapse brings with it memories of the wider 2008 economic crisis. Jeet Heer and John Nichols from The Nation join us to discuss the 2018 bank deregulations that set the stage for this moment and the risky investment strategy at the bank itself. They argue that bailout and FDIC's role in the collapse could set the stage for a dangerous economic future. Like this program? Please show us the love. Click here: http://bit.ly/3LYyl0R and support our non-profit journalism. Thanks! Featuring: John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation; Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Interim Senior Producer: Jessica Partnow Engineer: Jeff Emtman Music Credits: Blue Dot Sessions - Boston Landing Rocky Marciano - Chamem Me D Dieter van der Westen - Heading for Bamako Frequency Decree - Lithosphere Learn More: The Nation: Democrats Face a Terrible Reckoning on Bank Bailouts: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democrats-bank-bailouts/ The Nation: Silicon Valley Learns to Love Socialism for the Rich: https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/svb-failure-socialism-rich/ The Nation: Bankers Lobbied for Deregulation, Congress Capitulated, and Now Banks Are Collapsing: https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/silicon-valley-bank-congress-deregulation/

Apr 26, 2023 • 29min
Self Managed Abortion: Medicine of the Future?
Abortion access is piecemeal and complex in the US. And while access to abortion volleys among the court system, the organization PlanCPills.org helps people access pills to manage their own abortions, despite confusing, mercurial laws.

Apr 19, 2023 • 29min
Toxic Tracks
On today's show, we'll be looking at the environmental impact of the rail industry and hear from people in two communities currently impacted by rail-related contamination. In February, a Suffolk Northern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, and residents are still recovering from the disaster over two months later. In Houston's Fifth Ward, residents have been living with the dire health effects of creosote used to treat railroad ties decades ago.