8 O'Clock Buzz

In this month’s ExPO edition of the 8 O’Clock Buzz, Jerome Dillard talks with State Public Defender Kelli Thompson, Wisconsin Senate representative Lena Taylor, and ExPO representative Dwayne about a Wisconsin Assembly bill AB627 which will allow termination of parental rights of any individual having “substantial incarceration”. Usually reserved for an individual with potential threat to their children, this bill would separate family members and their children, having long-term consequences. A public hearing on the bill is scheduled for December 1, 2021, at 10:00am in room 417N of the state capitol.

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On this month’s show—Thanksgiving. Essentially, why do we still celebrate this racist, colonial holiday? Thanksgiving perpetuates white supremacy and romanticized notions about Indigenous Peoples. To celebrate the current Thanksgiving mythology is to celebrate the theft of land through ethnic cleansing and enslavement. I interview three Indigenous guests who are pushing back at Thanksgiving through protest or alternative celebrations. 

For the past 46 years, on Thanksgiving morning, Alcatraz is closed for the day to regular visitors to allow for the local Indigenous community to carry out its yearly Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, also known as, Unthanksgiving Day. It was founded in 1975, in contrast to Thanksgiving, to commemorate the survival of Indigenous Nations. Dr. LaNada Warjack is the last living student leader from the occupation of Alcatraz and has been attending the Sunrise Ceremony for many years. Dr. Warjack is Shoshone-Bannock from the Fort Hall Nation in Idaho. She is the last living student leader that took Alcatraz in 1969 from UC Berkeley–the 19-month student occupation, which was the benchmark that changed the termination era for Indian people to the self-determination era.   More about Dr Warjack at https://drwarjack.com/ .

We also speak with Kisha James, granddaughter of Frank James, founder of the National Day of Mourning. Kisha is an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head and Oglala Lakota, and a youth organizer and archivist for the United American Indians of New England. Since 1970, Indigenous Peoples & their allies have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. It is a day of remembrance as well as a protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide.  More about Unite American Indians of New England at http://www.uaine.org/ .

Finally, for the past five years, Great Plains Action Society has been providing folks in Iowa and surrounding states with a better way to celebrate the harvest season by promoting Truthsgiving. Every year, they organize celebrations and mutual aid work. To talk about that, we caught up with Jessica Engelking, an organizer with Great Plains Action Society. Jessica is Anishinaabe and a descendant of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She is the author of “Peggy Flanagan: Ogimaa Kwe, Lieutenant Governor”, which is a part of the Minnesota Native American Lives series and has been organizing around Truthsgivng with Great Plains Action Society for the past few years.  More about Truthsgiving at https://www.truthsgiving.org/ and order a “Whitewashed” shirt at https://www.humanizemyhoodie.com/shop/whitewashed-tee .

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Jim Berkenstadt’s New Book “The Beatle Who Vanished”

Jim Berkenstadt, the Rock And Roll Detective®, uncovers the lost history and mysteries hidden within decades of popular music. An international authority on The Beatles, he has co-authored three additional Beatles books: Black Market Beatles; The Beatles Digest (under the pen name J.G. Schuberk); Nevermind Nirvana; and he edited John, Paul & Me: Before The Beatles. He’s consulted to The Beatles and the Estate of George Harrison on numerous projects. He lives in Wisconsin and join Friday Buzz host, Jonathan Zarov, to talk about his new book The Beatle Who Vanished.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Jim Berkenstadt)

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Nominations Are Open For The 2021 Silver Lining Awards

The Friends of Madison Arts Commission is holding the 2021 Silver Lining Awards to Honor Creativity, Dedication and Perseverance During the Pandemic. From now until December 15 anyone can nominate one or more individuals or organizations who excelled in creative endeavors and/or the hospitality industry, large and small in 2020 or 2021. A panel of members of MAC and FoMAC will then review nominations and select twenty recipients to be toasted and receive an award.

Kia Karlen is the current chair of Friends of Madison Arts Commission and she joins Friday Buzz host, Jonathan Zarov, to talk more about the Awards and the Event.

 

 

(Images courtesy of Kia Karlen

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Trump stacked the Board of Governors of the U. S. Postal Service with 4 asset managers, the first step in weakening the USPS under millionaire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Lisa Graves, Executive Director of policy research group True North, advises that Biden should not renew the appointment of Ron Bloom (current Chairman of the Board, whose equity firm DeJoy has invested in) and John Barger, both with terms ending the end of this year. Graves recommends calling the White House (202)456-1414 to let your voice be heard about his issue.

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Ambar Meneses, Student Support Advisor at Madison College, talks about the High School Equivalency Program (HEP), free educational program targeted to help migrant and seasonal farm workers and their immediate family members earn a GED/HSED. Includes tuition free learning with textbook and computer loans, available for workers and families with 75 days of farm labor in the past two years.

Contact: [email protected]

Voice: 608.259.2977

Text: 608.571.2441

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As Wisconsin’s voice for the nation’s oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with a membership of 18,000, the Sierra Club — Wisconsin Chapter works together with volunteers to protect our communities and the planet. Cassie Steiner-Bouxa, Senior Campaign Coordinator, talks about some of their current activities to protect the environment.

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Trump’s federal court appointees were virtually all white and all male, according to Andrew Cohen, Senior Editor for The Marshall Project and Brennen Center for Justice. And what do the Biden appointees look like? A much more diverse group in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender, as well as background experience. And a competent enough group to garner bipartisan support for their nominations. Cohen details the nominations.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown…

Barb Sherrod is Restorative Practices Program Director for Restorative Response Baltimore and a Doctoral Student in Urban Educational Leadership at Morgan State University.  She joins Dr. Brown to talk about restorative justice and her work for it, structural racism, reforming criminal justice systems, and more!

Barb is a Baltimore native and proud mother of two. She is a lifelong student of restorative justice and abolition centering the lives and experiences of Black girls, Black women and femmes.  Through experiential and learning circles, Barb educates school communities on the use of restorative justice for building relationships and navigating conflict with an anti-oppressive lens. Her website, MillennialMochaMoms provides space for Black millennial mothers to share their maternal experiences and build community. Her writing is featured in the first restorative justice anthology centering practitioners of color, “Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing our Realities” and the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. Barb is currently a doctoral student at Morgan State University studying Urban Educational Leadership, her research focuses on the circle-keeping practices of Black women RJ practitioners and implementing RJ at home for Black caregivers.

More about Barb and MillenialMochaMoms on the website and Instagram

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Wisconsin Imprisons Black Residents At A higher Rate Than Any Other State

A recent national report by the Sentencing Project shows that Wisconsin leads the nation in a shameful category: 1 in 36 Black adults in Wisconsin are in prison. Black people make up only 6% of the state’s population, but a shocking 42% of the imprisoned population in the state.

Large disparities like this in the Wisconsin criminal justice system led to the creation of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council or the CJCC—it was created in 2012 by Scott Walker, and re-created by Governor Tony Evers in 2019. State Public Defender Kelli Thompson serves on the CJCC. Thompson received her law degree from Marquette University. She has been elected or appointed to serve on a number of legal-profession organizations, including the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, which she chaired. She joins Friday Buzz host, Jonathan Zarov, to talk about racial disparities in the criminal justice system and the work of the Race Equity, Inclusion, and Access Subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council on which she serves.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash)

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