Making Contact
766 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 49 ratingsMedia that helps build a movement: Making Contact is an award-winning, 29-minute weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on 150 radio stations.
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Episodes
America's Black Capital
April 10, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBAmerica's Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy” chronicles how a center of Black excellence emerged amid virulent expressions of white nationalism as African Americans pushed back against Confederate ideology to create an extraordinary locus of achievement. Alongside author Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, in this episode we examine the methods in which Black Atlanteans pushed for social, economic, and political upliftment through the development of...
The Origins of Zionism
April 03, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBFor the last 6 months, the world has been witness to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Outsized, and unprecedented attacks on the people of Gaza, and support from western countries for these Israeli attacks have led to a situation where Gaza is being referred to as the world’s largest open-air prison. In this episode with Gaza-based reporter Rami Almeghari, we talk to Rashid Khalidi about his book "The Hundred Years' War on Palestine" in order to learn more about the very early history of th...
No, COVID Isn’t “Over,” and the Need for Continued Community
March 27, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBMarch marks four years since the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health failures and government inaction have forced communities to take matters into their own hands. On today's show, we look at two groups steeped in the values of community care. First, we'll hear about the Auntie Sewing Squad, which distributed over 350,000 hand-sewn masks to communities in 2020-2021. Then, we'll speak with organizers from Pandemic Solidarity for the Long Future, which is working today towards...
Reproductive Justice: The Ongoing Struggle for Bodily Autonomy (Encore)
March 20, 2024 11:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBToday we share excerpts from “She's Beautiful When She's Angry,” a documentary filled with stories that still resonate today as women face new challenges around reproductive rights and sexual violence. The documentary tells the stories of the activists of the Women’s Liberation Movement that gained traction in the late 1960s and led to social and policy changes that set women on a path towards equality and reproductive justice. It also addresses the intersections of race and gender and th...
Who’s Afraid of DEI?: Interrogating Gender & Race in the Workplace (Encore)
March 13, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MB“There was not a moment that I came into the workplace and thought that I would belong or be treated properly or equally.” Ruchika Tulshyan, a workplace inclusion expert, paraphrases an interview with Ijeoma Oluo, a thought leader on race in America, for Tulshyan’s book, Inclusion on Purpose. In the conversation featured in this episode, these two women talk about Ruchika’s misassumptions about race and gender in the workplace in her first book, and the intersection of race and gender as ...
The Ethical Dilemma of Geoengineering & Global Warming (Encore)
March 06, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBGeoengineering is defined as some emerging technologies that could manipulate the environment and partially offset some of the impacts of climate change. Seems like the perfect solution for a consumerist society that lives on instant gratification and can’t stop polluting even at the risk of our futures, right? Well, let’s slow down. Today we’ll discuss the dangers of geoengineering and the ethics of the fact that these new technologies are being tested on Indigenous lands. Learn more ...
The Feminist Birth of the Home Pregnancy Test
February 28, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBIn 1965 Margaret Crane was a young designer creating packaging for a pharmaceutical company. Looking at the rows of pregnancy tests she thought, “Well, women could do that at home!” and so she made it a reality for potentially pregnant people to be able to know about and take control of their own lives and bodies. But while the design of the prototype was simple, Crane faced the issues we continue to fight when it comes to reproductive rights and the health and autonomy of people who gi...
Jenny Odell on Saving Time
February 21, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOn this week's episode, we take a critical look at productivity culture and the idea that time is money by speaking with Jenny Odell, acclaimed author of Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock and How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. We dig into the ideas behind Saving Time, which gives a panoramic overview of how the ways we think about time actually shapes our lives. Then we begin to disentangle our daily concept of time from its capitalistic and colonialist root...
Giving Bayard Rustin His Flowers (Encore)
February 14, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBToday, we continue celebrating Black history and heritage with a special encore episode honoring an often forgotten civil rights leader. We take a look at the life and legacy of Bayard Rustin, a central figure in and the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin was a trusted advisor to labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rustin’s methodology for challenging racial inequality and imperialism centered on his intersectional perspective on race, class, gen...
