Making Contact

Black Wall Street, or the historically Black neighborhood Greenwood, Oklahoma is the site of once a prosperous, thriving, Black community. It is also the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, a violent attack waged by white supremacists, killing hundreds of residents and leveling homes and businesses.

  In the second episode of our three part Black History Month series, we talk about how the community built back. In fact, Greenwood’s economic heyday came 20 years later, in the 1940s. Then came the 1950s-60s, when Urban Renewal projects gave the city of Tulsa federal funds to buy out Black land owners. This loss of ownership undercut Greenwood’s very existence. Now Greenwood Okies, pulling from their history, are building Tulsa’s future, despite continued discrimination. Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org. 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. 

EPISODE FEATURES: 

-Bracken Klar - Co-Executive Producer of Focus: Black Oklahoma, Vice-President of Tulsa's Tri-City Collective

-Carlos Moreno - member of Tulsa's Tri-City Collective, journalist and author of The Victory of Greenwood and A Kid's Book About the Tulsa Race Massacre

-Trey Thaxton - CEO and Founder of Goldmill Co. and Greenwood Ave. 

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Amy Gastelum. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.  MUSIC: This episode includes music by Blue Dot Sessions, including “Krotoa Haze,” “Cheldana Outpost,” “Krotoa Hills” and “April in Paris” by Count Basie and His Orchestra. 

Learn More: 

• Tri City Collective
• Focus: Black Oklahoma
• Greenwood Ave Magazine
• The Victory of Greenwood
• Greenwood Mapping Project
• Blindspot: Tulsa Burning

In the first of our 3 part series leading up to Black History Month, we turn our focus to how journalists and historians today are covering the Tulsa Race Massacre. We hear from KalaLea, host of the critically acclaimed podcast Blindspot: Tulsa Burning. The series tells the story of the rise of Greenwood, a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street. The podcast recounts the brutal 1921 massacre, a racist attack on the Black community backed by the local police. KalaLea spoke about the behind-the-scenes process of reporting on a deeply traumatic historical chapter, why healing is important, and the necessity of accountability. We also hear from Bracken Klar and Carlos Moreno of Tulsa's Tri-City Collective and the radio show Focus: Black Oklahoma, in partnership with KOSU. They discuss current efforts to better understand not just the tragedy of the event, but also the success of the neighborhood before and after the attack. Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org. 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.  

EPISODE FEATURES: 

-KalaLea - lead producer and host of Blindspot: Tulsa Burning and producer, reporter and editor with WNYC and The New Yorker Radio Hour

-Bracken Klar - co-executive producer of Focus: Black Oklahoma, vice-president of Tulsa's Tri-City Collective and DEI consultant

-Carlos Moreno - member of Tulsa's Tri-City Collective, journalist and author of The Victory of Greenwood and A Kid's Book About the Tulsa Race Massacre  

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Amy Gastelum. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. MUSIC: This episode includes “Krotoa Haze,” “Krotoa,” “Cheldana Outpost,” “Krotoa Hills,” and “Helion Fleet” by Blue Dot Sessions. 

Learn More: 

Blindspot: Tulsa Burning: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/blindspot/tulsa-burning Focus: Black Oklahoma: https://www.kosu.org/podcast/focus-black-oklahoma Tri-City Collective: https://www.tricitycollective.com/ Mapping Greenwood: https://www.mappinggreenwood.org/home-page/ The Victory of Greenwood: https://thevictoryofgreenwood.com/buy-the-book/?v=7516fd43adaa

Oppenheimer swept the Golden Globes, reigniting public interest in the Manhattan Project, the WWII-era secret program to develop the atomic bomb and the impacts of nuclear power. But what the film leaves out alters our understanding about the real impacts of this advancement. On today's encore episode, we hear about nuclear colonialism and how it has changed the course of the people and places of New Mexico with Myrriah Gómez, author of “Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos.” Then we dig into how nuclear testing during the Cold War led to dangerous and lasting contamination in the Marshall Islands and San Francisco's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org. 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. 

EPISODE FEATURES: Myrriah Gómez, an associate professor in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico and author of “Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos.” 

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Lucy Kang. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. MUSIC: This episode includes  "Documentary Piano Ambient" by Bohdan Kuzmin and "Sticktop" by Blue Dot Sessions. 

