Ep 323 - Announcing Respair Production & Media!

We've got some news! Dame and Kiss are announcing the launch of Respair Production & Media, a new movement media ecosystem hub that supports the media needed to reshape Chicago and beyond toward liberation. Respair builds new media projects in partnership with social movement participants and visionaries, enabling their work to reach new audiences, and creates space for the ideological frameworks and material needs of those reimagining our world to be heard, shared, and supported. In this first season of Respair, we have three new projects, announced for the first time in this episode, that we are hyped to roll out throughout the summer. Get in tune and divest from despair with us!

Follow Respair on IG - instagram.com/respairmedia

Check out the website - respairmedia.com

Ep 322 - Bernardine Dohrn

The guys have the great honor and joy of talking with the legendary Bernardine Dohrn on this episode of AirGo. Recorded on the land that she, her husband Bill Ayers, and five other families have communally stewarded for the last 40-plus years, Bernardine reflects on what she's learned about time, grief, transformation, liberation struggles, and love over a lifetime of battling imperialist white supremacy at an intensity few have ever experienced. We're so grateful for her time and love.

SHOW NOTES

If you're curious about Bernardine's story, we recommend the amazing podcast Mother Country Radicals, which tells the story of her involvement in radical movement and decades living underground through the eyes of her son Zayd. Listen here - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mother-country-radicals/id1625882016

Ep 321 - One Million Experiments Part 13: Ujimaa Medics with Martine Caverl

The 1ME squad talks with Martine Caverl of Ujimaa Medics, a Chicago-based crew of organizers, community members, and health professionals who offer training in Urban Emergency First Response, primarily to people who live in or love people who live in communities where shootings often occur. Martine breaks down how historical flashpoints like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the murder of Mike Brown built the framework for the organization, the importance of invitation as a tool for building meaningful work, and much more.

SHOW NOTES

Support UMedics - https://www.umedics.org/donate/

Zapatista movement - https://nacla.org/news/2022/12/21/spark-hope-ongoing-lessons-zapatista-revolution-25-years

Dr Luther Castillo Harry - https://latinarepublic.com/2022/02/15/a-look-into-honduras-new-secretary-of-science-and-technology-dr-luther-castillo-harry/

Damien Turner - https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03cnchospitals.html

We Charge Genocide - http://wechargegenocide.org/

Beyond Do No Harm - https://www.interruptingcriminalization.com/beyond-do-no-harm

Subscribe to One Million Experiments - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-million-experiments/id1589966282

Subscribe to AirGo - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 320 - One Million Experiments Part 12: Feed Black Futures with Ali Anderson

The 1ME crew gets their hands dirty this month with Ali Anderson of Cali-based experiment Feed Black Futures. Created in 2020 as a crowdfunding campaign to feed 20 families for two weeks at the start of the pandemic soon became an organization that feeds Black mamas/caregivers impacted by the carceral system in counties across California by partnering with Black and Brown-owned farms and food suppliers across California. FBF is committed to creating a world where Black people have access to high-quality fresh produce and the means and skills to produce it. Founder Ali breaks down what happened when she ended up with way more money than she expected, the bonds her work has forged, and the regenerative joy people get from keeping their hands in the soil.

SHOW NOTES

Support Feed Black Futures - https://feedblackfutures.org

Soul Fire Farm Immersions - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/programs/bipoc-trainings/immersions/

Reparations Map for Black-Indigenous Farmers - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/get-involved/reparations/

Arissa Hall - https://www.arissahall.com/

Delaine Powerful - https://homecomingcollective.com/who-we-are

Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis by Dean Spade - https://www.versobooks.com/products/2722-mutual-aid

Barnard Center for Women Intro to Mutual Aid - https://bcrw.barnard.edu/videos/introduction-to-mutual-aid/

Generative Somatics - https://generativesomatics.org/

Liberated Life with Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams - https://www.liblife.net/

Subscribe to One Million Experiments - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-million-experiments/id1589966282

Subscribe to AirGo - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 319 - One Million Experiments Part 11: Harriet's Wildest Dreams with Makia Green

AirGo, Interrupting Criminalization, and Project NIA kick off season two of One Million Experiments, our collaborative podcast showcasing and exploring how we define and create safety in a world without police and prisons. We start off in the DMV with Makia Green of Harriet's Wildest Dreams, a black-led abolitionist community defense hub centering all Black lives most at risk for state-sanctioned violence in the Greater Washington DC area. Makia breaks down the different pillars of their work, the ways their work is shaped by historical Black revolutionaries, and the unique challenges of organizing for liberation in the center of the U.S. empire.

