In this podcast, I discuss the symbolism and political possibility of the early drafts of the Constitution, what the core freedoms afforded “We the people,” and our ongoing collective work to define what that means today.

I touch on the Google antitrust case, Project 2025, and the growing online repression of protestors. I also give listeners a glimpse into Vision 2030—our vision at Data for Black Lives—to empower communities in the face of algorithmic oppression.

Learn more about The Movement Scientist Fellows.

Tunnels is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

A revolution happens when the underground erupts into the mainstream.

Almost ten years since the murder of Trayvon Martin, I reflect on participating in the action that launched the Black Lives Matter movement - the occupation of the Florida state capitol.

James and Grace Lee Bogs wrote that revolution is not a single event; it is not a rebellion or a coup d’etat but a protracted struggle “that requires that the oppressed masses acquire what they never start with - confidence in their ability to win.”

What does Trayvon’s life and death mean today? What does revolution mean today?

This episode is a meditation on revolution - as a concept, an end goal, and most importantly, a necessary process towards a more human human being.

Sources:

Brooks, Raillan. “Did You Know Protesters Have Been Occupying the Florida State Capitol For a Week? Yeah, Thought So.” The Village Voice, July 22, 2013. https://www.villagevoice.com/2013/07/22/did-you-know-protesters-have-been-occupying-the-florida-state-capitol-for-a-week-yeah-thought-so/.

Milner, Yeshimabeit. D4BL. “No Humans Involved.” September 14, 2022. https://d4bl.org/dispatch/90-no-humans-involved.

Revolution and Evolution a Book by Grace Lee Boggs, 1974. https://bookshop.org/p/books/revolution-and-evolution-grace-lee-boggs/11818052

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Credits

Executive Producer: Yeshimabeit Milner

Writer: Yeshimabeit Milner

Sound Editor: Brogan Molly

Music: Against All Logic

Welcome. My name is Yeshi Milner, and this is Tunnels a new podcast, an audio journal of the ideas, stories, and people that have inspired me personally.

You may know me as a Founder and Executive Director of Data for Black Lives, a movement of scientists and activists working to make data, a tool for social change instead of a weapon of political oppression.

People often ask me, Yeshi, what gave you the courage to start a movement at -- one of the most important, but also difficult times in history?

This is the space I will be sharing my journey, and it is an invitation for you to journey beside me. It is my pray that this podcast can provide encouragement, inspiration, hope and joy to press forward in a time where we must recognize that we are the ones we've been waiting for.

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In the first episode I discuss my journey into underground spaces, and what being underground means to me. After a brief history of the Juneteenth holiday, I get into the most well known and effective underground movement in history: the Underground Railroad.

I have been studying the Underground Railroad and its operation as a decentralized network in an effort to understand how today we can use the knowledge our ancestors gained to usher forth a new era in US history, one where the legacies of slavery are not longer seen and felt through technological systems. I end the episode with the recent Apple Union victory and what it means for us all.

Follow me on twitter: @yeshidid

Learn more about Data for Black Lives: d4bl.org

Support the Apple Union: @acoreunion

Full episode transcript coming soon!

Sources:

Bell, Richard. Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home. Simon and Schuster, 2019.

Blight, David W. A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation. First edition. Orlando: Amistad, 2009.

Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself. 3rd edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016.

Bordewich, Fergus. Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railro. Harper Collins, 2009.

Foner, Eric. Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad. W. W. Norton & Company, 2015.

Gudmestad, Robert. “Faith Made Harriet Tubman Fearless as She Rescued Slaves.” The Conversation. Accessed May 22, 2022. http://theconversation.com/faith-made-harriet-tubman-fearless-as-she-rescued-slaves-127592.

Helmore, Edward, and Edward Helmore with agencies. “Apple Workers in Maryland Vote to Join Union, a First for the Tech Giant in US.” The Guardian, June 19, 2022, sec. US news. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/19/apple-workers-vote-to-join-union-a-first-for-the-tech-giant-in-us.

Press, The Associated. “Maryland Apple Store Workers Face Hurdles after Their Vote to Unionize.” NPR, June 20, 2022, sec. Business. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/20/1106264834/maryland-apple-store-union.

Sehgal, Parul. “When a Kidnapping Ring Targeted New York’s Black Children.” The New York Times, October 27, 2020, sec. Books. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/books/review-kidnapping-club-jonathan-daniel-wells.html.

Still, William. Still’s Underground Rail Road Records: With a Life of the Author... William Still, 1886.

Franklin Humanities Institute. “The Black Outdoors: Humanities Futures After Property and Possession.” Text. Franklin Humanities Institute, November 17, 2017. World. https://humanitiesfutures.org/papers/the-black-outdoors-humanities-futures-after-property-and-possession/.

Credits

Executive Producer: Yeshimabeit Milner

Writer: Yeshimabeit Milner

Sound Editor: Brogan Molly

Music: Against All Logic