Social movement against [[institutionalized]] racism in the United States during the 20th century
POPULARITY
Categories
57 episodes with Civil rights movement
37 episodes with Civil rights movement
41 episodes with Civil rights movement
52 episodes with Civil rights movement
43 episodes with Civil rights movement
25 episodes with Civil rights movement
33 episodes with Civil rights movement
12 episodes with Civil rights movement
10 episodes with Civil rights movement
16 episodes with Civil rights movement
11 episodes with Civil rights movement
8 episodes with Civil rights movement
23 episodes with Civil rights movement
15 episodes with Civil rights movement
18 episodes with Civil rights movement
12 episodes with Civil rights movement
8 episodes with Civil rights movement
28 episodes with Civil rights movement
14 episodes with Civil rights movement
11 episodes with Civil rights movement
12 episodes with Civil rights movement
11 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
14 episodes with Civil rights movement
21 episodes with Civil rights movement
13 episodes with Civil rights movement
13 episodes with Civil rights movement
11 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
18 episodes with Civil rights movement
11 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
10 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
8 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
9 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
6 episodes with Civil rights movement
11 episodes with Civil rights movement
8 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
7 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
9 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
4 episodes with Civil rights movement
8 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
5 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
3 episodes with Civil rights movement
2 episodes with Civil rights movement
Today, macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, a staple of weeknight dinners, family gatherings, and Soul Food restaurants. Humble though the dish may seem, its history is filled with surprising twists and turns. Renaissance cardinals and popes dined on elaborate pasta-and-cheese concoctions laced with costly spices. In the eighteenth century, wealthy young Englishmen made macaroni a symbol of continental sophistication. Black women, whose contribution has long been overshadowed, played a crucial role in establishing the dish as an American tradition from the nation's founding through the Civil Rights Movement. The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese: From Ancient Rome to Modern America (Columbia UP, 2026) by Dr. Karima Moyer-Nocchi is a delectable history of macaroni and cheese, tracing an extraordinary journey of cultural exchange and social change. Karima Moyer-Nocchi reveals the religious, political, and industrial forces that shaped its evolution alongside stories of the unsung figures who crafted the dish as we know it today: enslaved cooks who preserved and adapted traditions, immigrant chefs who introduced new variations, and practical homemakers looking to nourish their families with an affordable meal. She emphasizes the adaptability of macaroni and cheese, which in different times has served as both an indulgence on the elite table and sustenance to those struggling to survive, crossing borders, social classes, and cultural divides. Deeply researched and rich with enticing details, this book uncovers the creativity and resilience that brought a beloved food to our tables. The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese also shares centuries of recipes—from ancient Roman authors to celebrity chefs, reworked for modern kitchens—that provide a hands-on way to experience the evolution of this iconic dish. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Histotical Huntsville Foundation, Original foot Soldierhtat helped to Shape the Modern-Day Civil Rights Laws, Educational Life Advancement, & Economic Black Middle ClassArmy was born: in Jackson, Mississippi more than 95 years ago.He Grew up on Farish Street, a historically Black business district known as the “Black mecca of Mississippi.” His childhood was shaped by racial violence: His father, Army Daniel Sr., was killed in racial violence. His mother later died after struggling with that loss. These early experiences helped shape his commitment to civil rights.Connection to the Civil Rights Movement While attending Alcorn State University, he met and became close friends with Medgar Evers. They even played football together at Alcorn. When Evers later became the NAACP field secretary, Daniel often traveled with him, serving as a driver and companion to meetings and civil rights events. This is why he is described as a “civil rights foot soldier”—someone who worked behind the scenes supporting the movement rather than leading it publicly.Education and Career Studied physics and mathematics at Alcorn State. Later became a teacher in Jackson, Mississippi. Received a National Science Foundation fellowship to pursue graduate study at Michigan State University. He was nominated for a STAR teaching award while teaching at Jim Hill High School in the 1960s. Personal Life Married Frances Daniel, whom he met at Alcorn State. They had six children. Historical SignificanceDr. Army Daniel Jr. represents the type of people often called “foot soldiers” of the Civil Rights Movement—individuals who worked on the ground helping organize, transport activists, attend meetings, and support leaders. These people formed the backbone of the movement even though they are not widely known historically. © 2026 Building Abundant Success!!2026 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASAmazon ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy: https://tinyurl.com/BASA
Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. In this episode, we shift our attention from the Trump administration to the winner of the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Texas, state legislator and Presbyterian seminarian, James Talarico. Even before prevailing in that contest earlier this month, Talarico had been having something of a moment, appearing on Ezra Klein's podcast, being profiled by the New Yorker, and generating a wave of media coverage, much of it focused on Talarico's Christian faith, his criticisms of the religious right, and what it all might mean for his political prospects in a state that remains stubbornly red. We explore what we like and what we find frustrating about Talarico's attempt to mix religious rhetoric and populism; how he navigates the complexities of speaking the language of a particular religious tradition in an increasingly secular, pluralistic society; Dr. King, the Civil Rights Movement, and prophetic religion; the place of religion on the left, and how it differs from the religious right; Herbert McCabe and socialism; and more. Sources: "James Talarico's Beautiful Answer to Christian Nationalism," Ezra Klein Show, Jan 13, 2026 Matthew Sitman, "Whither the Religious Left?" New Republic, April 15, 2021 — "Against Moral Austerity: On the Need for a Christian Left," Dissent, Summer 2017 — "Finding the Words for Faith: Meet Christian Wiman, America's Most Important Christian Writer," The Dish, Sept 3, 2014 Bill McCormick, S.J., "Joe Biden Said Now Is The Time To Heal. But What If Americans Don't Want Reconciliation?" America, Nov 13, 2020 Vincent Lloyd, "Marcuse the Lover," Telos, Winter 2013 Alex Thompson, "Faith-forward Texas Senate Candidate Follows Porn Actors, Escorts on Instagram," Axios, Nov 8, 2025 Tad Friend, "James Talarico Puts His Faith in Texas Voters," New Yorker, Feb 23, 2026 Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss: Meditations of a Modern Believer (2013) Joseph Bottum, An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America (2014)
A PAC headed up by former Delegate AC Cordoza is under fire for sending mailers out last weekend with imagery of the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Virginia State Speaker of the House Don Scott said, "The Civil Rights Movement should not be used as a political prop" (even as U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer called the SAVE Act "Jim Crow, 2.0"). A video ad put together by a group of Black Community leaders in the group "GateKeepersVA" has also been burning up social media and is driving more contributions to attempt to catch the Eric Holder backed pro-redistricting campaign's $20 million warchest. Virginia congressional candidate, and one of the people that put the ad together, Waverly Washington joins Joe Thomas, Daily Signal Virginia correspondent, to explain how a kid who once visited his father in prison became a West Point graduate, Army officer, and now a pro-Trump fighter for Virginia's 7th Congressional District. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In our last episode, we explored the vibrant creativity of the Harlem Renaissance. Today, we zoom in on one extraordinary composer who stood right in the center of that artistic world: Margaret Bonds. Margaret Bonds was a pianist, composer, teacher, and trailblazer whose music blended spirituals, jazz, and classical traditions into something uniquely powerful. She believed music could speak up for fairness, dignity, and hope—and she used her voice boldly. In this episode, you'll discover: How Bonds' childhood home in Chicago became a gathering place for Black artists and performers Her early success as a teenage piano soloist with a major orchestra Her studies at Northwestern University and how she learned to combine classical forms with jazz and spiritual melodies Her creative partnership with poet Langston Hughes How her music reflected the hopes and struggles of the Civil Rights Movement
Nat'l Media , Historic EventI am BOTH a Northerner & present Washingtonian who was born after the Historic Marches for My Civil Rights to Vote, Education, Public Accommodations,Transportation & EmploymentMajor Media Nationally & Internationally covered in the Marches. Citizens & Celebrities also participated:Joan Baez, James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Leonard Bernstein, Sammy Davis, Jr., Billy Eckstein, Dick Gregory, Lena Home, Mahalia Jackson, William Marshall, Johnny Mathis, Nina Simone, Susan Sarandon, Pernell Roberts, Peter,Paul & Mary....My Guest is the Reverend Clarence Varner who was in Grade School when he joined the Marches for Civil Rights in the 1960's. Although it cost Him is Part-Time Job while a Teenager, He held on to his Beliefs to Stay in the Fight, even getting Arrested Several times & Tear Gassed, Cattle Prod Shocked, Attack Dogs & Fire Hosed because he stood with others to Petition the the Governor for the Right for Blacks to Vote.Rev. Clarence Varner served The United States in the Marine Corps for 8 years & served in during Vietnam during the War , he was wounded. Today he serves his God, Country & Community in the continued fight for Civil Rights*In 1965, Blacks could not: *go to eat, Blacks were served at the Side or Back Door.*Social Movie Theatres, & Clubs too*Schools in the South & other State were Segregated*Housing was Segregated in Much of America. Redlining was the norm.* Thriving Middle Class Black Business's in Black Communities were forced out of Business due to the Federal Highway's that were built OVER that land.* Separate water Fountains & Bathrooms*Separate Transportation on Buses & Trains, etc.* Upper Corporate Jobs were not opened to most Blacks These Marches were ignited by the Death of SCLC local Jimmie Lee JacksonWhat did Jimmie Lee Jackson accomplish?Jimmie Lee Jackson, was a Vietnam veteran, Baptist deacon, activist and martyr of the Civil Rights Movement. Jackson, active in the fight for equal rights, had tried multiple times to register to vote in Alabama and was denied each time.When Jimmie Lee Jackson saw his frail 80-year-old grandfather rudely turned away from the registrar's office in 1962 after attempting to register to vote in Marion, Ala. He knew he had to join the civil rights movement.On Feb. 18, 1965, he was among more than 200 people participating in a night march in Marion. Before they had walked a block, they were confronted by state troopers and the police chief, who ordered them to disperse.Jackson and his mother huddled for safety in a café. When Jackson's grandfather entered the café bloodied and beaten, the young man tried to take him to a hospital. But they were quickly shoved back by a crowd of club-swinging troopers and terrified marchers. Another trooper pulled his pistol and shot Jackson in the stomach. It was two hours before Jackson arrived at the hospital in Selma. He died eight days later.At one of two services for Jackson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told a crowd of 2,000: “Jimmie Lee Jackson's death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly to make the American dream a reality. His death must prove that unmerited suffering does not go unredeemed.”© 2026 Building Abundant Success!!2026 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy: https://tinyurl.com/BASAud
What happens when two neighbors—one Black, one white—move beyond small talk and start sharing their real stories? In this episode, Simma talks with Sandra Eggleston and Bill Byrne, whose unlikely friendship led to the book MLK to Brother Ray: A Woman's Adventure of Social Transformation, Political Revolution, and Personal Affirmation. Sandra spent four decades as a United Airlines flight attendant during a time when the U.S. was being reshaped by the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Movement. Along the way she met cultural icons, witnessed historic events, and navigated racism and sexism in ways many younger Americans have never heard about firsthand. Bill, her white neighbor in Virginia, started hearing Sandra's stories around neighborhood gatherings. The more he listened, the more he realized these weren't just personal memories—they were living history. What began as curiosity turned into a book and a friendship that changed how he sees the world. Their conversation with Simma explores how stories build understanding, why personal relationships matter in conversations about race, and how history still shapes our lives today. PS- I did not want this conversation to end, and neither will you. Key Moments 00:00 – Simma introduces the show and the guests 03:00 – How Sandra and Bill became neighbors and friends 05:30 – Why Bill decided to write a book about Sandra 09:00 – Sandra's connection to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 13:30 – Growing up during segregation and the Civil Rights era 17:30 – Sandra's early experience as a Black flight attendant in the South 24:00 – How writing the book changed Bill's understanding of race and history 29:30 – Why personal stories matter more than statistics 34:30 – What meaningful cross-race friendships can teach us 40:30 – Books, music, and stories that help people understand each other 47:00 – Final reflections on relationships, history, and change About the Guests Biography of book's subject: Sandra Eggleston MLK to Brother Ray, A woman's adventure of social transformation, political revolution and personal affirmation, tells the story of Sandra Eggleston. "Sandee" came of age during a time of revolution. Regardless of the challenge, she found her way forward, often guiding those close to her along the way. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Godmother. Colleague. A platoon sergeant on the front lines of both the civil rights and women's liberation movements. Her journey took her to international jazz festivals, Caribbean beaches, and across the country in an MGB convertible. Sandee met political power brokers, sports superstars and music legends. She survived plane crashes, murder trials, and cancer, experiencing the full spectrum of life's joys and sorrows, from weddings and Christenings to divorce. Sandee's life experiences combined with the author's research into their historical context challenge the reader to move beyond a superficial debate of today's controversies. Stories from her home and workplace bring an intimate and compelling perspective to the social and political upheaval of the 1960s and 70s. The struggles and the victories. The heartbreaks, and the healing power of family, friendship, and faith. About the Author: Bill Byrne MLK to Brother Ray is the author's third and most recent writing project. Previous books include the science fiction thriller Total Immersion and the memoir, How Long Does It Take to Catch a Fish? Four lifelong friends find themselves trapped in a high-tech, virtual reality adventure of life and death in Total Immersion. How Long Does It Take to Catch a Fish is a collection of stories about fathers and sons and sons and fathers. It explores how dads and their male offspring can be understood as two sides of the same coin, - unique yet intertwined, shaping one another across generations. The author is a career switcher from technology marketing to education. He resides with his wife (also a teacher!) in Northern Virginia. They travel often to visit their children's growing families in Brooklyn and Florida. When not writing, he enjoys running and playing the fiddle. More information can be found at MLKtoBrotherRay.com Book Mentioned MLK to Brother Ray: A Woman's Adventure of Social Transformation, Political Revolution, and Personal Affirmation by Bill Byrne Available on Amazon More information: MLKtoBrotherRay.com Why This Conversation Matters Many people today know the Civil Rights Movement only through textbooks and headlines. Sandra lived it. Bill discovered it through listening. Their friendship shows what can happen when people take the time to hear each other's stories—something Simma has been encouraging through her work and this podcast for years. Connect with Simma Lieberman Need a speaker, facilitator, or dialogue leader who helps people talk with each other—not past each other? Contact Simma: simma@simmalieberman.com Learn more and support the show: RaceConvo.com Instagram Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tiktok Website Share the Conversation If this episode made you think, please share it with a friend or colleague. Real conversations across differences start when someone decides to listen. Please help these necessary conversations continue- Make a one-time, or monthly tax-deductible donation of $5.00 https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/everyday-conversations-on-race-for-everyday-people All donations are tax deductible through Fractured Atlas. Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating Previous Episodes Do We Still Need to Talk About Race? Can Women of Color and White Women Be Friends? What Was DEI Actually Meant to Do—and Why Did It Go Off Track?
