Better Off Red

07: Trump’s Lies and Dominique Morisseau’s Truths about Race and Class

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In this week’s episode, we talk to award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau. She is the author of a three-play cycle about Detroit. One of those plays, Paradise Blue, opens at the Signature Theater this week. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about violence against women, Black feminism, the destruction of the Black Power movement, the importance of earned rage, the power of that rage when directed outwards, and the pain when it gets twisted and directed against those closest to us. Dominique shares her influences with us, from Pearl Cleage to Tupac to her revolutionary family—and more. Music is an important source of inspiration for her, and we’ve included some of the music that appears in her plays. We also discuss her work as a social justice activist and her fight to expand both representation in and access to the theater.

In the opener, Jen, Danny and Eric discuss Trump’s “welfare reform 2.0” plan and what it tells us about how race, poverty and class are talked about in this country.

There’s so much we got into in this episode. If you want to follow any of the threads further, check out our Patreon page (Patreon.com/BetterOffRedPod) with links to articles and music (access is free to all regardless of whether you are a patron).

06: Cops are bad for mental health, Paul Heideman on Class Struggle and the Color Line

In this week’s episode we talk to activist and author Paul Heideman about his new book, Class Struggle and the Color Line: American Socialism and the Race Question, 1900-1930. Most histories of the left claim that Communist Party members in the 1930s were the first U.S. socialists to prioritize the fight against racism, but Heideman’s collection of writings from a range of American radicals tells a different story. Paul talks with us about the overlooked contributions to the U.S. and international left made by Black socialists like Claude McKay and Cyrill Briggs, and how events like the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the race riots of 1919 helped set in motion the Black radical movement that didn’t fully flower for another two generations.

If after listening to this episode you want to learn more about how the socialist movement approached the “race question”, you can (and should!) check out Class Struggle and the Color Line (http://bit.ly/HeidemanBook). Here are some other resources:

A shorter introduction to the topic is John Riddell’s article for the International Socialist Review, “Black Liberation and the Communist International” (http://bit.ly/RiddellBlackLiberation).

For more on Karl Marx’s avid interest in the fight against slavery, check out Donnie Schraffenberger’s “Karl Marx and the American Civil War” (http://bit.ly/MarxCivilWar).

Danny goes off on one of his tangents, citing Oscar Ameringer’s classic socialist pamphlet “The Life and Deeds of Uncle Sam”, which you can find here (http://bit.ly/LifeDeedsUncleSam) and judge for yourself if it was really worth interrupting Paul.

In our introduction, Danny and Eric discuss the contemporary horror of police killings of people in the midst of mental health episodes. The discussion quickly covers a lot of ground. Here are links for some of the cases and statistics we talk about:

Shaun King’s article for The Intecept: “Danny Ray Thomas Was a Broken Man Who Needed Help. Instead He Was Gunned Down by a Cop in Broad Daylight.” (http://bit.ly/DannyRayThomas)

The New York Daily News story about why New Yorkers are afraid of police showing up if they call 911 for a family member having an episode. (http://bit.ly/911Fears)

Many of the statistics Jen cites about deadly interactions between police and people with mental illness come from the Treatment Advocacy Center (http://bit.ly/TreatmentAdvocacy)

A talk given by socialist David Whitehouse on “The Origins of the Police” (http://bit.ly/PoliceOrigins)

The Atlantic’s story on Cook County Jail being “America’s Largest Mental Hospital” (https://theatln.tc/2qudB6G)

Music and audio from this episode:

Lizard Eyes – The Boy & Sister Alma (Dead Sea Captains Remix)

Jamilia Land, speaking at a rally on March 31 in Sacramento

Swim Good – Frank Ocean

Joe Hill and Let My People Go - Paul Robeson

“If We Must Die” read by Claude McKay

Keeanga-Yamahtta speaking on “The Fight Against the New Jim Crow” at the 2012 Socialism conference

05: Teachers’ Rebellion-Strike Wave Edition

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“West Virginia first, Oklahoma next”. That’s what teachers started chanting when they won their strike in West Virginia. And now the teachers’ rebellion really has spread like a wildfire, with the Oklahoma teachers’ strike entering its second week and teachers talking action in Kentucky and Arizona. This episode is entirely about the teachers’ rebellion. Danny, Jen and Eric discuss some of the lessons of these strikes before bringing you a series of great interviews from the front lines. We bring you clips from an onsite interview with Oklahoma teacher Jessica Lightle. Then we are joined by Eric Blanc, a journalist who has been covering the strike wave for Jacobin magazine. Eric has been on the ground in both West Virginia and Oklahoma and shares his analysis and insights with us. And finally, we talk to a teacher organizer and striker from West Virginia, Nicole McCormick. She is joined by Dana Blanchard, a veteran teacher who travelled to West Virginia to cover the strike for Socialist Worker.

There’s a lot packed in this episode and we’re pretty sure you’ll want to hear more. Here are some resources mentioned in the show as well as links for further reading:

Socialist Worker ran an article featuring the voices of Oklahoma teachers (bit.ly/OklahomaSW), including more from the interview we excerpted with Jessica Lightle. You can also go to the full site of SW to read extensive coverage of West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma as well as more on why these strikes are spreading.

