Sojourner Truth Radio

Today on Sojourner Truth, our Friday round table discussion featuring governing board member for the LA school district, Jackie Goldberg, foreign correspondent Laura Carlsen, and Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African-American Studies at the University of Houston.

Today we discuss the 118th Congress, new Democratic minority Hakeem Jeffries, and his contextualizing of Democrat's policies in alignment with women's reproductive rights and workers rights drawing a clear contrast with the conservative Republican party agenda. And what does Rep. Kevin McCarthy's eventual election as house speaker mean for the greater picture in Congress?

We also delve into Israel's most conservative government in history and the U.S. involvement in it. We also discuss the political upheaval in Latin America: Over 50 protestors have died in Peru, where Peru's working class is leading protests to reinstate former President Castillo's government, who they feel was ousted for speaking up vs. government corruption, meanwhile Haiti is facing a set of intersecting catastrophes: famine, cholera, devastating gang violence, fuel shortages and economic collapse, what does this mean in context of the new asylum policies announced by the U.S. capping humanitarian parole visas at 30,000 per month to eligible people from Haiti, as well as Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Today on Sojourner Truth, author, organizer and anti-capitalist campaigner, Selma James joins host Margaret Prescod for the hour to discuss the history of her involvement in organizing for fair wages for women, and her continued organizing at 92 years old.

In 1972 Selma put forward Wages for Housework (WFH) as a political perspective that redefined the working class to include all who work without wages, starting with women, the primary carers everywhere. The International WFH Campaign she founded (which celebrates its 51st anniversary in 2023) coordinates the Global Women's Strike.

Today on Sojourner Truth with guest host Nana Gyamfi, we discuss the failed insurrection in Brazil with foreign correspondent Laura Carlsen who covered the election, President elect Lulu and Brazil's recent shift of power.

There have long been barriers set up by US Administrations that have impeded the ability of asylum-seekers at the border from easily making their asylum claims in the US. And in the second half we are joined by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) Legal Director Tsion Gurmu, to discuss the expansion of the parole program that President Biden recently announced, and review the pathways available in the US to people who are seeking protection from violence in their country.

Today on Sojourner Truth, after only two weeks in power, the most religious and conservative government in the history of Israel is already cultivating divisions at home and rushing towards conflict with the Palestinians and Israel’s allies abroad. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enters his 16th year in power with an ultra nationalist agenda that includes banning displaying the Palestinian flag and a proposed legal assault on Israel’s Supreme Court that could alter the foundations of Israel’s democracy. We speak to world renown peace activist and director of the New Internationalism Project at The Institute for Policy Studies, Phyllis Bennis on the situation in Israel.

Meanwhile the U.S. enters its 118th Congress with changes across party lines. Representative Hakeem Jeffries was elected to succeed longtime Democratic leader as the House Minority leader. A position held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi for over 20 years.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi was also the first woman Speaker of the House in U.S. history, who led the Democratic Party, who held the house majority for four presidential terms. Republicans are now the majority in the house and the process of replacing her with Republican CA Senator Kevin McCarthy turned into a week long saga taking over 15 rounds of votes, until he finally received the 20 votes he needed from his party to be elected, having to make several controversial concessions to far right MAGA Republicans that initially voted vs him.

We discuss the imminent danger of these concessions, as well as the aftermath of widespread voter suppression during the 2022 midterm, the shift in the house and of course the ardent speech that has since gone viral, delivered by Representative Hakeem Jeffries as he opened the 2023 118th Congressional session, with civil rights legend, President & Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition and attorney, Barbara Arnwine.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we bring you excerpts from “Black Women Bringing It All Back Home,” a webinar discussion series organized by the organization Black Women Radicals. We spend the hour in conversation with organizers for Black Women Radicals honoring host of Sojourner Truth, Margaret Prescod for her work as an activist, discussing her ongoing commitment to covering the West’s incessant destabilization in Haiti, while covering the work being done by organizers on the ground.

Black Women Radicals activists cover Margaret’s commitment to independent media, and her history of involvement and activism with Women for Fair Wages and founding the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders to bring attention to the serial murder of Black Women in Los Angeles in the last 40 years.