As Chicago prepares to bid farewell to Jackson, Today in Focus hears about the groundbreaking civil rights activist from those who knew him. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
TRANSCRIPT Robertson: [00:00:00] Gissele: Hello and welcome to the Love and Compassion podcast with Gissele. We believe that love and compassion have the power to heal our lives and our world. Gissele: Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more amazing content. And if you’d like to support the podcast, please go to buy me a coffee.com/love and compassion. Today we’re talking about how to become a more compassionate civilization in light of the world’s most recent events. Robertson Work is a nonfiction author, social ecological activist, and former UNDP policy advisor on decentralized government, NYU Wagner, graduate School of Public Service, professor of Innovative Leadership and Institute of Cultural Affairs, country Director, conducting community organizational and leadership initiatives. Gissele: He has worked in over 50 countries for over 50 years and is founder of the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative. He has five published books and has [00:01:00] contributed to another 13. His most well-known book is a Compassionate Civilization. Every week he publishes an essay on Compassionate Conversations on Substack. Gissele: Please join me in welcoming Robertson work. Hi Robertson. Robertson: Hi Giselle. How are you? Gissele: I’m good. How about yourself? Robertson: I’m good, thank you. I here in the Southern United States. I’m glad you’re in wonderful Canada. Robertson: great admiration for your country. Gissele: Ah, thank you. Thank you. Gissele: I wanted to talk about your book. I got a copy of it and it was written in 2017, but as I was reading it, I really found myself listening to things that were almost prophetic that seemed to be happening right now. What compelled you to write Compassionate Civilizations at this moment in history. Robertson: Yes. Thank You you so much, and thank you for inviting me to talk with you today. Robertson: And I wanna say I’m so touched by the wonderful work of the Matri Center for Love [00:02:00] and Compassion. I have enjoyed looking at your website and listening to your podcast and hearing Pema Chodron speak about self-love. If it’s okay, I’d like to start with a few moments of mindful breathing Gissele: Yes, definitely. Robertson: okay. I invite everyone to become aware of your breathing, being aware of breathing in and breathing out. Breathing in the here and in the now. Breathing in love. Breathing in gratitude. I have arrived. I am home. I’m solid. I am free breathing in, breathing out here now. Robertson: Love [00:03:00] gratitude. Arrived home solid free. Okay. And to your question, after working in local communities and organizations around the world with the Institute of Cultural Affairs and doing program and policy work with UNDP and teaching grad school at NYU Wagner, I felt called to articulate a motivating vision for how to embody and catalyze a compassionate civilization. Robertson: So each of us can embody, even now, even here, we can embody and catalyze a compassionate civilization in this very present moment. We don’t have to wait, you know, 50 years, a hundred years, a thousand years. we can embody it in the here and the now. So I was increasingly aware of climate change, climate disasters, [00:04:00] the rise of oligarchic, fascism, and of course the UN’s sustainable development goals. Robertson: I also had been studying the engaged Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hahn for many years, and practicing mindfulness and compassionate action. As you know, compassion is action focused on relieving suffering in individual mindsets and behaviors, and collective cultures and systems. The word that com it means with, and compassion means suffering. Robertson: So compassion is to be with suffering and to relieve suffering in oneself and with others. So, I gave talks about a compassionate civilization in my NYU Wagner grad classes and in speeches in different countries. Then in 2013, I started a blog called The Compassionate Civilization. So in 2017, there was a [00:05:00] new US president who concerned me deeply and who’s now president again. Robertson: So a Compassionate Civilization was published in July of that year, as you mentioned, 2017. The book outlines our time of crisis and provides a vision, strategies and tactics of embodying and catalyzing a compassionate civilization, person by person, community by community. Moment by moment it it includes the movement of movements, mom that will do that. Robertson: Innovative leadership methods, global local citizen, and practices of care of self and others as mindful activists. So there’s a lot in it. Yeah. The Six strategies or arenas of transformation are environmental sustainability, gender equality, socioeconomic justice, participatory governance, cultural tolerance and peace, and non-violence, socio. Robertson: So since then [00:06:00] I’ve been promoting the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative, as you mentioned, to support a movement of movements. The mom, Gissele: thank you for that. I really appreciated that. And I really enjoyed the book as well. It’s so funny that, the majority of people see a world that doesn’t work and they want things to change, but they don’t do something necessarily to change it. When did compassion shift from a private virtue to a public mission for you? Robertson: Great question. Thank you. I think it began the private part began very early in my Christian upbringing. I was raised by loving parents to love others. You know, love of neighbor is the heart of Christianity. And understand that love is the ultimate reality. You know, that you know, as we say in Christianity, God is love. Robertson: So then when I went off to college at Oklahoma State University, I found myself being a campus activist. So I shifted to activism for civil rights. We were [00:07:00] demonstrating for women’s rights and for peace in Vietnam. As you know, the Vietnam War was raging. And after that, I attended Theological Seminary at Chicago Theological Seminary, but. Robertson: My calling happened when I was still in college, and it was in a weekend course, just a one weekend in Chicago. Some of us drove up and attended a course at, with the ecumenical Institute in the African-American ghetto in Chicago. And my whole life was changed in one weekend. I mean, I woke up that I could make a difference and I could help create a world that cared from everyone, you know? Robertson: And here I was. I was what? I was a junior in college. So then after that, I worked after college and grad school. I worked in that African American ghetto in Chicago with the Ecumenical Institute. And then in Malaysia, I was asked to go to Malaysia and my wife and I did [00:08:00] that, Robertson: And then. We were asked to work in South Korea, which we did. And then the work shifted from a religious to secular is we now call our work the Institute of Cultural Affairs. And from there we worked in Jamaica and then in Venezuela, and then back in the US in a little community in Oklahoma Robertson: And then I also worked in poor slums and villages. So then with the UNDP. I worked in around the world giving policy advice and starting projects and programs on decentralized governance to help countries decentralize from this capital to the provinces and the cities and towns and villages to decentralize decision making. Robertson: Then my engaged Buddhist studies particularly with Han and his teachers and practice awakened me to a calling to save all sentient beings. what [00:09:00] an outrageous calling, how can one person vow to save all sentient beings? But that’s what we do in that tradition of the being a BofA. Robertson: So through mindfulness and compassionate actions. So then I continue my journey by teaching at NYU Wagner with grad students from around the world. I love that so much. Then to the present as a consultant, speaker, author, and activist locally, nationally, and globally. So Gissele has been quite a journey, and here we are in this moment together, in this wild, crazy world. Gissele: Yeah, for sure, One of the things that I really loved about your book that you emphasize that we need to have a vision for the world that we wanna create. If we don’t have a vision, then we can’t create it, right? many of us are, focusing on anti, anti-oppressive, anti crime, anti this, anti that. Gissele: But we’re not really focusing on what sort of world do we wanna create? and I’ve had conversations with so many people, and when I ask the question, if people truly [00:10:00] believe. The human beings could be like loving and compassionate, and we could create a world that would be loving and compassionate for all many people say no. Gissele: And so I was wondering, like, did you always believe that civilization could be compassionate or did you grow into that conviction? Robertson: Great question. I definitely grew into it. Yeah. even as a child, I was awakened, you know, by the plight of African Americans in my country, in our little town in Oklahoma. Robertson: So I kind of began waking up. But I wasn’t sure, how much I or we could do about it. So I really grew into that conviction through my journey around the world working in over in 55 countries, it’s interesting the number of people your podcast goes to serving people and the planet. Robertson: So. Everywhere I worked Gissele, I was touched by the local people, that people care for each other, you know, in the slums and squatter settlements, in villages, in cities, the, the rich and the [00:11:00] poor. everywhere I went regardless of the culture, the language, the races, the issues the, the local people were caring. Robertson: So my understanding is that compassion is an action. It’s not just a feeling or a thought. It’s an action to relieve suffering in oneself and in others. but suffering is never entirely eliminated. You know, in Buddhism, the first noble truth is there is suffering, and it continues, but it can be relieved as best we can with through practices, through projects, through programs, and through policies. Robertson: So what has helped me is to see, again, a deep teaching in Buddhism that each person is influenced by negative emotions of greed, fear, hatred, and ignorance. And yet we can practice with these and to become aware of them and just, and to let them go, you know, and to practice evolving into loving kindness as [00:12:00] you, as you do in in your wonderful center. Robertson: Teaching more loving, kindness, trust and understanding. We can embrace inner being that we’re all part of everything. We’re all part of each other. You know, we’re part of the living earth. We’re part of humanity. I am part of you, you are part of me. And impermanence, you know, that there is no separate permanent self. Robertson: Everything comes and goes, and yet the mystery is there’s no birth and death. ’cause you and I. we’re part of, this journey for 13.8 billion years of the universe, and yet we can, in each moment, we can take an action that relieves our own suffering and in others. So, as you said, a vision is so, so important. Robertson: I’m so glad you touched on that, that a vision can give us a calling to see where we can go. It can motivate us, push us, drive us to do all that we can to realize it, you know, if I have a vision for my family. To care for my family. If [00:13:00] I have a vision for my country, if I have a vision for planet Earth, that can motivate me to do all I can do to make that really happen. Robertson: So right now there are so many challenges facing humanity, climate disasters. Oh my, I’m here in Swanno where we’ve had a terrible hurricane in 2024. We’re still recovering from it. Echo side, you know, where so many species are dying of plants and animals. It’s, it’s one of the great diebacks of in evolution on earth, oligarchic, fascism. Robertson: Right now, we’re in the midst of it in my country. I can’t believe it. You know, you’re, you’re on 81. I, I thought I was, gonna die and still live in a country that believed in democracy and freedom and justice. And so now here we, I have to face what can I do about oligarchic, fascism and social and racial and gender injustice. Robertson: Other challenges, warfare. And here we are in this crazy, monstrous war [00:14:00] in the Middle East. You know, what can we do? What can I unregulated? Artificial intelligence very deeply concerns me. we’ve gotta regulate artificial intelligence so it doesn’t hurt humans and the earth. Robertson: It doesn’t just take care of itself. So, you know, it’s easy Gissele to be despairing and to give up, you know, particularly at this moment. But actually at any time in our life, we’re always tempted to say, oh, well, things will be okay, or There’s nothing I can do, you know, but neither of those is true. Robertson: There are things we can do. We can stop and breathe and continue doing what we can where we are. with what we have and who we are. We do not have to be stopped by despair or by cynicism or by hopeism. We don’t. So thank you for that question about vision. I vision still wakes me up every day and calls me forward. Robertson: I’m sure it does. You as well. Gissele: Yeah. I [00:15:00] mean, without vision, it’s like you don’t have a map to where you’re going to, right.what’s our destination if we don’t have a vision? And so this is for me, why I loved your book so much. you are helping us give a vision Gissele: I mean, the alternative is what is the alternative? there’s my next question. What happens to a society that abandons compassion? Robertson: Exactly. Well, I sort of touched on it before. it falls into ignorance and into greed. Wanting more wealth, more power. for me for my tribe and, and falls into hatred, falls into fear, falls into violence, and that’s happening now, she said. Robertson: But I love what Thich Nhat Hahn reminds us of, of is that if there is no mud, there is no lotus. And that, that means is, you know, if there is no suffering, there can be no compassion . So without suffering and ignorance, there is no compassion or wisdom, because suffering calls us to relieve it. when I see [00:16:00] my wife or children in pain, I want to help them. Robertson: or when I see others, neighbors, you know, during the pandemic, our neighbors took food and water to each other. You know, after the hurricane, neighbors brought us water. suffering calls the best from us, it can, it can also call, call other things. But again, there’s no mud. Robertson: The lotus cannot grow. So we can continue the journey step by step and breath by breath. So that’s what I’d say for now. but that’s an important question. Gissele: you said some key things including that, people have a choice. They can choose to be compassionate, or they can choose to use that fear for something else, right. Gissele: But I often hear from people, well, you know, they want institutions to change. why are the institutions more, equitable, generous, compassionate and you know, like. I don’t know if we have a vision for what compassionate institutions look like, [00:17:00] what would compassion look like at that level? Robertson: Oh, that’s where those six areas you know, the compassion would look like practicing ecological regeneration or sometimes called environmental sustainability. You know, that we we’re part of the living Earth gazelle, We’re not separate