KPFA - Making Contact

Hollywood has had a long history of whitewashing and stereotyping different groups –from brownface to blackface and yellowface. For Arabs and Muslims, persistent clichés throughout Hollywood’s history range from desert scenes with camels and palm trees, and characters cast as barbaric villains, belly dancers, or terrorists among others.

On this edition of Making Contact we’ll meet people confronting racist depictions of Muslims and Arabs in pop culture and politics; and two young women evaluating societal expectations placed on them.

Featuring:  Diana Kalaji, student at University of San Francisco; and Moustafa Bayoumi, author of “This Muslim American Life, Dispatches from the War on Terror.”

Credits

Host: Laura Flynn

Producers: Laura Flynn, Monica Lopez, and  Jasmin Lopez

Contributing  Producer: Diana Kalaji

Associate Producer: Marie Choi

Executive Director: Lisa Rudman

Web Editor: Kwan Booth

Music Credit:

BOPD, aint no thing

Arbee, ambidextre

Vir Noctruna, Stop + Go

More information:

Moustafa Bayoumi: “This Muslim American Life, Dispatches from the War on Terror”

The post Misrepresented: Interrupting Muslim & Arab Stereotypes appeared first on KPFA.

This edition of Making Contact is Part I of our special series examining how immigrants are responding and participating in elections and politics today.

From Dreamers in Arizona to Muslims in Michigan, we’ll meet immigrant communities upholding democracy. We’ll also have a conversation with author of the “Fight to Vote,” Michael Waldman about how immigrants throughout history have expanded the right to vote.

Featuring:

Elizabeth Perez, co-founder of La Machine; Kate Gallego, City of Phoenix Vice Mayor; Anthony Valdovinos, co-founder of La Machine;  Viridiana Hernández, founding member of Team Awesome; Dr. Muzammil Ahmed, member of Community of Western Suburbs Mosque; Saber Ahmed, member of Community of Western Suburbs Mosque; Dr. Syed Taj, former Canton, Michigan City Council member; and Michael Waldman, Brennan Center for Justice President and author of the “Fight to Vote.”

Credits:

Photo Credits:

Ketsa, What tomorrow brings

Arbee, ambidextre

Ketsa, Where the river run

More information                                       

Making Contact: Immigration and Election Series

The post From Dreamers in Arizona to Muslims in Michigan: Immigrant Communities Upholding appeared first on KPFA.

Covering the movements and organizations fighting for some of the most important social justice issues of our time. Hosted by Andrew Stelzer, George Lavender, Laura Flynn, and Jasmín López.

The post Making Contact – April 15, 2016 appeared first on KPFA.

This is a special encore edition. It’s something many of us take for granted: access to clean drinking water. But for many Americans it’s not something they can rely on. From chemical spills in West Virginia to ecoli in the water on the Texas-Mexico border, to contamination from farming in California. On this edition, we hear what happens when there’s not a drop to drink.

Featuring:

Angela Walker, Charleston resident; Neena Satija, environment reporter Texas Tribune; Daisy Gonzalez and Vicente Lara, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water; Horacio Amezquita, resident San Jerado.

Credits

Host: George Lavender

More information                                       

Undrinkable

The Untold Story of What Happened at An Overcrowded West Virginia Jail

Study Warns of MCHM toxicity

UC Berkeley Stronach Prize

The post Not a Drop to Drink (Encore) appeared first on KPFA.

Los Angeles’ garment district is notorious for sweatshop conditions, abuse, and the outright theft of earned wages.  Yet the name-brand clothes that some of us are wearing right now, may have been produced in factories like these. On this edition of Making Contact we’ll take you on a trip through LA’s garment district.

Featuring:

Irma, garment workers; Eulalia, garment worker; and Marissa Nuncio, the director of LA’s Garment Worker Center.

