National Radio Project

There were thousands of organizers, activists and local social justice leaders around the world who died in 2018. As we do every December, we bring you some of the voices and stories of our Fallen Heroes.

Thousands of Guatemalans are recovering from the eruption of a volcano called Fuego - Spanish for "fire" - which took place in the summer of 2018. In this report, our correspondent Maria Martin looks back at the disaster - which some people are calling the worst natural disaster to ever strike Guatemala.

America’s unwillingness to assess the ugly truth about systemic inequality has created a perpetual sinkhole of denial. A reality that existed long before Trump’s presidency. It’s AMERICA’s Legacy.

On this edition, we hear from Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. Dr. Dyson recently penned, “What Truth Sounds Like: RFK, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America.” Today’s conversation with Professor Dyson explores race and truth in the age of Trump.

70 Million reporter, Ruxandra Guidi, chronicles how activists and reformers are succeeding in cutting the jail population, diverting drug arrests, and increasing accountability for local police in Harris County, Texas.

I Am Because I Am, explores the expansion of gender identity and presumed roles in our society. A look beyond the socially constructed ideas of what is male, female, masculine or feminine. Especially considering Trump’s administration attempts to redefine gender to be solely based on a person’s genitalia at birth. Thus potentially threatening Transgender, Intersex and Non-Binary Identity.

On this episode, we look at the 2017 Tubbs Fire in California, and how it impacted the undocumented community. In the face of ICE raids, labor violations, a housing crisis, and wildfires, the broader community is standing in solidarity with those who are forced into the shadows.

California’s drought has led to an unprecedented number of wildfires that burn hotter, faster, and ever more acreage. Governor Jerry Brown says, “Since civilization emerged 10,000 years ago, we haven’t had this kind of heat condition, and it’s going to continue getting worse.”

What does the growing threat of climate-fueled disasters mean for the most vulnerable among us?

Indigenous Women made their voices heard during California Governor Jerry Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit. They rejected Brown’s support for market driven schemes and shared their vision for climate solutions at protests and at a special Women’s Assembly, organized by the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, we'll hear how one community kitchen grew into an island-wide network of mutual aid centers with the aim of restoring power — electric and civic — to the Puerto Rican people.

While some Americans are mentally focused on the 2020 presidential election, all eyes seem to be on the rapidly approaching midterm election.  With both Democrats and Republicans vying for control of the House and Senate, the majority party will have the advantage to pass their legislative agendas – producing outcomes that could hugely impact the future of Trump’s presidency. 

Despite the difficult picture painted by the news, there is hope for our planet. We cover several fights against refineries and market based solutions to global warming. And, we look at one promising solution – the combination of community owned energy and microgrids.

The stage is set for a battle between two worldviews. Is housing a human right, or a commodity? And where on that continuum is California’s common ground? This week, we look at the fight over rent control, and police policies that affect the homeless.

This week, we hear from a woman who went to prison under El Salvador’s current abortion laws— some of the strictest in the world. And, one reproductive justice organization considers the future of reproductive health access under the US Supreme Court.

This week, we explore the remarkable communities that arise in the aftermath of natural disasters; namely, Hurricane Sandy, and its impact on the Rockaway Peninsula.

This month is the ten year anniversary of the stock market crash of 2018. Nomi Prins talks about her new book, “Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World.” And, Julianne Malveaux explains how the crash has continued to devastate people of color, especially black people.

On this encore edition of Making Contact, we present the first in a two-part series on the pressure to transform a region of iconic landscapes and environmental stewardship into a global center for shipping fossil fuels.

Criminal justice reform can be complicated. Formerly incarcerated people and officials in Pima County are teaming up to send fewer people to jail. Meanwhile a federal program at the border is sending people to jail over traffic violations and minor drug offenses. 

#DishonorRoll

Students at several prominent historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), have demanded that school administrators address sexual assault more vigorously. Last year, student protests at Morehouse College, Spelman College, Hampton University, and Howard University focused on inadequacies in the way sexual assault and rape cases are handled.

Darnell Moore the author of No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America.  A story of beauty and hope-and an honest reckoning with family, with place and with what is it means to be free. His talk focuses on his memoir, No Ashes in the Fire.

On this edition of Making Contact we present, The Struggle Inside: The Murder of George Jackson, a program about the modern anti-prison movement.

When one or both parents are incarcerated the family is also incarcerated and are adversely affected in profound ways that exacerbate existing structural inequalities and struggles. Programs for inmates and families like FamilyWorks and the Storybook Program, encourage rebuilding and maintaining relationships despite being separated by prison.

On this edition of Making Contact, we speak with author Paul Kivel about his book, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. This book offers a framework for understanding institutional racism. It provides practical suggestions, tools, examples, and advice on how white people can intervene in interpersonal and organizational situations to work as allies for racial justice.

Whether you’re a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the nature of the working relationship depends on mutual respect and dignity. During this week’s anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we’ll revisit the dynamic and complex relationship of care receiving and giving.

On this edition of Making Contact, after the  US Supreme Court's ruling on Trump’s travel ban, we’ll discuss how the new order impacts people from affected, Muslim-majority countries. We also talk about what's different about the new ban and how to fight it.  We begin with the story of a woman who was in flight to the US when President Trump signed his first travel ban.

This week is the five year anniversary of Black lives matter. Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter shares her reflections on humanity, the end of policing and her new book, WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.

