Join me and Nana Dufe in a thoughtful, stimulating, often profound, conversation with Dr. Coy Greene, co-founder and program implementer at H.O.L.L.A. (How Our Lives Link Altogether!), a "transformational grassroots youth program providing healing-centered youth organizing training, youth development services, political/cultural/spiritual education, and non-traditional approaches to healing, education, and community relationship building centered grassroots movements learned lessons." 

Dr. Greene was was born and raised by a single mother in East Elmhurst Queens, NY, during a time when many mothers and urban communities were impacted by the crack epidemic. 

Cory’s experiences as a youth growing up in urban ghettos contributed to his understanding of the systemic inequalities, and led him to engage in a wide range of educational projects, healing, and grassroots movement building that seeks to change existing conditions for youth of color and our communities. 

Cory’s biological and ideological ancestors and elders hail from the struggles of the Mississippi Delta, the historical reality of being Black in “America,” and the Prison Abolition Movement. A formerly incarcerated person himself, Dr. Greene began his liberation-focused educational journey while incarcerated, and ultimately earned his doctorate post-incarceration.

Cory's organizing work, humanity, and analysis have been featured in critical documentaries such as Ava Duvernay’s 13th, From Prison to NYU, and most recently, H.O.L.L.A!’s Healing Justice Movement Documentary “We Came to Heal.” 

Dr. Greene is powerful, inspirational example of a man, an organizer, a father, and a teacher, who continues to find ways to successfully uplift youth of color and to combat the inter-generational trauma of racism while maintaining his independence, optimism, and most of all, his sanity. We hope you will find useful lessons and insights from our conversation, that you can apply to your own path through the End of America.

Thanks for listening!

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni

Hello!

Why do we put this podcast out? Who are we? Why "The End of America?" What's next?

With Season One out in the world, please join myself, Nana, and Jorge as we take a moment to discuss how our experiences with American history and contemporary culture have brought us to create this space, and what we hope to keep adding to the public conversation about issues key to our future as a society & culture, much less our future as a nation.

The End of America Family brings a wealth of perspective and insight from its three main hosts: from Nana, a Ghanian-born business owner and entrepreneur working in both America and Africa, to Jorge, a Columbian-born lawyer and youth educator, to Thomas, an Ohio-born New York lawyer who's been a public defender, national-level justice advocate, and high-ranking government lawyer, as well having served (two years, too long) in the US Army. In addition to those identities, we are also fathers, sons, spouses, partners, friends, taxpayers, business owners, women (1, anyway), men, etc.

At The End of America, we bring all our identities--our whole selves--to the discussion, as we consider the impact of American policy and society on us personally, and on the millions of you who share those identities and who also feel those impacts. Hopefully, what we're seeing and saying informs, entertains, and resonates with you in ways you carry away from the podcast and take into your everyday lives.

Democracy. Empire. Racial Justice. Voting (and Non-Voting) Rights. True History. Policing. Immigration. Environmental Justice. Economic Justice. Revolution or Evolution? What is America? Is it Ending? Should it? Thomas says Yes, and we're inviting you to another chapter of honest conversation about The End of America..

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni

This episode is titled SCORPION, after the parable of the Scorpion and the Frog. Looking at Black people, Democrats, and elections, we can ask: Have the Democrats been the Scorpion to our Frog? Well, I'm just saying: every election in my 50 years of life,  in yet another "most important election ever/shut up and vote" election, they've asked us to put them on our backs and carry them across the river to victory. And we've been their margin of victory in every Democratic presidential win in my lifetime. And yet, for people who claim they need our people, Democrats  too often act like more like owners than askers.

But unlike the scorpion, who can't overcome his violent instincts and drowns both of them, Democrats aren't usually so short-sighted as to sting Black people before we drop them off at the shore. But then what happens? We get stung. From Reconstruction to Jim Crow, all the way through to Mass Incarceration and whatever we name this New New Jim Crow Dystopia we're careening toward; in every aspect of life, by any measurable standard, after supporting Democrats, we get stung (Dems' maiden name before the Party Switch was "Republicans", but those are just wardrobe changes).

Patience, they say. Next Election, they say, drying their feet and quietly cleaning blood off their stingers.  And four years later, there they are, back on the far shore again, waving to us, trying to hide their stingers. Do we let them ride? At this point, I say No, but many disagree, including this episode's special guest.

