A Teenager, a Journalist and a Construction Worker Caught Up in Trump Immigration Crackdown

Six-year-old Sumaya Kaur Sidibe beamed with pride when she watched Kamala Harris become Vice President in 2021. She identified with Harris in a big way: she is also mixed race – Indian and Black – and she’s from Oakland. We produced a story about the family preparing for Kamala Harris to take office back in 2021. But four years later, Sumaya has complicated feelings about the vice president’s politics and the way she talks about her own biracial identity. Host Sasha Khokha checks back in with the Sidibe-Singh family about how they are feeling about this upcoming presidential election, and the questions they have for Kamala Harris. And Incarcerated people can’t vote in this upcoming election, but their lives may be directly impacted by the results. Our friends at KALW’s Uncuffed podcast bring you a conversation between currently and formerly incarcerated journalists at San Quentin: Ryan Pagan, Will Harris, Anthony Gomez and Thanh Tran. They discuss statewide ballot measures propositions 6 and 36. If passed, Proposition 6 would end involuntary servitude in prison, and Proposition 36 would increase penalties for certain theft and drug crimes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Loka 202430min

California has grand plans to turn a stretch of abandoned railroad tracks into 300 miles of walking and biking trails, connecting the rolling hills of Marin County with the redwood forests near Eureka in Northern Humboldt. If completed, the Great Redwood Trail could become the longest rail-trail in the nation. But some Indigenous communities and other groups are not on board. Reporter Sam Anderson explores how this grand idea has resurfaced the painful and complicated history behind the original railroad tracks that were built more than a century ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Loka 202430min

Moonlight Pulido is a mother and a caretaker for her own mom in Los Angeles. But she couldn’t have more children after a prison doctor gave her an involuntary hysterectomy while she was incarcerated in 2005. She’s one of hundreds of living survivors of state-sponsored sterilization.   Here in California, more than 20,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in state prisons, homes and hospitals under eugenics laws. People classified as “unfit to reproduce” were disproportionately poor women, people of color, and people with disabilities. Even though California’s  eugenics laws were repealed in 1979, people who were incarcerated were still forcibly sterilized as recently as 2013. In 2021, the state passed a historic reparations law to make amends for this shameful chapter in our history. For more than a year, reporter Cayla Mihalovich has been investigating how the law has been implemented. It was intended to compensate survivors for their suffering. But roughly 75% of applicants have been denied reparations. Plus. our friends at KPBS in San Diego have a new series highlighting volunteers who devote their time in unique and unexpected ways. Today, we meet Jillian Shea at the Mesa Rim Climbing Center. She’s an athlete who lost a hand at birth. Now she’s introducing newcomers to the sport of adaptive climbing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Loka 202430min

You might think of Palm Springs as a wealthy town filled with luxury hotels and swimming pools. But it's also a place shaped by brutal racism. People who lived in Section 13, a once a predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood, were pushed off their land. Their homes were bulldozed and burned down. Now, The California Report’s Madi Bolanos. talked to some of the former residents who are now fighting for reparations. And we continue our Hidden Gems series with a visit to Mineral King. It's located in the southern part of Sequoia National Park. Mineral King's remote location means it gets fewer visitors than other parts of the park. But the campers and backpackers that make the trek are rewarded with a spectacular mountain range with rushing waterfalls. There are only a handful of buildings here, including some historic wooden cabins that belong to a few families who’ve been here long before this was a national park. One of those cabins belongs to Laile Di Silvestro’s family. Her connection to Mineral King goes back to the 1870s. Today, she’s an archeologist, and she’s looking for the stories she didn’t hear growing up. The California Report Magazine host Sasha Khokha hiked Mineral King with Di Silvestro to learn about some surprising trail blazers in the California gold rush. And the discrimination some people faced during those boom times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Loka 202429min

Today, it’s an unassuming beige building on a busy Berkeley street. But in the 1970s, the Rainbow Sign was a groundbreaking center for Black culture, politics, and art. It hosted dozens of high-profile Black thought leaders and performers, including James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, and Shirley Chisholm. Although it only existed for a few years, seeing these performances and speakers left a profound impression on one young member of the Rainbow Sign community: Kamala Harris. As Harris takes center stage as a presidential candidate, and tries to tell the nation her story, we revisit our story from January 2022 about the Rainbow Sign and its influence on her as a child growing up in Berkeley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Syys 202429min

In California, music and winemaking seem to go together. Visit any of the state’s countless wineries and you can hear all kinds of music, from jazz and folk, to classical and Americana. But one artist on the Central Coast takes that connection especially seriously: he spent years making an album full of sounds from a vineyard. Reporter Benjamin Purper takes us to San Luis Obispo to learn more about a sonic journey through a Central Coast wine harvest. And we'll meet one of California’s most celebrated cheese-makers, Soyoung Scanlan. But years ago, before she’d ever really eaten cheese, Soyoung had another love. Growing up in South Korea, she trained in classical piano. So every cheese she’s made over the last 25 years has a musical name and connection. For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse visited the cheesemaker in the hills outside Petaluma. We end today with a story that comes to us from KPBS in San Diego. They recently launched a new series, sharing stories of volunteers. We’ll be bringing you some of those profiles, starting with Ron Peterson, a guide at the Tijuana River Estuary. After losing his sight, Ron now leads a very unique kind of tour.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Syys 202430min

In this election year, the issue of immigration has become especially contentious. As one of the four states that share a border with Mexico, California has often tried to lead compassionately, especially when it comes to supporting immigrant children who come here alone. So far this year, nearly 10,000 immigrant youth have made new homes in California. Hundreds of them have benefitted from a unique program that provides legal help and guides them as they adjust to life in a new country. Reporter Lauren DeLaunay Miller brings us the story of one high school student whose life was transformed by the program, and tells us why he believes this program needs to stick around for good. Plus, we visit San Francisco's Buena Vista Horace Mann school. By day, it's a Spanish immersion school for students from kindergarten to 8th grade. But by night, it transforms into something completely unique in the city: a homeless shelter for families with children enrolled in the school district. The shelter provides a hot meal, shower and a place to sleep in the gym or auditorium. To boost their morale, parents at the shelter are able to cook a meal together twice a month. KQED’s Daisy Nguyen takes us into the kitchen.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Syys 202429min

This week, as wildfires continue to burn across our state, we’re re-airing a story from Erin Baldassari, KQED’s Senior Editor for Housing Affordability. Erin’s reporting took her back to Nevada County, where she grew up.  She wanted to learn how people there are adapting to the rising risk of wildfires due to climate change. And she started by asking folks there the same question she’s been asking herself: What do you do if climate change makes the place you love an increasingly dangerous place to live?  Erin’s story comes to us from the KQED podcast, Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Syys 202430min