from the earth . We breathe earth air, we drink earth water. Robertson: We you know, the earth. Hurricanes come. The earth. Floods come We are earthlings. I love that word, earthlings, and so, how do we help regenerate the earth as society? And that’s why, you know, legislation aware of climate change, you know, to reduce carbon emissions. Robertson: The Paris Accord, and that’s just one example, how do we have all laws for gender equality so that women receive the same salaries as men and have the same rights. as men, we gotta have the laws, the institutions you know, and the participatory democracy, that we have a constitution. Robertson: a constitution is a vision. of what we are all about. Why are, we’re [00:18:00] together as a country, so that we can each vote and express our views and our wishes, and that government is by foreign of the people. It is. So it’s, it’s critical, you know, that we vote and get out the vote again and again and again. Robertson: And to create those laws, those institutions they care for everyone. And the socioeconomic justice. we need the laws and institutions that give full rights to people of color to people of every culture and every religion, and every gender every transgender, every human being, every living being has rights. Robertson: That’s why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is so important. I’m so grateful that it was created earlier in the last century in my country our country cannot go to war without congressional approval. Robertson: Aha. did that just not happen? Yes. But it’s in the Constitution. the law says that we must talk about it [00:19:00] first. We must send the diplomats. We must doeverything we can before we harm anyone. War is hell. there are other ways of dialogue and diplomacy. Robertson: we can do better. But again, it takes the laws and institutions. Gissele: thank you for that. I do think that we have some sort of sense in terms of what we find doesn’t work for us, right? these institutions don’t work, they’re based on separation, isolation, punishment, and we see that they don’t work. We see that, like inequality hurts everyone. Gissele: We see that all of these things that we’re doing have a negative impact, including war. And yet we don’t change. What do you think prevents societies from becoming more compassionate? Robertson: if we’re in a society that if harming people through terrible legislation and laws and policies that makes it hard for people then have to either rebel and then they can be you know, killed. Or they have to form movements peaceful movements like the [00:20:00] Civil Rights Movement in my country, you know, with Martin Luther King leading peace marches and our peaceful resistance, in Minneapolis, the peaceful resistance to ice, so what one big thing that’s, that makes people think they can’t be compassionate again, is the, larger society, you know, the institutional frameworks and legislations and laws and government practices. Robertson: But even then, as we’re seeing, you know, in Minneapolis and everywhere, and Canada is leading in so many ways, I think I, I’m so grateful for the leadership of your, your prime minister, calling the world thatwe must not let go of the international rules rules based international practices that we’ve had for the last 80 years, my whole life. Robertson: You know, we’ve had the, the UN and the international rules and now some powers want to throw those out, but no, no, we are gonna say no. we’re [00:21:00] surrounded by forces of wealth and power as we know. And however we can each do what we can to care for those near hand, far away, the least the last, and the last for ourselves, moment by moment. Robertson: Breath, breath by breath. And sometimes we, the people can change history and the powerful can choose compassion. And, we’ve changed history many times. We’ve created democracy. We, the people who have created civil right. Universal education and healthcare of the UN and much more. Robertson: you touched a moment ago on the pillars of a compassionate civilization. You know, there are 17 UN sustainable development goals, as you know, but I decided 17 was a big number, so I thought, why don’t we just have six? That’s why my book, it has six arenas of transformation for ease of memory and work. Robertson: and they are environmental sustainability, gender equality, socioeconomic justice, participatory governance, cultural tolerance, peace and nonviolence. So modern [00:22:00] societies can be prevented from being compassionate also by Negative emotions as we were talking about, of ignorance, greed, hatred, and violence. Robertson: Greed thinking, I need more wealth. I’m a billionaire, but I need another billion. You know, I’m the richest billionaire in the world, but I wanna buy the US government hatred, violence. So these all for me, all back into the Buddhist wisdom of the belief that I’m a separate self. Robertson: Therefore, all that’s important is my ego. Hell no, that’s wrong. You know, my ego is not separate. When I die, my ego’s gone. You know, all that’s gonna be left when I die, or my words and my actions, my actions will continue forever. my words will continue forever. May I, ego? No. So the, if I believe my ego is all there is, and I can be greedy and hateful and fearful and violent, but ego, unlimited pleasure and narcissism, fear of the other, ignorance of cause and effect, these don’t have to drive us. So [00:23:00] structures and policies based on negative emotions and the delusion of a separate self and harm for the earth. We don’t have to live that way. We don’t have to believe propaganda and misinformation and ignorance, and we can provide the education needed and the experience. Robertson: We don’t have to accept wealth hoarding. You know, why do we have billionaires? Why isn’t $999 million enough? Why doesn’t that go to care for everyone and to care for the earth? So again, we have to let go of wealth hoarding of power hoarding. Robertson: we don’t need all that wealth. We don’t need all that power. We can, we can care for each other. We can care for the earth. Gissele: There, there are so many amazing things that you said. I wanted to touch on two the first one is that I was having a conversation with an indigenous elder, and he said to me, you know, that greed is just a fear of lack, right? Gissele: And it really stopped me in my tracks because, when we see people hoarding stuff in their [00:24:00] house, we think, well, that’s abnormal. And yet we glorify the hoarding of wealth. But it isn’t any different than any sort of other mental health issue in terms of hoarding. And so that really got me to think about the role of fear. Gissele: And, if somebody’s trying to hoard money, it’s not getting to the root of the problem, issue. It’s never gonna be enough because they’re just throwing it into an empty hole. It’s a a billion Jillian, it’s never gonna be enough because it’s never truly addressing the problem. Gissele: But one of the things that you said as we were chatting is, that the wealthy, the elite, they can choose compassion, they can always choose it, which is an amazing insight. And yet I wonder, you know, in terms of people’s perspectives of compassion and power, do you think that the two go hand in hand or can they go hand in hand? Gissele: Because I think there might be some worries around, well, if I’m more compassionate, then I’m gonna be, taken advantage of, I’m gonna be, a mat. what is your [00:25:00] perspective? Robertson: Oh, I agree with everything you said and your question is so, so important. Thank you so much. Robertson: there are billionaires and then there are billionaires like Warren Buffet. Look, he’s given. Tens of billions of dollars away, hundreds of billions of dollars away, and other billionaires have done that. And then there are the billionaires, who think 350 billion isn’t enough. Robertson: You know, I need more. Well, that’s crazy. That is sick. That is sad that, that is a disease. And we have to help those people. I feel compassion for billionaires who think they need another 10 billion or another a hundred billion, or they need five more a hundred million dollars yachts, or they need another 15 $200 million houses around the world and that that is very sad. Robertson: And that they’re really suffering. They’re confused. Yeah. They forget what it means to be human. They’ve forgotten what it needs to be. An earthling that we’re just here for a moment. Gissele: Agree. Robertson: We’re just here for a moment, for a [00:26:00] breath, and we’re gone. Breathe in, we’re here, breathe out, we’re gone. And so we can stop. Robertson: We can become aware of that fear, as you said. We can take good care of that fear. I love the way Thich Nhat Hahn says. He says, hello, fear, welcome back. I’m gonna take good care of you. Fear. I’m gonna watch you take care of you. You’re gonna Evolve. ’cause everything is impermanent. Everything changes. So fear will change. Robertson: Fear can change. Fear always changes It evolves into Another emotion, another feeling, So let it go. Let it go. In the truth of impermanence. ’cause everything is impermanent. Fear is impermanent. So we also can remember the truth of inter being that I am part of what I fear, I am part of. Robertson: This current federal administration. You know, I’m part of the wealthy elite, and it is part of me. I fear of the US administration right now, but it is part of [00:27:00] me and I’m part of it. I fear climate change, but it is part of me. I’m part of it. I fear artificial intelligence , unregulated. I fear old age, but boys, I’m 81 and a half, it’s here. Robertson: So I’m gonna take care of it. I’m gonna say, Hey, old man, I’m gonna take care of you. And they’re all me. There’s no separation. I love Thich Nhat Hahn’s word. We enter are, we enter are now, how can I stop, become aware of fear, breathe in and out, and know the truth of inter being and impermanence and accept it. Robertson: Care for it. get out to vote, care for the self, write , speak, do what I can to care for what I can. My family, my neighbors, my city, my county, my country, my world. And everything changes. Everything passes away. Everything comes in and out of [00:28:00] being, what happened to the Roman Empire? Gissele: Mm, Robertson: what’s happening to the American Empire. Everything comes in and goes out like a breath, breathing in and breathing out. And then everything transforms into what is next? What is next? what is China going to bring? Ah, there is so much that we don’t know, Robertson: I love Thich Nhat Hahn’s teaching that. when we become aware of a negative emotion, we should Stop, breathe, smile. And then say, oh, welcome. Fear. Welcome back. Okay, I’m gonna take care of you. Okay, we’re in this together. Robertson: And then you just, you keep breathing in awareness and gratitude and things change. Your grandkid calls you, your baby calls you, your dog, your cat. You see the clouds, you see the earth, the sun. You see a star. You realize you’re an [00:29:00] animal. You know the word animal means breath. Robertson: We are animals. ’cause we breathe. We’re all breathing. So I love that. You know it. I love to say I am an animal. ’cause I, you know, we, human beings are often not, we’re not animals. We’re superior To animals, you know? Right. we are animals, that’s why we love our dogs and cats and we can love our, the purposes and the elephants and the tigers and the mountain lions and, and the cockroaches and the chickpeas and the cardinals we are all animals. Robertson: We’re all breathing. So I love that. Gissele: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that was so beautiful. I felt that also, I really appreciated the practice too. In this time when we, like so many us are, are feeling so much fear and so much uncertainty and not knowing how things are gonna pan out, to just take a moment to breathe and reconnect to our true selves, I think is so, so fundamental. Gissele: And I hope that listeners are also doing it with us. you know, as I have [00:30:00] conversations with people around the world we talk a lot about, the way that the systems are set up, the institutions. Gissele: And it took a lot of hard work for me to realize that we are the institutions, just like you said, so the institutions are made up of people. And I was so glad to see that in your book, that you clearly say, you know, like it’s about people. It’s about us. It’s like we make up these institutions, you know? Gissele: And when I’ve looked at myself, I’ve asked myself, who do I wanna be? What do I really, truly wanna embody? And my greatest wish for this lifetime is to embody the highest level of love and to truly get to the point where I love people like brothers and sisters, that I care for them and that we care for one another. Gissele: And yet, there are times when I wanna act from that place, but the fear comes up, the not wanting or not trusting or believing when the fear comes up, how can compassion really help us change ourselves so that we can create a [00:31:00] different world? Robertson: What you said is so beautiful, and your question is so powerful. Thank you. Yes. And I’m gonna get personal here. we can do what we can, we can take care of ourselves, we can take care of others as we can, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we can’t. You know? Robertson: So I, here I’m 80, I’m over 81, and I have issues with balance and walking, and I have some memory issues and some low energy issues. So I have to be kind to myself. I, so I’ve just decided that writing is my main way of caring for the world. That’s why I publish one or two essays a week on Substack, on Compassionate Conversations for 55 countries in 38 states. Robertson: And so I said, you know, I used to travel around the world all the time. Not anymore. I don’t even want like to travel around the county. Robertson: Anyway, I’m an elder , so I have to say , okay, elder, be kind to [00:32:00] yourself, but also do everything you can, write everything you can speak with Gazelle if you can. Robertson: I also have to decide who I’m gonna care for. I’ve decided I’m gonna care for my wife who just turned 70 and my two kids and my two grandkids, my daughter-in-law, my cousins and nieces and nephews, my neighbors here and North Carolina. Robertson: The vulnerable, you know, I give to nonprofits who help the hungry and the homeless to friends and to people around the world through my writings and teachings And so the other day I drove to get some some shrimp tacos for my wife and me for dinner. Robertson: And a lady came up and she had disheveled hair. And she just stood by my car and I put the window down a little and she said. can you drive me to Black Mountain? that’s not where we were. I was in another town. ‘ cause I’m out of my medicine. Robertson: She just, out of the blue said, stood there and said that. And I thought, [00:33:00] oh, oh, hmm. Oh, so, oh yes. So I, I wanted to say, but who are you? How are you? Do you live here? Do do you have any friends or family? Do you, you, can I give you some money? Do you have, but I was kind of, I was kind of struck dumb, you know? Robertson: I thought, oh, oh, what should I do? And so I said, oh, I’m so sorry I don’t live in Black Mountain. And she said, oh. And she just turned and walked away and she asked two other cars and they said no. And then she walked away. And then she walked away. I thought, oh, Rob, Rob, is she okay? Does she have a family? Robertson: Did she have a house? What if she doesn’t get her medicine? How can she walk to that town? Could you have driven her and delayed taking dinner home to your wife? And then I said, but I don’t know. And then I thought, oh, but she’s gone. And I then I said, okay, Rob. Okay, Rob, [00:34:00] you’ve lived 81 years. You’ve cared for people in the UN in 170 countries. Speaker 3: Yeah. Robertson: And you’ve been in 55 countries, you’re still writing every week, you’re taking care of your neighbors and family and friends. Don’t beat yourself up. Old guy. Don’t beat yourself up. But next time, you know what Rob, I’m gonna say, Hey, my dear one, are you okay? I don’t have any money, but I can I buy you? Robertson: We are here at the taco shop, Can I buy you dinner? I would, I’m gonna say that next time, Rob. I’m gonna say that. and then I also gazelle,I’m gonna support democratic socialist institutions. You know, some people are afraid of that word, democratic socialist. Robertson: But you know, the happiest countries in the world are democratic socialist countries. Finland is the world’s happiest country. