The Next World

On this episode, leaders from Black and immigrant community organizations discuss their work and draw out lessons and challenges for communities and local governments interested in working together to advance racial and economic justice. They discuss their fights for safe water infrastructure, stopping wage theft, combating police violence, and building restorative justice in schools. Featuring:

Brooke Floyd, People’s Advocacy Institute 
Rosie Grant, Paterson Education Fund
Shaw San Liu, Chinese Progressive Association-San Francisco
Moderated by Ben Palmquist, Partners for Dignity & Rights
      
BIOS: 
For over 20 years, Brooke Floyd has supported Mississippi children as a volunteer, AmeriCorps Tutor & Special Projects Coordinator, and as a public school & Head Start teacher.  She previously served as the Director of Children’s Services at Stewpot Community Services. Brooke is currently the Coordinator for JXN People’s Assembly at People’s Advocacy Institute, engaging the community through education, providing access to information and resources, facilitating Assemblies, and bringing proposed solutions to elected officials. Brooke graduated from Tougaloo College and holds a M.S.Ed. from Jackson State University and an M.A.T. from Belhaven University.     

Rosie Grant is the Executive Director of the Paterson Education Fund (PEF), where she has given 28 years of educational leadership. Rosie has trained more than 500 students and adults to be workshop facilitators including Restorative Practices circle keepers, as well as worked to support relationship building, reduce suspensions, and promote student social and emotional well-being. She is skilled at convening cross-sector partnerships for education and leading difficult public dialog, particularly in the areas of multicultural communications and anti-racism.   

Shaw San Liu is the Executive Director at the Chinese Progressive Association. In her 14 years at CPA, Shaw San led the development of grassroots organizing and leadership development programs with the Tenant Worker Center, which includes services for low-wage Chinese immigrant workers and tenants living in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She also spearheaded campaign and alliance building to advance policy on labor and economic issues in the Bay Area. She co-founded the Progressive Worker Alliance, an alliance of low-wage worker centers in San Francisco and has extensive experience with labor and community organizing.    

Ben Palmquist works with Partners for Dignity & Rights, where he directs the New Social Contract program and supports organizing for health care as a human right. He has over 15 years of experience working with community organizations on health care, labor, housing and environmental rights across the U.S and in Indonesia and Ecuador.

For more information on the topics of this episode, see:
Co-Governance Report
Peoples Advocacy Institute
JXN People's Assembly
Chinese Progressive Association - SF
Paterson Education Fund
Participatory Budgeting Project
Democracy Beyond Elections
Article: Building Bottom-Up Democracy Through Co-Governance
Article: How to Build Multiracial Democracy at the Local Level

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On this episode, we talk with Aisha Ahmed, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement and the International League of People’s Struggle. Together, we look at the current resistance in Palestine, fighting against fascism, Black-Palestinian solidarity, and strategies for liberation.

Aisha Ahmed is an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement and the International League of People’s Struggle. She is the vice general coordinator of the Bay Area chapter for PYM and sits on the national steering committee for the U.S. chapter of ILPS, and a student of Rama Kased at SFSU in the Ethnic Studies MA program.

To learn more about the topics we discussed:
The Palestinian Youth Movement
Watch: Marc Lamont Hill, Noura Erakat and Aja Monet on Black-Palestinian Solidarity

See more of the work of host Max Rameau at pacapower.org. Stay subscribed to The Next World for more news from the frontlines of movements for justice and liberation. 

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On this episode, we talk with Rukia Lumumba from the People’s Assembly, Jackson, Mississippi. Together, we discuss the state of Mississippi’s attempts to disenfranchise Black political power, and the revolutionary organizing happening now in response.

Rukia Lumumba was named a "New Activist" by Essence magazine and an "Emerging Leader" by the Congressional Black Caucus. She is the daughter of community justice icons, the late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and Nubia Lumumba, and continues the Lumumba family's rich history of advancing issues and initiatives that elevate the legal economical, health and educational rights of individuals, families and communities.

For more than 18 years, she has worked within and outside the system to foster justice for all, especially as it relates to criminal justice disparities for people of color. 