SHOW NOTES

Learn more about Harriet's Wildest Dreams - https://www.harrietsdreams.org/

Harriet Tubman - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman

Ida B Wells - https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett

Ella Baker - https://ellabakercenter.org/who-was-ella-baker/

DC Safety squad - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WpC8yxRXU4RAWM5S2WHEjniIOjhuE0b07aKRf9bDqGA/edit

Erika Totten - https://erikatotten.com/

Mary Hooks - https://www.netrootsnation.org/profile/mary-hooks/

The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor - https://www.sonyareneetaylor.com/the-body-is-not-an-apology

BOLD - https://boldorganizing.org/

Emotional Emancipation circles - https://communityhealingnet.org/emotional-emancipation-circle/

Generative Somatics - https://generativesomatics.org/

Subscribe to One Million Experiments - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-million-experiments/id1589966282

Subscribe to AirGo - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 318 - Rossana Rodriguez Returns

As AirGo continues its election coverage on our own terms, the guys are honored to welcome Rossana Rodriguez back to the show. As the Alderwoman of the 33rd Ward, Rossana has been a tireless advocate for policies that bring resources of care to her community and beyond. She is the lead figure behind the Treatment Not Trauma ordinance, and has stood shoulder to shoulder with organizers at many key moments over the past years. She talks about the progress of her campaign, the absurdities of Chicago's municipal structure, her entrypoints into liberation work on her home island of Puerto Rico, and much more.

Ep 317 - Brandon Johnson Returns

As Chicago's municipal election approaches at the end of February, Dame and Kiss chop it up with mayoral candidate and liberation movement member Brandon Johnson. A longtime organizer and public servant, Brandon has been running a campaign championing many of the policies and campaigns that our movements have been pushing for, and has coalesced the support of grassroots organizations and progressive organized labor behind him as he elbows through the crowd of mayoral candidates. We talk with him about his understanding of what Chicago needs, his relationship to the movements that have elevated him, and much more.

SHOW NOTES

Find your voting locations and info - https://chicagoelections.gov/en/your-voter-information.html

Learn about the candidates with the Girl, I Guess voter guide - https://www.stephanieskora.com/voter-guide

Plan your ballot with BallotReady - https://www.ballotready.org/

Listen to our first conversation with Brandon from back in 2018 - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2018/4/11/episode-132-brandon-johnson

Subscribe to AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 316 - Alec Karakatsanis

The guys are joined by Alec Karakatsanis, a lawyer by training who creates impactful, detailed, and thoughtful critiques of the ways that carceral sentiments and ideologies pervade corporate newsrooms. His twitter threads breaking down the work of the NY Times, among others, have helped popularize the language of "copaganda," and challenged reporters to understand and account for the ways their work feeds incarceration and structural violence. He breaks down the importance of these connections, the pathways to repair that he engages journalists in, and much more.

SHOW NOTES

Follow Alec on Twitter - https://twitter.com/equalityalec

Listen to AirGo's convos about journalism in our Middle Suite - https://soundcloud.com/airgoradio/sets/the-middle-suite

Subscribe to AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 315 - Lisa Lee

AirGo kicks off the year with the brilliant and wonderful Lisa Lee, a communal creative spacemaker who has fought for a public square for decades. Lisa is the Executive Director of the National Public Housing Museum, and is also an Associate Professor in Art History and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, teaching faculty with the Prison Neighborhood Art Project, and a member of the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials. She talks with the guys about her journey to Chicago with a brief foray into the world of the 1%, what a public square is so pivotal for social movements, and how housing lives at the nexus of all battles against structural violence.

