KBCS In-Studio with Ben Black

Jazz vocalist, composer, and activist Ben Black stopped by the KBCS studio to discuss his music and a fundraiser he organized this past August at the Royal Room for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. It’s a wide-ranging and uplifting conversation accompanied by Ben’s own music!

Interfaith Environmental Advocacy

The Women’s Liberation Movement in Seattle

The Seattle area has a particularly distinctive feminist history. Dr. Barbara Winslow, Professor emerita at Brooklyn College, Founder of the Shirley Chisholm Project and author of Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change came out with the book Revolutionary Feminists: The Women’s Liberation Movement in Seattle last year. She describes why Seattle’s feminist activism is unique and highlights some key moments, including a story Fannie Lou Hamer shared in Seattle about her own experience with reproductive rights.

Producer: Yuko Kodama

Photo: Portion of book cover – Revolutionary Feminists: The Women’s Liberation Movement in Seattle

Vashon Green School

Here’s a highlight of Vashon Green School, a K-5 school, founded by educator, activist, photojournalist and farmer, Dana Schuerholz on Vashon Island’s seedbees farm.  

Producer: Yuko Kodama

Photos: Yuko Kodama

Astra – A Tree Facing Removal by Development

Gratitude Gatherings are held for trees facing removal in the face of new housing.  They’ve been an event in Seattle neighborhoods since Luma, a Western Red Cedar, was first honored and ultimately protected in the summer of 2023.

A gathering was held recently for another Cedar, named Astra, whose fate still hangs in the balance. Tree advocates want to see decisions about trees on residential properties taken out of the hands of the Department of Construction and Inspection and moved into a new city Department of Climate and the Environment.

Producer: Martha Baskin with help from Daniel Guenther at Jackstraw Productions

Photos: Martha Baskin 

11th Annual Farmworkers Tribunal

Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia organized 120 farmworkers to speak at the 11th annual Farmworkers Tribunal in Olympia on January 23rd. In this event, farmworkers shared their personal work experiences with legislators and their staff. Listen in on an excerpt from the Farmworker Tribunal and about some of the bills many farmworkers in these organizations supported.

For more from the Farmworkers Tribunal and to listen to other topics concerning farmworkers in Washington state, you can check out the podcast and radio show, Community Voz on KMRE.

Producer: Yuko Kodama (Special thanks to Sofia Garcia, Elias Lopez and Liz Darrow for permission to broadcast excerpts of the Farmworkers Tribunal) 

Photo: Community to Community Development

Poor People’s Campaign – Washington State

Reverend Dr. Kelle Brown, Senior Pastor of Seattle Plymouth United Church of Christ and faith tri-chair of the Washington Poor People’s Campaign discusses the history and spirit of the Poor People’s Campaign with KBCS’s Yuko Kodama.

The Washington State Poor People’s Campaign March to Stay Alive will be Saturday, March 2, 2024 at the State Capitol in Olympia at noon.  They recommend an RSVP and to view their Covenant of Nonviolence.

Asylum Seekers in Washington State

Border Angels Water Drop

Back in 2019 (like today) immigration was one of the most pressing issues in the United States. There was an often-proclaimed humanitarian crisis at the southern border. And, while the Trump administration was implementing a remain in Mexico policy, those who crossed the border faced life threatening heat and long walks. Border Patrol recognized that 283 people died attempting to cross into the US through the desert in 2018. In the calendar year ending in October of 2021, US Customs and Border Protection recorded 568 deaths, over twice as many.

Mari McMenamin Dana Schuerholz Yuko Kodama met the then Executive Director of the immigration non-profit, Border Angels back in November of 2019. The organization supports mobile schools and shelters at the border for migrants waiting for their asylum claims to be processed. They also lead water drops, trips through the desert where volunteers leave jugs of water to help people survive on their journey through the desert.  Here’s their story from a water drop in the Sonoran desert.

Producers: Hans Anderson, Mari McMenamin, Yuko Kodama

Photos: Dana Schuerholz and Mari McMenamin

Your skin color is power!!

 

Marian Ruiz

Dulce Garcia

      

James Baldwin