Sojourner Truth Radio

For our Weekly Earth Watch, our guest is Adriana Ramirez, a University of Richmond student from Nicaragua, discussing the political and social unrest happening in that Central American Country, as well as the threat to tropical rainforests in Nicaragua.

It has been four years since the Flint water crisis was discovered. An entire city has been poisoned with high lead levels in their water system, following a money-saving decision by an emergency management board, bought in to bypass elected officials. We get an update on the state of the water crisis. Our guest is Claire McClinton, community-based campaigner with the Flint Democracy Defense League.

Iowa's legislature has passed one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the United States. Known as the "heartbeat bill," doctors cannot give abortions after the heartbeat of a fetus is detected. This bill, championed by the right to life movement and their supporters in the White House, continues the long march in the campaign to repeal Roe vs Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that granted women the right to choose. Our guest is Eleanor Smeal, co-founder and President of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Iowa's legislature has passed one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the United States. Known as the "heartbeat bill," doctors cannot give abortions after the heartbeat of a fetus is detected. This bill, championed by the right to life movement and their supporters in the White House, continues the long march in the campaign to repeal Roe vs Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that granted women the right to choose. Our guest is Eleanor Smeal, co-founder and President of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

It has been four years since the Flint water crisis was discovered. An entire city has been poisoned with high lead levels in their water system, following a money-saving decision by an emergency management board, bought in to bypass elected officials. We get an update on the state of the water crisis. Our guest is Claire McClinton, community-based campaigner with the Flint Democracy Defense League.

For our Weekly Earth Watch, our guest is Adriana Ramirez, a University of Richmond student from Nicaragua, discussing the political and social unrest happening in that Central American Country, as well as the threat to tropical rainforests in Nicaragua.

For this week's installment of our weekly Campaigners for Black Lives series, Dr. Melina Abdullah, a founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, joins us to discuss the increasing assault on Black people and what a multi-faceted resistance might look like.

In a victory for Reverend Edward Pinkney, a Black community leader based in Benton Harbor Michigan, the state Supreme Court in Michigan tossed out a ruling against him. Rev. Pinkney was sent to prison on charges that he always maintained were false. The Reverend joins us as a guest.

Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that orders all safety net programs – from food stamps now known as SNAP to Medicaid – be renamed welfare or public assistance. The order also mandates work requirements, i.e. workfare, to receive any of these programs. Our guest is Maureen Taylor, President of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and a board member of the National Welfare Rights Union.

Journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal’s case was back in court in Philadelphia on Monday. We get the latest on Mumia’s case from Pam Africa.

The caravan of asylum seekers from Central America "who have drawn the ire of the Trump administration "have reached the U.S.-Mexico border. Thus far, eight of them have been granted asylum, and eleven people said to be part of the caravan have been criminally charged by the Department of Justice for entering the country illegally. Our guests are Tanya Selig, who crossed the border to cook for the migrants; and National Lawyers Guild members Gilbert Saucedo and Pasquale Lombardo, who were part of a legal team that crossed the border to work with the migrants.

At a time when there is a growing movement around the Poor People’s Campaign, headed by the Reverends William Barber and Liz Theoharis, Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that orders all safety net programs – from food stamps now known as SNAP to Medicaid – be renamed welfare or public assistance. The order also mandates work requirements, i.e. workfare, to receive any of these programs. Our guest is Maureen Taylor, President of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and a board member of the National Welfare Rights Union.

In a victory for Reverend Edward Pinkney, a Black community leader based in Benton Harbor Michigan, the state Supreme Court in Michigan tossed out a ruling against him. Rev. Pinkney was sent to prison on charges that he always maintained were false. The Reverend joins us as a guest.

Journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal’s case was back in court in Philadelphia on Monday. We get the latest on Mumia’s case from Pam Africa.

For this week's installment of our weekly Campaigners for Black Lives series, Dr. Melina Abdullah, a founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, joins us to discuss the increasing assault on Black people and what a multi-faceted resistance might look like.