written by building bridges radio
at Thursday, November 10, 2016
Attica, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy!
with
Heather Ann Thompson, author of Blood In The Water
Although much has been written about
the take over and ensuing assault on the Attica prison by state police and
national guard troops some four days later which resulted in the murder of
forty three individuals, including ten hostages, one statement by a 21 year
old spokesperson for the inmates, himself later executed by police after they
retook the prison, rings no less true or powerful today, some 45 years
later:
Forty-five years after the rebellion at Attica, one of the greatest
civil rights uprisings of that century stunned the nation, millions of
Americans mostly men and women of color are locked away in prisons often for
decades. But, Attica continues to serve as the inspiration, most recently
for the largest prison strike in the history of this country and as Eddie
Ellis, our recently deceased WBAI radio
journalist, prisoner reform advocate and former Attica prisoner who was locked in one of the
secured areas of the prison during the uprising said: “the bloodshed at Attica
did something important it exposed what was being done to people and it
also showed what men were able to do in a few short days when we work
together. That history will serve us, one way or another. The
choice, as it has always been, is up to us to dismantle the system of mass
incarceration”.
Heather Ann Thompson, author of Blood In The
Water, draws from more than a decade of extensive research and sheds new light on
every aspect of the uprising and its legacy, giving voice to all those
who took part in this forty-five-year fight for justice: prisoners, former
hostages, families of the victims, lawyers and judges, and state officials and
members of law enforcement. Blood in the Water is the searing and
indelible account of one of the most important civil rights stories of the last
century.
Read More...
Posted in
Attica Uprising,
Blood In The Water,
Heather Ann Thompson,
Mass incarceration civil rights
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, November 1, 2016
People Get Ready for a New Economy
with
Robert W. McChesney,
Professor at the University of Illinois
Join Robert W. McChesney as he posits that the U.S. needs a new economy whose revolutionary
technologies are applied to effectively address environmental and social
problems and used to rejuvenate and extend democratic institutions. Based on intense
reporting, rich historical analysis, and deep understanding of the technological and
social changes that are unfolding, McChesney proposes a bold strategy for
democratizing our digital destiny—before it’s too late—and unleashing
the real power of the Internet, and of humanity.
Humanity is on the verge of its darkest hour—or its
greatest moment. The consequences of the technological revolution are about to
hit hard: unemployment will spike as new technologies replace labor
in the manufacturing, service, and professional sectors of an
economy that is already struggling. The end of work as we know it will hit
at the worst moment imaginable: as capitalism fosters permanent
stagnation, when the labor market is in decrepit shape, with declining or
stagnant wages , expanding poverty, and scorching inequality. Only the
dramatic democratization of the economy can address the existential
challenges we now face. Yet, the US political process is so dominated
by billionaires and corporate special interests, by corruption and
monopoly, that it stymies not just democracy but progress. The great challenge of
these times is to ensure that the tremendous benefits of technological
progress are
employed to serve the whole of humanity, rather than to enrich the
wealthy few.
Read More...
Posted in
automation unemployment,
inequality economic,
labor unemployment,
People Get Ready,
Robert W. McChesney,
technological revolution labor
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
Indigenous Lumad Leaders from Mindanao, in Their Fight for Food, Land, and
Justice Take Aim at US Funding Philippino Militarization
On April 1, 2016, the Philippine National Police opened fire on an estimated 6,000 peasant and indigenous farmers who had barricaded a national highway in the southern Philippines. Three were killed, more than 100 wounded, and
at least 70 detained. The farmers were demanding the distribution of food
relief after more than 7-months of drought had caused widespread famine.
Since 2010, at least 70 indigenous people from the southern island of
Mindanao (collectively known as Lumad) have been killed for their outspoken
stand to defend their ancestral domains from economic and ecological
plunder. The Philippines has the world’s second largest gold deposits, more
than half are
in Mindanao. Even indigenous community schools have
come under attack through military occupation and vilification. Currently,
there are nearly 3,000 indigenous individuals who have been displaced from
their communities
due to military occupation in an effort to clear the land
for mining operations. Indigenous people of the Philippines are
increasingly being vilified, harassed, and murdered for defending their
ancestral land from foreign corporate interests.
play stream and download
Read More...