Tulsa's Black History Saturday School
February 07, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MB2021 marked the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre - a horrific attack white people waged against Greenwood, a once prosperous Black neighborhood in north Tulsa, Oklahoma. Also in 2021, state legislators passed a law that limits how race is discussed in classrooms. Tulsa activists say HB 1775 prevents descendants of those who built Greenwood from being able to acknowledge the attack, and also Greenwood’s success. In response, activist Kristi Williams rallied her community to start Bl...
Building Back Black Wall Street
January 31, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBBlack Wall Street, or the historically Black neighborhood Greenwood, Oklahoma is the site of once a prosperous, thriving, Black community. It is also the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, a violent attack waged by white supremacists, killing hundreds of residents and leveling homes and businesses. In the second episode of our three part Black History Month series, we talk about how the community built back. In fact, Greenwood’s economic heyday came 20 years later, in the 1940s. Then...
Uncovering the History of the Massacre of Black Wall Street (Encore)
January 24, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBIn the first of our 3 part series leading up to Black History Month, we turn our focus to how journalists and historians today are covering the Tulsa Race Massacre. We hear from KalaLea, host of the critically acclaimed podcast Blindspot: Tulsa Burning. The series tells the story of the rise of Greenwood, a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street. The podcast recounts the brutal 1921 massacre, a racist attack on the Black community backed by the l...
Nuclear Colonialism and The Story “Oppenheimer” Didn’t Tell (Encore)
January 17, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOppenheimer swept the Golden Globes, reigniting public interest in the Manhattan Project, the WWII-era secret program to develop the atomic bomb and the impacts of nuclear power. But what the film leaves out alters our understanding about the real impacts of this advancement. On today's encore episode, we hear about nuclear colonialism and how it has changed the course of the people and places of New Mexico with Myrriah Gómez, author of “Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects o...
Denial of the Funk: The Impact of Racism on our Nation's Health
January 10, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBThe problem in America is, America's been in denial about its problems. And that’s a problem. America doesn’t have a race problem, in reality there's been catastrophes visited upon Black people. Catastrophes visited on Indigenous brothers and sisters. Catastrophes visited on Latino brothers and sisters. Catastrophes visited on working people. Catastrophes visited on women of all colors. We can go on and on. This week on Making Contact, we bring you a talk from noted author, scholar, an...
The Rest of the Story: Indigenous Resistance
October 04, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBIn this episode, we revisit two stories we've covered in the past concerning indigenous rights. In the first half, Rebecca Nagle joins us to discuss the Supreme Court decision to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act and why the legitimacy of the law is so important to tribal sovereignty. We also talk about the right's legal strategy in the last few decades and what that means for decisions at the Supreme Court. In the second half we hear from Chairman of the Amah Mutsun tribal band, Valenti...
Inclusion on Purpose
September 27, 2023 11:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBGeorge Floyd’s murder sparked increased attention toward Black liberation and by extension, racial discrimination generally. Institutions raced to check boxes for workplace diversity, equity and inclusion, but it’s hard to know whether real work has been done. In this episode, two thought leaders around race and belonging, Ruchika Tulshyan and Ijeoma Oluo, discuss the finer points of how to create equity in the workplace. This conversation takes place at Town Hall Seattle and center’s Tulshy...
Bonus audio: Marian Naranjo (Kha Po Owingeh), founder and director of Honor Our Pueblo Existence. Clip from RadioActive.
September 20, 2023 23:32 - 4 minutes - 3.7 MBIn this bonus clip, Marian Naranjo (Kha Po Owingeh), founder and director of Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE), speaks about the impact and legacy of the nuclear industry and Los Alamos National Laboratory on the Tewa people. The clip is from the 2021 video RadioActive: Nuclear Boom with Petuuch Gilbert and Marian Naranjo, courtesy of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Shadow of Nuclear Colonialism
September 20, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBThe film Oppenheimer has reignited public interest in the Manhattan Project, the WWII-era secret program to develop the atomic bomb. But the movie leaves out important parts of the story. On today's show, we hear about the impact of nuclear colonialism and the Manhattan Project on the people and places of New Mexico with Myrriah Gómez, author of Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos. And then we dig into how nuclear testing duri...
