KPFA - Hard Knock Radio

Today on the show, guest host Kalonji Changa is joined by Martin Reynolds, Co-Executive Director of Revenue and External Affairs at the Maynard Institute, and Daryle Lamont Jenkins, Executive Director and Editor of One Peoples Project / IDAVOX, for a timely and urgent conversation on press freedom and government accountability.

The discussion centers on recent developments in Minnesota involving ICE enforcement and the growing implications for journalists covering immigration policy. Guests examine the reported arrest of journalist Georgia Fort, as well as reports that other media figures “including Don Lemon” have faced government action connected to their reporting on ICE activity in the state. These incidents raise serious questions about civil liberties, government transparency, and the increasing risks journalists face when documenting immigration enforcement and state power.

Later in the show, Poor News Magazine digs deeper into ICE and Americas ongoing assault on disenfranchised communities, highlighting the human cost of enforcement policies and the broader systems that criminalize poverty and migration.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post Our freedom of speech is freedom or death, we got to fight the powers that be! appeared first on KPFA.

On this episode, we speak with LaTricea Adams, MAT, EdS (she/her/hers)—Founder, CEO, and President of Young, Gifted & Green—about the growing fight against data centers as a form of environmental racism, with a focus on frontline communities like Boxtown, Tennessee.

As the tech and AI economy rapidly expands, large-scale data centers are increasingly being built in Black and low-income neighborhoods, bringing with them serious environmental and public health consequences. Recent reporting and community-led research have raised alarms about constant noise pollution, toxic air emissions, water stress, and massive energy demands that disproportionately burden nearby residents. Health experts warn that prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides—common byproducts of this infrastructure—can increase risks of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and other long-term health impacts.

Adams discusses MCAP’s grassroots organizing in Boxtown, including community-led air monitoring, data collection, and legal and regulatory advocacy that has successfully pressured operators to remove polluting gas turbines and shift portions of their operations to grid power. Her work offers a powerful example of how frontline communities are challenging the unchecked expansion of polluting infrastructure tied to Big Tech and AI.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post Environmental Racism, Data Centers, and Community Health Impacts appeared first on KPFA.

Today on Hard Knock Radio, we spoke with Dr. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, about the fatal shooting of Keith Porter Jr., a 43-year-old Black father of two who was killed on New Year’s Eve by an off-duty ICE officer in Los Angeles. Authorities and the Department of Homeland Security characterize the incident as an “active shooter” situation, but Porter’s family and community organizers strongly dispute that account, saying he was celebrating the holiday and that the federal agent’s use of deadly force demands accountability and transparency.

We also discussed the broader context of ICE-related deaths, including the reporting that at least 32 people died in ICE custody last year, and that deaths and fatal encounters — both in custody and during enforcement operations — continue to spark outrage and calls for systemic reform.

Our guest host for this episode was Kalonji Jama Changa, who helped guide this deep conversation on federal immigration enforcement, community safety, and the urgent need for justice.

To Donate to Keith Porter’s family: tinyurl.com/donateforkeith

Petition: For Keith

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post The Murder of Keith Porter Jr. by an ICE Officer appeared first on KPFA.

On Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D continued the conversation about the escalating federal crackdown in Minnesota with two guests offering organizing and historical context: Walter Greason, an author, organizer, and professor of history based in St. Paul, and George Galvis, a Bay Area organizer with the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights Youth Justice known as CURYJ.

Greason described conditions on the ground in Minnesota following the shooting of Renee Goode, emphasizing that communities had been preparing for escalation but were still overwhelmed by the scale of federal action. He outlined how activists rapidly built mutual aid systems, community defense networks, and statewide coordination after people were taken off the streets in large numbers, particularly in areas with little prior infrastructure. Greason stressed that mainstream media has largely failed to convey the depth of organizing, the daily work of protecting residents, and the size of the general strike, which he estimated reached into the hundreds of thousands statewide and sparked more than two hundred solidarity actions across the country.

Galvis placed the Minnesota events within a longer history of protest repression and racialized state violence, linking the current moment to laws and tactics developed after Standing Rock that criminalize protest and label dissent as terrorism. He highlighted how Indigenous, Black, and immigrant communities are disproportionately targeted, noting the erasure of Indigenous people from dominant narratives despite the Twin Cities’ central role in the history of the American Indian Movement. Galvis also challenged political leaders who call for reform or better training, arguing instead for the abolition of ICE and accountability for state sanctioned violence.

