Interfaith Environmental Advocacy
Reverend AC Churchill is the Executive Director at Earth Ministry Washington Interfaith Power and Light. The Ministry helps religious communities advocate for strong environmental policies and provides strategic guidance to religious communities working toward environmental justice.
Churchill talks about how they came into the world of interfaith environmental advocacy and lessons they’ve learned through their work.
Producers: Lucy Braginski and Yuko Kodama
Photo: AC Churchill
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
KBCS Producer Kevin Henry brings you a short reflection on the contribution of Writer and Civil Rights Activist, James Baldwin.
Producer: Kevin Henry
Photo: – Own work
DREAMers Moms Tijuana – Yolanda Varona
In 2011, Yolanda Varona was unexpectedly separated from her children at the end of a trip across the border. She was deported to Mexico.
As Varona found ways to connect with her children and worked toward being with them again, she helped other deported mothers to find services and resources. Varona became the Founder and Director of DREAMers Moms in Tijuana, Mexico, as many of the women, Varona worked with were mothers of children with US citizenship or qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), otherwise known as DREAMers.
In 2019, Mari McMenamin, Dana Schuerholz and I traveled to San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico to cover border stories and listened to Varona’s story of deportation and efforts to connect with her daughter.
Producers: Mari McMenamin, Laura Florez. Special thanks to Magdaleno Rose-Avila of Building Bridges for inspiring us to pick up this story and for connecting us to the speakers.
Photos: Dana Schuerholz, Mari McMenamin
