Sixty-two years ago, a quarter of a million people gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. On today's show, we take a look at the life and legacy of a central organizer of the march, Bayard Rustin. Rustin was an openly gay civil rights leader and a trusted advisor to labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This show first aired in June 2021.

Featuring:

• Bayard Rustin, architect of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
• Ashon Crawley, University of Virginia Associate Professor of Religious Studies and African-American and African Studies
• Nancy Kates, filmmaker and producer of _Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin_
• Bill Sutherland, Fellowship of Reconciliation
• Reverend A.J. Muste, pacifist and mentor of Rustin
• George Houser. Fellowship of Reconciliation
• Louis John, nephew of Bayard Rustin
• Devi Prasad, pacifist 

Credits:

Making Contact Team

• Episode host: Anita Johnson
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Music

• Cory Gray – “Medieval Tension”
• Ketsa – “This Way Joyous” 
• Blue Dot Sessions – “Rally”
• Blue Dot Sessions – “Rayling”
• Dee Yan-Key – “Hold On”
• Dee Yan-Key – “Go Down Moses”
• Blue Dot Sessions – “3rd Chair”
• Andy G. Cohen – “Our Young Guts”

Learn More: 

Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin, by John D’Emilio | Bayard Rustin Fund | Troublemaker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the March on Washington, by Jacqueline Houtman, Michael G. Long, Walter Naegle | I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters by Bayard Rustin, edited by Michael G. Long | Bayard Rustin: Troubles I’ve Seen | Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers | PBS on the March on Washington | History.com on the March on Washington | AFL-CIO and Bayard Rustin | Washington Post | NY Times

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

This week, we're sharing a guest episode from our friends at Project Pulso: Miami's Battle Over Bilingualism. The path for Miami to get as bilingual as it is today has been hard. Deep discrimination and mass resistance were what it took to get here. Today’s episode is about a decades-long power struggle between those who embraced diversity and those who fought to repress it. Produced in July 2024.

Featuring:

Dr. Paul George, Eduardo Padron, Gregory Samms

Making Contact Team

- Episode Host: Jessica Partnow

- Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang

- Executive Director: Jina Chung

- Engineer: Jeff Emtman

- Digital Marketing Manager: Lissa Deonarain

Pulso/In Confianza Podcast Team

- Host: Liz Rebecca Alarcón

- Producer, engineering, scoring, mixing: Charlie Garcia

- Editor: Mark Pagán

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

This story is brought to us by the podcast Kerning Cultures. “Black Panthers in Algeria" tells the story of  Elaine Mokhtefi as she landed in newly independent Algeria in the early 1960s and found herself at the center of a special period in the country’s history when it was known as the “Mecca of revolution.” Elaine encountered world famous radicals, ragtag political parties, spies and military leaders – and became an unlikely sidekick to one of the most iconic liberation groups of our time. This episode first aired on Making Contact in September 2024 and Kerning Cultures in April 2023.

Featuring

• Elaine Mokhtefi
• Natalia Bin Khaled Vince
• Justin Gifford
• Eldridge Cleaver

Making Contact Credits

• Episode host: Anita Johnson
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](https://jeffemtman.com/)
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain 

Kerning Cultures Credits

• Produced by Deena Sabry and Alex Atack
• Edited by Dana Ballout
• Fact checking by Eman Alsharif
• Sound design by Mohamad Khreizat, Paul Alouf and Alex Atack
• Our team also includes Zeina Dowidar, Nadeen Shaker and Finbar Anderson

Learn More

Algiers: Third World Capital | Revolution or Death: The Life of Eldridge Cleaver | Kerning Cultures

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was created in the aftermath of 9/11. To contextualize what's happening with immigration today under Trump 2.0, we bring you one person’s story of being caught in the anti-Muslim fervor post-9/11 and how she became an organizer advocating for the immigrants’ rights. We'll also hear what her story teaches us about avoiding burnout in doing social justice work. This story comes to us by way of Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center.

Featuring:

Ainee Athar, immigrant rights and climate justice

Making Contact Team

• Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Music:

 "Documentary Piano Ambient" by BoDleasons via Pixabay

Re:Work Episode "Beyond the Glass Wall" Credits:

• Hosted by Veena Hampapur and George Chacon
• Produced by Veena Hampapur, George Chacon, and Saba Waheed Sound design and editing by Veena Hampapur
• Mixing by Aaron Dalton

Learn More: 

Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center | FOC Media

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

In the late 1990s, psychologist Dr. Joseph Gone, a professor and member of the Aaniiih Gros Ventre tribe, returned home during his doctoral training to the Fort Belknap Reservation in north central Montana. There, he set aside Eurocentric concepts of psychology he was learning in school and instead asked tribal members how mental illness is addressed using traditional Indigenous practices. What he learned changed the trajectory of his career. Listen to find out how he helped bring precolonial cultural and spiritual practices into substance use disorder treatment in contemporary Indigenous settings. This show first aired in July 2024.

Featuring:

Dr. Joseph Gone, psychologist and interdisciplinary social scientist at Harvard University and member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre Tribal Nation of Montana

Credits:

Making Contact Team:

• Episode Host: Amy Gastelum
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman 
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Music credits:

• Songs: The Horses are Coming, The Gift, Song of Honor
• Album: The Return of the Buffalo Horses
• Artists: Darrell Norman and Ramon Kramer

Learn More: 

**Learn More:**

• Dr. Joseph Gone
• American Indian Health and Family Services, Detroit, MI

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

On this week’s show, we’ll continue with the podcast mini-series Crosswinds from the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab and producer Adrian Wood. The show looks at the impact of coal dust pollution on Black neighborhoods in Virginia through the lens of environmental racism. In this episode, we'll listen to how the looming gentrification of one community might impact the pollution.

