AirGo

Unelectable is an live podcast event series that engages electoral politics through the filter of radical imagination. AirGo and Black Youth Project are using the 2020 election cycle to have tangible conversations about impactful issues dismissed as being too big or unrealistic by mainstream political media. Vol. 1 happened on Feb. 26 at the Silver Room in Hyde Park, and featured Ald. Jeanette Taylor and Chicago Teachers Union VP Stacy Davis Gates. It was a great conversation about what protecting the public looks like, what elected officials need from movement workers, and how we learn about politics in the classroom.

Check out Black Youth Project: http://blackyouthproject.com/

Recorded 2/26/20 in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

Burn - Lava La Rue

Time stands still sometimes for Benjamin Earl Turner. The emcee, writer, craftsman, and intellectual has a theory and praxis for his writing and music-making that creates some of the most remarkable raps in the world, in which he can challenge himself and his listeners to see themselves, their shortcomings, and the complexity of their spirits. Dame and Kiss went to his home studio in Burbank, CA for a sitdown that turned to an all-nighter, which we are releasing in two parts. On part 2, Benjamin tells a mythical story, talks through how he's thinking about masculinity and growth, and a remarkably comprehensive beef with the 20th century.

Music on this week's episode is all from @benjaminearlturner's album Bad Nature, which you should stream now!: soundcloud.com/benjaminearlturner/sets/bad-nature

Follow Benjamin on twitter: twitter.com/benjaminearltea

Recorded 1/30/2020 in Burbank, CA

Time stands still sometimes for Benjamin Earl Turner. The emcee, writer, craftsman, and intellectual has a theory and praxis for his writing and music-making that creates some of the most remarkable raps in the world, in which he can challenge himself and his listeners to see themselves, their shortcomings, and the complexity of their spirits. Dame and Kiss went to his home studio in Burbank, CA for a sitdown that turned to an all-nighter, which we are releasing in two parts. On part 1, we talk about finding his craft, his bond with Damon, and the magical summer of 2012 that he spent creating and growing in Chicago. Part 2 drops next week!

Music on this week's episode is all from @benjaminearlturner's album Bad Nature, which you should stream now!: https://soundcloud.com/benjaminearlturner/sets/bad-nature

Follow Benjamin on twitter: https://twitter.com/benjaminearltea

Recorded 1/30/2020 in Burbank, CA

As part of our #BYPSpotlight series, Dame and Kiss talk with Jawanza Malone. Jawanza is the Executive Director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, or KOCO, a nearly 50 year-old community stalwart fighting for the communities of the Kenwood Oakland neighborhood. Jawanza talks about his journey as a father, living in Fred Hampton's legacy, the fight for a Community Benefits Agreement in connection to the new Obama Presidential Center, and more.

Learn more about KOCO: https://kocoonline.org/about-us/

Support the CBA fight: http://www.obamacba.org/

Join the fight to lift the rent control ban: https://www.ltbcoalition.org/

Recorded 1/18/20 in Chicago

Debbie Southorn knows how to throw down. Debbie is the cofounder of the city's Black and Pink chapter, was a central figure in the #NoCopAcademy campaign, and is a founding member of We Are Dissenters, a new group activating students toward anti-militarism and anti-war organizing on college campuses. She also works at the American Friends Service Committee, a century-old Quaker social justice organization. We talk about her path into the work, DINOSAURS, dealing with serious burnout, the impacts of militarism, and more.

Follow Debbie: http://twitter.com/madlittledebbie

Check out We Are Dissenters: http://wearedissenters.org

NOTE: Leave AirGo a rating and review! It helps new folks find the show, and gives us the validation we deeply crave.

Recorded 1/27/20 in Chicago

Music from this week's show:

I Can See It - Darksunn

While in DC to host an event for the Rising Majority that featured the brilliant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley, Damon swung by Eaton DC, a new global hotel merging hospitality with progressive social change, to talk with a few student organizers from Howard University who are involved with the new national anti-militarism student organization We Are Dissenters.

Check out Eaton DC: https://www.eatonworkshop.com/hotel/dc

Peep We Are Dissenters: http://wearedissenters.org

Each month this year, we're going to revisit an episode from the 200+ episodes in the AirGo Archives and bring that conversation back to the forefront. This month, we're revisiting our convo with Dometi Pongo from 2018. Since his appearance on the show, Dometi has moved to New York, where he is a host and news correspondent for MTV. He is the host of the True Life documentary series, and a contributor to all of MTV's coverage. We talked about his then-current role at WGN, bringing Black Americans to Ghana, and much more.

Follow Dometi: twitter.com/dometi_

Rate and review AirGo on Apple Podcasts: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091?mt=2

Recorded 5/3/2018 at WHPK 88.5FM in Chicago

Dominique James is a word-based multimedia artist, educator, and teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Howard University, and has completed research fellowships at the University of California-Riverside and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. After graduation, she was a TRIALS Fellow at Harvard Law School and a University of Chicago HBCU Bridge Scholar. She is also the matchmaker behind a pretty special relationship, a relationship that has some pretty big news to share on this episode…

Follow Dominique here: http://twitter.com/niqjames

Recorded 1/21/20 in Chicago

Music from this week's episode:

Chill Mode - Audiobinger

As part of our #BYPSpotlight series, Dame and Kiss talk with movement stalwart Jasson Perez. Jasson is one of the founding members of BYP-100, a labor organizing veteran, and a pivotal member of the Afrosocialist caucus within Chicago's Democratic Socialists of America chapter. He breaks down the lessons learned from organizing across movements, his alternative life as a rapper of legendary Chicago rap group BBU, and how the spiritual life of the recovery community have taught him how to build more loving and effective revolutionary movements.

Check out the whole #BYPSpotlight at http://blackyouthproject.com

Recorded 1/21/20 in Chicago:

Kurt De La Rocha - BBU

Music from this week's show:

Lynsey Ann Moxie brought her energy with her. She's a vocalist, performer, Chicago schoolteacher, and interdisciplinary artist from the South Suburbs of Chicago. She grew up in the Cantata choir as a 1st soprano, before finding her jazz roots at Spelman College, and then ultimately ending up back home in Chicago. She breaks down the wisdom she's found through craft, therapy, and the classrom, as well as a whole bunch of other quotable gems. Come along on this fun ride with the guys to kick off another year of AirGo!

NOTE: Come through our Art and Activism series #TodayatApple series this month!: http://apple.co/artandactivism

Recorded 1/14/20 in Chicago

Music on this week's episode:

Seasons - Lynsey Ann Moxie

Bad MF - Pharoahe Monch