National Radio Project

In today’s news cycle it’s challenging keeping up with the latest developments around the world. In 2014 we saw pro-democracy protests spanning 75 days in Hong Kong to the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. Often we just get the stories when they first break, then once the height of a conflict diminishes or really when another issue surfaces to the top of the news cycle, that’s it. After that we don’t hear much more about the issue. Even though we know that the issues remain.

On today’s show we’re going to bring you an update on some of the stories we’ve covered this year. We’ll go to a protest to talk to advocates calling for an end to using Native American imagery and stereotypes in sports. We’ll talk to the Center for Food Safety about the political outlook for supporters of better regulations of GMOs and pesticides. And we’ll get an update on US immigration policy from the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Featuring

• Alice Ollstein, radio producer
• Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee advocate for American Indian rights
• Morning Star Gali, co-chair of Bay Area Coalition to End Racism in Sports
• Jacqueline Keeler, founding member of Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry
• Don Tipping, Seven Seeds Farm owner
• Chris Hardy, Rogue valley farmer
• Sylvia Wu, staff attorney at Center for Food Safety
• Catherine Tactaquin, Executive Director of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Fallen Heroes of 2014

Fossil fuels are a trillion dollar industry but environmentalists say they have a plan to pull the plug on the industry: divestment. The campaign to get institutions to end their investments in oil, gas, and coal companies has won supporters around the US and abroad.

But is the strategy working? We hear from students in Boulder, Colorado who have been campaigning since 2012 and we hear about the close relationship between the oil industry and professional soccer.

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.

Featuring:

• Lori Baker, Professor of Anthropology, Baylor University
• Eduardo Canales, Executive Director, South Texas Human rights Center
• Elias,