Radicals for Good

“To me, the Beloved Community is a realistic vision of an achievable society, one in which problems and conflict exist, but are resolved peacefully and without bitterness.”

-Coretta Scott King

In this episode of Radicals for Good, we discuss different tactics, like boycotting and strikes, we can use to build solidarity in the working class with Loren Branch (Nyerere Omowale), an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), writer, street drummer and popular political educator.

Loren Branch (aka Nyerere Omawale) is a New Afrikan Revolutionary Socialist from the westside of Detroit, Joy Road to be exact. From Chicago to Detroit, Loren has been building independent working class power across liberation struggles including Black liberation, Palestine Solidarity movement, queer liberation, immigrant rights, police murder, anti-war, and more. Rooted in Marxism, the Black Radical tradition, and Pan-Africanism—Loren is a product of UAW Local 600 and the Republic of New Afrika.

His ultimate life goals are to become a father and to build the world dignity and self-determination we need and deserve. To play a role in advancing the unfinished revolution of his ancestors and elders—ending capitalism and building a new socialist system run for and by The People. To see Detroit and the global working class liberated in our lifetime.

Sources

https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/waawiyatanong-land-acknowledgement

Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future: https://1804books.com/products/socialist-reconstruction-a-better-future

Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880: https://1804books.com/products/black-reconstruction-in-america-1860-1880

Assata: https://www.commabookstore.com/shop/p/assata-an-autobiography

Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries: The Story of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers: https://www.ugapress.org/9780820374307/motown-and-the-making-of-working-class-revolutionaries

The Civil Rights Revolution & Montgomery Bus Boycott: https://liberationschool.org/civil-rights-and-the-u-s-revolution/

Debunking the myth that “we’re not ready” for a general strike in the U.S.: https://liberationnews.org/debunking-the-myth-that-were-not-ready-for-a-general-strike-in-the-u-s/

Alkebu-lan Village & Inner City Sub Center: https://liberationnews.org/dc-to-detroit-30-years-later-million-man-march-black-liberation/

The Republic of New Afrika: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/521c580a15244ad0bee5e33f121c2bff

Peaches Anderson (my grandmother): https://www.congress.gov/114/crec/2016/06/09/162/91/CREC-2016-06-09-pt1-PgE867.pdf

Learn more about PSL and get involved in the socialist movement: https://www2.pslweb.org/action

PSL Detroit: https://www.instagram.com/psldetroit

https://liberationnews.org/07-11-20-revolutionary-optimism-socialist-html/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn-xR0Yw1QZiLgUtZJiAghqwsCjPObvdLxZMWzgAZBQoG1fTgdmf_SJcL_qe0_aem_EaFPq1Uqvl0IhHdwIw9A8g

https://radicalreads.com/black-panthers-favorite-books/

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

“It’s not our fault but it is our fight.”

-Monica Lewis Patrick

In this episode of Radicals for Good, we discuss utilizing technology in movement spaces and what digital justice could look like in Detroit with Tawana Petty, a mother, digital justice organizer, poet, and author.

Tawana Petty, also known by her poetry stage name Honeycomb, is a mother, social justice organizer, poet, author, facilitator and keynote lecturer. Her work focuses on racial justice, equity, privacy, and consent. She is the founding Executive Director of Petty Propolis, Inc., an artist incubator, which leverages poetry, policy literacy and advocacy, anti-racism facilitation, political education and community-centered initiatives in pursuit of data and digital justice and racial and environmental justice. In 2024, Petty was named on Business Insider’s AI Power List for Policy and Ethics.

Sources:

https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/waawiyatanong-land-acknowledgement

https://unsplash.com/photos/text-zO7VVw7Hxik

https://www.bridgedetroit.com/detroiters-get-oversight-of-surveillance-technology-but-is-it-enough/

https://www.bridgedetroit.com/michigan-central-is-collecting-a-lot-of-data-can-we-trust-it/

https://open.substack.com/pub/tawanapetty/p/defending-detroit?r=7g7rur&utm_medium=ios

https://tawanapetty.org/selected-media/f/defending-black-lives-means-banning-facial-recognition

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/11/tsa-airport-security-facial-recognition/

https://stoplapdspying.org/

https://voicesfromthegrassroots.org/lewis-patrick-monica/

https://www.detroitk12.org/about-dpscd/initiatives/one-to-one-student-technology-iniiative

https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/detroit-police-to-enforce-ticket-people-not-following-stay-at-home-order

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/detroitcitymichigan/PST045224

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/14dd97b35cbb4a4298786c75855f8080