Learn More: 

• Nuclear Nuevo México: Colonialism and the Effects of the Nuclear Industrial Complex on Nuevomexicanos
• San Francisco Public Press

The problem in America is, America's been in denial about its problems. And that’s a problem.

America doesn’t have a race problem, in reality there's been catastrophes visited upon Black people. Catastrophes visited on Indigenous brothers and sisters. Catastrophes visited on Latino brothers and sisters. Catastrophes visited on working people. Catastrophes visited on women of all colors. We can go on and on.

This week on Making Contact, we bring you a talk from noted author, scholar, and self-described intellectual freedom fighter, Dr. Cornel West speaking at the Guild Theater in Sacramento, California in 2023. In his discussion, West uses America’s music legacy as a way to explore catastrophic conditions brought on by our denial of the funk, seen through the impacts of racism on the nation’s health.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org. 

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. 

EPISODE FEATURES: Dr. Cornel West, the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. West teaches on the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as courses in Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and a wide range of subjects. 

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Anita Johnson. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC:  This episode includes Bedroll by Blue Dot Session, The Garden State by Audiobinger, and My Friends by Quiet Orchestra. 

LEARN MORE: 

http://www.cornelwest.com/
https://aas.princeton.edu/people/cornel-west
https://www.amazon.com/Race-Matters-Cornel-West/dp/0679749861
https://twitter.com/CornelWest

The last few years have seen a wave of labor organizing as it becomes more and more clear to workers that what they do is not expendable, but actually the heart of every business. From walkouts to unionization, workers everywhere, from Starbucks to Amazon to your local coffee shop have come together to build and exercise their power. In this episode we explore the issues that led people to organize their workplaces, the ins and outs and ups and downs of the process, and the backlash.

On the forefront of the next labor revolution, we visit a coffee shop in Maine called Little Dog whose staff starts a union. Then we talk to Robert Chala from the UCLA Labor Center about the rise in unionization efforts among service workers and the social and cultural ethos in a post lockdown country that have led to this new wave of the labor movement.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

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. 

EPISODE FEATURES: Robert Chlala, an Assistant Professor, CSU Long Beach & Visiting Researcher at UCLA Labor Center and Jessica Czarnecki, Sydney, Sophie, and Kira, all workers at Little Dog Cafe.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Salima Hamirani with reporting by Jules Bradley. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC:  This episode includes “Industrial Zone” by Bio Unit, “Stay Quiet” by Monplaisir, “Bleu” by Komiku, “Leap Second” by Doctor Turtle, and “Which Side Are You On” by Pete Seeger.

Learn More: 

UCLA Labor Center
Little Dog Employees Lawsuit
Brunswick coffee shop strike ends with potential change in ownership

When communities face the aftermath of catastrophes, what does it take to ensure that the next time will be different?

In Houston, it takes a city council member who bicycles in her neighborhood to hear from constituents about what they need most. It takes 12 moms who organize to take legal action against the landlords that have kept their families in moldy, substandard apartments. And it takes a city official who blows the whistle on corrupt and dangerous practices related to housing policy.

 
Travel to Texas with our hosts Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta to meet these changemakers in our final episode of this limited-run series. They witness people power in action, as author and artist Adrienne Maree Brown describes it, “…bending the future, together, into something we have never experienced.”

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Like this story? Support independent journalism!

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. 

Thank you to the But Next Time team. To listen to all of the But Next Time episodes and access video versions with Spanish subtitles visit www.butnexttime.com. You can also learn more about the organizations featured in the podcast and access resources like a listening and discussion guide.

But Next Time was created as part of Rise-Home Stories, a project in which multimedia storytellers and housing, land, and racial justice advocates came together to reimagine the past, present, and future of our communities by transforming the stories we tell about them. The Rise-Home Stories Project includes five pieces of media (a video game, children’s book, animated short, and online storytelling site, and the But Next Time Podcast) that help us rethink our relationships to land and home. For more info visit www.risehomestories.com

FEATURING: Jaime, Mother in Houston Texas who is part of the 12 Moms campaign; Zoe Middleton, Southeast Texas and Houston co-director for Texas Housers; Erika Bowman, Community Organizer with Texas Housers; Cashauna Hill, Executive Director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center; Ariadna Godreau, Founder and Director of Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico; Tom McCasland, Houston Director of Housing and Community Development; Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston; Ms. Hankins, Resident of Houston giving testimony at public meeting; Tarsha Jaskon, Houston District B Council Member 

BUT NEXT TIME: This episode is hosted by Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta, and produced by Leah Mahan.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Amy Gastelum and produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC: All original compositions by Fernando Arruda including “But Next Time,” “Going Back,” and "Rumors of Hope." 

