Sojourner Truth Radio

This week's Earth Watch guest on Sojourner Truth, is founder and Executive Director of Dogwood Alliance, Danna Smith who will give us an update on forest protection in the U.S. Danna is the founder of Dogwood Alliance. For over 20 years, she has been at the forefront of forest protection in the US, leading hard-hitting campaigns and negotiating ground-breaking forest protection commitments from some of the largest companies in the world. She is a leading voice connecting the dots between climate change, forest destruction and social justice and pushing for forest protection in the US at a scale necessary to meet the sustainability challenges of the 21st Century. She holds a law degree from Emory University.

Today on Sojourner Truth Radio, Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg & Dr. Gerald Horne join host Margaret Prescod for their Friday roundtable to discuss the latest on the ongoing Ukraine Russia conflict and its impact on the rest of the world, as well as their thoughts on the supreme court hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we discuss the administration's announcement that the U.S. will welcome over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion, and what lifting Title 42 would mean for asylum seekers from countries like Haiti and Cameroon, with our guest attorney and Executive Director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), Nana Gyamfi. This week's Earth Watch guest is Zack Porter, Executive Director of Standing Trees, who will give us an update on their continued work to protect and restore forests on New England's public lands. And on this holiday, we commemorate the late UFW labor organizer Cesar Chavez.

Today on Sojourner Truth we share this week's Earth Minute on the importance of preserving Native Forests.

This week's Earth Watch guest on Sojourner Truth is Zack Porter, Executive Director of Standing Trees, who will give us an update on their continued work to protect and restore forests on New England's public lands.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our guest is Phillip Owen joining us from South Africa to give us an update on the present deforestation in South Africa caused by large scale timber production. Philip Owen is an environmental activist and founding member of GeaSphere, a nonprofit organization registered in South Africa. For more than two decades, GeaSphere has been raising awareness regarding the environmental and social impacts of large scale industrial timber plantations (also called ‘forests’). The organization networks with Southern African and International Organizations including TimberWatch, South African Water Caucus, Global Forest Coalition and others.

Learn about International Day of Forests and what it means for our planet.

Today on Sojourner Truth we discuss the Supreme Court nomination hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Republicans make false allegations and exaggerated claims, calling Brown Jackson a supporter of terrorists for defending prisoners in Guantanamo Bay Prison during her time as a federal public defender. Attorney Barbara Arwine and journalist Laura Carlsen weigh in on the significance of the first black woman to be nominated for the Supreme Court contrasted with this behavior from the Republican party. And we conclude with our weekly Earth Watch guest, Phillip Owen who will discuss the present deforestation in South Africa.

Today on Sojourner Truth's weekly Earth Watch segment our guest is Policy Director for the Center for Food Safety, Jaydee Hanson. Multinational corporations pushing GM crops, food, trees and fish are up against environmentalists who outright oppose them or question the need for them. Will we see a future where foods are derived from GM microorganisms or GM animals are more broadly introduced into the market? Does the general public even know what GM foods they are now consuming? In 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California agreed, with the ruling that the FDA ignored the serious environmental consequences of approving GM salmon. The court also ruled that FDA's unilateral decision that GM salmon could have no possible effect on highly endangered, wild Atlantic salmon was wrong and it violated the Endangered Species Ac. The original suit was filed in 2016 by the Quinault Native American tribe in Washington state, who sued the FDA along with environmental and fishing organizations,

Multinational corporations pushing genetically modified or GM crops, food, trees and fish are up against environmentalists who outright oppose them or question the need for them. Will we see a future where foods are derived from GM microorganisms or GM animals are more broadly introduced into the market? Does the general public even know what GM foods they are now consuming? In 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California agreed, with the ruling that the FDA ignored the serious environmental consequences of approving GM salmon. The court also ruled that FDA's unilateral decision that GM salmon could have no possible effect on highly endangered, wild Atlantic salmon was wrong and it violated the Endangered Species Ac. The original suit was filed in 2016 by the Quinault Native American tribe in Washington state, who sued the FDA along with environmental and fishing organizations, for approving the safety of GM salmon based on limited research. We will speak to Policy Director for the C

Today on Sojourner Truth: What are genetically modified mosquitoes? Who is making them and why? Find out in today's Earth Watch segment

In 2020, COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency (PHE). Two years later, over 16 million people, including 6 million children, could potentially lose health insurance when the federal public health state of emergency (PHE) ends as soon as April 2022. We will speak to public health reporter Libby Watson about the impact this will have on millions of Americans. Also, we will discuss the historic role of the U.S. in the Ukraine/Russia war with organizer and writer Bryce Green. Finally, what are genetically modified mosquitos and who is making them? Find out in today's Earth Minute segment.

