Beyond Voting

As the Black Lives Matter uprisings continue, we look back at our history and invite Charlotte Hill O’neil Mama “C” to speak on her triumphs and journey as a former Black Panther. Currently at the United African Alliance Community Center in Tanzania, where Covid19 is not prevalent, Mama C is living her best life: writing her memoir Hard Head and spending time with the community. She shares her insights on the parallels between the Black Panther movement and Black Lives Matter movement today.

Check out more of Mama “C”’s work:
www.uaacc.net 
soundcloud.com/mamac2011/

Facebook: Charlotte Hill O’Neal (Osotunde Fasuyi)
Youtube: Mama C aka Mama Charlotte O’Neal
Youtube: Osotunde Fasuyi Ola Osebikan

With American current socio-political climate, The Radical Zone podcast team had a conversation with Adrienne Maree Brown to discuss emergent strategies and pleasure activism.
In this episode, Adrienne breaks down their life's work in activism with various communities

Adrienne Maree Brown is the author of Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good,
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds and the co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: | Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements. She is the co-host of the How to Survive the End of the World and Octavia’s Parables podcasts. Adrienne is rooted in Detroit.

Learn more about Adrienne's work at;
http://adriennemareebrown.net/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/octavias-parables/id1519024926

This time around, we take time out to focus on localized grass root organizing & activism. we talked to Majyck D in our #BLM mini series to understand how what has been happening in Kalamazoo Michigan lately. The Killing of George Floyd resulted in protests and demonstrations in cities across the nation, with Kalamazoo Michigan being one of those cities. We also learned about the relationship between Kalamazoo Public Schools and the community? 
Discussed what measures are being considered to end police presence in Kalamazoo Public Schools and policing students in general.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made things complicated around the world, and America has been equally affected by this global health crisis and the impact it has had on society. The radical Zone Podcast brought back professor Jason De Leon to help us understand and decipher immigration rights and electoral politics in America.

In this episode, we dive deep into issues of diversity and differences between various minority groups in America in context of the political build up towards the upcoming national election. Jason De Leon also provides his professional thoughts and opinions about the re-opening of universities and other academic institutions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Listen to our previous episode with Jason as he discussed Migration & US/Mexico Border: >> https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/migration-us-mexico-border-conversations-jason-leon/id1513423967?i=1000483587107

Learn About Jason's Work about the Undocumented Migration Project: https://undocumentedmigrationproject.org

The Land of Open Graves book:
https://www.amazon.com/Land-Open-Graves-California-Anthropology-dp-0520282752/dp/0520282752/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1594221687

The Radical Zone Podcast team got an opportunity to have a conversation with a special guest Amani Sawari to participate in our Black Lives Matter mini series and discuss the recent Uprising and its relation to Mass Incarceration in America.

Amani Sawari is a writer, founder of the site sawarimi.org, coordinator for the Right2Vote Campaign, the Good Time Campaign to Repeal Truth In Sentencing and a 2019 Civil Rights Fellow with the Roddenberry Foundation. She graduated from the University of Washington with her Bachelor degree in both Media Communication Studies and Law, Economics & Public Policy in 2016. Her visionary publications, including the Right2Vote Report and Motivate Michigan newsletter, aid in distributing messages and building community among participants in the prison resistance movement on both sides of the wall.

Learn about Amani Sawari's advocacy works at https://http://sawarimi.org/jumpin

Learn more, take a listen, and be a part of this conversation.

The Radical Zone team had the pleasure to speak with Holly Bird to bring us to speed on critical issues facing Ingenious Movements parallels to Black movements, COVID-19 and its impact on the Indigenous Community in America. 

Hon. Bird graduated from DePaul University College of Law, where she served as the Native American Representative and President of the Latino Law Students Association.
 Most notably, however, Hon. Bird founded and served as Vice-President, President, and President-Emeritus of the Illinois Native American Bar Association, and is credited for using her advocacy to remove offensive sports mascots from several Illinois schools. Hon. Bird has authored the publications: “Jumping Through Hoops: Traditional Healers and the Indian Health Care Act,” (1999) and “Making the Cross-Cultural Case; Educating the Judge about Race, Religion, and Ethnicity” (2004). In 2008, Hon. Bird was appointed as an Acting Chief Judge / Associate Judge for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, where she served until 2011. Bird maintains a private practice in Traverse City, concentrating in matters of Native American, family, juvenile, criminal, civil, traffic, real estate, probate, employment and business law.
 Bird also served as the Civil Ground Coordinator for the Water Protectors Legal Collective, the leading legal service at the NoDAPL camp/protest in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She continues to volunteer for WPLC to date. She also founded and serves as the Executive Director for the MI Water Protectors Legal Task Force, a project of the National Lawyer’s.

Take a listen and be a part of this conversation

In this special Black Lives Matter mini series, we brought back one of our favorite radical intellectuals, activists and the acting Executive Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College, Dr. Lisa Brock to help us decipher the following questions/comments:

1. What’s currently happening on the ground in Chicago?
2. Discuss current brutal killings Black people like George Floyd, Ahmad Arbury, Breonna Taylor, and countless others.
3. Shed light on the current racial climate, police brutality, and the criminal justice system.

Take a listen and be a part of this conversation of our #BLM mini series!

In our second episode, The Radical Zone had a social distancing conversation with a Hip Hop movement builder Babaluku to decipher the effect of Covid19 in Africa as well the creatives around the world.

Silas Babaluku is the founder and executive director of The Foundation, creator of the Dynasty as well as an award-winning musician, producer, community youth activist and social entrepreneur. Being raised in Uganda and living in Canada during his late teens and early twenties has given Silas a unique and powerful perspective on how to effectively create positive and empowering global partnerships. Since 2005, Silas’ work through the Foundation has provided a platform for positive expression of thought and community building. As a part of the Bavubuka Foundation, Silas is responsible for creating Dynasty, which is an international platform that celebrates indigenous culture, socially conscious artists, and has birthed Uganda’s most popular Graphic tee movements. His work has created opportunities for youth to conceptualize, design and execute their own entrepreneurial visions with a bridge to a global audiences and markets.

Silas is the founder of Back To The Source, whose vision is to grow Indigenous Hip Hop Practitioners all over the continent who are dedicated to leading their communities through the journey of reconnecting to their authentic ancestral trans formative power. He has traveled extensively promoting hip hop as a powerful tool to teach leadership, build peace and strengthen relationships. His )Foundation was a 2015 finalist for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership's Global Prize. Silas has been recognized and honored across both the African and North American continents as a musician, pioneer, social entrepreneur, youth leader and community activist.

Learn about Bavubuka Foundations Works down below;
https://bavubukacommunity.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/bavubuka/
https://www.facebook.com/babaluku.uganda
https://www.facebook.com/b2thesource/