Learn More: 

But Next Time Podcast: https://butnexttime.com
Rise Home Stories: https://risehomestories.com/
Working Films: https://www.workingfilms.org/
12 Moms Collective and Texas Housers: https://texashousers.org/tag/12-moms/
Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center: https://lafairhousing.org/
Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico: https://ayudalegalpr.org/

No matter where we come from, or how much money we make, we all deserve a safe and healthy place to call home. In this episode we meet Jamie, a mom who lives in subsidized housing in Houston, Texas, who joins with other moms to stand up to landlords and local officials whose policies have kept Black and brown families trapped in unsafe homes for years.

 
Before and after Hurricane Harvey, Jamie and organizers in Houston came together to take collective action and push for change. Along the way they connected with leaders in Puerto Rico who have also been resisting and re-building in the wake of ongoing disaster.

 
We hear from renowned Puerto Rican activist and former political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera, Luis O. Gallardo Rivera, director of Centro para la Reconstrucción del Hábitat and Adriana Godreau, director of Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, who along with our host Chrishelle Palay engage in on the ground work and advocacy in their communities, in the halls of Congress, and beyond.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Like this story? Support independent journalism, NewsMatch will double your donation up to $1,000!

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.

Thank you to the But Next Time team. To listen to all of the But Next Time episodes and access video versions with Spanish subtitles visit www.butnexttime.com. You can also learn more about the organizations featured in the podcast and access resources like a listening and discussion guide.

But Next Time was created as part of Rise-Home Stories, a project in which multimedia storytellers and housing, land, and racial justice advocates came together to reimagine the past, present, and future of our communities by transforming the stories we tell about them. The Rise-Home Stories Project includes five pieces of media (a video game, children’s book, animated short, and online storytelling site, and the But Next Time Podcast) that help us rethink our relationships to land and home. For more info visit www.risehomestories.com

FEATURING: Jamie, Mother in Houston Texas who is part of the 12 Moms campaign, Zoe Middleton, southeast Texas and Houston Co-Director for Texas Housers, Erika Bowman, community Organizer with Texas Housers, Cashauna Hill, executive director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, Ariadna Godreau, founder and director of Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, Luis O. Gallardo Rivera, executive director of Center for Habitat Reconstruction, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Puerto Rican activist and former political prisoner, María Yvelisse Inirio, executive assistant of Corporación del Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña, Mariolga Juliá Pacheco, director of Citizen Participation Corporación del Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña 

BUT NEXT TIME: This episode is hosted by Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta, and produced by Leah Mahan. 

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Lucy Kang and produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC: All original compositions by Fernando Arruda including “But Next Time,” “Going Back,” and "Let There Be Fire,” and "Next Blues."
 

Learn More: 

But Next Time Podcast
Rise Home Stories
Working Films

This week we continue delving into community-rooted disaster relief in California, from wildfires to the pandemic. From building mutual aid networks, to translating emergency messages in common local languages, we see in action the incredible difference language justice can make in our communities.

In Sonoma County, organizers hit the field with information on where to get food, shelter, and support.

In San Francisco, they set up a much needed support response to COVID-19 in the city's Mission District.

Tune in and hear how these leaders act collectively to confront those in power, work for justice, and together answer one vital question: how can next time be different?

Special thanks to Sonya Green.

Thank you to the But Next Time team. To listen to all of the But Next Time episodes and access video versions with Spanish subtitles visit www.butnexttime.com. You can also learn more about the organizations featured in the podcast and access resources like a listening and discussion guide.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org. Like this story? Support independent journalism, NewsMatch will double your donation up to $1,000! 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.