SHOW NOTES

Learn about the National Public Housing Museum - https://www.nphm.org/

International Sites of Conscience - https://www.sitesofconscience.org/

Listen to AirGo's convos with spacemakers in the Spacemaker Suite - https://soundcloud.com/airgoradio/sets/spacemakers-suite

Subscribe to AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 314 - South Side creators Bashir, Diallo, & Sultan

AirGo ends the year with the illustrious creators of South Side! Dame and Kiss talk with Bashir Salahuddin, Sultan Salahuddin, and Diallo Riddle, who have birthed a truly hilarious and visionary TV comedy that shows the rich fabric that is the south side of Chicago. The three co-creators talk about legibility and illegibility of Chicago-specific jokes, how the show focuses on the funny, and how their neighbors and loved ones have both contributed to and responded to the show.

SHOW NOTES

Check out Season 3 of South Side on HBO Max - https://www.hbomax.com/series/urn:hbo:series:GYEaaAgS0AV9_ZwEAAAAC

Hear AirGo talking with comedians in the LOL Suite - https://soundcloud.com/airgoradio/sets/the-lol-suite

Subscribe to AirGo - http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 313 - Jared Ball Returns

What if we told you that we had a thoughtful, insightful, informed conversation about the relationship between American Black folks and American Jews, in the midst of the Kanye Kyrie Kerfuffle? Would you believe it? This episode is the proof that it is possible and in fact pivotally important. The guys are joined by repeat guest and friend of the show Dr. Jared Ball. Dr. Ball is a Professor of Communication and Africana Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore and author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power. He is also host of the podcast “iMiXWHATiLiKE!”, co-founder of Black Power Media which can be found at http://BlackPowerMedia.org, and his decades of journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at http://imixwhatilike.org.

SHOW NOTES

Glenn Ford - https://blackagendareport.com/glen-fords-irreplaceable-journalism

Black Power Media - https://www.blackpowermedia.org/

Sam Cornish - https://www.nyhistory.org/web/africanfreeschool/bios/samuel-cornish.html

John Russwurm - https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/russwurm-john-1799-1851/

Freedom’s Journal - https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/freedom-s-journal-1827-1829/

Negro World - https://www.unia-aclgovernment.com/history/the-negro-world/

Black Panther Newspaper - https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/black-panther/index.htm

Jamilah Lemieux - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2021/1/21/episode-271-the-notebook-suite-vol-4-jamilah-lemieux

dream hampton - https://www.dreamhampton.com/

I Got the Light of Freedom by Charles Payne - https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520251762/ive-got-the-light-of-freedom

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible by Charles Cobb - https://www.dukeupress.edu/this-nonviolent-stuffll-get-you-killed

Hammer and Hoe by Robin DG Kelley - https://airgoradio.com/airgo/2020/7/19/episode-255-the-abolition-suite-vol-4-robin-dg-kelley

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement by Barbara Ransby - https://uncpress.org/book/9780807856161/ella-baker-and-the-black-freedom-movement/

David Gilbert - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gilbert_(activist)

Edgar Bronfman Jr. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Bronfman_Jr.

Annie Levin on the history of zionism - https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isr-iso/2002/no24/levin.html

Subscribe to AirGo - http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 312 - Treatment Not Trauma Pt. 2 with Asha Ransby-Sporn & Cheryl Miller

AirGo is joined by Treatment Not Trauma organizers Asha Ransby-Sporn of DefundCPD and Cheryl Miller from STOP to break down the blowout win of the Treatment Not Trauma referendum on Election Day 2022. They talk about what they learned across months of conversations with thousands of residents in the 6th, 20th, and 33rd wards, and break down how the fight for mental health is a frontier in the battle against privatization and divestment.

Support the work of the Defund CPD - https://twitter.com/defundcpdchi?lang=en

Support the work of STOP - https://www.stopchicago.org/

Subscribe to AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 311 - Treatment Not Trauma Pt. 1 with Delaine Powerful

With a trip to the ballot box just around the corner on November 8, AirGo hops on the line to discuss an impactful referendum that several Chicago wards will have the chance to vote on next week. As a result of organizing from the Treatment Not Trauma coalition, Chicagoans in the 6th, 20th, and 33rd wards will be asked whether Chicago should reopen the mental health clinics that were shuttered over a decade ago, and whether funds from CPD should be used to fund a non-police mental health crisis response program. We break down the referendum and its importance with Delaine Powerful, who has been central to the campaign in the 20th ward.

