Roqayah is off this week, so Kumars is joined from the top of the hour by longtime guest host and prison-industrial complex abolitionist extraordinaire Mariame Kaba, pseudonymously known as @prisonculture. Mariame is the founder and director of Project NIA, an advocacy group focused on ending youth incarceration, and has co-founded a number of other organizations including Survived & Punished and the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women.
Mariame shares her insight into the current momentum behind abolitionist demands in the wake of the protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, which she recently wrote about in a New York Times op-ed. Mariame and Kumars take stock of what the latest wave of Black Lives Matter protests have achieved thus far as well as state and corporate attempts at co-optation, assessing the sea change in discourse on policing in the United States and the criteria by which we should judge the various police reforms being proposed at all levels of government. Mariame rounds out the discussion with a reminder of the need for organizers not to lose focus on pandemic relief and other community support work, touching on her own involvement in getting Mutual Aid Projects 4 Youth off the ground.
Follow Mariame on Twitter @prisonculture, and learn how you can support young organizers or apply for a grant yourself at map4youth.com.
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This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by returning guest Shanti Singh, communications coordinator with the California statewide renters' rights group Tenants Together.
Shanti discusses the challenges of navigating the landscape of housings advocacy, and how a pandemic and unprecedented unemployment numbers have turned already challenging campaigns for housing rights into minefields for renters and activists alike.
Shanti also helps us tackle the intersection of class disparity and police repression, and how the police further housing insecurity in order to protect the property owning class while homelessness surges and Black communities face increased racial segregation.
You can follow Shanti Singh on Twitter @uhshanti and Tenants Together @tenantstogether and learn more about how you can support at tenantstogether.org
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!
This week, Roqayah and Kumars have a rare one-on-one debrief on the wave of protests that have erupted in every US state in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. After recapping the basics of Floyd’s case, they give listeners a rundown of the spread of the protests across the country and the ensuing media narratives about looting and outside agitators. Roqayah and Kumars also touch on the brutal police repression of both protesters and journalists in mostly Democrat-run cities and states, as well as the growing calls for greater carnage from Trump and the right.
The Delete Your Account duo rounds out the hour with some helpful resources if you want to support the mutual aid efforts of People’s Breakfast Oakland and jailed protesters nationwide via the National Bail Fund Network.