Since the early 1980s, at least 200 Black women and girls were victims of serial murders or mysteriously disappeared in South Los Angeles. Many were victims of the multiple serial killers (including the notorious “Grim Sleeper” who preyed on vulnerable and impoverished Black women, including sex workers, homeless women, and those with addiction issues. You may be familiar with the Grim Sleeper documented by Director Nick Broomfield in the HBO film, “Tales of the Grim Sleeper.” However, most media outlets paid little or no attention to these murders, taking their cue from the police which shockingly and horrendously labeled the victims No Human Involved (NHI). Most city and county officials made little attempt to raise the alarm. All of this resulted in more women continuing to die. This compelled Sojourner Truth host Margaret Prescod and a cohort of people to found the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders to continue to raise awareness in Los Angeles, among its residents, the Los Angeles Police Department, and other government agencies on the continued devaluation of our lives, particularly but not only by law enforcement.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we bring you excerpts from “Hookers in the House of the Lord,” a webinar discussion series organized by the US Prostitutes Collective, Global Womens’ Strike, Women of Color Global Women’s Strike and In Defense of Prostitute Womens’ Safety Project in coalition with St. Francis Lutheran Church in San Francisco, where the event was held live in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the 1982 English Collective of sex workers, occupation of the church of holy cross in England.

We spend the hour with speakers including: Pastor Bea Chun with the St Francis Lutheran Church who opens the discussion with a historical account of the church as a place of sanctuary for street workers throughout time, Rachel West, of the US PROStitutes Collective, who will be filling us in on the latest statutes in San Francisco resulting in targeted police crackdowns on prostitutes that result in further endangering street workers forced out into industrial areas where they are prone to fall victim to theft, rape or assault. You will also hear from Jane Welford, with the Global Women’s Strike who will discuss the mother-led campaigns to address the growing number of mothers going into sex work to feed their families, and Nell Myhand from Women of Color Global Women’s Strike, who will be discussing present laws in California negatively impacting Black & Brown prostitutes at a disproportionate rate.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we share excerpts from the Alliance for Global Justice Eco Solidarity series titled: “Climate change disasters in the Caribbean and around the world,”moderated by Aminta Zea and James Jordan. Panelist speakers include:

Camilo Matos of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Banbose Shango of the National Network on Cuba, Camille Landry, co-director of AFGJ's Human Rights School, as well as a highlights interview with Peruvian Journalist Lucho Garate and an interview with Jayeesha Dutta of the Climate Justice Alliance.

In 2022 alone, climate related disasters took place in Vietnam, Pakistan, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Florida, Japan, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Alaska. A series of heavy rains, hurricanes, typhoons, and floods that have hit these areas have all been attributed to climate change. These global warming catastrophes began even as leaders from across the world gathered for the annual Cop 27 conference.

Today you will hear a bit more on these climate change disasters including the privatization of private utilities in Puerto Rico. Camilo Matos of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party will explain why Puerto Ricans are calling for the immediate reinstatement of the PREPA public utility company, and its union, which was busted as a result of this privatization.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we share excerpts from a recent Positive Money webinar entitled, "Tackling Fossilflation: A Toolkit for Price Stability and a Just Transition, that explores the historically high inflation taking place in the U.S. and its direct ties to the war in Ukraine, powered by fossil fuels. Speakers will discuss inflation in food and goods and its ties to jobs and wages. Presenting sustainable solutions that take into account the present and future state of climate change and what it would take to transition to renewable energy sources in the U.S.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we bring you voices from a virtual press conference on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the recent amicus brief in the Abu-Jamal Case filed by the UN Working Group on people of African descent. The International Body Observes that Racial Bias has tainted the judicial process up to now citing new evidence of innocence and misconduct by Judges and Prosecutors.

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s lawyers say evidence in boxes discovered in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office by the new DA at the time, Larry Krasner in 2019 that show his trial was tainted by judicial bias and police and prosecutorial misconduct, including: withholding of evidence, and bribing or coercing witnesses to lie.

As of the airing of this show, the plea for a new trial in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal went before Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons on Friday December 16th. Judge Clemons asked the commonwealth if they could confirm that there is no new evidence in the 32 boxes that relate to Brady and Bateson claims. The commonwealth did not confirm. So now Mumia’s lawyers will be making arrangements to see those boxes and Judge Clemens said she would issue her ruling in 60-90 days.

The press conference held on December 13th included:

Moderator Associate Professor Johanna Fernandez who has researched Mumia’s case at length and is executive producer of the film Justice on Trial: the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Ms. Fernandez is presently Associate Professor of History at Baruch College, CUNY; the Honorable Wendell Griffen, state court trial judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Arkansas, Dr. Vijay Prashad, Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, New Delhi, and São Paulo; Julia Wright, founder of the Mumia Abu-Jamal Health Committee and Board of the Richard Wright Civil Rights Center in Elaine, AR., Linn Washington, Jr.-- a Philadelphia-based investigative reporter who has covered the Mumia Abu-Jamal matter since Abu-Jamal’s arrest on the morning of Dec. 9, 1981, as well as Mumia’s grandson Jamal Jr.