A graduate of Howard University School of Law, Rukia clerked for the Juvenile Rights Division of the Washington, DC, Public Defender Service where she represented children and collected data on human rights violations at the former Oak Hill Youth Detention Center, one of the nation’s worst juvenile facilities. She served on the board of directors of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, an association of lawyers, activists and legal workers who defend human rights and expose the criminal justice disparities for people of color. She served as national coordinator of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a membership-based organization dedicated to promoting human rights and self-determination. She co-founded Katrina on the Ground, an initiative that organized over 700 college students to participate in post-Katrina relief efforts in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. She launched the Community Aid and Development Day Camp, an education and cultural enrichment program for over 200 children ages 6-16 in Jackson, Mississippi.

Rukia currently co-chairs the People’s Assembly process in Jackson, Mississippi which works to increase community access to city government and to institutionalize People’s Assemblies as community governing models that enable a deep democratic participation of people in their own governance. She was selected as one of the brightest and most promising women of color by New York University Wagner School of Public Service and she is a 2011 Youth for Justice Leadership Fellow for the National Juvenile Justice Network.

You can read more about the topics we discussed at these links:
JXN People's Assembly
People's Advocacy Institute
JXN Unidivided
Rukia Lumumba on twitter
Makani Themba in The Nation
Article from Mississippi Free Press on Power Grab
Petition from Jackson Undivided
Color of Change Petition
JXN Unidivided on youtube

See more of the work of host Max Rameau at pacapower.org. Stay subscribed to The Next World for more news from the frontlines of movements for justice and liberation. 

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On this episode, hear from a recent panel discussion featuring Sofia Lopez, Tomás Rivera, James DeFilippis, & Kesi Foster. Together, they discuss strategies to wrest control of housing from the real estate industry.

Sofia Lopez is Deputy Campaign Director of Housing for the Action Center on Race and the Economy. 

Tomás Rivera is Executive Director of the Chainbreakers Collective. 

Dr. James DeFilippis is Associate Professor, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

Kesi Foster, moderating this discussion, is Co-Executive Director of Partners for Dignity & Rights.

For more information on the topics of this episode, see also:
dignityandrights.org
https://dignityandrights.org/resources/from-the-ground-up-community-centered-policies-to-scale-equitable-development/
https://dignityandrights.org/resources/creating-community-controlled-deeply-affordable-housing-a-resource-toolkit-for-community-activists-allied-community-based-housing-developers/

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On this episode we present a panel discussion featuring Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Raj Patel, Rafaela Rodriguez, & Kesi Foster. Together, they discuss how what we eat connects to labor rights, health, culture, and more.

Jessica Gordon Nembhard is professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, CUNY. Dr. Gordon Nembhard is a political economist specializing in community economics, Black Political Economy and popular economic literacy. Her research and publications explore problematics and alternative solutions in cooperative economic development and worker ownership, community economic development, wealth inequality and community-based asset building, and community-based approaches to justice. Her most recent book is Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice.

Raj Patel ​​ is an award-winning author, film-maker and academic. He is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin and is the co-author of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice and author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. His first film, co-directed with Zak Piper, is the award-winning documentary The Ants & The Grasshopper. He can be heard co-hosting the food politics podcast The Secret Ingredient with Mother Jones’ Tom Philpott, and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy.

Rafaela Rodriguez is the Director of Partnerships at the Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) Network. Prior to joining WSR Network staff, Rafaela worked for over seven years in various national and international settings as an advocate working alongside human-trafficking survivors, migrants, and undocumented communities. In 2016, she supported the implementation of the second national WSR-Program in the dairy industry in Vermont and New York. She helped develop the Milk with Dignity Standards Council, the third-party monitor responsible for implementation of the Milk with Dignity Program, bringing dignified living conditions to farmworkers.

For more information on the topics of this episode, see also:
 wsr-network.org/
dignityandrights.org
rajpatel.org/

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On this episode, we talk with Njera Keith and Kristina Brown, the co-founders and Ministers of Cohesion of 400+1, a Black cooperative federation based in Texas. Together, we discuss reproductive justice, creating and holding Black space, revolutionary organizing, vanguardism, and gender politics in social movements.

