Radical Imagination
47 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 months ago - ★★★★★ - 174 ratingsRacism, toxic inequality, persistent poverty, climate change: these are big serious problems, and if you believe they require big audacious solutions, then this is the podcast for you. Hosted by Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder-in-Residence at PolicyLink, Radical Imagination focuses on radical solutions to our society’s most pressing problems. It features conversations with thinkers and changemakers from multiple fields working to deliver equity wins at scale.Tune in to Radical Imagination, for stories and solutions that are fueling change.
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Episodes
Revolutionary Leadership
January 18, 2024 17:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBEver wonder who will carry the torch of change into the future of American politics and environmental action? Be inspired by two trailblazers whose leadership and determination exemplify what's needed to ensure a more equitable and sustainable future for all. Juan Ramiro Sarmiento of Run for Something discusses how the organization reshapes the political sphere by supporting young, diverse candidates in key, down-ballot local and state elections. Transitioning from the ballot box to the c...
Reclaiming Outdoor Spaces
December 29, 2023 20:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBVenture with us into an episode where Rue Mapp of Outdoor Afro and Ronda Chapman from the Trust for Public Land discuss their efforts to reconnect Black communities with nature's joys and healing powers. Their stories weave a narrative tapestry that celebrates culture, fosters community, and uplifts Black voices in the outdoor spaces. While both Rue and Ronda bring to light the systemic racism that has long kept outdoor spaces out of reach for many, each, in their individual efforts, also...
Rebooting AI for Language Learning
December 15, 2023 17:00 - 22 minutes - 15.6 MBDiscover the powerful role of artificial intelligence in preserving indigenous languages in our latest episode, where I, Angela Glover Blackwell, engage in a compelling discussion with Keoni Mahelona, the talented CTO of Te Hiku Media. We delve into the rich history of the Māori people, uncovering the injustices they've faced and the ways AI is paving the way toward the revitalization of their language. Get ready to be intrigued and enlightened as we discuss how Te Hiku Media is disrupting t...
Revolutionizing Education with Afrofuturism
December 01, 2023 17:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBGet ready to be inspired by revolutionizing education. Our guest, Ja'Sonta Roberts, the offsite programs manager for Assemble, takes us on a journey through a new STEAM curriculum that’s infused with Black history and Afrofuturism. This dynamic approach, developed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, helps students envision their future selves as innovators and leaders. We dive deep into the heart of this progressive curriculum, exploring how Afrofuturism is woven into lessons, the value of represen...
Remaining Vigilant for Clean Water
November 17, 2023 18:00 - 17 minutes - 12.2 MBWhat if the nearest source of clean water was miles away from your home? Picture a world where access to this basic necessity is not a given, but a struggle. That's the reality for many in the Navajo Nation, and our guest, Cindy Howe, director of the Navajo Water Project at DigDeep, knows it all too well. Yet her passion for bridging the water divide shines through as she talks about the importance of local leadership and collaboration in addressing this crisis, while fighting the recent Su...
Realizing Spatial Reparations
November 02, 2023 21:00 - 20 minutes - 14 MBCan you imagine a world in which we not only acknowledge the systemic injustices tied to housing and land disparities but actively rectify them? Join us as we engage in a profound conversation with Rasheedah Phillips, Afrofuturist and Director of Housing at PolicyLink to explore spatial reparations -- a transformative approach to rectifying historical wrongs. We journey through local initiatives like those in Evanston, Illinois, demonstrating the possibilities of reparations targeted at spec...
Relentless for Climate Justice
October 20, 2023 17:00 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBIn this episode of Radical Imagination, we hear from Doris Brown, co-director of West Street Recovery, to unravel this mystery. She lifts the veil on how systemic inequities, housing, infrastructure, and government funding are all intertwined with climate issues. Her work in Houston, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, has led to community organizing that transformed devastation into platforms for change. A fascinating journey from a community of 12 to over 100 members in the...
Redesigning Our Nation for All
October 03, 2023 22:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBIf we are to realize a radically inclusive, thriving, multiracial democracy, we must lay claim to that future, raise our voices, and use our collective power to redesign a nation that truly works for all. Tune in for a stirring discussion with Michael McAfee, President & CEO of PolicyLink, as we unpack the significant impact of President Biden's Executive Orders on racial equity and how they can be wielded to effect real change. We discuss the impact of Black voters turning out in record...
AI, Afrofuturism, Activism & More: Season 5 Coming Soon!