Posted in
Indigenous Lumad Mindanao,
Josephine Pagalan,
Kerlan Fanagel,
Norma Capuyan,
Philippines indigeneous,
repression Philippines indigenous
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Prisoners, Say No To Being Used As Slave Labor and
Withhold Their Labor
Power In Nationwide Strike
with
Cole
Dorsey and Michael Forest, Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee,
Industrial Workers of the World
Prisons can’t run without inmates, in more ways than one.
Prisoners wash floors, work in the laundries and kitchens, and provide a
large amount of the labor that keeps their facilities running. In return,
they earn pennies per hour
or even no pay at all. That’s sparking what may
have been the largest prison strike yet as inmates across the country
stopped working on Sept. 9. The strikers are calling for an end to forced
labor and what they call “prison slavery”. And, it’s no coincidence that
they picked Sept. 9 as the strike date: It was the 45th anniversary of the
Attica rebellion, when prisoners at the Attica Correctional Facility in New
York demanded their rights in one of the most significant civil rights
occurrences of the century.
"I'M BEGINNING TO BELIEVE THAT `U.S.A.'
STANDS FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED SLAVES OF AMERICA" wrote a 20th-century prisoner from Mississippi in a letter detailing
the daily violence he witnessed behind prison walls. His statement resounds with a long tradition of prisoners, and particularly African-American prisoners, who have used the
language and narrative of slavery to describe the conditions of their imprisonment. In the year 2000, as the punishment industry becomes a leading employer and producer for the U.S. "state," and as private prison and "security" corporations bargain to control the profits of this traffic
in
human degradation, the analogies between slavery and prison abound.
download or listen
Read More...
Posted in
Cole Dorsey. Michael Forest,
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee,
mass incarceration iww,
Prison labor strike,
Prison labor strike industrial workers of the world,
slave labor
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Thursday, October 20, 2016
The Country’s Racial Wealth Divide
with
Dedrick Asante-Muhammed, Director of the Racial
Wealth Divide Initiative at the Corporation for Enterprise
Development
Racial and economic
inequality are the most pressing social issues of our time. In the last
decade, we have seen the catastrophic economic impact of the Great Recession
and an ensuing recovery that has bypassed millions of Americans,
especially
households of color. A new report looks at the country’s racial wealth gap,
finding that if current public policies stay the same, it will take more than
two centuries for black families to accumulate the same amount of wealth
that white families have today. For the average Latino family, it’ll take
84 years. Building Bridges will focus on the essential role that wealth
plays in achieving financial
security and opportunity.
play stream
download
Read More...
Posted in
Dedrick Asante-Muhammed,
Racial Wealth Divide,
Racial wealth gap,
wealth inequality
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, October 18, 2016
“Like A Tree That Standing By The Water We Will Not Be Moved”: Fighting on
All Fronts Lawyers Declare Victory In Defense of the Camp Sacred Stone Water
Protectors as Federal Judge Dissolves Injunction
with
Jeff
Haas, National Lawyers Guild attorney
Even before the Dakota
Access’s pipeline security turned violent activists faced harsh responses as
Governor Dalrymple, who declared a state of emergency, removing water and
sanitation resources from the reservation, and the police have set up
roadblocks around the reservation. Dozens of protesters have already been
arrested, and police have spread false rumors of violence from the peaceful
protectors. But, as the struggle continues there’s been an important
victory on the legal front as U.S. District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland dissolved a temporary restraining order against Standing Rock Sioux
Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II and other participants in the protests
against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). “Although
the judge went out of his way to show his disdain for many of the water
protectors, he also became aware that this was a political controversy that
he likely could not control and the mechanism of an injunction was unwieldy
and likely ineffective in light of the determination of those resisting the
pipeline construction over sacred sites and threatening the water supply,”
said attorney Jeff Haas. Attorney Hass discusses the lifting of federal
court prohibition on protests against the pipeline and the legal challenges
as local authorities and the criminal courts are now charging as felonies,
nonviolent actions of protesters including peacefully locking themselves to
stationary earth movers
*****************************
Who's Banking on the Dakota Access Pipeline?
with
Hugh MacMillan, senior researcher on water, energy
and climate issues at Food & Water Watch.