A History of Traditional Root Healing (Encore)
September 13, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBIn some parts of the world, traditional herbal remedies are the norm. When we think of natural remedies we tend to think of older generations living in remote areas, in far away countries, with little access to modern healthcare. We rarely think about the ancient medicinal plants that might exist in our very own cities. On today's episode we look at plant and herb medicines through the lens of Michele Elizabeth. Lee the author of Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African-...
Toxic Tracks
September 06, 2023 08:00 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBOn today's show, we'll hear an encore of a show from our archives that first aired in April. 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. Residents like Jami Wallace and community organizations are fighting fo...
70 Million - Highway Robbery: How a Small-Town Traffic Trap Became a Legal Black Hole
August 30, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBThis week on Making Contact, we bring you a story from our podcast partners, 70 Million titled Highway Robbery: How a Small-Town Traffic Trap Became A Legal Black Hole. About 20 minutes north of Birmingham, Alabama, on Interstate 22, is the working-class town of Brookside. Its almost 1300 residents make it about the size of a large high school. According to the 2020 census, Brookside's population is mostly White and 21% are Black. On paper, it's a lot like other small towns in this part of A...
Mexicans Confronting Racism: Aztec myths to modern stereotypes
August 23, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBThere’s an idea in Mexico that racism doesn’t exist, that all Mexicans are “mestizo” - a homogenous blend of Spanish and indigenous. But cultural worker José Antonio Aguilar says racism is lived by Black and brown Mexicans in many ways. He founded Racismo MX, an organization which seeks to dismantle racism, after coming to terms with his own racial reality as a “prieto” - a brown man. We also hear from anthropologist Ismael Rivera and Aztec expert Camilla Townsend as they unravel lies the ...
Pandemic and Profit (Encore)
August 16, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOn today's show, we'll revisit the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic by looking at two alternative supply chains for masks during the fallout from the Trump administration's failure to prepare. We'll be speaking with the ProPublica reporter David McSwane about his book Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick. The book details the shadowy supply chain of brokers looking to profit from the pandemic – to the tune of millions of dollars. We'll a...
Criminalized Survival
July 26, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 27 MBJournalist Natalie Pattillo and filmmaker Daniel A. Nelson created the documentary film And So I Stayed to raise awareness about criminalized survival. This is the criminal justice system’s long practice of imprisoning survivors of intimate partner violence when they fight back against their abusers. Pattillo, herself a survivor, followed the stories of Kim Dadou Brown, Tanisha Davis and Nikki Addimando, women imprisoned for killing their abusers in a struggle to survive. Like this progra...
Agitation to a System: Trans Resistance in Louisiana
July 19, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBHundreds of bills targeting the trans and queer community have been introduced across state legislatures this year – a new record. Louisiana, like many other states, has seen a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ bills this session. But the state is somewhat of an outlier in the South, and activists have been successful in pushing back against these types of bills in the past. Sophie Ziegler joins today's episode to show us what legislative organizing looks like in the state – and what it can teach us about...
The Healing Project: An Abolitionist Story (Encore)
July 12, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBIn this week's encore episode we hear from artist Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes about The Healing Project, an abolitionist art exhibition. The work explores the structures of systemic racism, particularly the prison industrial complex in the U.S. and takes multiple forms including music, films, community gatherings, and live performances. A digital library of audio interviews centers the project. The stories, experiences, and ideas from intergenerational individuals across the country, includ...
What the SVB Failure Teaches us About Investment Banking (Encore)
July 05, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBThe 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 journal...
Revolutionary Mothering and Reproductive Justice (Encore)
June 28, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBIn the mid 1990s, the Reproductive Justice movement was formed by Black and indigenous women as a response to the limitations of the "reproductive rights" movement. Movement leaders argue, "rarely do we find ourselves fighting for just one aspect of reproductive justice such as abortion rights" - SisterSong. Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, scholar and writer, joined us to talk about her book Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines, her experience being a teenager during the formation of...
Powerlands
June 21, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOn 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, Gl...
A History of Development and Disruption: Hella Town
June 14, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBThis 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 ci...
The Fight Over the Indian Child Welfare Act Is Not Just A Custody Battle (ENCORE)
June 07, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBHaaland 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 ...
Well Nourished: How Mutual Aid is Transforming Food Security for Single Moms in Ohio
May 31, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBFederal 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 the...
Queens Memory Podcast- Seeing Signs
May 24, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBToday'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 li...