For intelligent, thoughtful counterpoints, I'm joined by Professor Hazel Weiser, new friend, highly accomplished law professor and life-long social justice advocate, who, along with the League of Women Voters, has published an important report (summary Here, full report Here) on how New York State jails systematically fail to respect the legally protected voting rights of detained persons in the vast majority of New York State's jails. Professor Weiser's report sets out clearly how the policy choices of the lawmakers and administrators involved in these systems illegally exclude yet another population of minorities from participation in democracy, and the steps we can and should take to support urgently needed change. As one of the largest jail systems in America, many of the issues present in NY jails are also issues in other states as well.

Prof. Weiser passionately describes her experiences in creating the report, and brings her lifetime of rich, deep, experience and knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement and American history to the conversation, setting out why she hasn't--why she can't--give up hope for our system. Join us for a lively, loving, passionate, (hopefully) informative exchange of visions and values between two accomplished, knowledgeable advocates for a better Democracy, and a better (or Ended) America.. 

Thanks for Listening!

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni

What would the country, specifically, the Democratic Party, look like if Black people put ourselves first, like any political demographic is entitled to? What would democrats' messaging look like if they earned Black votes, rather than demanded them? What  policies would have been fought, & what wars wouldn't have been? What compromises would (or would not) be made, if we mattered?

This episode is called the Illusion of Choice & the Choice of Illusions. Nana and I pick up the threads of the ongoing discussion around the central premise of this Podcast: The United States--"America"--was never intended to be, has never been, and will not ever be a democracy. If we want to live in a democracy, America has to end.

Looking at the constrained "choices" our political and social systems (specifically focusing on those controlled by Democrats) purposefully presented to (and too often, tolerated by) Black, brown, poor, and other intersectional people, for generations, Nana & I explore both historical and contemporary influences on our current state, and as we discuss the climate around the upcoming elections. We hope you'll find some useful insights, or at least you'll see that there are others out there with similar views, where you may have thought you were alone.
 
I believe Democracy in this country was stillborn. The Constitution is far less birth certificate than death warrant. These no-choice elections of the last several cycles are just a series of wakes in the runup to what might be very overdue, very violent, funeral service.

What do you think? Is your vote to be earned, or demanded? Given, or extracted? Is the lesser of evils tolerable? Who decides how much evil is tolerable, and for whom? 

We'd love to hear your feedback. We'll be reading and responding to your thoughts in future episodes.

Thank You for listening!

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni

Why does this country love guns so much? Why would we rather watch so many of our children, and ourselves, die by gun violence, rather than do anything other than the least to prevent deaths by firearm? Many of the answers, it'll shock no one to know, have their roots in American Enslavement, and the fear of historical and contemporary white people that Black people will one day inflict on them what they've inflicted on us. Also, a central Gun Myth is that they will provide us security in a whole range of situations. But if we look at the realities, we have the data that shows they do little to keep us safe, and they've made us far more likely to die, needlessly, in many more circumstances. In this way, American guns are the security blanket that is smothering us--and especially our children--to death.

In this episode, host Thomas Giovanni sits down with co-host Jorge Navia for a thoughful, spirited, and (hopefully) informative conversation about the roots of America's sick obsession with guns, and what we can do to get better. From Jorge's unique perspective as a Columbian-born, legally trained, recent immigrant to the U.S, and Thomas' perspective as a former Juvenile Justice policy-maker, a criminal/racial justice advocate (and mostly, as a tired Black man and a gun owner who's heard the U.S. Gun Myths all his life), they'll expose some of the lies, and explore some of the truths about how we got here, and where we can go next, as the country moves closer each day to the end of America.

(***Correction: I (Thomas) say at one point that Americans have more dogs and guns than people, but that was a mistake: we keep over twice as many pewpews as we do "man's best friends" in our homes, which was the irony intended to be highlighted regarding our Gun Love.)

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni

Do we "dishonor" our black ancestors by not voting? Is voting a reasonable pathway to freedom or justice for the 99%? Have we created a religion of elections, a system that depends on our faith, in spite of the facts of our living conditions? When (largely middle class, relatively comfortable) Black folk push the need to participate in our system, whose lives are we saying actually matter?

In this introductory episode, host Thomas Giovanni engages in a vigorous discussion with co-host Nana about the fundamental failings of American democracy to earn the continuing support of Black, Brown, and poor people in this country. They discuss the range of possible responsible responses to these unfair systems, from changing voting habits, to not voting at all. 

What would it look like if Black people really did sit out elections, and allow Republicans to take the country where they would? (Spoiler alert: we'll survive and thrive, as we always have, no matter what America has done to us.)

The End of America with Thomas Giovanni