Featuring:

• Lathaniel Kirts, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia's Repair Lab
• Mark'eta Kirts, resident
• Lawrence Turner, resident
• Donquitta Clements, founder and executive director of Break the Cycle
• Sheila McAllister, Director of City Planning for the City of Newport News
• Yugonda Sample-Jones, founder and president of EmPower All
• Millie Taylor, resident

Making Contact Team:

• Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/) 
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Music Credit: "That Documentaries" by The\_Mountain via Pixabay

Crosswinds Episode 2: Change Credits

• Hosted, written, produced, mixed and mastered by Adrian Wood
• Editing by Oluwakemi Aladesuyi of Rough Cut Collective 
• Scoring by Torrin Purkett and Adrian Wood
• Produced through the Repair Lab at the University of Virginia

Learn More: 

Making Contact homepage | Coal Dust Kills | The Repair Lab

Listen to the entire _Crosswinds_ series: Spotify | Apple Podcasts

We take a deep dive into coal dust air pollution in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, where trains transporting coal expose residents of predominantly Black communities to harmful dust. We look at this issue of environmental racism with the help of the podcast Crosswinds, featuring producer Adrian Wood.

Featuring:

• Lathaniel Kirts, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia's Repair Lab
• Malcolm Jones, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia's Repair Lab
• Grace Holmes, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality 
• Dr. Kim Fields, environmental policy expert at the University of Virginia and assistant professor in African American Studies
• Michael Mines, community leader in Newport News with Flow Church and Peninsula Baptist Association
• Carl Poole, advocate with New Virginia Majority

Making Contact Team:

• Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Music Credit: "That Documentaries" by The\_Mountain Pixabay

Credits - Crosswinds Ep. 1: Friendship:

• Hosted, written, produced, mixed and mastered by Adrian Wood
• Editing by Oluwakemi Aladesuyi of Rough Cut Collective
• Scoring by Torrin Purkett and Adrian Wood
• Produced through the Repair Lab at the University of Virginia

Learn More: 

Making Contact homepage | Coal Dust Kills | The Repair Lab

Listen to the entire Crosswinds series: 

Spotify |  Apple Podcasts

Black students with dyslexia all too often carry a heavy burden in our public schools. This documentary centers around a grandmother who fought for years to get her grandkids — particularly her grandson — properly assessed for dyslexia. Like too many African American boys, Geraldine Robinson’s grandson had been erroneously labeled with an “intellectual disability” and deprived of proper reading remediation. Monica Lopez hosts this episode, which first aired in 2021.

Featuring:

• Geraldine Robinson, Oakland matriarch raising her grandkids
• Cheryl Theis, Education Advocate, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
• Megan Potente, Educational Therapist and Co-State Director, Decoding Dyslexia CA
• Kareem Weaver, Oakland NAACP Education Committee

Episode Credits:

• Reporter/Producer: Lee Romney
• Editor: Monica Lopez and Lisa Morehouse
• Engineer: James Rowlands

Making Contact Team:

• Episode Host: Monica Lopez
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonorain

Learn More:

• International Dyslexia Association
• Decoding Dyslexia
• California Dyslexia Guidelines

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

School resource officers are often called upon in middle and high schools to help with routine discipline. But for many children, especially those with disabilities, a law enforcement response to their behavior can lead to the school-to-prison pipeline. This week on Making Contact, we hear a story from our podcast partner 70 Million about the relationship between students with special needs and school resource officers and the changes some would like to see in an edited version of “Why Policing Our Schools Backfires.”

70 Million Team

• Episode Reporter: Claire McInerney
• Editor: Monica Lopez and Juleyka Lantigua
• Host: Mitzi Miller
• Sound Designer: Erica Huang
• Photo Editor: Michelle Baker
• Staff Writer and Designer: Kori Doran
• Lead Fact Checker: Kate Gallagher
• Lead Producer: Pamela Kirkland
• Episode Photographer: Zerb Mellish & Michael Minasi
• Creator/Executive Producer: Juleyka Lantigua

Making Contact Team:

• Host: Anita Johnson

• Executive Director: Jina Chung

• Engineer: Jeff Emtman

• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

In this episode we discuss disability, culture and identity from the perspective of disability communities themselves.  

Seattle based activist Dorian Taylor talks about the specific challenges disabled people face while accessing public transportation and Professor Sara Acevedo discusses the powerful ways that common language and terminology can shape our perceptions of disability, and why even today we are seeing further exclusion of disabled people. This program originally aired in 2019.

Featuring: Dorian Taylor, Sara Acevedo.

Episode Credits

Special thanks to CIIS, the California Institute of Integral Studies and the CIIS Public Programs Podcast for use of the Sara Acevedo talk. To learn more about the CIIS Public Programs Podcast log onto https://www.ciispod.com/.

The story of Dorian Taylor was produced by Yuko Kodama and Mona Yeh in partnership with KBCS and Finding America, a national initiative produced by AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio Incorporated. Financial support was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Wincote Foundation, The John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Making Contact Team

• Host: Anita Johnson
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Learn More: 

CIISPod | Sara Acevedo | Hampshire-Dorian Taylor | Krip Hop Nation | Fixed The Movie

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.