The world is witnessing the horrors of war live on TV including its impact on civilian populations. According to the UN there have been 636 civilian casualties and 1, 125 injured. As the war drags on, more humanitarian corridors have opened most recently in a Province in North-Eastern Ukraine close to the Russian border. Over two million Ukrainians have fled, most are in neighboring Poland where the welcome mat has been laid out for them. There are reports however, that Black and other refugees of color fleeing the Ukraine are having a difficult time getting out of Ukraine and are being denied entrance to Poland or treated in a racist manner on the one hand by Ukrainian police and on the other hand by Polish guards. Today we dig deeper into the crisis, with our guests, historian and Professor Gerald Horne who has recently written an article in Monthly Review on the Ukraine/Russia conflict, and scholar William Hartung, senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His work focuses

Today on Sojourner Truth we bring you our Friday Roundtable with our panel: Jackie Goldberg, Laura Carlsen and Dr. Gerald Horne for the hour. We will discuss the latest news update in the Russia Ukraine tension and the arms race influencing countries to show support for either Russia or Ukraine. We will also discuss the conservative's surmounting campaigns around the nation in states including: New Hampshire, Florida and Texas, to conceal American history through their proposal of laws that would censor teachers from including any instruction and books on factual accounts of U.S. History. We end with a nod to Black History Month, where we will hear from our guests who have each selected a historical black leader to lift up.

There are 1344 Superfund sites on the National Priorities List in the United States. Forty-eight additional sites have been proposed for entry on the list. For years activists have worked to draw attention to the Westlake Landfill, in MO, a superfund site, that encases a radioactive fire that is currently burning underground. The radioactive Superfund site has sat in the middle of a St. Louis Community for over 45 years leaving surface level radioactive waste to blow and be subject to all the elements. Presently, the Westlake Landfill is experiencing an active fire deep underground. It causes waste to decompose at an accelerated rate, producing excess gas and liquid. This results in a pungent odor byproduct of this gas and liquid. The Westlake Landfill sits in the floodplain of the Missouri River where radioactive contaminants (from the landfill?) are spreading into other neighboring communities along the river. The waste was created during World War II, when St. Louis-based Mallinckrodt Chemical Works p

Today on Sojourner Truth Radio, we continue our Black History Month coverage with a focus on this years BHM theme Black Health and Wellness. Discussing present day and historic challenges, our guest is Dr. Chandra Ford Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice and Health at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. And for our Weekly Earth Watch, environmentalist Dawn Chapman--co-founder of the grassroots group Just Moms STL (Just Moms St. Louis)joins us to discuss the latest on the toxic West Lake Landfill Superfund Site based in St Louis Missouri. She lives within miles of the site. She will share with us what the site is, its impact on her community, what the federal government has done thus far and the ongoing demands of campaigners to clean up the site. She Finally, playwright, and Chicano movement activist David Trujillo joins us to discuss his latest play Legacy of a Garage Band.

Today on Sojourner Truth we kick off our Black History Month Coverage. We discuss challenges facing Black and Brown communities today including: on-going bomb threats against HBCUs; the latest on what is going on in Congress to protect certification of Presidential elections and community based work being done to encourage voters and to protect the vote; those on the right slamming President Biden’s announcement that he will select a Black woman to the US Supreme Court and the Dept of Justice has refused to reopen the federal investigation into the 2014 police killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice . Our first guest is Barbara Arnwine President and Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition. And racist and anti-Semitic vandalism at Queens College part of the City University of New York. Delany Hall is a building used by the SEEK Program and was recently vandalized. SEEK students while mixed race are primarily low income, ethnic and people of color students. SEEK Students and faculty alike are pressing t

Last week, an 80 million acre oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico was invalidated after a federal judge ruled the auction did not properly analyze the impacts on climate change. The decision casts uncertainty over the future of U.S. federal offshore drilling. The ruling, which cancels 1.7 million acres of oil and gas leases from that sale, comes after a lawsuit filed in March by the environmental group Earthjustice on behalf of a coalition of groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Healthy Gulf and Friends of the Earth. According to an Earthjustice Senior Attorney, “We simply cannot continue to make investments in the fossil fuel industry to the peril of our communities and increasingly warming planet." Vacating the lease sale is a step in the right direction, but systemic change requires stopping all oil and gas development, and looking for ways to dramatically decrease our energy consumption. For the Earth Minute and the Sojourner Truth Show this is Theresa Church with Global

Today on Sojourner Truth, we discuss the recent district court judgement to reject a plea bargain for one of the three men convicted of murdering 25 year old black man Ahmad Arbery, why did Judge Woods reject the plea? We will speak to attorney and educator, Nana Gyamfi, on this breaking news and her thoughts on how this federal trial could set historic precedent. Plus on the anniversary of a militarized coup in Myanmar, over 130 trade unions and civil society organizations from around the world, have released a joint statement calling on international fashion brands to cease all production and pull out of Myanmar. Labor organizers and coalition groups are demanding mega fashion corporations end their sweatshop practices in Myanmar. We will speak to Khaing Zar Aung, labor union president of the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) to discuss conditions for the women working these exploitative jobs for these mega fashion corporations, and their negative response to this demand. Our last guest is

Earth Minute: Latest laws on GMO Food labeling.