Together, Greason and Galvis addressed what they described as widespread gaslighting, where media and political discourse isolate incidents, downplay systemic patterns, and discourage solidarity across communities. They warned against reliance on electoral solutions alone, arguing that the scale of the crisis demands immediate collective action. The conversation closed with a call for sustained organizing, independent media, and cross regional solidarity, framing Minnesota as both a warning and a catalyst for a broader movement.

Later in the show we hear a commentary from Brown Girl Pride.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post In Conversation with Walter Greason and George Galvis PT.2 appeared first on KPFA.

On Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D opened the show with an urgent conversation with independent journalist Georgia Fort, who has been reporting from the ground in Minnesota. Fort described what is unfolding in Minneapolis and St. Paul as a code red moment for the nation. She argued that the scale of the federal presence, arrests, and shootings cannot be explained as immigration enforcement, pointing instead to a broader campaign of intimidation and constitutional violations. Fort cited reports of U.S. citizens being detained, attorneys and elected officials denied access to detention facilities and crime scenes, and federal agents disregarding judicial orders. She also emphasized how mainstream media coverage has focused narrowly on violence while minimizing or ignoring the scale of resistance, including daily protests, clergy arrests, and a growing general strike with real economic impact.

Following that interview, Davey D continued the conversation with Bay Area organizer George Galvis of CURYJ and Walter Greason, an author, organizer, and professor of history joining from St. Paul. Greason outlined how communities across Minnesota mobilized mutual aid networks, community defense, and a statewide general strike that drew hundreds of thousands, alongside solidarity actions nationwide, even as corporate media downplayed the numbers. Galvis connected the Minnesota crackdown to a longer history of protest repression, Indigenous dispossession, and racialized scapegoating, while highlighting Bay Area solidarity actions. Together, they framed Minnesota as a testing ground for expanded federal overreach and stressed the need for sustained organizing and cross community solidarity.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post The ICE Invasion of Minnesota appeared first on KPFA.

Today on Hard Knock Radio, we present a special edition of Build and Fight Formula featuring Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson, in a wide-ranging conversation on bold strategies for grassroots survival and resistance. As part of the ongoing Build and Fight Formula series, the discussion centers the growing urgency of self-defense amid rising authoritarianism.

In Build and Fight Formula 10: Democratizing the Economy, Akuno urges listeners to critically examine recent executive actions taken by President Trump—moves that critics warn signal a dangerous expansion of federal power.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post HKR Special Programming: Build and Fight Formula 10: Democratizing the Economy appeared first on KPFA.

Part Two: On this episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D sits down with Joshua Davis, a history professor at the University of Baltimore and author of Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back. The conversation digs into a part of civil rights history that is usually blurred out of the frame: how local police departments, not just the FBI, designed and refined a playbook to crush Black freedom movements and the organizers who led them.

Davis explains that he started the book around 2017, when mainstream media kept branding Black Lives Matter as “the new civil rights movement,” as if the movements of the fifties and sixties never seriously challenged police violence. His research shows the opposite. Groups like SNCC and CORE were not just fighting for buses, counters and ballots. They were picketing stations, doing sit ins in precincts, shutting down bridges, and calling out false arrests, frame ups and constant surveillance.

A key part of the story is the rise of “political police” and the so called red squads. These secret intelligence units existed in big city departments from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles. They built massive files on activists, infiltrated groups, pushed entrapment schemes, and used humiliation and job loss as weapons. Davis highlights figures like communist councilman Ben Davis, who exposed police brutality in Harlem, and Ella Baker, who led a New York NAACP campaign against NYPD abuse years before Montgomery.

The conversation also draws sharp lines from that era to the present. Davey points out how the label “communist” then functions like “Antifa,” “terrorist,” or “gang” now. Davis walks through how felony charges, racketeering laws and national security language are used to criminalize protest, from the civil rights era to Stop Cop City and Palestine solidarity work.

Davis and Davey dig into examples of open collusion between police and white supremacist forces, from mobs attacking Freedom Riders while officers stood aside, to undercover cops sitting on those buses only to gather intelligence on activists. They also uplift resistance that has been buried, especially the courage of Birmingham leader Fred Shuttlesworth and the young people who confronted police in the streets.

