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,

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

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 D

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 the

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 th

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 a

Today on Sojourner Truth in partnership with the Global Justice Ecology Project our Earth Watch guest is Anne Petermann, Executive Director of the Global Justice Ecology Project and international coordinator of the campaign STOP GE Trees. Researchers at the State University of NY College of Enviornmental Science and Forestry are developing genetically engineered (GE)American Chestnut trees that are blight resistant, and hope to win government approval for its unregulated release in the environment. GE trees are being lauded as the biotech solution for forest conservation, however the reality is that should GE trees be approved they would be mass produced and used for commercial production of timber, pulp and bio-fuels, instead of forest conservation. The GE American Chestnut could be the first GE forest tree species planted specifically to spread freely through forests, and the dangers of this could be catastrophic to existing forest ecosystems. Not only does the US regulatory system have no specific regu

Today on Sojourner Truth we bring you our weekly Earth Minute in partnership with the Global Justice Ecology Project. This week's topic the international organization Bio Fuel Watch released a new report titled: Carbon Capture from Bio Mass and Waste Incineration Hype vs Reality. The report analyses the climate change mitigation strategy known as bio energy with carbon capture and storage (BECC) and its conclusions may surprise you.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we discuss the very real possibility of incorporating genetically engineered American Chestnut trees into wild forests, and the corporate and special interests pushing this forward as a false solution to address forest conservation with our guest, Executive Director of the Global Justice Ecology Project, Anne Peterman. We will also feature our Global Justice Ecology Project Earth Minute segment. We conclude the program with our guest, journalist Tina Gerhardt who covered the recent Cop 27 UN conference for The Nation magazine. We will discuss the public comment by the Tuvalu representative in response to the loss and damage funds agreement and its impact on countries in the global south.

Today on Sojourner Truth with guest host Nana Gyamfi, Professor Christopher Gaffney joins us at the top of the hour to talk about the injustices masked behind the mega sports event being hosted by Qatar, the World Cup. From unsafe working conditions to displacement, what is the environmental and economic impact that mainstream media is obscuring? Dr. Amara Enyia joins us in the second half of the program to discuss the forthcoming UN Permanent Forum on Peoples of African Descent and her role spearheading the permanence of this forum to help continue the legacy of efforts by the Global Black Diaspora to address global anti-Black racism and its vestiges to the world body. Finally we conclude with the recent announcement by a federal district Court in Washington DC that ordered the Biden administration to end its use of Title 42, an archaic health policy weaponized by President Trump, to prevent asylum-seekers from entering the United States. Over a million migrants have been expelled at the border witho

Today on Sojourner Truth civil rights icon attorney Barbara Arnwine joins Margaret Prescod at the top of the hour to share the work she and along with a coalition of organizers and organizations continue to do on the ground to ensure voters in Georgia are able to cast their vote despite the hurdles that have been put in place to deter voters, in attempts by the GOP to suppress the Black vote during one of the most contentious races in the nation. And Sara Hussein, a PhD graduate student worker in the history department at UCLA joins us for the second half of the program to discuss the nation's largest strike of higher education workers in the University of California system.

Today on Sojourner Truth we discuss the UN Climate Summit held in Egypt, or Cop 27, that culminated Sunday November 20th after two weeks of arduous negotiations. This victory is a direct result of mounting pressure from global civil society organizations present in Sharm el-Sheikh and in cities and capitals around the world, combined with strong leadership, 30 years in the making. A breakthrough deal is the establishment of a loss and damages fund to help poorest countries most impacted by climate change. Rich countries are agreeing to contribute to this fund but what will this actually look like? It will likely still be several years before the fund exists. Major lingering questions include: who would oversee the fund, how the money would be dispersed – and to whom. Many countries said they felt pressured to give up on tougher commitments for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order for the landmark deal on the loss and damage fund to go through. And the richest countries largely contribu

Today on Sojourner Truth our Friday Panel guests: historian Dr. Gerald Horne, journalist Laura Carlsen and LAUSD school board member Jackie Goldberg join us for the hour to discuss the G20 conference that just wrapped up and the role of the participating countries in the world contrasted with the Cop 27 conference on climate change where the wealthiest countries in the world made no real resolutions to address the climate crisis. We also discuss the midterm election winners and the impact these bicameral victories could have on the future of the House and Senate.

Today on Sojourner Truth we bring you our weekly Earth Minute in partnership with the Global Justice Ecology Project: You'll hear from Nnimmo Bassey, an award winning, storied environmentalist and Global Justice Ecology Project Board Member on his take on the United Nations Cop 27 conference.

Today on Sojourner Truth we speak to Earth Watch guest Dr. Shannon Gibson, Associate Professor at USC, whose research and courses cover global environmental politics, global public health, social movements, social justice and community-based research. Her students are presently accessing Cop 27 conference workshops and content remotely through the Wrigley Institute. We discuss the sentiment her college age students face by engaging with a conference like Cop 27, where with the exception of protesters from around the globe, most international diplomats and participants negotiating do not represent their age range or urgency to take action to mitigate global warming, and what Dr. Gibson is doing to prepare these future leaders facing this climate crisis. This interview is part of the Earth Watch weekly segment on Sojourner Truth in partnership with the Global Justice Ecology Project.

Today on Sojourner Truth we continue our coverage of the Cop 27 conference with our guest Dr. Shannon Gibson, Associate Professor at USC, whose research and courses cover global environmental politics, global public health, social movements, social justice and community-based research. Her students are accessing Cop 27 conference workshops and content remotely through the Wrigley Institute. We discuss the sentiment her college age students face by engaging with a conference like Cop 27, where with the exception of activists from around the globe, most international diplomats and participants negotiating do not represent their age range or urgency to take action to mitigate global warming, and what Dr. Gibson is doing to prepare these future leaders facing this climate crisis. We conclude with journalist and The Nation correspondent Tina Gerhardt who is covering Cop 27 and her take on what to expect in the last leg of Cop 27.