Eric Blanc’s has been covering the strikes for Jacobin and his most recent article is on Oklahoma’s turn to strike (bit.ly/OklahomaJacobin). You can also go to the full site at Jacobin for more coverage of the strikes.

We’re including a link to the full video of the solidarity rally held in NYC (bit.ly/SolidarityNYC) just after the victory of the strike in West Virginia. There was also a solidarity rally held in Seattle (bit.ly/SolidaritySeattle) a few weeks later, which featured Seattle educator Jesse Hagopian in conversation with Nicole McCormick (featured in this episode) and Oklahoma strike leader Larry Cagle.

04: Undocumented and Unafraid with Lupita Romero

In this bonus episode, we talk to immigrant rights activist Lupita Romero about her experiences growing up as an undocumented immigrant and as a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Lupita describes the tension that many DREAMers feel between fighting to preserve DACA and rejecting the narrative that they are somehow uniquely “good” immigrants who alone deserve protection and equality.

Lupita is a socialist and long-time immigrant justice organizer in New York City. She’s written a number of articles for Socialist Worker, including “The ugly business of immigrant detention” at bit.ly/uglybusiness.

If you want to further explore any of the themes in this episode, check out some of the following links:

You can read Lupita’s interview (bit.ly/DACAclock) about the mood among DREAM activists as DACA neared expiration.

Learn more about about the 4,000 DACA applications mysteriously delayed in the mail, from this report in Vox (bit.ly/delayedapplications).

And here’s an important resolution passed by a union (bit.ly/unionresolution) representing legal workers to affirm its commitment to support members who are in the DACA and Temporary Refugee Status programs now under threat from the Trump administration.

04: Undocumented and Unafraid with Lupita Romero

In this bonus episode, we talk to immigrant rights activist Lupita Romero about her experiences growing up as an undocumented immigrant and as a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Lupita describes the tension that many DREAMers feel between fighting to preserve DACA and rejecting the narrative that they are somehow uniquely “good” immigrants who alone deserve protection and equality.

Lupita is a socialist and long-time immigrant justice organizer in New York City. She’s written a number of articles for Socialist Worker, including “The ugly business of immigrant detention” at bit.ly/uglybusiness.

If you want to further explore any of the themes in this episode, check out some of the following links:

You can read Lupita’s interview (bit.ly/DACAclock) about the mood among DREAM activists as DACA neared expiration.

Learn more about about the 4,000 DACA applications mysteriously delayed in the mail, from this report in Vox (bit.ly/delayedapplications).

And here’s an important resolution passed by a union (bit.ly/unionresolution) representing legal workers to affirm its commitment to support members who are in the DACA and Temporary Refugee Status programs now under threat from the Trump administration.

03: Sportswriter Dave Zirin on justice for Michael Bennett

We talk to The Nation’s sports editor, Dave Zirin, about NFL player Michael Bennett’s new book Things That Make White People Uncomfortable and the outrageous and false charges made against him by the Houston police department. Dave talks about why the case “stinks to high heaven” and Bennett’s long history of standing for social justice.

But first, Jen and Danny, with their producer Eric Ruder, talk about Trump’s new cabinet of zombie warmongers and what it means for the increasingly dangerous world we live in.

For more information on things we touched on in this episode, you can check out the links below:

You can purchase Michael Bennett’s book at bit.ly/BennettBook.

Jessica Brand has raised important questions about the connections between Bennett’s outspoken response to his mistreatment by Las Vegas police and the current charges. You can read her report at bit.ly/InjusticeTodayBennett.

Last fall, Slate published a great article about the Las Vegas police department’s smearing of Bennett, which you can read at bit.ly/SlateBennett

For more on Trump’s war cabinet, read Ashley Smith’s article at SocialistWorker.org on Trump’s Cabinet of Horrors at bit.ly/SWTrumpCabinet. And for more historical context, you can also read Smith’s four-part series about the 2003 war on Iraq at bit.ly/SWIraqSeries.

To find Dave Zirin’s interview with Michael Bennett in Seattle, go to his Edge of Sports podcast “Michael Bennett LIVE in Seattle.”

And Lupe Fiasco’s “American Terrorist” was the intro to the statement by Michael Bennett that opened our segment with Dave Zirin.

In this bonus episode, we talk to Brian Jones about how public schools have historically been a place where ruling-class goals of instilling conformity have clashed with working-class goals of securing a better future, and how those conflicts are playing out today from the walkouts against gun violence to the protests to stop school closures and opt out of high-stakes standardized tests.

Brian Jones is an educator and activist in New York City and a scholar in residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Brian contributed to Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation and is the narrator of The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, a documentary about the creeping privatization of public schools in New York City.

If you want to explore any of the themes in this episode further, you can check out some of the following links:

• Danny’s article in Socialist Worker about the Black Lives Matter at School week of action. [https://socialistworker.org/2018/02/09/a-lesson-in-how-to-fight-for-black-lives]

• The article Brian cited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor about the relationship between the Parkland student protests and the Movement for Black Lives. [https://socialistworker.org/2018/02/26/anti-racism-and-the-uprising-against-guns]

• Danny’s article about the UPS worker walkout over inhumane conditions, including harassing a driver who had just come back from a severe workplace injury. [http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/23271-a-walkout-at-ups-and-labors-old-school-future]