Hugh recently wrote the report which states: "Powerful oil and gas companies are taking appalling steps to override the Sioux’s Indians objections, using their immense financial resources to push for building the Dakota Access Pipeline, which will further line their pockets. Behind the companies building the pipeline is a set of even more powerful Wall Street corporations that might give you flashbacks to the
2007 financial crisis." Among the companies funding the project are
Citibank, Wells Fargo, UBS, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America,
SunTrust, Credit Suisse and TD Securities. We’ll discuss the financial
institutions that are fostering widespread drilling and fracking to increase
our disastrous dependence on fossil fuels.
play stream
download
Read More...
Posted in
Dakota Access Pipeline protest,
Hugh MacMillan Food and Water Watch. Jeff Haas Dakota Access Pipeline,
Standing Rock Sioux
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
Institutional Racism in the U.S. labor market - What is to be
done?
with
William Spriggs, Chief
Economist to the AFL-CIO and professor in, and former chair of the
Department of Economics at Howard University. Bill is also former assistant
secretary for the Office of Policy at the
United States Department of
Labor
The so-called recovery of the US
economy has not been equally kind to everyone. Even as the unemployment rate
has decreased, the unemployment rate for African Americans, is currently
more than twice as high as that for white Americans. Indeed, nationwide in
2015, 9.6% of African-Americans were unemployed compared with 4.6% of
whites. This 2 to 1 ratio of African American to white unemployment has
persisted for at least the last 50 years.
This unemployment gap is not one of
skill or education , it is because of the very real and persistent
discrimination prevalent in the U.S. labor market. And, did you know that it
would take 228 years for African-American families to
amass the wealth of
white families ?
****************
FCP
workers invite all home attendants to join them in demanding stolen wages,
and ending mandatory 24-hour shifts
with
National Mobilization Against Sweatshops(NMASS)
Aint't I A Woman
Campaign
Home attendants who have worked
as many as two decades for First Chinese Presbyterian Community Affairs Home
Attendant Corp. (FCP) caring for elderly and ill patients in their homes,
were forced to work 24-hour shifts for as many as seven days a week, but
paid for only 12 or 13 of these hours. The workers were also denied overtime
pay. But, they’re not taking this lying down. Joined by workers from
Chinese American Planning Council and workers from other
agencies, the FCP
home attendants are demanding that FCP resolve their case immediately by
paying the workers their owed wages, and they’re headed
play stream
download
Read More...
Posted in
african american unemployment,
Bill Spriggs AFL-CO,
First Chinese Presbyterian Community Affairs Home Attendant Corp.,
Home attendants NYC,
National mobilization against sweatshops
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Rev. Dr. Barber's #FightFor15 Convention Speech Reverend Dr. William Barber II is the architect
and leader of the Moral Modays movement which has rallied a broad coaltion of North Carolinians to protest outside the state capital building demanding that the legislature restore full voting rights
Recently, thousands of low-wage workers from across the
country marched on Richmond, VA, the former capitol of the Confederacy to
fight for racial and economic justice at the
#FightFor15 National Convention. Barber , founding member of Repairers of the Breach and architect
of the Moral Monday movement, delivered the address at the culmination
of the march in sweltering temperatures, He
proclaimed "We won't stop fighting until we win"to 8,000 people marching to
oppose the racial, social and
economic inequalities that plague our nation, which are all linked and so too must be the fights to address them.
Read More...
Posted in
Reverend Barber fight for 15 Richmond,
Reverend Barber unions,
Reverend Barber voting rights
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
Ain’t I A Woman: how twenty-years after Bill Clinton pulled the safety net
from under predominantly poor women and children they’re left to sink to
deeper destitution
with
Felicia Kornbluh is associate professor
of history and gender, sexuality and women’s studies at the University of
Vermont and president of the faculty union, United Academics. She’s author
of "The Battle for Welfare Rights" and, with Gwendolyn Mink, of the
forthcoming "Ensuring Poverty: The History and Politics of Welfare Reform".
April McCray thought she had finally caught a break in late
2005. That’s when the state of Louisiana granted cash assistance to the
single mother through the Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF)
program. It was her first experience with America's welfare program.
McCray, who had been in and out of work, struggled to make ends meet. This,
she hoped, would at least help soften the
burden. But a month later, the
state stripped her of the benefits without a clear explanation, she said.