Afrofuturism is a growing genre-movement that spans literature, art, music, and film. It provides radical alternatives to dominant Western narratives by drawing on traditions from Africa and the diaspora.

We go back to the night in June 1969 at the New York City Stonewall Inn that sparked the LGBTQ rights movement. On this episode, we’ll hear about the day that galvanized a generation and the continued fight for LGBTQ civil rights.

The stage is set for a battle between two world-views. Is housing a human right, or a commodity? And where on that continuum is California’s common ground? This week, we look at the fight over rent control, and police policies that affect the homeless.

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools is an examination of the experiences of black girls across the country whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged "by teachers, administrators, and the justice system" and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish.

This week, Making Contact looks at The Cost of Deportations through the lens of one Central American nation that sends migrants north— Guatemala. Will Guatemala and the other countries these migrants left be prepared for an influx of returnees?

On this edition of Making Contact we go from Cape Town, South Africa to Los Angeles and Oakland, California— three cities grappling with evictions, displacement, and homelessness. 

On May 18, 1980, the people of Gwangju, South Korea rose up for reunification and an end to U.S.-backed military dictatorships.Their actions changed the course of Korean history.

We hear from survivors of the Gwangju Uprising about how they took on the tasks of history and the lesson they carry.

For this edition of Making Contact, we’ll present the documentary, “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry,” a reflection on the rise of the women’s liberation movement in the United States, between 1966 and 1971. She’s Beautiful explores the emergence of political thought that challenged systems of patriarchy.

For Mother's Day: we bring you a discussion by women of color writers and poets who contributed to the anthology, Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines. You'll also hear about a recent investigation into Black maternal and infant mortality.

Fresh water is one of our most precious natural resources. This week contributor Maria Doerr looks at what's being done to protect the watersheds of Mexico City-- natural water systems that provide water to one of the largest metropolises in the world.

On the 45th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, hundreds imprisoned inside Michigan’s Kinross Correctional Facility refused to report to work or lock down in their barracks. Instead, they joined the largest prisoner labor strike in U.S. history.

Daze of Justice is the story of trailblazing Cambodian-American women who break decades of silence, abandoning the security of their American homes on a journey back into Cambodia's killing fields, as witnesses determined to resurrect the memory of their loved ones before the UN Special Tribunal prosecuting the Khmer Rouge.

In 1948, Zionist militias expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their villages and towns. The event, and the ongoing destruction and occupation of Palestine are referred to as the Nakba " the catastrophe. How did the events of 1948 shape Palestine and its diaspora? And generations later, how are Palestinians fighting to return home?

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 50 years ago, and is widely remembered for his speech, ‘I Have a Dream.’ Journalist Gary Younge analyzes the King’s speech, highlighting the importance of remembering the entirety of King’s message and evolution as a critical activist.

The Seekers, is the first in a two-part documentary series that examines the experiences of Central American migrants seeking asylum in the US. In this episode, we look at women fleeing violence from Guatemala.

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter reflections on humanity, the end of policing and her new book, WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.  

Fifty years ago, the Vietnamese Liberation Front inspired people of color around the world who were building movements for self-determination.    

Today, we hear from people who were organizing in the Spirit of Viet Nam fifty years ago, and those who are building on that work today. 

Gloria Ushigua and Aura Tegria, two legendary indigenous heroines of the Amazon rainforest, tell us about their activism to keep big oil and other exploitative industries off their ancestral territories, and out of the Amazon.  They describe their struggles to guard and conserve their own cultures, which depend on the health and safety of the Amazon.

Civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, spoke words that are all too relevant today. In this episode, we hear archival recordings and excerpts from a new film featuring Fannie Lou Hamer. You’ll hear about the context of her life, and the lives of other sharecroppers in Mississippi.

I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond.

Producer Robert Raymond interviews Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing--a critical examination on the history of the police, and the police’s evolution as a tool for social control that exacerbates race and class divisions.

We head to Soseongri, a small village nestled in the mountains of Seongju County.  There, grandmas and grandpas in the 70s, 80s, and 90s are organizing daily protests and blockades to stop THAAD.  THAAD is part of a missile defense system that gives the U.S. the ability to carry out a nuclear first strike.

Cash is increasingly being replaced with cashless systems including cryptocurrencies. This week, we hear about the political economy of blockchain. And we hear from Greeks who've been using cryptocurrencies since the capital controls of 2015.

President Donald Trump’s tax plan may exacerbate wealth inequity in the US. Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality at the Institute for Policy Studies addresses the complex history of the wealth gap. Also, producers from the Upstream podcast ask: is it time for Universal Basic Income?

On this episode of Making Contact, journalist Juan González discusses his new book, Reclaiming Gotham. He chronicles the evolution of the growth machine in America’s cities – from redlining and racial covenants in the early 20th century, to land grabs and privatization in the 21st – and the rise of progressive alliances to reclaim them.

Special thanks to Pegasus Books for organizing the event and allowing us to broadcast excerpts of Juan González’s discussion of Reclaiming Gotham. The event took place in Berkeley, CA in October 2017.

On this edition of Making Contact, we’ll explore how the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, particularly queer POC youth, has challenged mainstream culture and created spaces that welcome and encourage marginalized communities to speak up about their life experiences – all through poetry.