Credits:

Host: Monica Lopez

Producers: Laura Flynn, Monica Lopez, and  Jasmin Lopez

Contributing  Producers: RE:Work Radio, Stefanie Ritoper and Saba Waheed

Executive Director: Lisa Rudman

Web Editor: Kwan Booth

Music:

Blue Dot Sessions

More information:

RE:Work Radio, Episode 14 Los Callejones

UCLA Labor Center

The Garment Worker’s Center

The post The true cost of fast fashion: a look inside Los Angeles sweatshops appeared first on KPFA.

In 2012, fast food workers in NYC kicked off a movement that has exceeded all expectations, and changed the conversation about the minimum wage. On this edition, low paid workers tell the story of the fight for 15, the exploding nationwide movement for fair wages.

Featuring:

Alvin Major, KFC employee and original NYC striker; Richard Wilson, Walmart employee; Bernardo Monteo, Chanda Roberts, Jayla Mosley; fast food workers; Mary Kay Henry, SEIU President; Ken Jacobs, chair of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education; Thomas Geoghegan, author of “Only One Thing Can Save Us: Why America Needs A New Kind of Labor Movement“

Credits:

Host: Andrew Stelzer

Producers: Andrew Stelzer, Laura Flynn, Jasmin Lopez, Monica Lopez

Executive Director: Lisa Rudman

Web Editor: Kwan Booth

More information:                                       

Fight for 15

Fast Food Forward

Clocking In

Only One Thing Can Save Us: Why America Needs A New Kind of Labor Movement“ by Thomas Geoghegan

States Move to Roll Back City Minimum-Wage Raises

Living Wage Mandate Preemption Act

Summer For Respect on Soundcloud

Voices of Walmart

California’s $15 Minimum Wage Initiative Is Likely Headed to Voters

Columbia University Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE)

14 Cities States Approved 15 Minimum Wage in 2015

The post Unstoppable: The Fight for 15 appeared first on KPFA.

From Norco, Louisiana to Flint, Michigan to Los Angeles, California – environmental racism is real. On this edition of Making Contact, we look at polluting industries in Northeast and South L.A. We begin with a story by Making Contact’s Community Storytelling Fellow Ivan Rodriguez, followed by an interview with journalist Aura Bogado and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Featuring:

Credits:

Host: Jasmin Lopez

Producers: Monica Lopez, Laura Flynn, Jasmin Lopez

Contributing Producer: Ivan Maceda Rodriguez

Executive Director: Lisa Rudman

Web Editor: Kwan Booth

Music:

Blue Dot Sessions

More information:  

Exide cleanup: Toxic lead removal could be California’s biggest yet:

The sad, sickening truth about South L.A.’s oil wells

Money doesn’t matter: White people breathe cleaner air

The post Life, Breath, and Toxics: Lethal Negligence of Northeast and South L.A. appeared first on KPFA.

Women Rising Radio #30 profiles women fighting slavery, trafficking and forced labor globally.

Featuring:

Credits

Other Staff:

Meerim Ilyas, Urgent Action Fund for Women

Umida Niyazova,  Journalist, Russia

More information                                                     

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations

The post Women Rising 30: International Slavery and Human Trafficking appeared first on KPFA.

Rapper and grassroots organizer Boots Riley’s recent book is titled “Tell Homeland Security: We Are the Bomb”. Riley appeared at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington DC, where he was interviewed by author and Edge of Sports blogger Dave Zirin.

Special thanks to Politics and Prose Bookstore & Coffeehouse

Featuring:

Boots Riley, “Tell Homeland Security: We Are the Bomb” author; Dave Zirin, “Edge of Sports” blogger

More information

Tell Homeland Security: We Are the Bomb by Boots Riley

Politics and Prose Bookstore & Coffeehouse

The Coup

Boots Riley on Twitter

Edge of Sports

Dave Zirin on Twitter

#blacklivesmatter

The post We Are the Bomb: Boots Riley and Dave Zirin Talk Activism and Politics appeared first on KPFA.