By the end of the show, one point is clear. The civil rights movement did not ignore police violence. It met it head on, in courtrooms, on sidewalks, and inside jails. Remembering that history changes how we see both state repression and the radical work of those who came before Black Lives Matter.

And later in the show, guest host Thandisizwe Chimurenga speaks with Sumathy Kumar, Director of Housing Justice for All, about rising rent hikes in New York City and why tenant organizers say a rent freeze is urgently needed.

As New York faces a deepening affordability crisis, the conversation examines how repeated rent increases — including in rent-stabilized housing — are accelerating displacement and housing insecurity, particularly for working-class, immigrant, elderly, and Black communities. Kumar also breaks down the role of the Rent Guidelines Board, recent political maneuvers under outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, and how tenant advocates are mobilizing through the Freeze the Rent campaign to demand housing as a human right.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post Part Two – Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back and The New York City Rent Freeze Campaign and the Mamdani’s Pledge appeared first on KPFA.

On this episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D sits down with Joshua Davis, a history professor at the University of Baltimore and author of Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back. The conversation digs into a part of civil rights history that is usually blurred out of the frame: how local police departments, not just the FBI, designed and refined a playbook to crush Black freedom movements and the organizers who led them.

Davis explains that he started the book around 2017, when mainstream media kept branding Black Lives Matter as “the new civil rights movement,” as if the movements of the fifties and sixties never seriously challenged police violence. His research shows the opposite. Groups like SNCC and CORE were not just fighting for buses, counters and ballots. They were picketing stations, doing sit ins in precincts, shutting down bridges, and calling out false arrests, frame ups and constant surveillance.

A key part of the story is the rise of “political police” and the so called red squads. These secret intelligence units existed in big city departments from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles. They built massive files on activists, infiltrated groups, pushed entrapment schemes, and used humiliation and job loss as weapons. Davis highlights figures like communist councilman Ben Davis, who exposed police brutality in Harlem, and Ella Baker, who led a New York NAACP campaign against NYPD abuse years before Montgomery.

The conversation also draws sharp lines from that era to the present. Davey points out how the label “communist” then functions like “Antifa,” “terrorist,” or “gang” now. Davis walks through how felony charges, racketeering laws and national security language are used to criminalize protest, from the civil rights era to Stop Cop City and Palestine solidarity work.

Davis and Davey dig into examples of open collusion between police and white supremacist forces, from mobs attacking Freedom Riders while officers stood aside, to undercover cops sitting on those buses only to gather intelligence on activists. They also uplift resistance that has been buried, especially the courage of Birmingham leader Fred Shuttlesworth and the young people who confronted police in the streets.

By the end of the show, one point is clear. The civil rights movement did not ignore police violence. It met it head on, in courtrooms, on sidewalks, and inside jails. Remembering that history changes how we see both state repression and the radical work of those who came before Black Lives Matter.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back with Author Joshua Clark Davis appeared first on KPFA.

On this episode of Hard Knock Radio, Davey D sits down with Jean Su, Director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, for a critical conversation on the hidden environmental costs of artificial intelligence. As AI data centers rapidly expand across the country, they are driving up carbon emissions, consuming enormous amounts of energy and water, and placing frontline communities and fragile ecosystems at serious risk.

While much of the public conversation around AI has focused on innovation and convenience, this discussion pulls back the curtain on its climate and environmental impacts. Jean Su breaks down how these data centers operate, who is most affected by their growth, and why environmental justice must be central to the AI debate. The conversation also explores what communities can do to organize, push for accountability, and advocate for stronger protections to ensure that technological advancement does not come at the expense of people or the planet.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post AI Data Centers and Carbon Emissions appeared first on KPFA.

On this special tribute episode, Hard Knock Radio honors the life, legacy, and enduring impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. More than a historical figure, Dr. King was a radical thinker, moral visionary, and relentless advocate for justice whose work continues to challenge systems of racism, economic exploitation, militarism, and inequality.

This tribute reflects on Dr. King’s commitment to nonviolence, his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, and his evolving critique of capitalism and war—ideas that remain deeply relevant in today’s struggles for racial justice, workers’ rights, and human dignity. Through reflection, historical context, and cultural memory, the show invites listeners to consider how Dr. King’s vision calls us not just to remembrance, but to action.

As we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we ask what it truly means to carry his legacy forward in a moment marked by political division, state violence, and ongoing fights for freedom and equality.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post Special Programming: Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute appeared first on KPFA.