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Iceland, those are in the top 10 [00:35:00] when they’ve, when there have been analysis of, if you, if you Google happiest countries in the world, Robertson: those Nordic countries come up every year. Why? They are democratic socialist countries. You pay high taxes and everybody gets free college. You know, free education, free college, free health everybody gets taken care of in a democratic socialist country in the Nordic countries and New York City. Robertson: I’m so proud that our new mayor in New York City Zoran Mai is a democratic socialist. He is there to help everybody, but particularly those who are hurting the poor, the hungry , the sick, or the people of color, women, the elderly, the children. I’m so proud of him and I write about him on my substack and I write him Robertson: I he’s one of my heroes just like Bernie Sanders is one of my heroes. And Alexandria Ocasio Cortes, a OC is one of my, my heroes, CA [00:36:00] Ooc. So, and you know, I used to never tell anybody I was a Democratic socialist ’cause I was afraid. I thought, oh, they’ll think I’m a socialist. Hell no. I am now proud to say I’m a democratic socialist. Robertson: I’m a Democrat. I vote the Democratic ticket, but I’m always looking for progressives, progressive Democrats, you know, democratic socialist Democrats. because, you know, our country can be more like Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Iceland New York City. New York City is showing us the way America can be like a New York City. Robertson: I’m so proud of New York City and I used to live in New York City so as an old person. I can only do what I can do. and I’m not saying, oh, I poor me. I can’t do anything. No, no. I’m not saying that. I’m saying I can do a hell of a lot as this 81-year-old, it’s amazing what I can do, but that is why I write and speak and care for my family, neighbors, friends, the poor. Robertson: [00:37:00] Donate to nonprofits for the homeless and the hungry vote. Get out the vote. So yes, that’s my story. Gazelle. Gissele: I totally relate. I mean, I’ve been in circumstances like that as well, where you wanna help. But the fear is like, what if a person kills you? What if they don’t really have medication? Gissele: What if you get hurt or they try to rob you or they have mental health problems? Mine goes to protection and it is very human of us to go there first. And so, so then we get stuck in that ping pong in that moment and then the moment passes and you’re like, you know, was it true? Could I have driven that person? Gissele: And that would’ve been something I wanted to do for sure. But in that moment, you are stuck in that, yo-yo, when the survival comes in. And so helping ourselves shift out of that survival mode, understanding and learning to have faith and trust. And for me that’s been a work in progress. Gissele: It really has been a work in [00:38:00] progress. The other thing I wanted to mention, which I think is so important that we need to touch on. It’s the whole concept of socialism. So I was born in South America before I came to Canada and so I remember lots of my family members talk about this, there’s many South American countries that got sold communism, as socialism we’re talking about approaches that instead of it being like a democratic socialism that you’re talking about, which is the government, make sure that people are taking care of and that the people are probably taxed and provided for what would happen in those countries was that. Gissele: Everything got taken away. People were rationed certain things, and, it was horrible. it was not good, but it was not socialism. And there was many governments that took the majority of the money, then spent it on themselves, left the country, took it themselves, and so especially the Latin American community is very much afraid of socialism because they think back to that, the [00:39:00] rationing of electricity, the rationing of food, the rationing of all of that stuff, it wasn’t provided openly. Gissele: It was, everybody gets less. And so you have these people with this history that then have come to the US and think they don’t want socialism. They think democracy means that people aren’t gonna take stuff away from them, but that’s not what it means either. ’cause I don’t even know if like in North America we have a true democracy. Robertson: so thinking about reframing of how we think or experience democratic socialism, that it doesn’t mean less for everybody and in everything controlled by the government. It means being provided for abundantly and, also having the citizens be taxed more, which means we are willing to share our money so that we can all live well, Beautiful. Beautiful. Oh, thank you. Hooray. Wonderful. What country are you? May I ask where you coming? Gissele: Yeah, of Robertson: course. Gissele: Peru, I Gissele: [00:40:00] Yeah. Robertson: Wonderful. I’ve been to Peru a few times. A wonderful, beautiful country. And I, I lived in Venezuela for five years. ‘ cause I love, I have many friends in Venezuela. Robertson: But anyway I agree with everything you just said. That’s why I said what I said that I now can, I can confess that I am a democratic socialist. And that’s not socialism. It’s a social democracy is what it’s called. Yeah. That’s what they call it in Finland and Denmark and so on. Robertson: They call it social democracy. It’s democracy. But it, as you say, it’s cares for everyone and for the earth. We have to always add and the earth, ’cause you know, all the other species and, and the other life forms and the ecosystems, the water, the soil, the air, the minerals the plants, the animals. Robertson: and we have the money, as you said. I mean, if I had $350 billion, think of what taxes I could pay if the tax rate was, you know, 30%. [00:41:00] And rather than nothing, some of these, some of these folks pay, Gissele: well, I think we have glorified that we all wanted that, right? Like we got sold this good that oh, we should all want to be as wealthy as possible, right? And so we normalize the hoarding of money. Not the hoarding of other stuff, right? Gissele: And so we have allowed that, which gets me to my, next point, you talk about the environmental impact as part of a compassionate society, which absolutely is necessary. Gissele: And as human beings, we can be so lazy. We want convenience. We want to, have our package the next day. We don’t wanna wait. are we willing to pay higher wages? Are we willing to wait? Longer for our packages, like, are we willing to, invest in our wardrobe instead of buying fast fashion? Gissele: We don’t do these things and these have environmental impacts, and it also have human impacts, and at the end, they have impact on us. What can we do to ensure that, that we address that [00:42:00] complacency so that we are creating a fair, affordable , and compassionate world. Robertson: So important. Thank you. Robertson: It’s, it’s a life and death question. So yes, we should always ask about ecological and social impacts and take actions accordingly. That’s why I recycle every day. You know, some people say, oh, recycling is stupid. What do they really do with this, with it? You know, are they, are they really careful when you, they pick it up? Robertson: but I recycle religiously every day That’s why I support climate and democracy through third act. There’s a group that Bill McKibbon has started here in the US called Third Act. It’s a group of elder activists, activists over 60 who are working on climate and democracy issues. Robertson: So I’m doing that. That’s why I vote and get it out to vote. And as I said, I vote for Democrats and Democratic socialists. That’s why I write and speak and vote for ecological regeneration for social justice, for peace, for [00:43:00] democratic governance. It’s so critical that we keep questioning our actions like. Robertson: Okay, why am I recycling? Is it really worth the time? You know, deciding about every item, where it goes, and then putting out it out carefully and rinsing it first. And is that really going to help the world? ’cause you also know we need systemic changes, because you can always say, oh, but what the individual does doesn’t matter. Robertson: We need laws, we need institutions of ecological regeneration, and we need laws on caring for the climate and stopping climate change. So you can talk yourself out of individual responsibility when you realize that we need laws and institutions that protect the environment. Robertson: But it’s both. It’s both. what each person does, because there are millions of us individuals. So if there are millions of us act responsibly, that has, is a huge impact. And then if we [00:44:00] also have responsible laws and institutions that care for the environment as well as all people, then that’s a double win. Robertson: So I agree with you. We have to keep asking that question over and over and making those decisions and they’re hard decisions. We have to decide. Gissele: Yeah, I’ve had to look at myself like one of the commitments I’ve made to myself is not buying fast fashion. And so, investing in pieces, even though sometimes I feel lack oh my God, spending that much money on this, you know? Gissele: Yeah. It all comes back to me. if I am not willing to pay a fair wage, that means that the next person doesn’t get a fair wage, which means they don’t wanna pay a fair wage and so on and so forth. And then it comes back to me, you know, my husband has a business and then, you get people that don’t also wanna pay a fair wage. Gissele: It’s all interconnected. And so we have to be willing, but that also goes to us addressing our fear, our fear of lack, that we’re not gonna have enough. All of those things. And the biggest fundamental [00:45:00] fear, and you mentioned death to me, is the ultimate Gissele: fear That we must overcome I think once we do, like, I think once we understand that we are not, this human vessel. Gissele: that we’re not just this bag of bones and live in so much constrained fear that perhaps we could. really open up ourselves to be willing to be more compassionate . What do you think? Robertson: Absolutely. I’m with you all the way. Yes. We fear death because we’re caught in that illusion of a separate permanent self. Robertson: You know, it’s all about me. Oh, this universe is all about me. The universe was created 13.8 billion years for me. Robertson: Yeah. But it’s all about me and particularly my ego, honoring my ego. Building up my ego, praising my ego being, you know, that’s why I wanna be rich and famous. Robertson: Fortunately, I never wanted to be rich or famous, but that’s another story. We’ll talk about that some other time. But everything and [00:46:00] everyone is impermanent. When I realized that truth and it, it came to me through engaged Buddhism, but you could, you could get that truth in many, many ways. Robertson: That everything and everyone is impermanent. we’re part of the ocean. But the waves don’t last forever, do they? But the ocean lasts forever. Robertson: So My atoms, are part of the 13.8 billion year old universe. my cells are part of the living earth. Yes, they remain When I die, you know, go back into the earth. back into the soil and the water and the air but My ego doesn’t remain. What, what remains, as I said before, are my actions. Robertson: Everything I did is still cause and effect. Cause and effect. Rippling out. Rippling out. Okay. Rob, what did you do? What did you say? did you help that, did you touch that? Did you say that? so my actions and words continue rippling forever. So Ty calls that, or in the Plum Village tradition of engaged Buddhism, it’s called my continuation. Robertson: Your actions and your words [00:47:00] are your continuation that last forever as your actions and words will continue through cause and effect touching reality forever. So when my ego does not remain so I can smile and let it go. I often think about my continuation. You know, I say, well, that’s why, maybe why I’m writing so much and speaking so much. Robertson: And caring for so many people every day, you know, caring to care for my wife and my children and grandchildren and friends and neighbors, and the v vulnerable and the hungry, and the homeless, and the, and my country, and my city, and my county, and my, and why do I write substack twice a week? Robertson: And containing reflections on ecological, societal, and individual challenges and practices. And so every, week I’m writing about practices of mindfulness and compassion. So I’m trying to be the teacher. I’m trying to send out words of mindfulness and compassion so that they will continue reverberating when I’m dust, Robertson: So [00:48:00] I’m reaching out. In my substack to just those 55 people in 55 countries, in 38 states, touching hearts and minds and even more on social media. every month I have like 86,000 views of my social media. Why do I do it? It’s not just about ego, you know? Robertson: Oh, Rob, be famous. No, Rob is not famous. I’m a nobody. I gotta keep giving and giving and giving, you know, another word, another action, so I can, care for people around me through personal care, donations, voting, volunteering workshops, I’m helping start a workshop in our neighborhood on environmental resilience through recycling, through group facilitation. Robertson: I’m trained in, facilitation. I’ve been trained my whole life to ask questions of groups so they can create their own plans and strategies and actions. that’s some of my answer. Robertson: I hope that makes some sense. Gissele: Thank you very much. I appreciated your answer and it made me really think you are one of our compassionate leaders, right? [00:49:00] You’re, you’re kind of carving the way and helping us reflect, ’cause I’ve seen some of your substack, I’ve seen like your postings. Gissele: That’s actually how I kind of reached out to you. ’cause I was so moved by the material that you were sharing, the willingness to be honest about what it takes to be compassionate and how hard it can be sometimes to look at ourselves honestly, because we can’t change unless we’re willing to look at ourselves. Gissele: All aspects of ourselves, like you said, we are the billionaires, we are the oligarchy, we are all of these people. The racism that voted that in the, the racism that continues to show the fear, all of that is us. And so from your perspective, what