September 22, 2023 17:00 - 2 minutes - 1.64 MBAre you ready to be inspired, provoked, and galvanized into action? Prepare yourself for a stimulating journey, as we kick-start Season 5 of Radical Imagination! I’m your host, Angela Glover Blackwell, and this season, we dive deep into the minds of activists, artists, educators, and leaders who are not just dreaming big but are also crafting innovative solutions for transformative change. Our guests range from those using cutting-edge technology to preserve cultural languages and tradition...
Afrofuturism & Housing Justice
November 25, 2022 17:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MB"If we have any hopes of fundamentally breaking away from the patterns of the past and rupturing the inadequate present, the future can no longer be envisioned only by those with the privilege of time and space to imagine. It can no longer be constructed within a bootstraps narrative of personal responsibility and self-determination that treats only some as deserving of a roof over their heads. Our measure of progress must rely on how much we can transform our values to provide broad scale a...
Afrofuturism & Housing
November 25, 2022 17:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MB"If we have any hopes of fundamentally breaking away from the patterns of the past and rupturing the inadequate present, the future can no longer be envisioned only by those with the privilege of time and space to imagine. It can no longer be constructed within a bootstraps narrative of personal responsibility and self-determination that treats only some as deserving of a roof over their heads. Our measure of progress must rely on how much we can transform our values to provide broad scale a...
Alternatives to 9-1-1
November 04, 2022 14:00 - 24 minutes - 16.6 MBNon-police emergency response remains an extremely relevant topic, even though we're seeing strong pushback against the Defund the Police movement -- including from those who were initially supportive. Yet police, throughout the country, continue to remain at odds with the communities they are supposed to protect. In this episode, Angela discusses the potential of emergency triage that doesn’t involve police intervention with Brandon Anderson, an abolitionist and founder of the police repor...
Great Resignation or Great Revolution?
October 07, 2022 20:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBSince the pandemic, people have quit their jobs in record numbers, with around 47 million people leaving their jobs in 2021. Many of these workers are Black and Latinx; many of them women. In this episode, we examine what it means to have a healthy relationship with work, and we hear a radical new way to define the role of work in our lives. Angela speaks with Sarah Jaffe, the author of "Work Won't Love You Back," and welcomes back Saru Jayaraman, founder of One Fair Wage. Tune into Ra...
The World Reimagined
September 15, 2022 13:00 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MBThe history of the trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved Africans has been rewritten, sanitized, flat out misrepresented, and often obscured by the lens through which we observe history. As a society, when we need to get a more enlightened look at ourselves and the world around us, we turn to the vision of artists. This week’s guest Ashley Shaw Scott Adjaye is artistic director of the World Reimagined -- a national public art project in the United Kingdom that explores the history & legacy o...
Land Justice
August 19, 2022 19:00 - 26 minutes - 18.5 MBWhile reparations and reparative justice are just a talking point for some people, there is a growing movement in our country to reconnect Black people with land and property that was illegally stolen from them or their ancestors. In this episode of Radical Imagination, we learn about the radical movement for land justice– a blueprint for policy change that could pave the way for reparations for Black families nationwide. Host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with Kavon Ward – poet, activist,...
Land Back
July 29, 2022 19:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBToday on Radical Imagination, Clyde Prout III, chairman of the Colfax Todd’s Valley Consolidated Tribe in California, tells the remarkable story of how his tribe reclaimed land stolen by the government nearly half a century ago. Native people were violently displaced from their ancestral homelands throughout US history, as land was stolen and sold to private owners, made “public” in the name of preserving natural resources, or set aside for agriculture and recreation. We’ll also hear from Je...
Repatriation
July 14, 2022 13:00 - 24 minutes - 17.1 MBSince becoming the first Sub-Saharan African country to win independence from a colonial power, Ghana has been an inspiration to Black Americans to return to Africa. For many, it's a brief journey. We're changed by what we learn about the culture and our collective past. And that informs our lives and our work when we return home. But other people stay. They make vital contributions to the culture, the economy, and the nation's future. We hear from two Black women -- Renee Neblett the Foun...
Radical Healing
June 30, 2022 13:00 - 22 minutes - 15.7 MBEven today, when many of us are in pain because of systemic inequities, we tend to hold ourselves personally accountable for the trauma we bear. And we think of healing as individual work. The season 4 debut of Radical Imagination upends these myths and frees us of the emotional burdens we shouldn't have to carry alone. Host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with Prentis Hemphill, a writer, therapist, and the founder of the Embodiment Institute, about the revolutionary idea of collective traum...
