Groundings

In this episode, poet and activist Too Black joins to discuss the incredible story of the Pendleton 2. We dive into the details of the 1985 uprising at the Pendleton Correctional Facility and explore the factors that led to this critical event: racial tensions and a violent prison environment created by guards who were part of a KKK splinter group, the "Sons of Light," pushed John 'Balagoon' Cole and Christopher 'Naeem' Trotter to take a courageous stand against racist prison abuse.

Too Black gives us a play-by-play of the day's events, highlighting the importance of unity among prisoners in making the rebellion, and we learn how Cole and Trotter managed to bring everyone together and prevent the situation from escalating into something much worse. We also discuss their decision to call Black radio stations and newspapers for help, warning them that their lives were in danger if they didn't intervene; examine the 14 demands  they issued which were eventually met; and why this event became known as "Indiana's Attica." Despite their heroic actions to save a Black man's life from racist prison guards, both Cole and Trotter remain incarcerated to this day. As we wrap up our conversation, we share resources for listeners who want to learn more about the Pendleton 2 and get involved in supporting their cause. 

Please visit Pendleton2.com to learn more, watch the new documentary, and get involved. 

Please consider supporting the podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/halfatlanta.

We sit down with Slank and Sunny Ture to discuss their new album, "Nation Time." 

Throughout the episode, we delve into the creative process behind "Nation Time," discussing the themes, concepts, and inspirations that shaped the album. We examine the samples used throughout the project, including speeches from influential figures like Amiri Baraka, Malcolm X, Tupac Shakur, and Edward Onaci. Additionally, we take a closer look at the album's bibliography and its connection to the politically conscious roots of hip-hop, with standout tracks like "Black Belt Thesis" and "Devil in the Details."

Read the full Nation Time bibliography.

Check out more music from the PushSoul Collective.

Support the Groundings podcast on Patreon.

Buy prints from Musa's shop, which helps support the podcast.

In this episode of Groundings, host Musa Springer is joined by Atlanta organizer Tunde Osazua as co-host; they sit down with local organizer and lawyer Kamau Franklin to discuss the ongoing struggle surrounding the development of Cop City in Atlanta. Kamau provides insightful analysis on the background and larger political context of Cop City, the response from organizers and residents, and what makes this specific movement so important.

We dive into Cop City origins, Kamau explains that the idea of the facility started prior to the 2020 uprisings, but after the uprisings, it was brought forth and rushed to the public. The name "Cop City" was coined by local organizers and residents who saw the development as a form of repression and response to the uprisings. We then look at the many organizing efforts against Cop City, and Kamau emphasizes that the community has been active in opposing the development and has formed various coalitions to mobilize against it. 

This is the first time that 'domestic terrorism' charges have been used against protesters in this way, and it's also the first time an environmental activist, young Tortuguita, has been killed by polcie in the U.S. We talk about the incredibly damning legal and political implications of all this. 

• Patreon.com/HalfAtlanta
• Community Movement Builders - Stop Cop City 
• Intro audio by Big Twen
• #StopCopCity Week of Action
• 11Alive audio clip
• Andre Dickens doesn't like being called a "sellout"
• Atlanta Mayor Sleeping During Cop City Forum
• February 4th Statement from Tortuguita's Family
• On James Baldwin and the Atlanta Child Murders
• Pigs Have Higher Rates of Domestic Violence Than Other Professions

Just two months before his 20th birthday, Black Panther and Black Liberation Army members Jalil Muntaqim was captured by enemy forces along with Albert “Nuh” Washington, and made into one of the longest-held political prisoners in U.S. history.

Muntaqim joins the show to discuss his revolutionary life, his long history of organizing for incarcerated people, and his own political incarceration. We also get into a crucial paradox: the imagery of the Black Panthers is very popular now, with capitalists like Beyonce and Marvel profiting from the aesthetics of the organization, while the actual lives of surviving Black Panthers themselves are disregarded. We also discuss the Mutual Aid for Veteran Black Panther Party Members fund that Muntaqim organized alongside Kamau Franklin, which helps give material support to veterans of the Black liberation struggle each month. 

[This episode was originally recorded in February, so some dates and time-sensitive mentions may be outdated.] 

Support the Mutual Aid for Veteran Black Panther Party Members here. 

Support the podcast on Patreon here.

Read the findings of the 2021 International Tribunal On U.S. Human Rights Abuses Against Black, Brown, and Indigenous Peoples here. 

Purchase of a copy of the third edition of We Are Our Own Liberators: Selected Prison Writings here. 

Visit the Jericho Movement website here. 

Intro audio sourced from the 2002 documentary by Eve Goldberg and Claude Marks, based on an interview done in August 2000 by John O'Reilly and Nina Dibner, Jalil Muntaqim - Voice of Liberation.