But Next Time was created as part of Rise-Home Stories, a project in which multimedia storytellers and housing, land, and racial justice advocates came together to reimagine the past, present, and future of our communities by transforming the stories we tell about them. The Rise-Home Stories Project includes five pieces of media (a video game, children's book, animated short, and online storytelling site, and the But Next Time Podcast) that help us rethink our relationships to land and home. For more info visit www.risehomestories.com

FEATURING: Alma Bowen, Founder / Executive Director of Nuestra Comunidad, Maribel Merino, Host, Radio Autóctona Indigenista on KBBF, Xulio Soriano, California Rural Legal Assistance, Mariano Alvarez, California Rural Legal Assistance, Gervacion Peña Lopez, Host, Radio Autóctona Indigenista on KBBF, Beatrice Camacho, ERAP manager of North Bay Organizing Project, Valerie Tulier-Laiwa, Coordinator of the Latino Task Force

BUT NEXT TIME: This episode is hosted by Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta, and produced by Leah Mahan. MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Anita Johnson and produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. MUSIC: All original compositions by Fernando Arruda including "But Next Time," "Going Back," and "Rumors of Hope."

Learn More:

But Next Time Podcast Rise Home Stories Working Films

As fires ravaged California's world-famous wine country in 2017, a community radio station, emergency dispatcher, and tenant organizers helped the most vulnerable in their community survive and recover.

Community organizers and hosts of the podcast But Next Time Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta bring us the first of four stories of hard-won lessons learned from people on the frontlines of California's wildfires and Texas' storms as they work to answer the question, how can next time be different?

In this first episode we discuss hardship faced by farm and service workers during this time, especially non-English speakers. These workers are the heart of wine country, from the planters to the harvesters, to the line cooks, hotel staff and dishwashers. Our systems failed them, how do we do better next time?

To listen to all of the But Next Time episodes and access video versions with Spanish subtitles visit www.butnexttime.com. You can also learn more about the organizations featured in the podcast and access resources like a listening and discussion guide. Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org. Like this story? Support independent journalism, NewsMatch will double your donation up to $1,000! 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 episode includes interviews from Mariano Alvarez, California Rural Legal Assistance; Alicia Sanchez, President of Board of Directors of KBBF; Alma Bowen, Founder / Executive Director of Nuestra Comunidad; Edgar Avila, Director of Programming KBBF; and Beatrice Camacho, ERAP Manager of North Bay Organizing Project

BUT NEXT TIME: This episode is hosted by Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta, and produced by Leah Mahan. MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Salima Hamirani and produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung. MUSIC: All original compositions by Fernando Arruda including "But Next Time," "Next Blues," "Full Bodied Disparity," "Per Pound," "A Feeling About It," and "Going Back."

Learn More:

But Next Time Podcast: https://butnexttime.com Rise Home Stories: https://risehomestories.com/ Working Films: https://www.workingfilms.org/ California Rural Legal Assistance: https://crla.org/ KBBF: https://kbbf.org/ Nuestra Comunidad: https://nc707.org/ North Bay Organizing Project: http://www.northbayop.org/ Undocufund: https://undocufund.org/

But Next Time was created as part of Rise-Home Stories, a project in which multimedia storytellers and housing, land, and racial justice advocates came together to reimagine the past, present, and future of our communities by transforming the stories we tell about them. The Rise-Home Stories Project includes five pieces of media (a video game, children's book, animated short, and online storytelling site, and the But Next Time Podcast) that help us rethink our relationships to land and home. For more info visit www.risehomestories.com

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.

For weeks the world has been witness to Israel's deadly assault on Gaza. Today, we uncover the military corporations profiting from the war, and highlight the activism in every corner of the world in support of Palestine. We'll get insight on the conditions on the ground in Gaza before zooming out to look at Israel's military industrial complex and how the United States is enabling genocide, through policymaking and the defense industry. But activists are taking aim and taking action. We close with a discussion on the Palestinian liberation movement from an abolitionist perspective.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org. Like this story? Support independent journalism, NewsMatch will double your donation up to $1,000! 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 episode includes interviews from Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Rami Almeghari, Gaza-based journalist, and Nora Barrows-Friedman, associate editor of The Electronic Intifada.

This episode is hosted by Lucy Kang, and produced by Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang. Our executive director is Jina Chung. Music by "Minimal Documentary Ambient" by ComaStudio from Pixabay. Engineering by Jeff Emtman.

Learn More:

Making Contact homepage: www.radioproject.org Arab Resource and Organizing Center: www.araborganizing.org The Electronic Intifada www.electronicintifada.net Panel discussion: Abolition Means No More War: Free Palestine Now! www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9GjTMP9qZs