STOPPING THE NYPD’s Stop and Frisk
With
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow:
Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness
Jamal Mims, Occupy Wall Street
Mary Black, and Benita Rivera, parents
Leticia James, N.Y. City Council member

More than 700,000, according to NYPD documentation predominantly
African-Americans and Latinos have been profiled for stops and frisks,
as a result of what is now referred to as the “new”Jim Crow policies of
policing and inflicting state terror on communities of color. But, in
response to the increasing criminalization of communities of color is a
burgeoning movement prepared to, STOP Stop and Frisk as they say
no to the new Jim Crow.

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America Beyond Capitalism:
Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty and Our Democracy
With
Gar Alperovitz, Professor of Political Economy, University of Maryland
and co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative

As discontent with the economic and political status quo mounts in
the wake of the "great recession," Gar Alperovitz's “America Beyond
Capitalism” suggests a bottom-up effort currently already underway
in communities across the U.S., which point in the direction of,
among other things worker-owned cooperatives, and community
land trusts, supported by policies and resources from municipal,
state and federal government. Ongoing economic pain is likely to
continue to inspire such initiatives to demand further action to
democratize the ownership of capital, so that ownership goes to
the 99% in new ways rather than to the top 1%.”

http://www.archive.org/stream/AmericaBeyondCapitalismWithGarAlperovitz
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“Un-Settling Occupation” OWS Stands With Indigenous Americans
With
Janice Richards, Oglala Sioux , activist and educator
Firewolf Nelson-Wong, Dine, AIM member and activist
Joseph, indigenous activist
Christopher Hedges, journalist, activist
Raymond Two Hawks, Narragansett Nation, Rhode Island
Territory

On the 121st anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee,
indigenous people connected the colonial occupation of Manhattan
to Occupy Wall Street - an occupation of already occupied land.
They gathered in order to initiate an open dialogue with OWS, to
raise local and national awareness of ongoing Native struggles,
and to recognize that the injustices and inequalities we currently
confront are the bricks and mortar of conquest and settler
colonialism. Un-settling “occupation” called upon OWS in its
yearnings to voice the experiences of the 99% to make space for
those most marginalized. As stated during the evening, let us
pass the mic, turn up the volume, listen to Native voices, and
break down the culture of domination – and find roads which we
can walk down together

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2012 – We’re Overdue for a Public Banking System
With
Timothy A. Canova,
Betty Hutton Williams Prof. of International Economic Law
Chapman University School of Law

The federal government’s response to the financial crisis has been
a parade of bailout programs injecting public funds into the largest
banks and financial institutions, with precious little assistance for
everyone else. As in the 1930s, Depression failure to achieve a
strong and sustainable recovery should open the door to other
alternatives such as parallel public banking institutions, at both the
federal and state levels, to fill the unmet credit needs stemming
from the massive failures in private banking. In banks owned by
federal and state governments, there is far greater public
accountability in the bank’s oversight, direction, and lending
practices than in private institutions. This so-called “public option”
in banking has a rich tradition in American history which can serve
as models today including the 30's Reconstruction Finance Corp.
at the Federal level and the Bank of North Dakota which has been
successfully operating since the 1930’s and is the model for a number
of attempts today at the state level including California to duplicate its
success
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Plus "The Socialist Bank of North Dakota"
with
Dr. Rozanne Everson Junker, political scientist

North Dakota has long had a state bank which unlike private banks
has faithfully served the people and the state in good times and bad.
We've talked about a public option for health care, but why not for
banks? Thanks to Michael Moore for this case study.

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Justice for Jazz Artists, What No Minimum Wage & No Pension?
With
John O'Connor, Vice President AFM's Local 802
Keisha St. Joan, jazz vocalist

N.Y. City’s musicians’ union has been leafleting outside The Blue
Note, a major jazz club, in a campaign to gain pension benefits
and a minimum wage for jazz artists. The disagreement between
the union and club owners dates back to 2005, when union
leaders and the night clubs successfully lobbied the NYS
Legislature for a reduction in the sales tax on tickets with the
extra revenue to be used to pay for pension and health benefits
for the artists. While jazz has been recognized by the U.S.
Congress as “America’s National Treasure,” and clubs like the
Blue Note, Birdland, the Jazz Standard, Iridium and the Village
Vanguard are still filling seats and charging hefty prices, the jazz
players find themselves facing old age with no pension and little
in the way of Social Security, since much of their pay was in cash
and off the books. “It’s just a sin that we have no pension,” said
Keisha St. Joan, 72, a jazz vocalist who was distributing leaflets.
“I will not have a pension before I die.”

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