Just Solutions

Dr. Arun Gandhi is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and is a longtime peace activist and author. We discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict with Dr. Gandhi and get his thoughts on this crisis as well as the global peace movement. Additionally, we will share his clear understanding of how we can all be the change we … Continued

Ongoing events like extreme heat and floods resulting from climate change are disproportionately impacting poor communities and communities of color.

And with temperatures continuing to rise these disparities will increase. So how can urban planners mitigate these inequalities and what can be done to help already marginalized communities in the face of the climate crisis? Our guest today is Vivek Shandas, a professor of geography at Portland State University who co-authored a study that shows a direct connection between racist urban housing policies like red-lining, and extreme heat.

Antoni Fernandez, also known as “Amar” is a Brazilian human rights Activist with thirty years experience with recognized socio/environmental projects of forest and river preservation in the Amazon/Atlantic Rainforests in Brazil and Central America.  Foreign Mission Liaison for Land Resource acquisition and management, and Latin America Chair member of the UN Human Rights Council. Currently establishing … Continued

We discuss the movement around rank choice voting to the US election system. Currently Alaska and Maine and about 50 municipalities around the country use rank choice voting in elections. Our guest is Nathan Lockwood, Executive Director of Rank the Vote, a national advocacy group that seeks to educate people about rank choice voting. This episode was recorded at Netroots Nation 2022 in Pittsburgh.

How have race and class shaped our cities and our schools? That’s the question being asked by the award-winning podcast School Colors.  Now in its second season, the acclaimed documentary series looks at the issues of race, class and power and how they play out in public schools in New York. Our guest today is … Continued

The recent Supreme Court overturning of Roe V Wade and the numerous abortion bans that have come in its wake have left many wondering whats next for reproductive rights. President of the National Organization for Women Christian Nunes says the fight must turn to the local, state and regional levels, with support for abortion rights candidates and ramping up pressure on state legislatures to act. NOW has launched a virtual, campaign training program to teach participants how to run for office.

Several states have passed laws that forbid discrimination based on hair texture and hair styles. This discrimination particularly impacts Black people, especially Black women and girls in schools and workplaces which ban hair styles such as locs, braids and twists. A new documentary Back to Natural looks at the way that race, identity and hair are all related. The film was directed by our guest New York City based Clinical Psychologist Gillian Scott-Ward, who was inspired by the work she was doing in her clinical practice and her own drive to go natural.

The Big Lie about election fraud in 2020 continues to permeate and threatens to undermine our entire democracy. The reality is election experts say that mail-in voting is safe. Our guests today are Amber McReynolds, former Denver Elections Director and former chief executive of the National Vote at Home Institute. She has just been sworn in as the only female Governor of the Postal Service.  Also joining us is Jesse Grace, one of the filmmakers behind a new documentary Democracy vs. the Big Lie: The Truth about Mail-In Voting. The film looks at how Colorado has led the way in secure voting by mail and how former President Donald Trump attacked that system before and after the 2020 election.

Marginalized communities have been fighting for decades to have their stories told accurately and fairly by the media. While digital and social media platforms can offer opportunities for communities to take control of the narrative, they’re also spaces of misinformation and big tech control.

Groups like Media Justice are fighting for communities to have access to media to tell their own stories with the understanding that media narratives can shape public policy. They're campaigning for open and affordable internet, and are raising awareness of the surveillance of Black activists on social media. Our guest today is Eteng Ettah, the Narrative Director at MediaJustice.

The Poor People’s Campaign is holding a moral march on Washington and to the polls on June 18, calling on elected officials to make real policies to fully address poverty and low wealth from the bottom up. The event on June 18 is the culmination of months of organizing and rallies in communities around the country. Angela Montalvo, an organizer with the Poor People’s Campaign in Nebraska is a disabled army veteran. She’s one of the more than 32,000 veterans in Nebraska with incomes less than $35,000 a year. Angela says we must fight poverty and not the poor.