Since then, she says Louisiana, which controls state and federally allocated
TANF dollars, has denied her requests for assistance several times. "It gets
depressing," said McCray, who in 2016, is still struggling. With three kids
and rarely more than a part-time job, she says she needs help she can’t seem to get from a welfare system that was overhauled 20 years ago. “As far as
whether people are better off, I do think they are, in some cases, worse
off.”
Twenty years ago on August 22, then President Bill Clinton signed
the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, that imposed work requirements and term limits
on public assistance into effect and people like April McCray across the
country have been left destitute.
Now, while there are advocates who
in the wake of the shredding of the social safety net, such as in New York
are demanding an end to the Work Experience Program (WEP), increased
allowances to reflect the cost of living, and more humane treatment at
public assistance centers, for the millions of poor, predominantly woman and children across the nation like April McCray they’re left
to wonder why across the spectrum those seeking electoral office and with a
national platform have failed to meaningfully address poverty and put together a platform
to reverse twenty-years of
the harmful legacies of the 1990s “Welfare Reform and
Destruction Act”.
Read More...
Posted in
Felicia Kornbluh and welfare,
President Clinton Welfare,
Welfare and poverty,
Welfare and women,
Welfare Reform
»
Email Post »
2
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, September 14, 2016
“Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics,
and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck”
with
Adam Cohen, former member of the NY Times Editorial Board
One of America’s great
miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court’s infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell ruling made government sterilization of
“undesirable” citizens the law of the land. Bestselling author Adam Cohen tells
the story in Imbeciles of
one of the darkest moments in the American legal
tradition: the Supreme Court’s decision to champion eugenic sterilization for the greater
good of the country. In 1927, when the nation was caught up in eugenic fervor, the
justices allowed Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck,
a perfectly normal young woman, for being an “imbecile.” Adam Cohen sets the context for the forced
sterilization of Carrie Buck and thousands of others: a panic, fed by the pseudoscience
of eugenics, that so-called feebleminded people constituted a threat to public
safety and the nation’s gene pool. The book serves as a cautionary tale about
what may happen when those who have, or obtain, power use the institutions of
government and the law
to advance their own interests at the expense of those who
are poor, disadvantaged, or of different ‘hereditary’ stock.
Plus
Donald Trump's Fascist Week - The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Donald Trump comes under fire for unknowingly tweeting a Benito
Mussolini quote, and he may have more in common with the fascism founder
than he realizes.
Read More...
Posted in
Adam Cohen,
American Eugenics,
Carrie Buck sterilization,
Donald Trump fascism,
eugenic sterilization Supreme Court
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Building Bridges, Not Walls!
A Building Bridges Democratic Convention Special
With
Deborah Burger Co-President, National Nurses United
and
Larry Hamm, veteran activist, Chairman the Peopleâs Organization
for Progress
With her selection of Gov. Tim Kaine as her running mate Hillary Clinton reinforced her determination to run a traditional political campaign in a year noted for mass upsurges from the left and right.
Join Building Bridges as we highlight issues in the host city's working class communities, and from behind the barricades the protests as activists from around the country converge on the DNC. Then we'll analyze the nature of the Democratic Party and what it says about the state of U.S. politics and the impact and future of the movement initiated by Bernie Sanders.
Read More...
Posted in
Deborah Burger DNC,
Larry Hamm Bernie Sanders,
Larry Hamm DNC,
National Nurses United Bernie Sanders,
Nurses Nurses United DNC
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Building Bridges Not Walls –
Protesting the Republican Convention
with
Car Dix, Stop Mass Incarceration
Network
and
Abbas Hamideh, Cleveland
Palestinian Activist,
Co-Founder Al-Awda
Parallel idiocies in the Republican camp between Donald Trump
and conservative Republican "political correctness" now enshrined in their platform and embodied in the person of Trump’s VP nominee Indiana Gov.
Pence, have come together to form a full blown war against We the
People!
Join Building Bridges for a Presidential Election Special
high-lighting the events on the ground around ongoing issues in Cleveland
working class communities and as thousands came to protest from around the US to respond to the charcade of pomp and circumstances masking the truth and the intrigue of the Republican Party in its Convention as it unfolded in Cleveland, Ohio.
