For The Holidays, Become a 'Wallet Activist' with Tanja Hester

If you watched Sunday evening's 2021 Oscars and learned of British actor, 's, stunning and accolade-winning performance and have not gone on to watch '', maybe you should ask yourself why? If you have, you will have learned that it is an American biographical drama about the betrayal of Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago, at the hands of William O'Neal (played by Lakeith Stanfield), an FBI informant. Watching it may have left you trying to find out more context and so in this podcast we revisit our #KGNU interview with Mary Williams.  Mary Luana Williams, author of '', is s adopted daughter. She speaks here for  with Claudia Cragg. Williams grew up with the  movement in Oakland, CA. In her early teens, she was raped by a pseudo 'theatrical agent' and subsequently adopted by Fonda taking her out of Oakland and the Panther community.   She now works extensively with foundations for ' in Morocco, the Sudan and Tanzania, which she says is in many ways working the same principles she learned from her mother. This conversation does not focus at all on 'celebrity issues', but instead on politics, race and gender and also on her adopted mother's, Ms. Fonda's, gamut of political passions. Ms. Williams has also been making strenuous attempts to re-connect her life through time spent with her extended birth family most of whom have remained in Oakland.

29 Apr 202125min

is to declare the under the Ottoman Empire a "genocide", risking a potential fracture with Turkey but fulfilling a campaign pledge. This pledge was to, at long last, use the word to describe the horrendous mass killings after a series of his predecessors stopped short. Two sources have today, Thursday 22nd April, 2020, said that President Biden will make the declaration as part of an official statement this Saturday.   There are many people all over the world who have worked solidly towards this moment, towards this recognition of a historical horror.  One such is Lou Ureneck, formerly of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who we revisit here with our @KGNU interview. Ureneck was a prime mover behind the movie '', set against the background of World War I dealing with the program by  to exterminate the  This was a cinematic project dear to the late , perhaps best known for his Las Vegas hotel and casino connections and his ownership of MGM, but himself an Armenian for whom the massacre was not just some tale of history.. The events covered in the movie and in his book,  '' Ureneck explains, constituted the final episode of what he terms "the 20th Century’s first #genocide" — the slaughter of three million Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians of the Ottoman Empire. The massacre occurred as warships of the great powers stood by — the United States, Great Britain, France and Italy. The deaths of hundreds of thousands seemed inevitable until a minister, who happened to be an American, staged a bold rescue with the help of a courageous naval officer.

22 Apr 202131min

Claudia Cragg @claudiacragg speaks here for @KGNU with . A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Yessne’s parents were active in the Progressive movement of the 1940s and 50s, earning them the enmity of their neighbors during the "" hysteria and causing them to remove both her and her brother from the St. Paul public school system, never to return.  Twelve years later, she emerged from the University of Minnesota’s law school politically primed by classmates whose parents included the mayor of Minneapolis, the governor of Minnesota, and the son of a president of the United States.   '', Yessne's memoir, examines her binary development in the political hotbed that was the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1960s, where she learned the basics of electoral politics while at the same time demonstrating against the war in Vietnam and capping her political education with tours of Harlem, Milwaukee’s freedom schools, and an angrily divided South. From there, her journey continued through six states and the siege of Chicago as a member of ’s 1968 presidential campaign staff, then through five more states as an organizer for the . Landing in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom in 1970 (quite by chance), she went on to live a personal and professional life advocating for underrepresented people as a social worker, attorney and lobbyist, and as a much-needed voice in Vermont’s contentious civil union election of 2000. Everyday US newspapers offer a glimpse of the work of national leaders on the civic and political stage. What most rarely get to see in detail is the work and workmanship of those closer to the front line, where service delivery happens. Yessne’s book goes a long way towards revealing the details and challenges of delivering those same services. Though unknown to all but her immediate circle of friends, family and colleagues, Dinah’s life is a lesson in how one ordinary person CAN make things better for many.