Season 4 Launching This Month
June 21, 2022 13:00 - 1 minute - 1.06 MBRadical healing. Afro-futurism. Repatriation of stolen land. Housing justice. Black Americans returning to Ghana. Bold alternatives to work and policing. On Season 4 of Radical Imagination we transcend the borders of geography and policy to explore transformative ways of healing and repairing the sins of the past, and how they interconnect with the revolutionary work of creating a just, equitable future. Coming this month! Tune into Radical Imagination as we dive into the stories and solut...
Cancel Debt
September 17, 2021 14:00 - 23 minutes - 16.4 MBDebt continues to drown millions of young people, families, and retirees, especially Black and Brown communities who bear a disproportionate impact. In this episode of Radical Imagination, host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with Astra Taylor, a filmmaker, activist and the director of the Debt Collective, a membership union who are calling for the cancellation of all types of debt. Tune into Radical Imagination as we dive into the stories and solutions that are fueling change. www.radicalim...
Juvenile Justice: Care Over Punishment
August 25, 2021 13:00 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBLast November Los Angeles County voted to dismantle the largest youth juvenile system in the country to create a new approach where care is prioritized over punishment. Radical Imagination host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with youth grassroots organizer Kent Mendoza. He was incarcerated as a youth and was involved in the reimagining of a new system. We also hear from James Bell, the founding president of the Haywood Burns Institute and a consulting partner on LA County's Youth Justice Rei...
Democratizing Patents: Vaccines For All
July 22, 2021 13:00 - 22 minutes - 15.3 MBAs Covid-19 continues to sweep the world and most countries, especially in the Global South, struggle to access vaccines, Radical Imagination takes a fresh look at how the US patent system keeps billions of people at home and abroad from obtaining life-saving medicines. Since our first episode on this topic, early in the pandemic, the situation has become more dire. In India, one of the world’s largest vaccine producers, almost nobody had access to the Covid vaccine last spring, when the vir...
Ethics in AI
June 25, 2021 15:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBArtificial intelligence and algorithms are increasingly used to make life-changing decisions in policing, lending, hiring, renting, health care, and many other realms. The technology has come under fire for encoding and intensifying racial bias. But what if AI could be transformed into a tool for fighting discrimination and inequality? Host Angela Glover Blackwell discusses this intriguing possibility with Black in AI co-founder, activist, and computer scientist Rediet Abebe. We also hear th...
The Radical Politics of Pleasure
May 14, 2021 16:00 - 27 minutes - 18.8 MBSocial justice activists tend to be so driven to fix tough systemic problems that we often overlook the obvious: We want to create a society filled with joy and satisfaction for all. In this episode of Radical Imagination, we celebrate pleasure and explore its importance in the work of societal transformation. Host Angela Glover Blackwell talks with adrienne maree brown, author Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. Join us for a conversation about finding love, delight, and pleasu...
Caregiving Revolution
April 12, 2021 16:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBAn economy that works for all depends on a robust system of caregiving. That has become all too clear during the pandemic, as 2.5 million women were pushed out of the workforce to care for family members. This episode of Radical Imagination looks at the growing movement to reimagine care across the lifespan, recognize it as essential infrastructure, invest in it, and improve wages and labor protections for the workers — mostly Black and immigrant women —we trust to care for the people we lov...
Care Revolution
April 12, 2021 16:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBAn economy that works for all depends on a robust system of caregiving. That has become all too clear during the pandemic, as 2.5 million women were pushed out of the workforce to care for family members. This episode of Radical Imagination looks at the growing movement to reimagine care across the lifespan, recognize it as essential infrastructure, invest in it, and improve wages and labor protections for the workers — mostly Black and immigrant women —we trust to care for the people we lov...
Putting People First: Reimagining OUR Economy
March 23, 2021 18:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBWhat would our economy look like if it put people before profits? For one thing, nobody would have to accept the sub-minimum wage of $2.13, which many states allow for restaurant workers -- a legacy of slavery that marginalizes and impoverishes a wide swath of a workforce made up largely of people of color and immigrants. In this episode of Radical Imagination, host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage and director of the Food Labor Research Center...
Reframing History: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
February 26, 2021 14:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBRadical Imagination opens with a deep dive into the 1921 massacre of hundreds of Black people in the thriving business district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. We examine how history books erased that atrocity and distorted so much of Black history. Host Angela Glover Blackwell talks with Hannibal B. Johnson, historian and Education Chair for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Commission, about the radical effort to make the story of Tulsa's Black Wall Street part of Oklahoma’s K-12 school curricula. Join us ...