do compassionate leaders do differently? Robertson: Yes. Well, it great question. Robertson: what do compassionate leaders do differently? Well, he or she or they. Robertson: are empathic. I think it starts with empathy. What are like, what are you feeling? What are you thinking? Robertson: What are you, what’s happening in your life? So an empathic [00:50:00] leader listens to other people. They see where other people are hurting. They care. They ask questions and facilitate group discussions, enable group projects. They let go of self-importance, you know, that it’s not all about me. Robertson: They let go of narcissism. They let go of, the ego project. They help others be their greatness. They care for their body mind so that they can care for others. and they donate and vote and recycle and more and more and more and more. did you know in Denmark. In elementary school every week, children are taught empathy. Robertson: You know, they have courses on empathy, Robertson: when I was growing up, I,didn’t have courses in school on empathy in church school, you know, in my Sunday school at, in my church. I was taught to love my neighbor and to love everyone, and that God was love. But in school, in my elementary [00:51:00] school and junior high and high school, we didn’t talk about things like empathy and compassion. Gissele: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I did know about Denmark ’cause my daughter and I are co-writing a book on that particular topic. The need to continue to teach love and compassion in, Gissele: being a global citizen. Right? And, and I’m doing it with her perspective because she just graduated high school, so she has like the fresher perspective, whereas mine’s from like many moons ago. Gissele: We need to continuously educate ourselves about regulating our own emotions, having difficult conversations, hearing about the other, other, as ourselves. Because that’s, from my perspective, the only way that we’re gonna survive. a friend of mine said it the best that we were having a conversation and she does compassion in the prison system and she says, I can’t be well unless you are well. Gissele: My wellness depends on your wellness. And that just hit me in my heart, like, ugh. Not that I live it every day, Robertson, Gissele: every day I have to choose and some [00:52:00] days I fail, and other days I do good in terms of like be more loving and compassionate and truly helping the world. But it’s a choice. It’s a continual choice. So this goes to my biggest challenge that maybe you can help me with, which is, so I was having this conversation with my students. We were talking about how. In order to create a world that is loving and passionate for all, it has to include the all, even those who are most hurtful, and that is really difficult . Gissele: I’m just curious as to your thoughts on what starting point might be or what can help us look at those who do hurtful things and just horrible things and be able to say, I see God within you. I see your humanity. Even though it might be hard. Robertson: Yes, It is hard. several years ago when I would hear [00:53:00] leaders of my country speaking on the media, I would get so repulsed that I would turn it off but I began practicing. Robertson: I practiced a lot since those days and I realized, you know. People who hurt, other people are hurting themselves. they’re actually hurting. they’re suffering. People who hurt others have their own suffering of, they’re confused. they’ve forgotten what it means to be human. Robertson: They’re, full of, greed, of their own fears, all about me. Maybe they’re filled with hatred they become violent. they’re suffering. I still find it very difficult to read or listen to certain people. Robertson: But what I do is I stop and I breathe and I smile and I say, okay. Robertson: I care. I’m concerned about you. I don’t know what I can do, but I am gonna do everything I can to care for the people, being hurt, you know, like my fellow activists in [00:54:00] Minneapolis are doing, or elsewhere, we could mention many places around the world where people are risking their own lives. Robertson: You know, in Minneapolis, two activists were killed, Ms. Good Renee Good, and Alex Pretty were killed because they went beyond their fear, you know? they got out there in the street because the migrants were being hurt and they got killed. Robertson: So, you know, At some point you have to come to terms with your own death, I don’t know if I have a, a minute to go or 20 years, I still have to let go. And so how do I care for my wife, my family, my friends, my neighbors my country, the vulnerable, the homeless, the hungry, and, as you said, for the wealthy and powerful who are hurting others, you know, starting wars attacking migrants, killing activists. Robertson: It’s hard. You know? So I have to say, I love the story of [00:55:00] when during the Vietnamese war Thich Nhat Hahn and his monks. They did not take sides. They did not say we’re on the side of the Vietnamese or the us. They did not take a side in the war. This is hard for me ’cause I, I usually take sides. Robertson: The practice was, okay, we’re not going to support we’re Vietnamese or the us. Were going to care for everyone. So they just went out caring for people who were getting hurt and during the war, people who were hungry, people who needed food, people who were bleeding, Robertson: So they decided their role was to care for those who were hurt not to attack. To say, I’m for the blue and I’m against the red. They said, I’m just gonna, care . Like, the activists in Minnesota, They’re, they’re not attacking ice, they’re singing to ice. Robertson: And so yes, we have to acknowledge our own anger. [00:56:00] I’m angry with these politicians. sometimes I want, to hate them, but I have to say, I do not hate you, my friend. You are confused. You’re so confused. You’re hurting others. So you’re so hurtful. Robertson: You don’t realize how you’re hurting others. But, I’ve got to try to stop you from hurting others. I’ve got to try to help those who are hurt and maybe I’m gonna get hurt, you know, because in the civil rights movement, if you’re out there doing on a peace march, you might get beaten up. Robertson: as I said, I’ve lived in villages, poor villages, and. Urban slums in several countries. And some people could say, well, that’s stupid. You could get hurt. You know, you could, you could as a white person living in a African American slum or in a Korean village or in a Venezuelan village, Robertson: So, you know, I say, was I stupid? Was I risking and I was with my wife and children? Was I risking the lives of my wife and children by living in slums and, and villages? Yes. Was I stupid? I mean, [00:57:00] no, I wasn’t stupid, but I was risking our lives. But I somehow, I was, called I wanted to do it. I said, okay. Robertson: but my point is it’s risky, you know? And you have to keep working with yourself. That’s why I love the word practice. Robertson: You know, in Buddhism we keep practicing, and I love your, the teaching of that you have on your website of Pema Chodron, you know, on self-love. You know, you have to keep practicing. How do I love myself? Say, okay, I’m afraid and I’m just this little white person, but or I’m this little old white person, but I’m gonna do everything I can and be everything I can. Robertson: I really appreciated the story of Han not choosing sides. I mean, you’re right. If we are going to see each other’s brothers and sisters and is is one global family, we can’t pick a side over the other, even though we so want to. Gissele: And, and I’m with you. when I think that there’s a [00:58:00] unfairness, when there’s people that are vulnerable or suffering, I’m more likely to pick to the side that is like, oh, that person is suffering. They’re the victim. But what you said is spot on. People that truly lovewho have love in their heart, like when you were raised with love. Gissele: You had love to give others because your cup was full. So it overflowed to want to help others, to want to love others. People that are hurting, that don’t have love in their hearts are those that hurt other people. Robertson: Mm-hmm. Gissele: They must because they must be so separated from their own humanity. Robertson: Yes, yes, yes. Gissele: And yet things are changing. You mentioned Minnesota, and I wanted to mention that I love that they’re doing the singing chants, and they’re not making them wrong. they’re singing chants like you can change your mind. You don’t have to be wrong. You don’t have to experience shame and guilt for the choice you’ve made. You can always change your mind. And in your book, you talk a lot about movements. Do you wanna [00:59:00] share a little bit about the power of movements and helping us create a compassionate civilization? Robertson: Oh, yes. Thank you. I’m, I’m a big movement fan. it started in college with the Civil Rights Movement. I realized, wow, you know, if a lot of people get together and do something together, it can make a difference. Like the Civil Rights movement. Gissele: Yeah. Robertson: And the women’s movement and peace movement. Robertson: And like in Vietnam, the peace movement, we could really make a difference if we get out in March. I think that being an individual or part of an organization that is part of a movement can be a powerful force. And so I focus in my life and that, that book on the six movements that I’ve mentioned, and those movements can work together. Robertson: And when they work together, they become a movement of movements. They become mom. Hmm. I like that because I I’m a feminist and I think that we need so [01:00:00] desperately we need more feminine energy inhumanity and in civilization. Robertson: So I’m a unapologetic feminist. And so that’s why I like that the movement of movements, the acronym is Mom, you know, and so it’s the Moms of the World will lead us like you. And so they’re the movements of ecological regeneration, socioeconomic justice, I’m repeating gender equality, participatory governance, cultural tolerance, peace and non-violence. Robertson: And you know, we also have the Gay Rights Movement, the democracy movement. there’s so many movements that it made a huge difference. So. I began saying that I, after writing the book, I said, okay,now my work is the work of the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative. Robertson: And I decided I wouldn’t make an organization, I it, wouldn’t have a website, I wouldn’t register it. I wouldn’t raise money for it. It would just be anybody and everybody [01:01:00] who was part of the movement of movements who was working to create a compassionate civilization. Robertson: So that’s what I did. And that’s where I am. I’m this old guy in my home. I don’t get out a lot. I don’t drive a lot. I just drive to nearby town. I have a car, but I don’t use it a lot. I don’t like to walk up and down hills. Robertson: IAnd sometimes I can’t remember things and I say, Hey, but look, you have so many friends all over the world and you can keep encouraging through your writing. So that’s why I keep writing, you know, it is for the movement of movements. Robertson: I guess that’s why I write. here’s something I want to share, something I thought or felt or something that I wrote about. And maybe it will touch you. Maybe it’ll encourage you. Maybe we’ll help you in your life. Robertson: I live in a homeowners association neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood that has a homeowners association. We’re 34 families and we have straight families, gay families. we have white families and non-white families. [01:02:00] We have Democrats, Republicans and Socialists. Robertson: We have Christians and Buddhists and Hindus. And so what I do, I say, Hey, we’re all neighbors. We all helped each other during the pandemic. We all helped each other after the hurricane. It doesn’t matter what our politics are or our religion or our sexuality, we’re all human beings. Robertson: We’re all gonna die. we all want love. We all want happiness. And We can be good neighbors. We don’t have to have ideology, you know, we don’t have to quote the Bible, we don’t have to quote Buddha. We can just be good neighbors. So we’re gonna have a workshop this spring And so we’re all going to get together down the street in this big room, in the fire station, and we’re gonna have a two hour workshop. And will it help? I don’t know. Will it make us better neighbors? I don’t know. Why am I doing it? I’m driven to do it. I’ve done workshops all over the world and I wanna do a workshop in my neighborhood. Robertson: I’ve done workshops with the un, I’ve done [01:03:00] workshops with governments, with cities So I love to facilitate. I love getting people together to solve problems together to listen to each other, respect each other, to honor each other. Gissele: so I’m just gonna ask you a couple more questions. But I’m just gonna make a comment right now about what you said because I think it’s so important. Gissele: Number one is I love that your neighborhood is a microcosm of what our world could be like . The fact that people got together to help and make sure that people were taken care of. If we could amplify that, that could be our world. I think that’s such a beautiful thing. Gissele: And the other thing that I think is really fundamental is that even through your life, you are showing us that some people are going to go pickett. And that’s okay. Some people are gonna write blogs to help us, and that’s okay. Some people are gonna do podcasts, and that’s okay. There are things that people can do that don’t have to look exactly the same. Gissele: Some people are going to have more courage, and they’re going to put their bodies in front and potentially get hurt. Other people, maybe they can’t do [01:04:00] that. So there are many different ways to help. The other thing that you said that was really, really key is the importance of moms . And that was one of the things that really touched me about your book, the acronym. Gissele: I was like, oh my God, I so resonate with this. Because I do feel that we need more feminine energy. We really kind of really squash the feminine energy. But the truth of the matter is we need more because fundamentally, nurturance is a mother energy is a feminine energy. Gissele: Compassion’s a feminine energy. Yes, yes, yes, Robertson: yes, yes, Gissele: so if I can share my story. Last night I was at hockey game. My son was playing hockey. Robertson: Mm-hmm. Gissele: And our team they don’t like to fight. Gissele: We play our game and we have fun and we’re good. And so the previous teams that were there, it was under Youth 15, most of the game was the kids fighting. And taking penalties. And so the game ends, the people come off the ice and two men that are starting to get like into a fight [01:05:00] now, woman got in front of them. Gissele: Wow. and said, we all signed a form that said, this is just a game. Remember who this is for? even though she was elevated, she totally stopped that fight between two men that we were not small. And So it was, it was really interesting. Robertson: Wonderful. Gissele: it was a woman who actually stopped a fight Gissele: It’s the feminine power. And that doesn’t mean, and I wanna make this clear, that doesn’t mean that men have to be discarded or have to be treated the same way that women are treated. ’cause I think that’s a big fear. That’s a big fear that some white males have. It’s no, you don’t have to be less than, Robertson: right. Robertson: We need Gissele: to uplift the feminine energy. So there’s a balance. ’cause right now we’re not balanced. Robertson: Exactly. Exactly. Oh, boy. Am I with you there? there’s a whole section in my book, as you noticed on gender equality I’m gonna read a tribute to Mothers I. Robertson: Tribute to Mothers Giving Birth to New Life, nurturing, [01:06:00] sustaining, guiding, releasing, launching, affirming Love. Be getting Love a flow onwards. Mother Earth, mother Tree, mother Tiger, mother Eve. My grandmother’s Sally and Arie, my mother, Mary Elizabeth, my children’s mother, Mary, my grandchildren’s mother, Jennifer, my grandchildren’s grandmothe
