AirGo

AirGo is excited to present The Mentorship Suite, a series of episodes exploring the joys, contradictions, and radical possibilities of this often fraught term. On this episode, we travel into the AirGo origin story to talk with the professor who brought us together–the brilliant Shanna Benjamin. An incredibly significant mentor for both Dame and Kiss, Shanna is the author of the recently published Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay. She talks about being mentored by Nellie McKay, how she approaches her work in and out of the classroom, and her memories of young Damon and young Daniel. SHOW NOTES Norton Anthology of African American Literature - https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393911558 Half In Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y McKay - https://uncpress.org/book/9781469662534/half-in-shadow/ Henry Louis Gates - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates_Jr. Barbara Ransby - https://hist.uic.edu/profiles/ransby-barbara/ Wanda Coleman - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/wanda-coleman Ken Warren - https://english.uchicago.edu/people/kenneth-warren The Black Interior by Elizabeth Alexander - https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/black-interior The Sovereignty of Quiet by Kevin Everod Quashie - https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-sovereignty-of-quiet/9780813553108 Combahee River Collective - https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-collective-statement-1977/ Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091 📸 by James Brown

AirGo is excited to present The Mentorship Suite, a series of episodes exploring the joys, contradictions, and radical possibilities of this often fraught term. On this episode, we talk with Tanji Harper, the Artistic Director of youth dance ensemble and organization The Happiness Club. Tanji breaks down how ego disrupts care for young folks, the ways that she's learned to support the people she's trying to serve, the exhaustion of this work and world, and the temporality of mentorship. SHOW NOTES Support the Happiness Club: http://www.thehappinessclub.com/donate.html Book Blu Rhythm Collective: https://www.facebook.com/Blurhythmchicago/ Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091 📷 by Tom Gavin for Vocalo

AirGo is excited to present The Mentorship Suite, a series of episodes exploring the joys, contradictions, and radical possibilities of this often fraught term. We kick it off with the suite's co-curator Jacinda Bullie, who is the co-founder of youth arts and healing organization Kuumba Lynx. Jacinda breaks down why she bristles at the term "mentor," what she's learned from the folks who have helped her grow, how she approaches her contribution to the youth at KL, and much more. SHOW NOTES Kuumba Lynx - https://www.kuumbalynx.com/ Healthy Hood Chi - http://www.healthyhoodchi.com/ Inipi Sweat Ceremony - http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8671 Assata: An Autobiography - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100322.Assata A Taste of Power by Elaine Brown - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/913316.A_Taste_of_Power Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Read the transcript of this episode here: https://drive.google.com/file/u/2/d/1afPC0oxn3Q98vqnGMECaD8Mj8feZ7-Jl/view?usp=sharing AirGo is partnering with UIC's Social Justice Initiative to present The Sawyer Seminar, a series of conversations hosted by UIC scholars entitled Radical Care, Real Alternatives. On the first episode, we're sharing a talk between Prof. Stacey Sutton and Prof. Barbara Ransby about the Social Justice Portal Project, a collaborative think tank that crosses disciplinary boundaries to address the urgent questions of social justice faced by our communities. SHOW NOTES Social Justice Portal Project - https://sji.uic.edu/ Arundhati Roy - https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca Naomi Klein - https://naomiklein.org/ Ruthie Wilson Gilmore - https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Faculty/Core-Bios/Ruth-Wilson-Gilmore Cooperation Jackson - https://cooperationjackson.org/ Chi Fresh Kitchen - https://www.chifreshkitchen.com/ Rich Wallace - https://www.eatchicago.org/ Thomas Piketty - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Piketty Pauli Murray - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-many-lives-of-pauli-murray Angela Davis - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2021/1/14/episode-270-angela-davis Robin DG Kelley - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2020/7/19/episode-255-the-abolition-suite-vol-4-robin-dg-kelley Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2020/4/29/episode-238-bypspotlight-on-the-line-with-keeanga-yamahtta-taylor UIC Scholars for Social Justice - https://sji.uic.edu/ Transcription by Ayinde Jean-Baptiste

This bonus episode features audio from a virtual event on 2/24/21, hosted by Chicago DSA and the DSA AfroSOC caucus in conversation with members of the #StopGeneralIron hunger strike. For the past 27 days, Southeast Side residents have been on a hunger strike to demand the City of Chicago deny the final permit for an environmentally destructive recycling plant owned by General Iron. The hunger strikers are denouncing environmentally racist policies that continue to allow polluting industry to accumulate in Chicago's communities of color. The city has lacked transparency, participation and fairness in its permitting process for the proposed relocation of General Iron. The hunger strikers say they are willing to risk their well-being during a global pandemic to put an end to racist zoning policies that have continued for decades. The proposed site for the massive industrial metal shredder would be next to residential areas, schools, parks, and the Calumet River. Existing pollution threats continue to burden the Southeast Side and residents have continued to express serious concerns about the rushed permitting process that has shut out community feedback. Thanks to the hosts and panelists for letting us share their stories and perspectives on AirGo! SHOW NOTES Come to a socially distant rally at Mayor Lightfoot's house (3325 w Wrightwood Ave) on 3/4/2021 at 5pm! Support the hunger strike by donating to their GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-hunger-strikers-for-environmental-justice Follow the campaign on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CHIhungerstrike