Read More...
Posted in
Abbas Hamideh,
Car Dix,
Cleveland Al-Awda,
Republican Convention protests,
Stop Mass Incarceration Network Cleveland
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Deadly Assault by Mexican Police on Striking Teachers Leaves 10 Dead, Dozens
More Injured and 22 Disappeared.
with
Laura Carlsen, Americas Program, Center for International
Policy
There is an urgent situation
facing teachers and their union, the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores
de la Educación (CNTE/SNTE), in Mexico. On June 19, teachers in the town of
Nochixtlán, Oaxaca, were fired upon with live ammunition by the Federal
Police as part of the effort by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to
break the nationwide strike by teachers against the
government's privatizing
"education reform" program. The peaceful demonstration in Nochixtlán was
also held to demand the immediate release from prison of the three top
elected union officers of Section 22 of the CNTE/SNTE, the union
representing the teachers in the state of Oaxaca. These union leaders had
been jailed and sent to a federal prison more than 1,000 miles away by the
government on trumped-up charges. Ten people in Nochixtlán were killed by
the Federal Police, with dozens more wounded, and 22 disappeared. Protest
organizers also informed the Deputy Counsel of Mexico that labor and
community activists across the United States are demanding that the U.S.
government halt all military aid to Mexico, as the weapons made available to
the Mexican Federal Police to repress the teachers have all been sent by the
United States under the Plan Mérida. The anti-union repression against
striking teachers in Mexico -- following on the heels of the so-called
"reforms" imposed by the international financial institutions (IMF, OECD,
World Bank, etc.) -- concerns all workers and trade unions the world over.
play stream
download
Read More...
Posted in
Laura Carlsen,
Mexican unions,
oaxaca teachers police killing,
Oaxaca teachers union
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
US Imposing Junta to Rule Puerto Rico
with
Rafael Bernabe, candidate for Governor of
Puerto Rico for
the Partido del Pueblo Trabajador (PPT) 2012; professor and
director of the Federico de OnÃs Hispanic Studies Center at
the
University of Puerto Rico at RÃo Piedras; economist; and
who has published
three books including “Puerto Rico: Crisis y
Alternativas”
Just in time to celebrate
the Declaration of Independence by the 13 colonies which came together to
form the USA,, Congress passed and Pres Obama signed The Puerto Rico
Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, or PROMESA, which
established an independent control board or Junta de Control Fiscal, as it
is locally known. It will be responsible for managing Puerto Rico’s spending
and debt recovery with sweeping powers to run Puerto Rico’s economy. It also
imposes a retroactive stay on litigation from the territory’s creditors
against Puerto Rico’s government and includes a provision that could lower
Puerto Rico’s minimum wage for workers 25 and younger below the current
federal minimum of
$7.25. The bill was opposed by progressives including
Senator Bernie Sanders, who said “[W]e are taking away virtually all of the
political and democratic rights of the people of Puerto Rico. We are
treating them as an absolute colony.” While supporters of the legislation say
it will help the island cope with its debt crisis by allowing an orderly
restructuring of its $72 billion debt, critics say it is a reversion to
old-style colonialism that removes democratic control from the people of
Puerto Rico. They say that this colonial junta is nothing but a glorified
collection agency for the hedge funds and the vulture funds and will call
for further austerity in an economy reeling from a long term depression
rather than ways
to fix the broken economy which led to the debt in the first
place. In Puerto Rico, students, union members, politicians and
environmentalists have launched a series of protests against the bill,
including marches and a protest camp outside the U.S. Federal Court in Hato
Rey, Puerto Rico.
Plus
Bernie Sanders
speech against "colonial" Puerto Rico bill PROMESA
Sen. Bernie Sanders harshly condemned what he called the
"colonial" Puerto Rico bill PROMESA on the Senate floor on
June 29
Read More...