The Nakba: 75 Years On
May 17, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 40.2 MBThis 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...
70 Million: Grand Juries, The Black Box of Justice Reform?
May 10, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBGrand 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,...
What the SVB Failure Teaches us About Investment Banking
May 03, 2023 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBThe 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 journal...
Self Managed Abortion: Medicine of the Future?
April 26, 2023 23:47 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBAbortion 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.
Toxic Tracks
April 19, 2023 13:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOn 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.
Saltwater Soundwalk: Indigenous Audio Tour of Seattle
April 12, 2023 16:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBOn today's show, we'll travel to Seattle to hear indigenous voices and Coast Salish languages, and to reflect on the importance of the Salish Sea and connecting waters, by immersing ourselves in an audio experience called “Saltwater Soundwalk.”
Ninety Seconds to Midnight
April 05, 2023 19:32 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBA new philosophy steeped in the ideas of Artificial Intelligence, space colonization, and the long-term survival of the human species is gaining ground among the wealthy. However, there are reasons to question its goals and its ethics. Longtermists believe that not only could we colonize space and create simulated humans in giant servers around stars, but that we must. Anything short of a trillion-year multi-planetary existence for our species would be a moral failing. They also believe tha...
Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State
March 29, 2023 16:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBWhile wages have flatlined for most working class people, rents have reached new highs, leaving most people struggling. But it’s not just in the US. The rising cost of living is affected the entire world. Samuel Stein’s new book, Capital City and the Real Estate State, highlights the growing influence of investment capital into land as the driving force behind gentrification and the power developers have over city and local governments. We talk to Samuel about the rise of the global real est...
Blindspot:Tulsa Burning and Focus: Black Oklahoma
March 22, 2023 21:44 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOn this episode, we turn our focus to how journalists and historians today are covering the Tulsa Race Massacre. KalaLea, producer and host of the podcast series Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, talks about how she led coverage of the brutal 1921 attack on a prosperous Black Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma known as Black Wall Street. And, we'll hear from members of Tulsa's Tri-City Collective who continue to investigate the history there.
Pandemic and Profit
March 15, 2023 20:08 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBTo mark the three year anniversary of the official start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we'll be looking at two alternative supply chains for masks that emerged in the fallout of the Trump administration's failure to prepare.
70 Million: Why Policing Our Schools Backfires
March 08, 2023 19:00 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBOn today's show, we hear a story from our podcast partner 70 Million about the relationship between students with special needs and school resource officers and the changes some would like to see in an edited version of “Why Policing Our Schools Backfires."
Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice (Encore)
March 02, 2023 16:11 - 29 minutes - 40.4 MBWe talk to Raj Patel and Rupa Marya about their book "Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice."
Behind The Sound with Making Contact
February 23, 2023 19:43 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBIn this episode, long-time producers Anita Johnson and Salima Hamirani introduce the newest members of the Making Contact team, recap highlights from the past year, and preview what to expect from the show in 2023.
Angelic Troublemaker: Bayard Rustin ENCORE
February 16, 2023 20:11 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOn today's show, we bring you a special encore episode from our archives to honor Black history and heritage. We take a look at the life and legacy of Bayard Rustin, one of the most central figures in the African American struggle for civil rights and freedom. Rustin was a pacifist, a gay man, and a practitioner of nonviolence who dedicated his life to racial equality, economic justice and ending warfare. This program first aired on Making Contact in 2021.
The Healing Project: An Abolitionist Story
February 09, 2023 20:01 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBThis week on Making Contact we bring you to "The Healing Project," a multimedia installation that shares stories from incarcerated people about how the trauma of imprisonment has impacted their lives and families.
The Fight Over The Indian Child Welfare Act Is Not Just A Custody Battle
February 02, 2023 02:34 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBOn the face of it, the legal arguments at the Supreme Court over the Indian Child Welfare Act seem to be a custody battle over Native children and the right to adopt them by white parents. But, the funding behind the court case hints at something deeper and could dismantle indigenous sovereignty as we know it.
The Response: Mutual Aid with Joshua Potash
January 26, 2023 15:07 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBJoshua Potash, a New York City-based anti-capitalist abolitionist discusses the history and theory behind mutual aid with our partners at The Response Podcast.