Thousands of local social justice organizers, activists and other leaders passed away this year. People doing crucial work in their communities, whose deaths didn’t make the headlines.  On this edition of Making Contact, as we do every December, we’ll hear about some of the fallen heroes of 2017.

Featuring: 

Dick Gregory, comedian and civil rights activist

Sumiteru Taniguchi, chairman of the Nagasaki Council of A-Bomb Sufferers

Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation executive director

Prudence Nobantu Mabele, President of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa

Yvette Raphael, South African HIV Activist

Isidro Baldenegro López, farmer and leader of Mexico’s Tarahumara people

Randall Gingrich, Tierra Nativa director

Gauri Lankesh, journalist, activist and editor of Lankesh Patrike  

Anu Natarajan, former Vice-Mayor of Fremont CA

Corey Dubin, HIV & hemophilia activist and radio journalist

Carl Weixler, president of the committee of 10,000

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, first female MP in Sudan

Yosra Akasha, Sudanese feminist blogger

Dennis Banks, co-Founder of American Indian Movement (AIM)

Credits:

Host: Andrew Stelzer

Special thanks to: filmmaker David Hoffman, African Women’s Development Fund,

Goldman Environmental Prize, The School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University

Voiceover for Sumiteru Taniguchi – Zach Goldberg

Voiceovers for Isidro Baldenegro López – Drake Apablasa

Voiceover for Gauri Lankesh – Jessica Stelzer

Producers: Marie Choi, RJ Lozada, Anita Johnson, Monica Lopez

Executive Director: Lisa Rudman

Web Editor and Audience Engagement Director: Sabine Blaizin

Development Associate: Vera Tykulsker

Special Thanks:

Laura Roan 

Jonathan Stenger

Elizabeth Gaynes

Brenda Maietta 

Gabriella Kenner

Steuben Vega

For More Information:

Dick Gregory

Gauri Lankesh: Murdered Indian journalist in her own words

Gauri Lankesh Patrike

Isidro Baldenegro–2005 Goldman Prize Recipient

Corey S. Dubin: 1955-2017 A Powerful Voice and Advocate

Interview with Sumiteru Taniguchi, Japanese Citizen, Nagasaki

Western States Legal Foundation

American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks passes away at the age of 80

American Indian Movement–AIM

The Pied Piper of the broken-hearted: HIV activist Prudence Mabele

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim emancipation as a craft

Yosra Akasha

Anu Natarajan

Committee of 10,000

Tierra Nativa

Positive Women’s Network

Yvette Raphael

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