Posted in
and Economic Stability Act,
Bernie Sanders Puerto Rico,
Management,
PROMESA,
Puerto Rico debt,
Puerto Rico Oversight,
Rafael Bernabe
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Thursday, July 14, 2016
From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet?
with
Gil Caldwell –
Methodist Minister, activist and a self-described foot soldier in the civil
rights movement. He marched on Washington; called for voting rights in the
heat of the Mississippi summer; and walked from Selma to Montgomery. He
later broadened his demand for equality, advocating for gay rights. In 2000,
he was arrested twice for protesting the United Methodist Church’s policy
that the “practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian
teaching.” Co-Executive Producer From Selma to
Stonewall.
and
Marilyn
Bennett - a lesbian author and activist, developed the Truth in Progress, a multi-media project focused on
race, sexual orientation, and religion. The project pays homage to historic
events and people of the civil rights and gay rights movements. Director
& Co-Executive Producer From Selma to
Stonewall.
Discussion of the powerful new documentary that begins
by looking at the Civil Rights Movement in Selma and the LGBTQ Rights
Movement that was galvanized at the Stonewall rebellion. The film delves
into some of today’s most explosive and discussed subjects: racial
injustice, police brutality, transgender discrimination, LGBTQ homelessness,
and where those issues intersect. The film takes on heightened importance in
this month of gay pride recognition and celebration and most particularly
after the horror of the massacre of gay, primarily Latinos In Orlando.
play stream
download
Read More...
Posted in
From Selma to Stonewall,
Gil Caldwell,
LGBTQ Rights Movement and African Americans,
Marilyn Bennett,
the Truth in Progress
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, June 29, 2016
The People's Summit: A Way Forward for Peoples Power
with
RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director, National Nurses
United
and
Winnie Wong, Founder, People
for Bernie & A People’s Summit Organizer
So you couldn’t attend
the Peoples Summit, well we’ll provide a report back on the historic
convening of organizations and individuals committed to social, racial and
economic justice June 17-19, in Chicago to bring together activists committed to a People’s Agenda that can enhance and expand issue campaigns and hold all elected officials accountable to popular demands for justice, equality and freedom. The Summit envisioned as deepening the relationship between participating organizations rooted in principled
anti-corporate politics, development of community leaders, direct action not based on partisan identification, and strategic organizing to build power. The Summit was devoted to key issues such as the Fight for 15, mass incarceration and criminal justice reform, voting rights and expanding democratic participation, a tax on Wall Street speculation to fund human needs and jobs, climate justice toward a sustainable economy, improved Medicare for All, the fight for free and debt-free higher education, secure retirement through expanding social security, ending HIV/AIDS, achieving Constitutional pay equity for women, and ending deportations and support for DREAMers, among others. WOW, that’s a heck of an agenda and aspiration and we’ll find out how it turned out!
Read More...
Posted in
Bernie Sanders,
Democratic Convention,
National Nurses United,
People for Bernie,
People’s Summit,
RoseAnn DeMoro,
Winnie Wong
»
Email Post »
1 comments »
written by building bridges radio
Orlando: I See Your "True Colors" Shining Through
Saturday was
Latin night. More than 350 revelers
flocked to Orlando’s Pulse
nightclub for reggaeton, salsa
and Puerto Rican drag queens.
“Calling all our Latinos,
Latinas and everyone that loves a little
Latin flavor!”
read a Saturday evening post on the club's Facebook page. “It's time to party!” We’ll continue to probe how the merriment ended with the deadliest mass shooting of LGBTQs in U.S. history.
With
. Brian Epps, an African-American activist and Executive Director of
the Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center
in NY
. Gil Caldwell, Co-Executive Producer of the newly released film
"From Selma to Stonewall: Are We There Yet?" He’s a retired
United Methodist Minister, active in the Civil Rights Movement, and
a long-time ally/advocate of gay rights
. Michael Adams, a Latino elder, CEO of SAGE, which provides
services and advocacy for the GLBTQ elder’s.
play stream
Read More...
Posted in
Brian Epps,
From Selma to Stonewall,
gay rights,
Gil Caldwell,
LGBTQ rights,
Michael Adams,
Orlando Pulse Massacre,
SAGE gay rights
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Farmworkers Declare, We Put the Food on Your Table
Isn’t It Time We Got to
Share in the Bounty?
featuring.
. Pablo
Cruz and Heriberto Gonzalez NYS farm workers
. Rev. Richard Witt, Executive
Director Rural & Migrant Ministry
. State Senator Adriano Espaillat
.