In celebration of Women's History month, we revisit a conversation that explores the life and legacy of women who have inspired Constitutional change throughout American history. Joining the conversation are Tomiko Brown-Nagin, author of Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality, and Elizabeth Cobbs, author of Fearless Women: Feminist Patriot. Jeffrey Rosen, CEO Emeritus of the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC's America's Town Hall program series on April 25, 2023. Resources Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality (2023) Tomiko Brown-Nagin, “Identity Matters: The Case of Judge Constance Baker Motley,” Columbia Law Review (2017) Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement (2012) Elizabeth Cobbs, Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abagail Adams to Beyoncé (2023) Q&A, “Elizabeth Cobbs,” C-SPAN (March 14, 2023) Muller v. Oregon (1908) National Constitution Center, “The Legality of Abortion Pills,” We the People podcast (April 13, 2023) Brandon Burnette, "Comstock Act of 1873 (1873)," First Amendment Encyclopedia National Constitution Center, “Women and the American Idea,” America's Town Hall series (April 25, 2023) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr Explore the America at 250 Civic Toolkit Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube Support our important work Donate
This is the first in a series of five episodes regarding specific moments of divergence in African American history; moments were two distinct choices were offered. This episode focuses on Christianity, which was forcibly introduced in order to justify slavery (curse of ham, plantation bible etc) but was instead used to spread the liberation philosophy that was co-opted by men like Nat Turner and Denmark Vessey. The episode goes further to identify the role that the Black church has played through key moments of African American history, including the modern day Civil Rights Movement of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Contact the show at resourcesbylowery@gmail.com or on Bluesky @EmpiresPod If you would like to financially support the show, please use the following paypal link. Or remit PayPal payment to @Lowery80. And here is a link for Venmo users. Any support is greatly appreciated and will be used to make future episodes of the show even better. Expect new shows to drop on Wednesday mornings from September to May. Music is licensed through Epidemic Sound
Elaine Weiss discusses her book, Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement. It is the story Highlander Folk School, an interracial training center for social change founded by a white southerner with roots in the labor movement. The school became a focal point inspiring Rosa Parks, Pete Seeger, and originating Citizenship […]
In the 90's, two poets supplied my imagination with cages. The first came from Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, who lamented, “Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.” It's the image of despair, and it resonated with a whole generation of those who felt hopeless in the face of a rapidly changing world filled with injustice and merciless rule. I was too young to grasp the social implications of course, but old enough to resonate with the emotional import. I held onto the image loosely, trying it on occasionally, rarely identifying with it fully. The second came from Maya Angelou, whose Presidential Inaugural recitation renewed interest in her poetry and memoirs, the first of which was, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” It was an autobiographical account of her own childhood experiences leading up to the Civil Rights Movement. Her later poem, “Caged Bird,” made the rounds in grade school classrooms, imparting to children an image of hope in a similar situation. Injustice and merciless rule were no less real, but the nature of those captured made a great difference. For us, the image is making another round this week thanks to much older source material. The Assyrian King Sennacherib boasted to the nations that his siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC had left King Hezekiah “like a caged bird.” Maybe it would have worked out better for him if he had caged a rat instead. But the caged bird sang of freedom and that song reached the ears of God himself. What does it sound like to hope against hope in an impossible situation? A little less like Seattle grunge and a little more like prayer, perhaps. We'll talk about it this week together.
This podcast delves into the violent contradictions at the heart of mass movements, challenging the idea of "spotless innocence." We explore how tactics of nonviolence function as a form of sacrificial violence, drawing in the State—both as a protector and a predator—and how insurgent violence acts as a "positive radical flank," forcing political concessions. From the Civil Rights Movement's reliance on federal troops to the global legacy of colonialism, discover why violence is the inevitable companion to confrontation, and why movements must seize the power to impose peace. https://www.patreon.com/blackmyths
Krystal Marquis’ debut novel, The Davenports, came out in 2023. The novel centers on four Black women navigating their careers and romances in 1910 Chicago. The book deals with class, race and gender, and it quickly joined New York Times’ bestsellers list for Young Adult Hardcover fiction. A second book, The Davenports: More Than This, was also a bestseller. And the popularity of the series may only be just beginning. Prime Video is currently adapting a television series based on The Davenports. GUESTS: Krystal Marquis: the New York Times bestselling author of The Davenports. Her short story "Group Project" will be included in the book 13 Little Love Stories: An Anthology Inspired by Taylor Swift Songs. Tanisha C. Ford: Professor of History at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Her most recent book is 'Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On December 4, 1969, a pre-dawn police raid at 2337 West Monroe Street in Chicago left 21-year-old Black Panther leader Fred Hampton dead. Authorities called it a shootout. Evidence later suggested something far more deliberate.In this episode of When Killers Get Caught, Brittany Ransom examines the assassination of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and a rising national leader targeted under the FBI's COINTELPRO program. We break down the role of informant William O'Neal, the alleged drugging of Hampton, the 99 shots fired during the raid, and the 13-year legal battle that exposed federal coordination with local law enforcement.But this story goes beyond one night.We explore Hampton's Rainbow Coalition, his community programs like the Free Breakfast Program, and why multiracial, working-class solidarity was viewed as a threat by powerful institutions. This episode also connects the political climate of the 1960s — including the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War protests, and urban uprisings — to ongoing conversations about government surveillance, police violence, and state power today.Was this a tragic raid gone wrong or a calculated political execution?The truth always leaves a trail.If you're interested in true crime, political history, FBI surveillance, civil rights, and the psychology of state violence, this episode is essential listening.
In the final days of Black History Month, host Nick Parker had an opportunity to sit down in The Vault with Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for a wide-ranging conversation about why the story of the Negro Leagues isn't just a baseball story, but the story of America. The conversation covers the economic legacy of segregation, why Jackie Robinson's Signing my have sparked the Civil Rights Movement, the museum's ambitions plans for a new 30,000+ SF home at historic 18th & Vine, and how MLB The Show video game is bringing these legends back to life for a new generation. A must-listen for baseball fans, history buffs and anyone who loves stories of the human spirit and the American dream.
What happened to freedom singing after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination? Stephen Stacks considers this question in The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song After 1968 (U Illinois Press, 2025). He argues that the cultural myths around the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968, which are partially supported by the appeal of Freedom Songs, have hindered and inspired later activists as they grappled with the shadow of a simplistic and sanitized memory of what it takes to create political change. Stacks's analysis shifts the focus of attention from genre—freedom song—to process and practice—freedom singing. In a wide-ranging book, he contemplates the role of nostalgia in political advocacy, investigates the work of one of the movement's great singers, Bernice Johnson Reagon after 1968, and explains how the media and crucial musical figures shaped and sometimes complicated the collective memory of the Civil Rights movement and its music. The Resounding Revolution examines sixty years of Black music to challenge and reshape the entrenched story of the Civil Rights Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
What happened to freedom singing after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination? Stephen Stacks considers this question in The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song After 1968 (U Illinois Press, 2025). He argues that the cultural myths around the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968, which are partially supported by the appeal of Freedom Songs, have hindered and inspired later activists as they grappled with the shadow of a simplistic and sanitized memory of what it takes to create political change. Stacks's analysis shifts the focus of attention from genre—freedom song—to process and practice—freedom singing. In a wide-ranging book, he contemplates the role of nostalgia in political advocacy, investigates the work of one of the movement's great singers, Bernice Johnson Reagon after 1968, and explains how the media and crucial musical figures shaped and sometimes complicated the collective memory of the Civil Rights movement and its music. The Resounding Revolution examines sixty years of Black music to challenge and reshape the entrenched story of the Civil Rights Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Viola Bradford started working at The Southern Courier when she was 14. On July 26, she will celebrate the newspaper's 60th anniversary with the culmination of a years-long effort to put a marker at the newspaper's former office on Commerce Street.A group of Harvard University journalism students formed The Southern Courier in 1965 to document the Civil Rights Movement. The newspaper covered Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi and worked to recruit people from the area to report.Bradford's work with the Courier led her to a career in journalism. She earned five degrees, including a doctorate from Howard University. She taught journalism at Alabama State University for about five years. The Southern Courier offered important coverage from 1965 to 1968.“The Southern Courier didn't just report the news—it disrupted the silence,” said Hardy. “It dared to tell the truth about the South from the people living it. At Alabama Values, we carry that same spirit. We're a grassroots communications organization, using narrative to tell the stories others try to bury. Honoring the Courier is personal—it reminds us that truth-telling has always been a tool of resistance.”The Southern Courier photo archives—over 10,000 images, including iconic photos of Dr. King—were donated by Peppler to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. The complete newspaper collection is housed at Tuskegee University.About Sankofa Servants, Inc.: Dr. Bradford s Founder of Sankofa Servants, Inc. is a community-driven organization dedicated to preserving cultural history, promoting justice through education, and empowering future generations through service and storytelling.© 2026 All Rights Reserved© 2026 Building Abundant Success!!Join Me on ~ iHeart Radio @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy: https://tinyurl.com/BASAud
What happened to freedom singing after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination? Stephen Stacks considers this question in The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song After 1968 (U Illinois Press, 2025). He argues that the cultural myths around the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968, which are partially supported by the appeal of Freedom Songs, have hindered and inspired later activists as they grappled with the shadow of a simplistic and sanitized memory of what it takes to create political change. Stacks's analysis shifts the focus of attention from genre—freedom song—to process and practice—freedom singing. In a wide-ranging book, he contemplates the role of nostalgia in political advocacy, investigates the work of one of the movement's great singers, Bernice Johnson Reagon after 1968, and explains how the media and crucial musical figures shaped and sometimes complicated the collective memory of the Civil Rights movement and its music. The Resounding Revolution examines sixty years of Black music to challenge and reshape the entrenched story of the Civil Rights Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
What happened to freedom singing after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination? Stephen Stacks considers this question in The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song After 1968 (U Illinois Press, 2025). He argues that the cultural myths around the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968, which are partially supported by the appeal of Freedom Songs, have hindered and inspired later activists as they grappled with the shadow of a simplistic and sanitized memory of what it takes to create political change. Stacks's analysis shifts the focus of attention from genre—freedom song—to process and practice—freedom singing. In a wide-ranging book, he contemplates the role of nostalgia in political advocacy, investigates the work of one of the movement's great singers, Bernice Johnson Reagon after 1968, and explains how the media and crucial musical figures shaped and sometimes complicated the collective memory of the Civil Rights movement and its music. The Resounding Revolution examines sixty years of Black music to challenge and reshape the entrenched story of the Civil Rights Movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music
Elaine Weiss joins the Exchange to talk about her book, "Spell Freedom."
