KPFA - Pushing Limits

We talk with Ross Turnbull, the creator of the movie Terminal Device, an autobiographical essay and an inquiry into cinematic representation. Refracted through pop cultural images, the director tells his story as a man with a hook watching movie images of others with this particular prosthesis.  He’s in the studio with Alex Locust, also an amputee and one of the organizers of Superfest, the bay area’s premier disability film fest.

SUPER FEST

Produced and hosted by Adrienne Lauby.  Audio Editing by Sheela Gunn-Cushman.

The post Superfest, “Terminal Device,” Living with Amputation appeared first on KPFA.

Discussion of current election issues with Eddie Ytuarte, Mark Romoser, Edie Halburg of the Peace and Freedom Party and Community Callers.

The post Election 2016: Disability Issues appeared first on KPFA.

At age 14 Fable was diagnosed with anxiety, stage two bipolar, and depression. His home life was abusive and, as he says, “everything else was very, very, very hard to deal with.”

Today he works with Mental Health America, traveling to different parts of the country to start a conversation about these issues, to talk to youth and to show them that they’re not alone – that these feelings and situations are some of the things that happen to people.

Hear some of Fable’s life story, listen to his poetry and hear his thoughts on gentrification in Grand Rapids, the treatment of Colin Kaepernick by some in the Black community and much more. 

Fable’s  new book, Adrift in a Sea of M&Ms: Mixed-Race Issues and Mental Disorders was published this summer from Autonomous Press.

We’re proud to welcome Leroy F. Moore Jr. back to our airwaves as the interviewer and guest host of this program. 

Transcript: Cheryl Green.  Audio Editing: Sheela Gunn-Cushman.  Production Support: Adrienne Lauby.

The post Marcel “Fable the Poet” Price appeared first on KPFA.

We talk to S. Brian Willson who put his body in front of a train carrying illegal weapons to the Nicaraguan Contras — and the train ran over him.   It all went down in the California bay area, at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, in the fall of 1987.

When the train deliberately ran Brian down, he lost the right fontal lobe of his brain and both his legs. Three days later, ten thousand people showed up and munition shipments were delayed for a loooonnnnng time.

There’s a new movie about Brian Willson called, Paying the Price for Peace.

We play clips from the movie and talk to Brian about his life as a pacifist and anti-war activist who has lived with a severe disability for 29 years.

Adrienne Lauby, Shelley Berman & Josh Elwood co-host.

The post S. Brian Willson: Paying the Price for Peace appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Vilissa Thompson of Ramp Your Voice

The Movement For Black Lives posted their incredible Vision 4 Black Lives Platform in late July. As one could expect, it is most thorough in issues related to police violence and incarceration in the black community, including demilitarization of the police and an end to the bail system. But, it draws a much wider net to encompass many of the core issues that make Black lives difficult including reparations, investment and divestment, economic justice, community control, and political power.

Developed in a year-long process that engaged at least 50 black-led organizations and hundreds of individuals, the platform contains 30+ policy briefs with information about whether legislation can happen at the local, state or federal level, links to groups already working on related projects, and resources including model legislation and talking points.

For any movement or organization, a document like this represents a major achievement.

Now, for the critique.

In the third paragraph the platform says it believes “in elevating the experiences and leadership of the most marginalized Black people,” including the differently abled (sic).

Yet, in the over 85 pages of the platform, the word “disability” or “differently abled” is mentioned only six times and the insights of the Disability Justice Movement are missing from the document throughout.

The erasure of Black people with disabilities is particularly shocking, given the large number of police killings and harassment of Black people with disabilities. Black people with mental disabilities are particularly at risk of death at the hands of police, yet their lives are invisible in this document.

Today, we read some of this remarkable “Vision 4 Black Lives” Platform out loud: The Introduction and, from the Reparations Demand, the proposal for a guaranteed livable minimum income for all Black people.

Then, we talk to Vilissa Thompson who will spell out what the Black Lives Matter organizations missed by excluding the insights of Black disability justice activists.

Adrienne Lauby hosts.

The post Movement for Black Lives, Platform and Critique appeared first on KPFA.