NYS Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan
. Cardinal Timothy Dolan
. Kerry Kennedy,
Pres., Robert Kennedy Center for Human Rights
. Jose Calderon, President,
Hispanic Federation
Hey, what about the
fact that those who grow the food that feeds us, farmworkers don’t get even
one day a week off to rest after from their toil? And, they don’t have the
right to organize and bargain collectively; nor are there basic standards
under the Sanitary Code for farmworkers living quarters; nor do farmworkers
get unemployment pay when they’re laid off or terminated; and they’re not
entitled to workers’ compensation if they’re injured on the job; nor can
they receive disability benefits when they are unable to work due to illness
or injury. And, they sure don’t receive overtime pay when they’re forced to
work more than an eight hour day. Why is this? Well, in the 1930s, farmworkers and domestic workers were left out of the New Deal due to pressure from the descendants of slaveholders. Eighty years later,
farmworkers remain excluded for fundamental labor protections and benefits in New York and now they’re marching throughout NYS with the Rural and Migrant Ministry to end this injustice and demand that the state senate and Gov. Cuomo bring the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act to the floor for a vote to be included in basic labor rights afforded other workers.
play stream
download
Read More...
Posted in
nys farmworkers Kerry Kennedy,
nys farmworkers rights,
Rural & Migrant Ministry,
Timothy Dolan nys farmworkers
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Medicare for All, A Better Prescription for a Health Care Solution
with
Richard Gottfried, Chair NYS Assembly Health
Committee
Bernie Sanders is at the forefront over a national
debate on improving our health care system, with his proposal for a “single
payer” structure shorthand for “Medicare for All”. Meanwhile, in NYS,
Assemblyman Richard Gottfried‘s single payer legislation has passed the
Assembly, with wide support from organized labor as well as multiple
community advocacy and healthcare professional organizations. While
discontent arises under Obamacare, as insurance companies increase our
out-of-pocket expenses the Gottfried plan would provide a comprehensive
universal insurance program for all NYers, without deductibles, co-pays and
would eliminate restrictive provider networks. Gottfried’s plan would begin
a march to “Medicare for All” nationwide, the same state by state way the
Canadians began their successful single payer system. “Health care reform
has done a lot of good, but it still leaves us in the hands of insurance
companies. Single Payer would save the billions of dollars that we now
spend on insurance company administrative costs…You and your doctor would
work to keep you healthy. New York Health would pay the bill with funding
from broad-based revenue based on ability to pay”.
Plus Lily Tomlin
Comedian/actress Lily Tomlin appeared as her character Ernestine to lambaste the insurance companies at a
California rally in support of a Medicare for all single payer system
Read More...
Posted in
Bernie Sanders health care,
Health care,
Lily Tomlin health care,
medicare for all,
NY Health Care,
NYS Assemblyman Richard Gottfried,
single payer health care
»
Email Post »
0
comments »
written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Following $15/Hour Victories in CA, NY, PA, Underpaid Workers Intensify Call
for $15, and Union Rights Nationwide with Record 300 City Strike and Protests!
Fast-food, home care, child care, airport, higher
education, hospital and other underpaid workers in the Biggest-ever day of
global strikes and protests demanded 15 dollars and hour and union rights
for workers everywhere. The workers and their supporters swept the country
in protest to demand corporations pay workers’ wages they can live on and
that giant companies like McDonald’s pay their fair share of taxes. The workers
zeroed in on McDonald’s, the world’s second largest employer and
industry leader, as a symbol of what is wrong with the economy.
In New
York and California, where workers already won $15, the protest was focused
on the demand for union rights and on supporting the call for $15 by workers
all across the country. Around the world, workers rallied in more than 40
countries on six continents, including a blockade at the McDonald’s in Disneyland Paris; protests in the United Kingdom against “zero-hou contracts,”
which fail to guarantee workers a minimum number of hours;
protests in Korea against unpaid hours and unsafe working conditions; and a
series of marches against unfair labor practices in Brazil.
In New
York City, the rally for $15 and a union was capped off by thousands marching from McDonald’s, where the Fight for $15 started more than three years ago, across town to a $1,000/plate GOP gala, protesting against Donald Trump's opposition to raising minimum wages.
Read More...
Posted in
15 and a union,
McDonalds minimum wage,
McDonalds union,
minimum wage,
Trump minimum wage,
Trump unions
»
Email Post »
0
comments »