In this powerful Black History Month special, we examine the life, murder, and lasting legacy of Emmett Till — the 14-year-old whose brutal killing in 1955 became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. From Chicago to Mississippi, and through the historic trial that shocked the nation, we explore how a mother's courage forced America to confront racial injustice. This episode connects Emmett Till's story to today's fight against racism, hatred, and systemic injustice. His name still matters. His story still warns us. And history still demands we pay attention. EMMETT TILL: The Cost of Hate in America - Mysteries, Mayhem & Merlot Check out the merch, blog, buy the book, and so much more! mysteriesmayhemandmerlot.net WHERE'S WINNIE! - https://linktr.ee/WinnieSchrader Check out Winnie's Linktree for everything Winnie! From merch for Paranormal 60, Love+Lotus Tarot & Mysteries, Mayhem & Merlot to digital designs with WS Media & more! IF YOU NEED HELP, PLEASE CONTACT Call or Text to 988 Chat online at https://988lifeline.org/ PLEASE SUPPORT THE ADVERTISERS THAT SUPPORT THIS SHOW Love & Lotus Tarot with Winnie Schrader - http://lovelotustarot.com/ Visit Minnesota's premiere haunted hotel, The Palmer House -https://www.thepalmerhousehotel.com/ OR Call Now and Book a Room -320-351-9100 Follow all the events and updates at The Palmer House on FACEBOOK- https://bit.ly/PalmerHouseFacebook PLEASE RATE & REVIEW MYSTERIES, MAYHEM & MERLOT PODCAST WHEREVER YOU LISTEN #EmmettTill #BlackHistoryMonth #CivilRightsMovement #SayHisName #NeverForget #RacialJustice #SocialJustice #JimCrow #AmericanHistory #TrueCrimeHistory #MamieTillMobley #AntiLynching #JusticeDelayed #MinneapolisPodcast #Minnesota #HistoryMatters #EndHate #CivilRightsLegacy Emmett Till, Black History Month, Civil Rights Movement, racial injustice, Jim Crow South, 1955 murder, Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till trial, Carolyn Bryant, Roy Bryant, J.W. Milam, Tallahatchie River, open casket funeral, anti-lynching law, Emmett Till Antilynching Act, social justice podcast, Minneapolis, Minnesota, American history, civil rights legacy, systemic racism, racial violence, true crime history Check out the “WHAT IF? Between Worlds” Event March 12-14 2026https://www.thepalmerhousehotel.com/event-calendar/LIMITED TICKETS & ROOMS STILL AVAILABLE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send a textThis week Jeff is sharing his most beloved soul music and the artists who made them.
Today we celebrate the life of The Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the world's best-known Black activists who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr., died at the age of 84.The icon of the Civil Rights Movement and beyond was remembered by politicians and prominent activists after it was announced he died "peacefully" on Tuesday morning, February 17th after a long journey with a progressive neurological disease. Jackson was a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate and a mentor to many civil rights leaders.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie joins award-winning journalist Juan Williams for a conversation on Williams' latest book, New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement, exploring the emergence of a new civil rights era—from the 2008 election of President Obama to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Thomas Donnelly, chief scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC's America's Town Hall series on February 26, 2025. Resources Juan Williams, New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement (2025) Jamelle Bouie, “Discussing Trayvon Martin, Obama Embraces his Blackness,” The American Prospect (July 19, 2013) Jamelle Bouie, opinion columnist, The New York Times Civil Rights Movement Reconstruction Thomas Ricks, Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 (2022) Stay Connected and Learn More Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org Continue the conversation by following us on social media @ConstitutionCtr Explore the America at 250 Civic Toolkit Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen Join us for an upcoming live program or watch recordings on YouTube Support our important work Donate
In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till traveled from Chicago to Mississippi and never came home.In this Black History Month episode of When Killers Get Caught, Brittany Ransom examines the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, the trial that followed, and the decision that forced America to confront the brutal reality of racial violence under Jim Crow.This case was legally “solved.” Arrests were made. A trial was held. But justice was never truly served.Emmett Till's death became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, influencing activists, reshaping public awareness, and exposing the deadly consequences of racism in the American South.In this episode, we explore:The historical context of Mississippi in 1955The accusation that led to Till's abductionThe controversial trial and acquittalHow Mamie Till's courage changed historyWhy the case remains morally unresolved decades laterThis is more than a true crime story. It's a case that forced a nation to look at itself.
It may seem the government's technique of denigrating the people they kill to make it appear that the killing was justified is a new fun thing in 2026, but we've been here before. It's likely you've never heard of Viola Liuzzo, the only white woman murdered during the Civil Rights Movement. Her name kept popping up on the social media accounts of historians after the murders of Renee Good and Alexi Pretti, trying to tell us all once again to maybe pay attention to the past. In this episode of Strange Country, cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about Liuzzo's life and how J. Edgar Hoover made sure to smear her as a drug-taking, orgy-loving, baby-neglecting mother who deserved being shot in a head by klansmen. Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Baird, Jonathan. "The tragic and forgotten story of Viola Liuzzo." The Nation, 4 November 2024, https://www.thenation.com/travellog/the-tragic-and-forgotten-story-of-viola-liuzzo/. Accessed 30 January 2026. Baumgartner, Neil. "Viola Gregg Luizzo." Jim Crow Museum, February 2013, https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/witnesses/violaliuzzo.htm. Accessed 30 January 2026. "City officials unveil new civil rights memorial monument honoring Viola Liuzzo at park bearing her name." City of Detroit, 28 September 2023. Accessed 8 February 2026. Crayton, Kareem. "The Voting Rights Act, Explained." Brennan Center for Justice, 17 July 2023, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-rights-act-explained. Accessed 8 February 2026. Dalby, Beth. "Killed by KKK and Smeared by FBI, Civil Rights Martyr Finally Hailed as Hero." Patch, 7 April 2015, https://patch.com/michigan/ferndale/killed-kkk-and-smeared-fbi-civil-rights-martyr-finally-hailed-hero-0. Accessed 8 February 2026. Daley, David. "John Roberts's Decades-Long Project to Neuter the Voting Rights Act." The Atlantic, 10 December 2025, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2025/12/justice-roberts-voting-rights-act/685193/. Accessed 8 February 2026. di Florio, Paola, director. Home of the Brave. Emerging Pictures, 2004. Amazon Prime. Kaufman, Michael T. "Gary T. Rowe Jr., 64, Who Informed on Klan In Civil Rights Killing, Is Dead (Published 1998)." The New York Times, 4 October 1998, https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/04/us/gary-t-rowe-jr-64-who-informed-on-klan-in-civil-rights-killing-is-dead.html. Accessed 8 February 2026. May, Gary. The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo. Yale University Press, 2005.
Elmer Dixon, a longtime activist for racial justice, grew up a witness to the Civil Rights Movement and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Seattle, WA in the 60s.He was one of the founders of Seattle's chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968. Only 17 at the time, he helped to shape a new world, a new place, a new country, where all people were respected, regardless of color and position in life.Now Dixon runs his own business in Seattle and . is a diversity trainer who speaks about his experiences with the Black Panther Party. He is the author of Die Standing: From Black Panther Revolutionary to Global Diversity Consultant; a memoir that can help instruct today's social justice activists on how to organize the community based on the successful strategies of the Black Panther Party to achieve change in a continued climate of police brutality, institutional racism, and vast socioeconomic discrepancies for Black and Brown people.
Not only does Mysterian Ideology cost the taxpayers too much money, but it also hurts the people who Mysterians pretend to care about. Johnny Heidt with guitar news. Heard On The Show:Twins starting pitcher Pablo López expected to miss 2026 seasonMinnesota lawmakers honor Hortmans at start of new legislative sessionThe Rev. Jesse Jackson, who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after King, has died at 84See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Louis Jones is a keeper— working as a Field Archivist at the Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit, he cares for the largest labor archive in North America. Home to numerous union and labor collections from around the country, the Reuther Library also actively collects material documenting Detroit's civil rights movement, women's struggles in the workplace, the LGBTQ Archive of Detroit and more.Born in New York City, the grandson of a Pullman porter, Jones takes us through the archives with stories of the United Auto Workers, Cesar Chavez, Utah Phillips, A. Philip Randolph, the Civil Rights Movement, the 1967 Detroit uprising, and how archivists are examining and re-imagining their roles in the midst of Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement.Special thanks to the Reuther Library at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan; Nancy Beaumont and the Society of American Archivists (SAA); Paulina Hartono; The National Endowment for the Humanities; and supporters of The Kitchen Sisters Productions.Produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Nikki Silva & Davia Nelson) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of Radiotopia from PRX.
The civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson has died aged 84. Jackson was a protege of Martin Luther King Jr and ran twice for the Democratic presidential nomination. He remained a prominent figure in US politics for more than 50 years, championing the rights of Black, poor and working-class people with his ‘rainbow coalition'. Lucy Hough speaks to Carys Afoko – watch on YouTube – Over The Top and Under The Radar podcast – 2020 interview with Jesse Jackson. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
Someone who stood alongside Jesse Jackson during some of the most consequential chapters of the modern Civil Rights Movement is Andrew Young. He's a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, former mayor of Atlanta and longtime lieutenant to the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Geoff Bennett spoke with Young about his work with Jackson. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
The Rev. Jesse Jackson's story in Chicago begins in the 1960s when he moved to the city to study at the Chicago Theological Seminary. Not long after his move, he met Martin Luther King Jr. and asked him for a job at the Chicago chapter of Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Operation Breadbasket. Since then, Rev. Jesse Jackson became a symbol for the Civil Rights Movement, Black politics and Black America. Rev. Jackson died on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the age of 84. In the Loop looks back at the life and impact of the Rev. Jesse Jackson on civil rights, politics, the nation and Chicago with Rev. Otis Moss III, senior pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ and Natalie Moore, senior lecturer, Northwestern Medill School and Chicago Sun-Times columnist. For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson has died at the age of 84. He was a protégé of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and led the Civil Rights Movement of the decades after King's death. We speak to Jeanetta Williams, President of the NCAAP Tri-State Conference of Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, about his legacy and what he did for the civil rights movement.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, has died. Giving us more insight on Jesse Jackson and his relationship with Jews and Israel is veteran journalist and anchor of ILTV’s Security Brief Calev Ben-David. (photo: Saar Yaacov/GPO)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on the death of a notable civil rights leader.
Someone who stood alongside Jesse Jackson during some of the most consequential chapters of the modern Civil Rights Movement is Andrew Young. He's a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, former mayor of Atlanta and longtime lieutenant to the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Geoff Bennett spoke with Young about his work with Jackson. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
On September 15, 1963, a bombing carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, instantly killed Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosamond Robinson, and Cynthia Dionne Morris Wesley. Also in the room was Addie Mae's younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins, who survived the blast and valiantly tried to rescue her sister, but was blinded by shattered glass. For decades, Sarah slipped into anonymity-but her story lives on in her latest memoir The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (The Sarah Collins Rudolph Story).rnrnLisa McNair was born one year after her older sister, Denise, was murdered in the bombings. Her book Dear Denise is a collection of forty letters from Lisa addressed to the sister she never knew, but in whose shadow of sacrifice and lost youth she was raised. Both accounts offer an intimate look into the lives of two women who carry the weight of history, and two families touched by one of the most heinous tragedies of the Civil Rights Movement.
On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with Killian Clarke about his new book, Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed. He researches moments of democratic liberation brought about by mass struggle and why some succeed and others fail. Though he did not write about the US, he's seen his research become surprising and tragically poignant in the second Trump presidency. Clarke says that democratic backsliding like we're seeing in the US, has happened in other democracies around the world. But elected leaders who systematically dismantle institutions of democracy and then install an authoritarian regime is far more common in young democracies than in places like the US. It's shocking how quickly Trump and his team are succeeding. There are resonances between tyrants everywhere in how they cement their rule and gain popularity. They also discuss comparisons between Trump and Hitler's rise to power, political polarization in the US, Clarke's research on Egypt, and the vulnerability of other unarmed revolutions. Clarke says that there are downsides to the prevalence of technology in today's social movements and says that grassroots organizing is needed to sustain a movement. He recommends Zeynep Tufekci's book, Twitter and Tear Gas and says it's possible to pressure the Democratic Party to stand for something, like was done during the Civil Rights Movement. Killian Clarke is an Assistant Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, affiliated with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. His research examines revolution, protest, democratization, and authoritarianism with a regional focus on the Middle East. He is the author of Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed (Cambridge University Press, 2025), as well as peer-reviewed articles in the American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, and World Politics. Featured image of the cover of Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed, available from Cambridge University Press. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post How to Make Tyrants and Cement Power appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.