Njera Keith is a Diaspora oriented Black organizer whose focus is the development of movement philosophy and infrastructure that supports cohesion and unity in revolutionary struggle. She is the Founder and Executive Coordinator of Black Sovereign Nation, a pro-Black, autonomy-focused, and community-centered organization based in Austin, Texas. She is also the co-founder of 400+1, the world’s first Black cooperative federation, a liberatory blueprint, and a framework for dramatic economic and political shifts in global Black life.

Kristina Brown is a social epidemiologist by training with a specialty in the identification and assessment of disparities (race and gender). Principally oriented in Black revolutionary struggle, Kristina is fascinated by the utility of spirit, culture and communications to define and cultivate a revolutionary agenda. Invested in applying her skills and empowering her community, she is the co-founder and executive director of Counter Balance: ATX. Counter Balance: ATX is a grassroots non-profit organization purposed to improving the quality of life of women of the global majority and impoverished women, by reimagining Black women's relationship to themselves and the world that impacts them. Most recently, Kristina co-founded 400+1; the world's first Black cooperative federation and Counter Balance's parent organization, to build economic and political power across the Diaspora. It is her hope that this framework will be the vehicle for mass movement and result in propelling Black folx to a world unimaginable, beyond survival. Kristina is currently exploring how sensory-based experiences can improve the health of the Diasporic consciousness. This includes information about what we are naming as healing habits that result in a holistic resistance to the impacts of racialized oppression.

You can read more about the topics we discussed at these links:

400+1's Spring Manifesto

400+1's 2021 Liberated Zone /Occupation

400+1's Reproductive Revolution Manifesto

400+1 About Us

400+1 Linktree

Njera Keith Linktree

Njera Keith article in the Nation

400+1 Orisha Land

See more of the work of host Max Rameau at pacapower.org. Stay subscribed to The Next World for more news from the frontlines of movements for justice and liberation.

You can read more about the issues we explore on our podcast and much more at dignityandrights.org, the website of Partners for Dignity & Rights, as well as dignityinschools.org.

Please subscribe and spread the word. You can find our archives here, or on nearly all podcast platforms.

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Seventeen years after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, join us in exploring the legacy of Katrina and education justice. In conversation with host Max Rameau is Ruth Idakula, Program Director of Dignity in Schools Campaign.

Ruth discusses the principles of restorative justice, New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina, how to sustain yourself in this work, and her own path from a childhood in Nigeria to organizing in New Orleans.

For nearly two decades, Ruth S. Idakula has dedicated her life energy to organizing, education and advocacy for social, racial, and economic justice and equity. Born and raised in Nigeria, Ruth has been a resident of New Orleans for over 23 years. As a proud mother of three sons, she was called into public education organizing, advocacy and policy development by the blatantly racist takeover and privatization of public schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Ruth’s leadership is grounded in sustaining spiritual practices and she serves as a faith leader, religious educator, and facilitator for collective liberation in New Orleans and beyond. She is building a beautiful garden sanctuary in her backyard – and invites everyone to figure out what sustains you, what gives you life – and be not afraid to go do that!

See more of the work of host Max Rameau at pacapower.org. Stay subscribed to The Next World for more news from the frontlines of movements for justice and liberation.

You can read more about the issues we explore on our podcast and much more at dignityandrights.org, the website of Partners for Dignity & Rights, as well as dignityinschools.org.

Please subscribe and spread the word. You can find our archives here, or on nearly all podcast platforms.

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Join us in exploring art and abolition, with host Max Rameau and artist, professor, writer, and prison abolitionist Bryonn Bain.

Bryonn talks with Max about his new book Rebel Speak: A Justice Movement Mixtape, and the multimedia production of his play Lyrics from Lockdown,  playing at the Apollo Theatre on August 29th. They also discuss the Prison Industrial Complex, organizing through the arts, the importance of mental health, and influences; including Albert Woodfox, Lani Gunier, and Kellis Parker. Artists mentioned include Maya Jupiter,  Liberation Family (artist Chen Lo) & Suckerpunch (Mic Crenshaw).

