From Chains to Change

Nziki and Bruce talk with Nick Laborde, candidate for Public Service Commission District 2, which stretches from Baton Rouge to Lafayette. They jump in about phone rates in prisons and jails, then talk about Louisiana's sustainable energy needs where climate change and hurricanes make it the soft underbelly of America. In a world where political parties are building walls between them, the electric bill may be the last place we can come together.

Recorded October 24, 2024 in New Orleans. 

Nziki Wiltz and Bruce Reilly interview Dr. Donaldo Batiste, a former New Orleans school principal and superintendent, who is running for reelection to his Orleans Parish School Board seat in District 4. Dr. Batiste names the problems with charter school companies that have tied the hands of local control over our children's education.

[Note: From Chains to Change reached out to his opponent, who has ignored all contact from our organization].

Here we geaux! Voters Organized interviewed congressional candidate Devin Davis about his race against incumbent Rep. Troy Carter. Join Bruce Reilly and Devin for a lively discussion on abortion rights, home insurance in the time of climate disaster, Cancer Alley, Palestine, and much more.

Recorded at Voters Organized HQ in New Orleans on October 18, 2024. 

In this interview, Bruce Reilly and Nziki Wiltz of Voters Organized meet up with Ted James, the former Louisiana legislator who is challenging incumbent Sharon Weston Broome in the Baton Rouge Mayor-President race. They talk about crime, housing, and economic development, giving listeners a chance to really see where Ted James is coming from.

Recorded live at our Baton Rouge office on Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024. 

Catch the full VOTE 20 Dance Groove here on Spotify.

For the 166 tracks DJ Bruha pondered before selecting the final 20, check out DJ Bruha 04-24:The Bangers. 

In this interview, Voters Organized's Bruce Reilly and Nziki Wiltz meet up with Mel Manuel, Democratic challenger to Representative Steve Scalise in Louisiana Congressional District 1. A North Shore native, Mel shares their values on equality, civil rights, immigration, and foreign policy. Mel is openly trans and nonbinary, and well-versed in the current climate of attacking LGBTQ people for political points.

In this interview, Voters Organized to Educate sat down with Jasmine Davis Spencer,  candidate for Baton Rouge Metro Council District 10. Recorded at our Baton Rouge office on October 7, 2024, Bruce Reilly and Checo Yancy talked with Ms. Spencer about her roots in the city, the Baton Rouge jail construction, her own family's experience with incarceration, and the blessing/curse of having LSU in District 10. 

In this special episode of From Chains to Change, our deputy director and host Bruce Reilly is joined by Dr Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, currently serving as the professor of Geography and African American & Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky to discuss her book ‘Prison Capital: Mass Incarceration and Struggles for Abolition Democracy in Louisiana’ The book explores Louisiana's rise to having the world's highest incarceration rate, examining the racial and economic factors that fueled mass incarceration alongside the resistance movements that emerged in response.

In this special episode of From Chains to Change, our host and deputy director Bruce Reilly is  joined alongside the staff of Voice of the Experienced along with concerned members of our community to discuss the ongoing attempts by the Landry administration and the GOP in the Louisiana legislature in their ‘Special Crime Session’ to roll back critical justice reforms and progress we’ve achieved over the past few years. We discuss attempts by the legislatures to dismantle key legislative victories while making our communities less safe and more vulnerable to over policing and abuse by law enforcement.

In this episode, our host sits down with two old friends to discuss their unlikely journeys. Rep. Cruz first met Bruce during a successful 2006 voting rights campaign in Rhode Island, when neither of them could exercise the fundamental right of citizenship. Today, she serves as a valued legislator on the Criminal Justice Committee after having earned two degrees from Brown University. Steve first met Bruce in A-Block, while both were awaiting trial over 30 years ago. Today, he puts his passion into Freedom Reads, installing libraries into prisons and jails across the country with the award-winning Dwayne Betts. Be careful listening, as the accents might get pretty thick!