15 Apr 202139min

Claudia Cragg @claudiacragg speaks here for @KGNU (Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, ) for #ItsTheEconomy with , senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. There, he directs the Program on . Collins latest book is He has written a number of other books including '99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It', and 'Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality', 'Bringing Wealth Home', and 'Committing to the Common Good'. He has also written numerous reports about billionaire wealth during the pandemic. Discussion in this latest interview for @KGNU focuses on getting the Biden Infrastructure Bill paid for in a way that is also combined with tackling the egregious crisis of inequality in the United States. This is is so serious now, says Collins, that President Joe Biden is declaiming that, “It’s time to build our economy from the bottom up and from the middle out, not the top down.” In recent speeches promoting his Infrastructure Bill and his American Jobs Plan, President Biden said, “I’m proposing a plan for the nation that rewards work, not just rewards wealth.” In admitting that our current system rewards wealth, President Biden revealed what American financial and political elites have known for decades: that we do NOT live in a meritocracy. Instead, we live in a nation where you have to be rich to get richer.

8 Apr 202127min

Claudia Cragg @claudiacragg speaks here with @ErikJClarke about the implications for Denver, Colorado and the nation from President Biden's new infrastructure plan to fulfill his campaign promise to “rebuild the backbone of America”. The expansive proposal, called the American Jobs Plan, intends to build 20,000 miles of roads and highways and to repair the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country among a sprawling list of other projects that Biden said would confront the climate crisis, curb wealth inequality and strengthen US competitiveness. The measure includes hundreds of billions of dollars to expand access to high-speed broadband; replace lead water pipes, ensuring access to clean drinking water; and upgrade the electric grid, making it more reliable while shifting to new, cleaner energy sources.It also seeks to improve community care facilities for seniors and people with disabilities, modernize schools and retrofit homes and office buildings while dedicating funding to training millions of workers and supporting initiatives that strengthen labor unions. The spending over eight years would generate millions of new jobs, Biden said. To pay for the package, he proposed a substantial increase on corporate taxes that would offset the spending over the course of 15 years. Among the changes, Biden called for a rise in the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and measures to force multinational corporations to pay more taxes in the US on profits earned abroad. The funding plan would unwind major pieces of Donald Trump’s tax-cut law, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and was his predecessor’s signature legislative achievement.

1 Apr 202126min

If COVID19 has shown us anything at all, it must be that growth at any price is not an option going forward. '' is an opportunity to ensure that growth is of the most productive and valuable kind to ALL members of our society, not just for the all too many CEOs who prize above all the growth of their stock price and their pay packet. This has to change.  Claudia Cragg (@claudiacragg on Twitter, comments/suggestions welcome) speaks here with Rob Dietz who brings a fresh perspective to the discussion of economics and environmental sustainability and the His diverse background in economics, environmental science and engineering, and conservation biology (plus his work in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors) has given him an unusual ability to connect the dots when it comes to the topic of sustainability.  Rob is the author, with Dan O’Neill, of . As past editor of the Daly News, Rob is a devoted advocate for revamping the economy to fit within biophysical limits.  He writes with humor, clarity, and a personal touch as he considers the complex set of institutions and activities that make up the economy. Rob continues in his attempts he says to align his personal life with the principles of a steady state economy.  He lives with his wife and daughter in a co-housing community striving for development rather than growth.

25 Mars 202131min

Claudia Cragg @claudiacragg speaks here for #ItsTheEconomy @KGNU with Sheen Kadi of #Metro Caring Denver. As Colorado's leading frontline anti-hunger organization, works with the community to meet people’s immediate need for nutritious food while building a movement to address the root causes of hunger. The organization offers innovative programming in Healthy Foods Access, Nutrition Education and Cooking Classes, ID Procurement, Urban Gardening and Agriculture, and Community Organizing and Activation.

5 Mars 202133min

Claudia Cragg @claudiacragg speaks here for @KGNU #ItsTheEconomy with President of the  in Colorado The last 6 months have been an unprecedented challenge to the health of all, to our economy, and to our concepts of racial equity. This makes the work for the more important now than ever, says Campbell.  Despite very tough conditions, the ACC continues to provide culturally competent economic development and business opportunities for its Members.  The ACC also advocates a strong understanding of the Asian American Pacific Islander communities that conduct business in a manner that is unique to their heritage..

4 Mars 202125min