Bryonn Bain is Brooklyn’s own prison activist, actor, hip hop theater innovator and spoken word poetry champion.  Described by Cornel West as an artist who “...speaks his truth with a power we desperately need to hear,” his theater, film and television work are critically acclaimed – from his award winning BET talk show “My Two Cents,” and Emmy nomination for “BaaadDDD Sonia,” to this year’s Emmy award for “LA Stories.” Playing over 40 characters in his one-man theater production, Lyrics From Lockdown is executive produced by Harry Belafonte (“BlacKkKlansman”), and tells the story of Bain’s wrongful imprisonment through hip hop theater, spoken word poetry, blues, calypso, comedy and letters exchanged with fellow poet and friend, Nanon Williams – who was wrongfully sentenced to Death Row at just 17 years old.

Wrongfully imprisoned in his second year at Harvard Law, Bryonn sued the NYPD, and told his story for 20 million viewers on "60 Minutes" in an interview with Mike Wallace. After writing The Village Voice cover story “Walking While Black: The Bill of Rights for Black America,” his work received the largest response in the history of the nation's most widely read progressive newspaper. Bain produced the Lyrics on Lockdown Tour, which reached 25 states, and spawned higher education courses using the performing arts to build literacy in prisons nationwide.  For the decade that followed, Bain taught courses using the arts on Rikers Island penal colony. After teaching hip hop, spoken word and theater at Harvard, Bain founded the prison education program at NYU to offer higher education and college degrees to men incarcerated in upstate New York. Bryonn founded and directs the Prison Education Program at UCLA, where he has developed and taught arts-based courses and programs in LA prisons including the California Institute for Women, Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, Camp Joseph Scott and Central Juvenile Hall. 

You can read more about the issues we explore on our podcast and much more at dignityandrights.org, the website of Partners for Dignity & Rights. See more of the work of host Max Rameau at pacapower.org. Subscribe to The Next World for more news from the frontlines of movements for justice and liberation. 

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On this episode, we discuss the intersection where food justice meets Black liberation. Joining host Max Rameau are Mama Savi Horne and Baba Fred Carter, two organizers who are also on the board of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance.

Baba Fred Carter works with Black Oaks Center for Sustainable Renewable Living, a 40 acre off-grid eco campus in Illinois that is engaged in a campaign against NICOR to stop the development of a pipeline and push for a Renewable Pembroke. Baba Fred is chair of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance.

Mama Savi Horne works with Land Loss Prevention Project, a law firm and advocacy organization for farmers and land stewards, which has provided assistance and resources to those at threat of losing their land, as well as engaged in the advocacy and support around debt relief for Black farmers. Mama Savi is co-chair of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance.

Baba Fred Carter talks about how the murder of his cousin Emmet Till affected his family, the power of your plate, Monsanto, and being inspired by a new generation of activists. Mama Savi Horne discusses what choices mean when it comes to food, the struggle against Black land loss, the right to food, and food access.

See more of the work of host Max Rameau at pacapower.org. Stay subscribed to The Next World for more news from the frontlines of movements for justice and liberation.

You can read more about the issues we explore on our podcast and much more at dignityandrights.org, the website of Partners for Dignity & Rights.

Please subscribe, spread the word, and support the show.

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On this episode, part two of a two part interview, Mamyrah Prosper discusses the aftermath of the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, as well as grassroots responses. This interview was recorded just days before the recent earthquake added to the turmoil in Haiti.

Mamyrah Prosper is International Coordinator for Community Movement Builders, and Assistant Professor of Global and International Studies at UC Irvine. She immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti at age 15, leaving her parents behind, and moved in with her sister’s family in New Jersey. 

Following a family tradition of activism for social justice – her father was a human and labor rights activist – she champions causes including women’s rights, affordable housing and land rights. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on the Haitian Platform for Advocacy for an Alternative Development, a central social movement for social justice in Haiti.

Outside of the classroom, Mamyrah has volunteered at Take Back the Land, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, and the Correctional Association of New York. During her time at FIU, she helped organize two conferences on Afro-Latino social movements and feminist reimaginings of the nation that involved academics, students, activists and performing artists. She also served as a teaching assistant and lecturer. Mamyrah has authored and co-authored dozens of peer-reviewed book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, book reviews and encyclopedia entries.

See more of the work of host Max Rameau at pacapower.org. Stay subscribed to The Next World for more news from the frontlines of movements for justice and liberation.

You can read more about the issues we explore on our podcast and much more at dignityandrights.org, the website of Partners for Dignity & Rights.

Support the show