Radical Reform: A Prosecutor's Story
November 28, 2020 14:00 - 24 minutes - 17.1 MBSan Francisco’s District Attorney Chesa Boudin was elected on the promise of bringing justice to the criminal "justice" system. He's part of a new wave of reform-minded prosecutors who are trying to change the system, eliminate the most harmful practices, and bring accountability to policing. Host Angela Glover Blackwell talks with Boudin about his efforts to bring fairness and compassion to a system that is oppressive by design. Too often, reform from the inside simply perpetuates the statu...
Police Abolition, Pt. 2
October 10, 2020 11:00 - 28 minutes - 19.3 MBIn this episode of Radical Imagination we follow up on our coverage of police abolition. Host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with human rights lawyer and organizer Derecka Purnell, whose advocacy has led to the dismissal of thousands of cases based on unconstitutional policing practices. We first explored the abolition movement a year ago — before the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Black people, spurred nationwide protests. Now we look at the changing political and cult...
From Patients to Patents: A Focus on Health Equity
September 05, 2020 13:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBWell before Covid-19, Black Americans struggled to access healthcare and had disproportionately high rates of chronic illness and death. Nowhere is this more glaring than in the Mississippi Delta, where Black people with diabetes are commonly treated by amputation and are three times more likely to die of the disease than their White counterparts. Host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with Dr. Foluso Fakorede, who moved to the region to improve patient care and stop the unnecessary the loss of...
Hawaii's Feminist Recovery Plan
August 01, 2020 13:00 - 29 minutes - 20.3 MBA group of women in Hawaii are showing the nation that post-pandemic economic recovery can be visionary, just, and transformative. They have crafted a plan that centers women, insists on gender equality, and advances deep cultural change. In this episode of Radical Imagination, host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with Khara Jabola-Carolus, the executive director of Hawaii’s Commission on the Status of Women, which released the plan, titled “Building Bridges, Not Walking on Backs: A Feminist ...
Water as a Human Right
June 03, 2020 02:00 - 22 minutes - 15.5 MBMore than two million Americans live without access to clean, running water or a working toilette at home. Millions more predominantly in places like Flint, Michigan, the Navajo Nation, and migrant farmworker communities in California’s Central Valley have been disproportionately affected by high levels of led and arsenic in the water. In this episode of Radical Imagination, host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with US Water Alliance CEO Radhika Fox about solutions to this national water cris...
Reimagining Gender
May 01, 2020 22:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBHost Angela Glover Blackwell talks with writer, journalist and activist Tiq Milan about the the limiting and often toxic ways our society thinks about gender, and how we can do better. While the nation has come far in its inclusion of the LGBTQ community in recent decades, we have a long way to go. At least 25 transgender or gender-non-conforming people were reported murdered in 2019, and that’s an undercount, because most attacks go unreported. Join us as Milan describes his personal journe...
Visionary Fiction
April 09, 2020 13:00 - 25 minutes - 17.9 MBAs Covid-19 sweeps the world, life feels too much like science fiction. On this episode of Radical Imagination, we explore an idea that’s tailor-made for this distressing moment. It’s called visionary fiction, and it uses sci-fi and fantasy to imagine not a dystopian future, but a better world — without poverty, prisons and inequality. It’s more than a literary genre; it’s a movement of people of color working to create the change they write about. Host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with wr...
Freedom U: Higher Ed for True Liberation
March 13, 2020 16:00 - 31 minutes - 21.4 MBFor many years, undocumented students who came to the US as minors have been excluded from getting federal funding like grants or loans for college. While 23 states grant undocumented students in-state tuition, three states - Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina - have a form of admissions ban against undocumented students. In 2010, the state banned undocumented students from applying to its top public universities and required them to pay out-of-state at the other public colleges. In respon...
Housing as a Human Right
February 28, 2020 14:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MBWe kick off season two of the Radical Imagination podcast with the story of two mothers who were experiencing homelessness. They moved into a house owned by an investment firm but sitting vacant for nearly two years. That courageous act, in Oakland, California, brought national attention to the housing crisis. Host Angela Glover Blackwell talks with Dominique Walker about why she occupied the house and about the collective she co-founded, Moms4Housing. The group is demanding the human right ...