SHOW NOTES

Find your polling location - https://chicagoelections.gov/en/your-voter-information.html

Volunteer with the campaign - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdFQV6pQyVaMkxYozDVuMX1Zy8ffcQP8Ka6duvhvkuoWKBCEw/viewform

Subscribe to AirGo - http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 310 - One Million Experiments Part 10: Chicago Torture Justice Center

On the final episode of Season 1, the 1ME crew talks with two of the leaders of the remarkable Chicago Torture Justice Center, an experiment born from the first police torture reparations victory in the history of the United States. Survivors and their families fought for decades for access to the trauma-informed resources and politicized healing support that the Center now offers. CTJC Community Organizer Mark Clements and Co-Executive Director Aislinn Pulley discuss the birth of the center, expanding definitions of repair and reparation, and what healing looks like for survivors of torture by the Chicago Police Department.

SHOW NOTES

Support the Survivor Repair Fund - https://www.chicagotorturejustice.org/repairfund

Listen to CTJC Event Series from May 2021 - https://soundcloud.com/airgoradio/sets/chicago-torture-justice-center

Learn more about CTJC - https://www.chicagotorturejustice.org/

We Charge Genocide - http://wechargegenocide.org/

Damo Day - http://www.usprisonculture.com/blog/2015/05/20/we-do-this-for-damo/

Rekia Boyd - https://exhibits.stanford.edu/saytheirnames/feature/rekia-boyd

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. - https://twitter.com/chairmanfredjr1

People’s Law Office - https://peopleslawoffice.com/

Jane Elliot - https://janeelliott.com/

Prentis Hemphill - https://prentishemphill.com/

Generative Somatics - https://generativesomatics.org/about-us/

Subscribe to 1ME - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-million-experiments/id1589966282

Ep 309 - Ravyn Lenae Listening Party

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them on the line for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth.

This listening party reconnects us with AirGo fam and emerging superstar Ravyn Lenae. Ravyn, who first appeared on the show back in October of 2015 on Episode 14, just dropped her debut full-length Hypnos. We break down the types of growth that led to the sounds of the project, how she's learned to trust her voice, and the ways she is interested in contributing to community beyond her music.

SHOW NOTES
Listen to Hypnos - ravynlenae.lnk.to/Hypnos

Follow Ravyn - www.instagram.com/ravynlenae/

Listen to Ravyn’s first episode on AirGo - https://soundcloud.com/airgoradio/ep-14-ravyn-lenae

Hear all of AirGo's listening party episodes - soundcloud.com/airgoradio/sets/airgo-listening-parties

Through the Portal Episode 5 - Climate Justice with Leah Penniman

Through the Portal is a podcast from the Social Justice Portal Project, a national collaborative think tank hosted by the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago. Each month, grassroots activists and radical scholars will give voice to community struggles, national strategies and sustainable alternatives for the future. The guest speakers, who are also Portal Project participants, explore what it means to walk through the portal of the current moment by centering racial and social justice issues.

On the final episode of the series, Dame and Teresa are joined by the brilliant Leah Penniman. A leading voice in the fight for food and land sovereignty for Black farmers and community, Leah is the Co-Director and Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm in upstate New York. She talks about the deeply rooted connections between our food systems and incarceration, how Afro-Indigenous planting practices protect and rejuvenate the land, and how the organization has grown from dropping off carrots to hungry neighbors to leading the fight to reimagine our food systems (while still dropping off carrots to neighbors).

SHOW NOTES

Tiffany LaShae - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/food-sovereignty-education/3d/tiffany-lashae/

Soul Fire farm - https://www.soulfirefarm.org

Farming While Black - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/media/farming-while-black/

Baba Curtis Muhammad - https://snccdigital.org/people/curtis-hayes/

Freedom Food Alliance - https://freedomfoodalliance.wordpress.com/

Rev Garrison Frazier - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Frazier

Greenwood food blockade - https://www.southernfoodways.org/the-greenwood-food-blockade/

Dr Gail Myers - https://www.drgailmyers.com/

Rhythms of the Land - https://www.rhythmsoftheland.com/

Booker T Whatley - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/you-can-thank-black-horticulturist-booker-t-whatley-your-csa-180977771/

Kombit (Haitian Work Parties) - http://www.haitiobserver.com/blog/the-agricultural-system-of-kombit-in-haiti.html