Music by the homie JayOhAye. 

In this conversation from March 2022,  reproductive justice practitioner, organizer, researcher, and educator Jalessah Jackson speaks about decolonial feminism, a framework that forges material feminist solidarities through an examination of the relationship between gender and colonialism. We discuss the origins of this intellectual and organizing framework, its relationship to bourgeois and carceral feminisms, material international solidarity work, and the role of scholar-activism. Get into it!

Check out the decolonial feminist collective at instagram.com/decolonialfeministcollective / 

The music you hear was produced by the homie JayOhAye , support them at www.jayohaye.com / 

Support Groundings on Patreon at patreon.com/Halfatlanta / 

Support ARC-Southeast at arc-southeast.org/ / 

Reproductive justice practitioner Jalessah Jackson and public health professional Debbie Billings join us to discuss the recent leak by SCOTUS, which showed they are prepared to overturn abortion rights in the U.S.

We put this decision by SCOTUS into the overall political context, discussing how it relates to other fascist assaults on TLGBQ rights, and is part of a larger fascist 'backlash.' We also discuss maternal health internationally, why a people-centered human rights framework is vital, and the power of mutual aid and other grassroots organizing in the face of state violence. 

ARC-Southeast

Palmetto State Abortion Fund

Las LIBRES: La Historia Después (Documentary)

Accompaniment (Documentary)

What Is People(s)-Centered Human Rights?

Decolonial Feminist Collective

Dr. Horne’s books ‘The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism’ and ‘The Dawning of the Apocalypse’ are essential readings in understanding the original sins of empire, the worlds that settler colonialism precluded, and the apokalyptic transformation the world is experiencing today. Our conversation moves across subjects of colonial technology and weaponry, Africa's underdevelopment, and how our material conditions within empire are directly tied to the material conditions across the African continent and diaspora.

Dr. Horne also candidly reflects on his own writing process, how he’s such a prolific and productive writer and activist, and the stakes of doing rigorous work as a peoples historian. Give it a listen and let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Audio snippets heard in the episode:

Kwame Ture on The History of Pan Africanism

Walter Rodney - Crisis in the Periphery: Africa and the Caribbean

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If you enjoyed the episode, consider subscribing to Dev's Patreon [here] to support the show and get access to extras. 

Music by the comrade JayOhAye. 

Christian churches are found on virtually every corner across the African world, from the continent to its expansive diaspora, and their role in the affairs of Africans have long been called into question. How did a foreign religious practice gain so much influence across Africa, and why are millions of Africans devoutly following the religion even at the expense of their own indigenous practices? How do the legacies of enslavement and colonization inform Christian thinking, and how do these legacies influence the neo-colonialism of the African world today? How do other religious or spiritual practices, like Islam or Voudou, fit into this historical arc?

Actor, director, and producer Onuora Abuah helps us make sense of all this and much more in this conversation. 

You can find Onuora's outstanding documentary work on YouTube here, or at KweliTV here. 

If you enjoyed the episode, consider subscribing to Dev's Patreon here to support the show. 

Music by the comrade JayOhAye. 

From Claudia Jones and Safiya Bukhari, to Assata Shakur and Dr. Patricia Rodney, the impact of Black women radicals has created monumental shifts in the way we think, organize, and survive. In this episode we're joined by community organizer and writer Erica Caines and professor Charisse Burden-Stelly, who dive into a deep history of important Black communist women figures like Claudia Jones. We discuss what makes their work so important, why they have such lasting relevance, how we should engage their work, and why there's a battle going on to dissociate them from their communist politics. 

In the opening, you will hear an excerpt from a speech given by Shirley Graham Du Bois in 1970 at UCLA. You can listen to the full speech here. 

To support the podcast, consider becoming a monthly patron at Patreon.com/Halfatlanta. 

To support Erica Caines, consider becoming a monthly patron at Patreon.com/Rickii.

Shout out to the homie JayOhAye for providing music for season 4 of Groundings; check out more of their work here. 

This episode was recorded using SquadCast. 

Armed uprisings across the Caribbean can often be portrayed as spontaneous and isolated events that were largely unsuccessful. In fact, these efforts have informed each other across time and can reshape how we think about imperial domination in Africa and across the Americas.  The Christmas Rebellion, sometimes called the Baptist Uprising, is the largest rebellion in Jamaica's history, and it reveals the importance of continued resistance and pushes us to rethink what we call ‘successful’ revolts by the enslaved. 

Writer and organizer Q. Anthony Omene joins us to discuss this and much more, in the first episode of Groundings season 4. 

You will also hear archival audio from Walter Rodney, which can be found in full here.

Hosts:

Darien

Dev

Support:

Patreon.com/Halfatlanta