The Bold, Inspiring & Radical: Upcoming in Season 2
February 18, 2020 22:00 - 1 minute - 851 KBRadical Imagination returns with host Angela Glover Blackwell in conversation with thinkers and changemakers on issues ranging from reimagining gender and visionary fiction, to housing as a human right and changing the criminal-legal system. Get ready to be enlightened, inspired, and moved to think in radically new ways. Tune into Radical Imagination as we dive into the stories and solutions that are fueling change. www.radicalimagination.us
Advancing Peace
December 15, 2019 15:00 - 32 minutes - 22.2 MBImagine an America free of urban gun violence. Host Angela Glover Blackwell speaks with Devone Boggan, CEO of Advance Peace in Richmond, California, a visionary program that offers young men with a history of gun offenses life-changing opportunities to work as community peacemakers. In this episode, the season one finale, we also hear from James Houston, who served 18 years in prison for shooting and killing a man. Houston is now a change agent in Richmond — and proof that investment in peop...
Federal Job Guarantee
December 03, 2019 14:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBA federal job guarantee is an old idea making its way back this election cycle. It’s controversial and considered radical—but what makes more sense than making sure that everyone who needs a job can get one? A job guarantee would bring financial stability to millions of families. And it would put people to work doing things the nation needs, such as building affordable housing and caring for children. In this episode, Angela Glover Blackwell explores the tantalizing possibilities—and the fea...
Climate Migrants
November 17, 2019 19:00 - 29 minutes - 20.4 MBClimate change will displace more than 180 million people around the world by the end of this century. Along the Gulf Coast of the United States, rising seas are already threatening historic Black and indigenous communities. In Louisiana, for example, a piece of land the size of a football disappears into the water every hour-and-a-half. In this episode, Radical Imagination host Angela Glover Blackwell talks with Colette Pichon Battle, executive director at the Gulf Coast Center for Law and ...
Reparations
November 03, 2019 15:00 - 29 minutes - 19.9 MBNo major institution in America has wrestled more deeply with the question of reparations for African Americans than Georgetown University. Five years ago, a student discovered that Maryland Jesuits sold 272 slaves in 1838 to save the school from financial ruin. That forgotten history sparked an anguished conversation about Georgetown’s complicity in slavery and the school’s responsibility to the descendants of the 272 enslaved people. In this episode of Radical Imagination, Angela Glover...
Guaranteed Income
October 20, 2019 18:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBIn this episode of Radical Imagination we visit Stockton, California. It was known as the nation’s foreclosure capital during the 2008 recession. Today, it’s the first city in the country to try universal basic income as a strategy to reduce inequality and boost economic security. This bold experiment gives residents a minimum monthly salary regardless of income or employment status. Angela Glover Blackwell sits down with Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, who became the first black mayor in th...
Universal Basic Income
October 20, 2019 18:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBIn this episode of Radical Imagination we visit Stockton, California. It was known as the nation’s foreclosure capital during the 2008 recession. Today, it’s the first city in the country to try universal basic income as a strategy to reduce inequality and boost economic security. This bold experiment gives residents a minimum monthly salary regardless of income or employment status. Angela Glover Blackwell sits down with Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, who became the first black mayor in th...
Police Abolition
October 06, 2019 10:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBAs cases of police abuse and misconduct gain attention, activists have moved beyond calls for reform to advocate for the abolition of police. It’s a controversial and widely misunderstood idea. How would police abolition work, exactly? How would we protect public safety? Radical Imagination host Angela Glover Blackwell explores these questions with humanitarian hip-hop artist Jessica Disu, a.k.a. FM Supreme, who has publicly called for police abolition. And we hear from Rachel Herzing, co-d...
Open Borders
September 23, 2019 01:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBThe United States once had open borders. Migrants from all over the world would arrive fleeing war, escaping poverty and seeking opportunity. Open borders made our country strong. But many Americans today are horrified — or frightened — by the idea of “open borders.” Harsh new immigration policies are making it more difficult than ever to come to the U.S. or even ask for asylum. Nevertheless, violence, oppression, poverty, desperation, and hope continue to drive migrants to our borders. Last...
The Need for Radical Imagination
September 04, 2019 18:00 - 1 minute - 756 KBA podcast focused on stories and solutions that are fueling change. Features conversations with thinkers and changemakers from multiple fields who are wielding instruments of influence — academia, activism, media, government — to deliver equity wins at scale. Tune into Radical Imagination as we dive into the stories and solutions that are fueling change. www.radicalimagination.us