“Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.” -June Jordan April is National Poetry Month
This week on COVID, Race, & Democracy…
On Friday, April 8, 2022 a press conference was held outside the AFL-CIO in Washington D.C. to call for opening the books of the international operations of the AFL-CIO and its collaboration with the CIA, the Agency for International Development, and the National Endowment for Democracy; which is giving $75 million this year for its “Solidarity Center.” The speakers called for the termination of this government funding to undermine labor movements around the world.
VOICES: David Hemson, an organizer with the South African COSATU, and Eric Jgertsen Payday, a network of men working with Global Women’s Strike, speaking in front of the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington DC on April 8, 2022.
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Covid, Race, and Democracy host and producer Ann Garrison reports from the conflict-zone in Ethiopia, she spoke to Pacifica host and producer Dennis Bernstein of Flashpoints.
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Marking the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech, activists with The Poor People’s Campaign released a new report about the pandemic in the U.S. as a pandemic of the poor. The campaign is organizing for their Mass Moral March on Washington on June 18th.
Voices: April 4, 2022, the Poor People’s Campaign rally at the Freedom Plaza in Washington DC. Esther Iverem, producer/host of On the Ground.
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Melissa Lucio maintains her innocence as she awaits to be executed in Texas while family, friends and activists fight for her life. The District Attorney, Armando Villalobos who prosecuted Ms. Lucio’s case is now serving a 13-year federal prison sentence for bribery and extortion. Thanks to Gloria Rubac.
The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit.
Voice: Gloria Rubac, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement
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Ketanji Brown Jackson was born on September 14, 1970 in Washington, D.C. and raised in Miami, Florida. She is an attorney and jurist who has served as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2021. Brown attended Harvard University for college and law school, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She began her legal career with three clerkships, including one with U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Prior to her elevation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she served as a district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 2013 to 2021. Jackson was also vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. Brown received Senate confirmation to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States on April 7, 2022, with all 50 members of the Democratic caucus and 3 Republicans voting in favor of the nomination to replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Voices: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Former Texas Congressman Attorney Craig Washington
Credits:
Host: Akua Holt
Producers: Polina Vasiliev, Akua Holt, and Steve Zeltzer
Music:
“Shosoholoza”, Soweto Gospel Choir
“There it Is”, Jayne Cortez and The Fire Spitters
“People Make the World Go Round”, The Stylistics