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2024/08/28/detroit-police-department-celebrates-1k-project-green-light-partners/

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2021/09/detroit-bridges-internet-access-digital-divide/

https://connectyourcommunity.org/cleveland-and-detroit-lead-worst-connected-large-cities-of-2023/

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2025/10/07/grim-reality-more-than-half-of-detroit-children-are-now-living-in-poverty-census-bureau-data-shows/

https://poverty.umich.edu/projects/detroit-partnership-on-economic-mobility/

https://www.epa.gov/mo/town-flood-and-superfund-looking-back-times-beach-disaster-nearly-40-years-later

AI and Assembly: Coming Together and Apart in a Datafied World by Toussaint Nothias and Lucy Bernholz

Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence by Mizue Aizeki, Matt Mahmoudi, and Colin Schupfer

Please donate to Alia's founding nonprofit, FORCE Detroit!

Sources:

https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/waawiyatanong-land-acknowledgement 

https://www.nokidhungry.org/blog/100-years-black-history-origins-anti-hunger-movement 

https://www.freep.com/picture-gallery/news/local/michigan/2025/07/24/violence-intervention-leaders-gather-in-lansing-to-advocate-for-funding/85327767007/

https://detroitmi.gov/news/mayor-sheffield-launches-mayors-office-neighborhood-and-community-safety-strengthen-violence

https://www.history.com/articles/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party

https://www.nokidhungry.org/blog/black-history-month-celebrating-origins-free-breakfast-and-food-justice-movement

https://www.blkhlth.com/resources/racial-gaps-in-colorectal-cancer-tnt2y-9pegt

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/black-panther-party-challenging-police-and-promoting-social-change  

The Next American Revolution by Grace Lee Boggs

Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day by Kaitlin B. Curtice

Please donate to Namira's neighborhood nonprofit, Dream of Detroit! https://dreamofdetroit.org/donate/

Sources:

https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/waawiyatanong-land-acknowledgement 

https://medium.com/@niawrites/16-questions-i-wish-i-had-asked-my-immigrant-father-214570fe1e44 (please email [email protected] for a friend link)  

https://planetdetroit.org/2021/10/its-all-waawiyaatanong/ 

https://pixabay.com/photos/skyline-river-water-detroit-8061846/ 

https://medium.com/dsa-detroit-newspaper/waawiyatanong-resists-43f4d7806c1c

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/12/19/how-britain-stole-45-trillion-from-india

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8814474/

https://planetdetroit.org/2021/01/detroits-battle-with-climate-change-flooding-asthma-and-infrastructure/

https://www.mindful.org/a-6-minute-loving-kindness-meditation-to-expand-your-awareness/

https://www.nqa.org/what-is-qigong

https://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/ 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/scientists-use-new-technology-to-track-individual-monarch-butterfly-migrations 

Video by SimplyArt4794: https://www.pexels.com/video/close-up-video-of-butterflies-7787029/

https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/seventh-generation-principle 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zx8sf82#zcyq2v4

Becoming Good Ancestors by David Ehrenfeld

We Do This Until We Free Us by Mariame Kaba

Love and Rage by Lama Rod Owens

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley

On our very first episode of Radicals for Good, we give a radical introduction to our podcast and host. We discuss the history and current moment of Detroit and why we believe hosting this podcast in the most radical city in the United States is timely and necessary. And why we believe it’s important to share this podcast in this moment ‘on the clock of the world’.

Sources:

https://unsplash.com/photos/a-statue-of-a-fist-is-suspended-by-a-crane-xs1W9DoYEVs

https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/waawiyatanong-land-acknowledgement

https://againstthecurrent.org/atc168/p4071/

https://www.detroithistorical.org/learn/online-research/encyclopedia-of-detroit/parks-rosa

https://the-spark.net/o_ford1941.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.detroithistorical.org/learn/online-research/encyclopedia-of-detroit/race-riot-1943

https://urbanhistory.willmackintosh.org/project/madelines-project/

https://time.com/4879062/detroit-1967-real-history/

https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/1963-march-washington

https://conversationsthatyouwillneverfinish.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/what-time-is-it-on-the-clock-of-the-world-by-grace-lee-boggs/

Freedom is a constant Struggle by Angela Davis

https://www.detroithistorical.org/learn/online-research/blog/remembering-mlks-influence-detroit

https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/362782#slide=gs-200036

https://unsplash.com/photos/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-and-mathew-ahmann-in-a-crowd-of-demonstrators-at-the-march-on-washington-bTF3gkd2L28