Phytoremediation - https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-04/documents/a_citizens_guide_to_phytoremediation.pdf

Hazel Johnson - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/

Karen Washington - https://www.karenthefarmer.com/about

All We Can Save - https://www.allwecansave.earth/

Working the Roots - https://bookshop.org/books/working-the-roots-over-400-years-of-traditional-african-american-healing/9780692857878

Freedom Farmers - https://uncpress.org/book/9781469643700/freedom-farmers/

Black Nature - https://ugapress.org/book/9780820334318/black-nature/

Highlander Center - https://highlandercenter.org/

Reparations map - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/get-involved/reparations/

Learn more about the Portal Project - sjiportalproject.com/

Subscribe to AirGo - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 308 - One Million Experiments Part 9: WA Roundtable w/ JM Wong, FreeThemAllWA, & MPOP

1ME heads to the Pacific Northwest on this episode to learn from a roundtable of experiments in Washington. With Kiss out on vacation, Eva joins Dame in conversation with JM Wong, a writer and activist in Seattle; Cassandra Butler of Free Them All WA, a collective committed to the abolition of the criminal punishment system in WA that began as a subset of Covid 19 Mutual Aid; and Zhou Shuxuan of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project, a grassroots formation of Asian/Asian American community members organizing to provide support for migrant Asian massage parlor workers, sex workers, and care workers.

The squad talks about the ways that criminalization intersects with Asian migrant experiences, food and communication as the building blocks of organization, how they adapted their approaches in the era of pandemic, and much more.

SHOW NOTES

Learn more about MPOP - https://www.mpopsea.org/

Support Free Them All WA - https://www.facebook.com/FreeThemAllWa/

Get in tune with APICAG - https://www.facebook.com/people/APICAGAsian-Pacific-Islander-Cultural-Awareness-Group/100069203014149/

Subscribe to 1ME - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-million-experiments/id1589966282

Subscribe to AirGo - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Dig into One Million Experiments - https://millionexperiments.com/

Ep 307 - ThoughtPoet

This episode's guest is community stalwart, photographer, and spacemaker ThoughtPoet. A longtime participant in creative and social movement spaces in Chicago, Thought has emerged as a curator and creative organizer in his own right over the last few years. His photography has shown the vulnerability and humanity of artists and organizers, and the conversations his exhibitions facilitate have been important for liberatory movement. We talk about this growth into a spacemaker role, the ups and downs of participating in these communities, and tenderness as a challenge and asset.

SHOW NOTES

Follow ThoughtPoet - https://www.instagram.com/thoughtpoet77/

Bring AirGo to your campus or organization - https://airgoradio.com/booking

Through the Portal Episode 4 - Grassroots Organizing with Kennedy Bartley

Through the Portal is a podcast from the Social Justice Portal Project, a national collaborative think tank hosted by the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago. Each month, grassroots activists and radical scholars will give voice to community struggles, national strategies and sustainable alternatives for the future. The guest speakers, who are also Portal Project participants, explore what it means to walk through the portal of the current moment by centering racial and social justice issues.

This episode's guest, Kennedy Bartley, is a Chicago-based organizer and thinker who until recently served as the Legislative Director of United Working Families Chicago and has been a central force behind the Defund CPD campaign. Kennedy breaks down the radical potential of contesting the electoral space, the value of participatory democracy, and how contested coalition with elected officials can be a pathway to tangible, liberatory change.

SHOW NOTES

UWF Chicago - https://www.unitedworkingfamilies.org/

Defund CPD - https://linktr.ee/defundcpd

Learn more about the Portal Project: http://sjiportalproject.com/

Ep 306 - Dixon Romeo

The guys have the opportunity to chop it up with organizing stalwart and long-time comrade Dixon Romeo. Dixon is the Campaigns Director for United Working Families, and is one of the cofounders of Not Me We, a group building community power in South Shore. He breaks down his tactics and methodologies for supporting his neighbors in the fight for housing protections, how the Obama Presidential Center is already impacting South Shore, and how a leaderful movement is the only path forward.

SHOW NOTES

United Working Families - https://www.unitedworkingfamilies.org/

Not Me We - https://instagram.com/notmewe_

Follow Dixon - https://www.instagram.com/dixonromeo/