On this bonus episode, we're sharing the audio from the launch event of the Chicago Police Torture Archive. The Archive is the first human rights archive documenting the violence and terror levied against more than 100 Black men under notorious Commander Jon Burge and his “Midnight Crew” from the 1970s-1990s. Over the course of the event, which was hosted by AirGo's own Damon Williams, we hear from many torture survivors about their experience and the significance of the Archive. The event was presented in partnership between The Chicago Torture Justice Center, the Invisible Institute, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, and the Human Rights Lab. Explore the Archive here: https://chicagopolicetorturearchive.com/ Follow the work of The Chicago Torture Justice Center: https://www.chicagotorturejustice.org/ Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

AirGo is excited to present The Notebook Suite, a series of conversations with writers about liberation, craft, and radical imagination co-curated by poet Nate Marshall. In this final episode of the suite, Nate comes back on the show to debrief the six amazing conversations we had with Natalie Y. Moore, Elizabeth Mendez Berry, Jamilah Lemieux, Hanif Abdurraqib, and adrienne maree brown. We break down some themes that emerged across the suite, including: the power and danger of curiosity, the unique violence of male response to critique from women and femmes, the celebration of nuance, and much more. SHOW NOTES Buy Finna by Nate Marshall - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610570/finna-by-nate-marshall/ Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

AirGo is excited to present The Notebook Suite, a series of conversations with writers about liberation, craft, and radical imagination co-curated by poet Nate Marshall. This episode features return guest adrienne maree brown, a writer, movement worker, facilitator, and thinker who has deeply shifted the philosophies and tactics of contemporary liberation work. adrienne is the writer-in-residence at the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute, and author of "We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice," "Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good," "Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds," and is the co-editor of "Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements and How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office." She is the cohost of the How to Survive the End of the World and Octavia’s Parables podcasts. We talk about her emergence as a writer, the public accountability and revision process that was necessary for her newest book, the challenges of public visibility, and much more. SHOW NOTES Emergent Strategy Ideation institute - https://alliedmedia.org/speaker-projects/emergent-strategy-ideation-institute We Will Not Cancel Us - https://www.akpress.org/we-will-not-cancel-us.html Unthinkable thoughts blog post - http://adriennemareebrown.net/2020/07/17/unthinkable-thoughts-call-out-culture-in-the-age-of-covid-19/ Autumn Brown - https://iambrown.org/bio/ Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091 📸 by anjali pinto

AirGo is excited to present The Notebook Suite, a series of conversations with writers about liberation, craft, and radical imagination co-curated by poet Nate Marshall. On this volume of the suite, the guys welcome back AirGo alum Hanif Abdurraqib. Hanif is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio who is the author of five books, including the forthcoming "A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance." He breaks down his car music listening route, the borderless insistence of his curiosity, the power of speaking loudly and clearly in his hometown, and much more. SHOW NOTES Lost Notes - https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/lost-notes Object of Sound - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/object-of-sound/id1548596327 68to05 - https://www.68to05.com/ Ross Gay - https://www.rossgay.net/about Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace concert film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkKOIQwTiKE Danez Smith - http://www.danezsmithpoet.com/bio-encore Franny Choi - https://www.frannychoi.com/ Sam Sax - https://www.samsax.com/ Cam Awkward Rich - https://www.cawkwardrich.com/ Bobby Crawford - http://bostonpoetryslam.com/find-a-poet/poets/bobby-crawford Love and Basketball - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur83i6_BjbE Vievee Francis - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/vievee-francis Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091 📸 by Megan Leigh Barnard

The guys get to chop it up with the ebullient and brilliant Jamilah Lemieux. Jamilah is a writer, editor, and social critic who has been a leading voice in the popularization of Black feminism over the last decade, shifting the conversation through her blogging; contributions to Essence, Mic, The Guardian, Colorlines, The Washington Post, The Columbia Journalism Review, The Nation and The New York Times; appearances on CNN, ABC, CBS, BET, Buzzfeed, MTV2, and MSNBC, Desus and Mero, The Breakfast Club, and more; and her ever-present and active Twitter. She talks about returning to the page, the sharpness of the critique that Black women face, the heartbreak of being attacked by Black men on the internet, dinner at Farrakhan's house, and much more. SHOW NOTES Follow Jamilah: https://twitter.com/JamilahLemieux for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf - https://bookshop.org/books/for-colored-girls-who-have-considered-suicide-when-the-rainbow-is-enuf/9780684843261 Surviving R Kelly - https://www.netflix.com/title/81069393 Wesley Lowery - https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery Toni Cade Bambara - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Cade_Bambara Demetria Lucas - http://www.demetrialucas.com/ Luvvie Ajayi - https://luvvie.org/ Rembert Browne - https://twitter.com/rembert Eve Ewing - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2017/8/10/episode-102-eve-ewing-returns A Little Juju - https://www.itsjujubae.com/ Black Male Privilege checklist - https://projecthumanities.asu.edu/content/black-male-privilege-checklist Our Kind of People - https://bookshop.org/books/our-kind-of-people-inside-america-s-black-upper-class/9780060984380 The Spook who sat by the door - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BynXfREPG8 Afro American Patrolmen’s League - https://interactive.wttw.com/dusable-to-obama/afro-american-patrolmens-league Toni Morrison - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/toni-morrison-dead.html Zora Neale Hurston - https://www.zoranealehurston.com/ dream hampton - https://www.dreamhampton.com/ Miles Marshall Lewis - https://twitter.com/MMLunlimited Mom and Dad are Fighting - https://slate.com/podcasts/mom-and-dad-are-fighting Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091