“History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Mark Twain's words remind us that the past is a guidebook, not a relic. In today's episode, “The Human Work of Progress: Reflections on Dr. King's Legacy,” Jacquette explores how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s radical reimagination of America was far more than hope; it was strategy, courage, and a refusal to accept the default.Reimagination is often the first act of change. It asks us to question norms, challenge the status quo, and examine what we truly value. Jacquette reflects on the endurance and experimentation that fueled the Civil Rights Movement, and how Dr. King understood that progress was never linear and never achieved through a single act.She invites listeners to take a lesson from his legacy: the How and the When matter just as much as the What. When you honor all three, you move with intention, resilience, and clarity—especially in the moments that test you most.Tune in and let Dr. King's examples strengthen your own path forward.Want More? Check Out:www.jacquettetimmons.comwww.jacquettetimmons.com/digital-productswww.instagram.com/jacquettemtimmonsBuyMeACoffee.com/JacquetteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Odetta was one of the defining voices of American folk music. Though she had been trained in classical music, she was drawn to spirituals, work songs, traditional ballads, and blues. These songs told the stories of true life - of struggle and of those that overcame oppression. Odetta used her theater training and deep resonant voice to bring these messages to life. Her work inspired later artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, served as a soundtrack for the social reforms of the 1960s, and led to her honorary title as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement." There are still a few spaces open on our fall Field Trips to the Loire Valley, and Italy! For information and to register, visit Like Minds Travel. We hope to see you there! For links and codes to advertised products, visit our website's sponsor page at thehistorychicks.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Susan Barry is the founder of Hive Marketing and the host of Top Floor, bringing hotel sales, marketing, and ownership-side perspectives to the mic. In this solo episode, she reintroduces herself to new listeners from Hotel Online and HFTP and zooms out on a timely industry controversy to ask a much bigger question about power, history, and responsibility in hospitality. This episode is short and sweet, much like Susan. How Susan went from English major to hotel exec to founder and podcaster Why "hotels should stay out of politics" is a myth How hotels shape tax, labor, and zoning policy Why hotels are natural hubs for political activity How history proves hotels become power centers in crises How hotels can be tools of refuge or control What the Minnesota ICE controversy really exposes How brand power works in an asset-light hotel model *** Our Top Three Takeaways 1. Hotels are never "apolitical," even when they claim to be. The episode argues that hotels are inherently political because they operate at the intersection of real estate, labor, capital, and public visibility. From lobbying on taxes and visas to hosting political events and managing labor relations, hotels participate in politics constantly—whether or not they acknowledge it. 2. History shows hotels repeatedly become power centers during moments of crisis. Across wars, genocides, and social movements, hotels have functioned as command centers, sanctuaries, negotiation hubs, and tools of control. Examples from World War II, the Rwandan genocide, and the U.S. Civil Rights Movement illustrate how hotel spaces and staff actions can enable resistance, protection, or oppression depending on who holds power. 3. Modern brand–owner dynamics turn "neutral" decisions into political acts. In today's asset-light model, brands wield enormous influence through flags, loyalty systems, and distribution, while owners carry the financial risk. When a brand intervenes or withdraws, it is making an economic and political judgment that can instantly reshape a property, raising hard questions about authority, accountability, and local decision-making. Susan Barry on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/susandbarry/ Hive Marketing https://www.hive-marketing.com/ Cayuga Hospitality Consultants https://cayugahospitality.com/ Female Founders in Hospitality https://femalefoundersinhospitality.com/ Other Episodes You May Like: 99: Believers to Church https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/episode/99 91: Pool Heat Miser https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/episode/91 71: Public Restroom Couple https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/episode/71 64: Roman Bird Murmuration https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/episode/64 59: Cat Hair Pants https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/episode/59
This podcast is made possible by our listeners and viewers. If this show has brought you value, you can support it by becoming a member of The Way Forward, our platform designed to help you find the health and freedom community (people, practitioners, schools, farms, and more) near you. Your membership directly supports the podcast and the work we do: www.thewayfwrd.com/joinIt's time to re-evaluate the commonly accepted narratives about MLK, civil rights and the KKK…In this episode, I sit down with Chad O. Jackson for a long-form conversation about Martin Luther King Jr. and why his legacy still provokes such strong emotional and political reactions. Chad is an independent filmmaker and researcher whose work returns to primary sources and overlooked voices, and that lens shapes everything we talk about here.He recently participated in an MLK debate that ran for hours, creating space for historical context instead of sound bites and patience instead of performative rebuttals. That debate opens the door into a much larger conversation about history, memory, and how certain narratives become culturally untouchable.We dig into how the Civil Rights Movement is taught, celebrated, and reinforced from an early age, often without room for deeper examination. Chad draws from archival research, period publications, and primary documents, showing how interpretation influences public memory just as much as the facts themselves.This episode is for listeners who value critical thinking and aren't afraid to sit with uncomfortable questions.You'll Learn:[00:00] Introduction[08:52] What triggered Chad to investigate the MLK narrative[17:13] Challenging northern propaganda about slavery[27:40] Life for black Americans prior to the Civil Rights Movement[44:45] King's upbringing: born into wealthy black elite family, Daddy King's social gospel, and rejecting Christ's divinity by age 12[01:03:13] Why both the FBI and communists wanted the civil rights movement [01:09:38] The aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement [01:17:03] The MLK docuseries structure[01:34:42] The century-long project to separate blacks from Western civilization[01:49:41] Why classism is just another victimization trap[02:08:55] How hip hop culture has negatively impacted the black community[02:22:40] Malcom X and the Civil Rights Movement[02:42:02] The notion that fascism is a reaction to hyper liberalismResources Mentioned:Hatred and Profits: Getting Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan by Fryer G. R. and Levitt D. S. | ArticleChristianity and the Social Crisis by Walter Rauschenbusch | BookMiss Anne in Harlem by Carla Kaplan | BookMovers and Shakers by Mabel Dodge Luhan | Book Find more from Chad:Chad O. Jackson | Website Chad O. Jackson | InstagramChad O. Jackson | YouTubeChad O. Jackson | XThe MLK Project | VimeoThe MLK Project | IMDb Find more from Alec:Alec Zeck | InstagramAlec Zeck | XThe Way Forward | InstagramThe Way Forward is Sponsored By:Designed for deep focus and well-being. 100% blue light and flicker free. For $50 off your Daylight Computer, use discount code: TWF50RMDY Academy & Collective: Homeopathy Made AccessibleHigh-quality remedies and training to support natural healing.Enroll hereExplore hereNew Biology Clinic: Redefine Health from the Ground UpExperience tailored terrain-based health services with consults, livestreams, movement classes, and more. Visit www.NewBiologyClinic.com and use code THEWAYFORWARD (case sensitive) for $50 off activation. Members get the $150 fee waived
In this episode, Sissy Goff and David Thomas sit down with Justin Giboney for a timely, thoughtful conversation about what kids need right now in an increasingly polarized world. Justin weaves together faith, history, and parenting wisdom to explore how compassion and conviction are not opposites but essential partners in forming resilient, grounded kids. Drawing from the Civil Rights Movement, personal stories, and his own parenting, he encourages parents to focus on formation over reaction, to model humility and fortitude, and to help kids build an identity rooted first in who God says they are. Resources mentioned: Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign's Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement by Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, Chris Butler, & Barbara Williams-Skinner Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church's Public Witness Leads Us out of the Culture War by Justin Giboney . . . . . . Sign up to receive the bi-monthly newsletter to keep up to date with where David and Sissy are speaking, where they are taco'ing, PLUS conversation starters for you and your family to share! Access Raising Boys and Girls courses here! Connect with David, Sissy, and Melissa at raisingboysandgirls.com Owen Learns He Has What it Takes: A Lesson in Resilience Lucy Learns to Be Brave: A Lesson in Courage . . . . . . If you would like to partner with Raising Boys and Girls as a podcast sponsor, fill out our Advertise With Us form. QUINCE: Go to Quince.com/rbg for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five day returns. BOLL & BRANCH: Get 15% off plus free shipping on your first set of sheets at Bollandbranch.com/rbg. Exclusions apply. COOK UNITY: Go to cookunity.com/RBG or enter code RBG before checkout to get 50% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the heels of the Minnesota general strike on January 23rd, and a nationwide shutdown the following week in which millions participated, Professor Richard Wolff and Brian Becker discuss the general strike tactic. How has it been used in the United States and elsewhere? Can it tip the scales against the Trump administration's attempts to roll back the gains of the Civil Rights Movement?Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.Join the The Socialist Program community at http://www.patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to get exclusive content and help keep this show on the air.
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Ashley Farmer to discuss the life and legacy of Queen Mother Audley Moore—an organizer, theorist, and political visionary who helped shape the very foundations of modern Black nationalism and the contemporary reparations movement. Though she was, as our guest writes, "one of the most important activists and theorists of the twentieth century," Mother Moore's figure has been largely confined to a handful of photographs and passing references, even as her ideas reverberate across generations. Dr. Farmer discusses how if Rosa Parks is remembered as the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, then Queen Mother Moore should be understood as someone who midwifed the political traditions of Black radical nationalism. Farmer traces Moore's extraordinary life, which spanned nearly the entire twentieth century—from the aftermath of Reconstruction to the rise and fall of Jim and Jane Crow, all the way until the late 1990s. Like Du Bois, her longevity allowed her to inhabit multiple political worlds, sometimes in tension with one another. We discuss how her early experiences in Jim/Jane Crow Louisiana, witnessing lynch mobs and growing up in a family shaped by both slavery and free Black community life, forged her political consciousness. We also explore the radical sisterhood she shared with Eloise and Loretta, women who were themselves deeply involved in Black liberation struggles and who helped shape Moore's earliest political actions. The conversation moves westward as they examine Moore's migration to Los Angeles, where the promise of escape from Southern racial terror collided with the realities of redlining, discrimination, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Southern California. We look at how these conditions transformed LA into a hotbed of Black nationalist organizing—and how this period pushed Moore toward Chicago and eventually Harlem, where her political life would take on new dimensions. A portion of the discussion centers on the state's surveillance of Moore. Targeted first by HUAC and later by the FBI's Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO), Moore amassed thousands of pages of government files—documents that reveal both the threat she posed to the racial order and the broader pattern of state repression directed at Black radical women. Dr. Farmer analyzed thousands of these files and discusses some of what she discovered in them. Dr. Ashley D. Farmer is a historian of black women's history, intellectual history, and radical politics. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to this book, she is the author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era. If you like what we do and want to support our ability to have more conversations like this. Please consider becoming a patron. You can do so for as little as a 1 Dollar a month. Now, here is Dr. Farmer discussing her book Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore Related conversations: "Attica Is an Ongoing Structure of Revolt" - Orisanmi Burton on Tip of the Spear, Black Radicalism, Prison Rebellion, and the Long Attica Revolt Free the Land! Edward Onaci on the History of the Republic of New Afrika Black Scare / Red Scare 2025 with Charisse Burden-Stelly "The Shadow of the Plantation" - Eugene Puryear on The Black Belt Thesis: A Reader
Trump has decidedly built a white supremacist army within the government. And this was always the risk when the Department of Homeland Security was created after 9-11. Influential people warned at the time that our norms would not protect us against someone who was determined to violate them using DHS. At the same time, white people are putting themselves on the line in a way that is reminiscent of the abolitionists. Plus, some often overlooked elements of the Civil Rights Movement, Jared Kushner's offensive and absurd vision for a “New Gaza,” and the destruction of a jewel of journalism that was CBS.Snag the hoodie that will bring you comfort for life, the American Giant Classic Full Zip. Go to https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code BULWARK. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show! show notes Ta-Nehisi's most recent piece in Vanity Fair The CBS interview with Ta-Nehisi referenced in the show Tickets for the live show in Minnesota go on sale Friday
Filmmaker Chad Jackson joins us today as we unpack his upcoming docuseries, "The MLK Project," which challenges the narrative that MLK was the unifying Christian hero we've been taught. From his ties to Marxist ideologies and rejection of core Christian doctrines to the manufactured moments that shaped the civil rights era, Chad reveals a side of MLK that will leave you questioning everything. We also explore how these ideologies continue to influence the church today, often to its peril. Buy Allie's book "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion": https://www.toxicempathy.com --- Timecodes: (01:30) Introduction (13:06) Outlining Marxist & Communist Ideology (23:54) What is the Social Justice Gospel? (35:38) The History of the Civil Rights Movement (52:33) Seeing Change through Reformation (01:09:30) The True Content of MLK's Character --- Episodes you might like: Ep 581 | What DO White Americans Owe Black People? | Guest: Professor Jason D. Hill https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-581-what-do-white-americans-owe-black-people-guest/id1359249098?i=1000554002441 Ep 985 | Why DEI Always Leads to LGBTQ | Guest: Delano Squires https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-985-was-mlk-jr-really-a-christian-guest-delano-squires/id1359249098?i=1000652534041 Ep 1228 | She Helped AOC Win. Now She's Exposing Zohran Mamdani & Climate Activism | Lucy Biggers https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-1228-she-helped-aoc-win-now-shes-exposing-zohran/id1359249098?i=1000721225319 --- Buy Allie's book "You're Not Enough (and That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love": https://www.alliebethstuckey.com Relatable merchandise: Use promo code ALLIE10 for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
© 2020-2026 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
