Radical News Radio Hour: Recent Episodes

Radical News

The Radical News Radio Hour examines social justice issues and community organizing campaigns in Minnesota, the Midwest, and across the country.

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On today's episode we discuss childhood hunger and legislation aimed at providing free breakfast and lunch for all Minnesota students.

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On this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we're talking about the Equal Rights Amendment - both the state and federal - and with ERA organizers located here in Minnesota.

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On today’s episode we’re talking about abortion and reproductive justice legislation here in Minnesota -

You’ll hear the voices and perspectives of Abena Abraham, campaign manager with Unrestrict Minnesota, and Emily Bisek, VP of Strategic Communications for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund.

Episode Links:

House File 1

Senate File 2

UnRestrict Minnesota

Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

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The Radical News Radio Hour is back from hiatus!

Over the next five months, through the end of May, we’ll publish every Friday. Our focus is primarily on the work happening out of the Minnesota State Legislature, during the 2023 legislative session, though we’ll always take a moment to think and talk about what else is happening across Minneapolis, Minnesota, and even the country.

For today’s episode, we’re talking with Clark Biegler Goldenrod, the Deputy Director at the Minnesota Budget Project. We’re also speaking with Dr. Amy Marschall, a South-Dakota-based Psychologist and the Founder of Resiliency Mental Health, about her work around autism advocacy.

Links and resources mentioned in the episode:

Rizoma: A Community News

Resiliency Mental Health

Autism advocacy petition

Minnesota Budget Project

Journalism of Color Training Center

Episode Transcription

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On today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we share an informational interview with some of the folks at ACER and we discuss a guaranteed basic income experiment coming to an end in the City of Saint Paul.

You can check out the episode's transcription here.

We'll have a link to a story on guaranteed basic income, as mentioned in the episode, shared as soon as it publishes on Prism.

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On this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we discuss the work of Project Sweetie Pie with Project Sweetie Pie Executive Director Michael Chaney. We also discuss the work of American Muslims for Palestine with AMP member Mariam. 

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On today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we listen to two union leaders and library staffers in Hennepin County discuss worker's rights issues. We also discuss suicide prevention and updates from the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute. 

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On today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we discuss the racial homeownership gap. We also spotlight the work of "Telling Queer History" with the TQH Executive Director. 

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On today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we hear from Libby - a youth organizer co-organizing a climate justice sit-in on Sept. 24; Nick Kor (an organizer with Coalition of Asian American Leaders - Minnesota) about anti-Asian hate and white supremacy; and Denise Specht (President of Education Minnesota) about education equity. 

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On this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we discuss prison gerrymandering with Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, Executive Director of Common Cause-MN. 

The episode transcription can be found here. 

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On today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we talk with Kevin Reese, founder and Executive Director of Until We Are All Free.

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On today’s episode we’re hearing from Morgan O’Sullivan, Volunteer Coordinator and a Board member at the Quatrefoil Library (a repeat segment). We’re also hearing from Stacey Gurian-Sherman with Minneapolis for a Better Police Contract.

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On today’s episode we’re talking with James Darville, an organizer with OutFront MN, as well as with Jae, an organizer with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar. James will be discussing LGBTQIAP-oriented policies on the state, county, and city level and Jae will be discussing Taking Back Pride 2021, a PRIDE counter-protest held on June 27th. Finally we’ll spotlight the work of the Quatrefoil Library, an LGBTQ lending library.

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On today’s episode we’re talking about some recent updates from the Housing Equity Now-Saint Paul Coalition’s Keep Saint Paul Home Campaign as well as with Minister Janae Bates, a communications organizer, and one of the creators of a new web series called MINE which recently premiered at the TRIBECA film festival.

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Today we’re talking about efforts to defund the Public Employees Relations Board with Saint Paul Federation of Teachers President Nick Faber. We’re also talking about the somewhat unexpected budget numbers with Clark Goldenrod with the Minnesota Budget Project. We’ll also hear from Antonia Alvarez, an immigration justice organizer currently on day seven of an 11-day fast in Washington, DC. Alvarez is President of a statewide and regional organization called Pueblo de Lucha y Esperanza. Finally we’ll hear from Steve Sandberg, Board member with the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, on the future of Roof Depot property in Phillips neighborhood.

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On today's episode, we’re talking with a leader of Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia, Arianna Andersen, a resident of the Havenbrook Homes. We’ll also hear from Caroline Hood, President and CEO of RS Eden. Finally, Thomas Godfrey from Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board will be on for a moment talking about MPRB’s upcoming Juneteenth celebrations.

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On today's episode we’re talking about the Market Bucks program that allows EBT users to get a  $10 match at participating farmers markets. The program has been funded since 2015, but advocates and farmers market staff are concerned about an attempt to defund the program. The program is build to ensure that low-income Minnesotans have access to local and healthy foods and to support small Minnesota. food businesses. 

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In today's episode we start with updates from the Housing Equity Now - Saint Paul (HENS) Campaign and then we'll discuss Paid Family and Medical Leave legislation.

Here's a link to the HENS campaign: www.facebook.com/housingequitynowstp/

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Today I speak with Marjaan Sirdar, a local organizer, writer, and podcaster.

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Today we have another segment in our MinneAsian stories coverage, we hear stories from Astrid Benedetto and Hannah Kinzer.

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Today we have another segment in our MinneAsian stories coverage; we'll hear from Pete K. Wong about his story.

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Today we have another segment in our MinneAsian stories coverage. We also hear from Denise Specht, President of Education Minnesota, in a discussion on the bipartisan budget set to be discussed during an upcoming special session.

We start with Monali Bachta, who I had the pleasure of speaking with, for our MinneAsian stories collaboration with CAAL-MN. Here’s that interview now.

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Today we’ll hear from Julia Gay, the Communications and Marketing Coordinator for the Coalition of Asian American Leaders-Minnesota, as we launch a partnership as part of their MinneAsianStories month.

We’ll also hear from a press conference held on Monday, May 17, the last day of the Minnesota State Legislature, announcing a bipartisan budget agreement. According to the press release, “details of each budget area are still being finalized. The global budget targets are attached.”

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Today we have an interview with Brett Grant, an organizer with Voices for Racial Justice and my organizing partner, and updates from Peter Rachleff with the East Side Freedom Library. 

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In mid-April, prior to jury deliberation and the conviction of former MPD Officer Derek Chauvin, I moderated a discussion on abolition that remains pertinent to how we might think about racial justice and prison justice in this complicated moment. That event was titled “SJCO Presents...Abolition: Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, and This Moment.” It is a project of Prescott College, where I teach, and their Social Justice and  Community Organizing program. This is the second part of that event.

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In mid-April, prior to jury deliberation and the conviction of former MPD Officer Derek Chauvin, I moderated a discussion on abolition that remains pertinent to how we might think about racial justice and prison justice in this complicated moment. That event was titled “SJCO Presents...Abolition: Derek Chauvin, George Floyd, and This Moment.” It is a project of Prescott College, where I teach, and their Social Justice and  Community Organizing program. This is the first part of that event. 

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On April 19 I reached out to Minnesota State Senator John Marty, a DFLer who represents District 66, to chat about some of the work that occurred in the State Senate yesterday. He called me back quickly and we ended up having a really powerful conversation that ran for nearly an hour.

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This special episode is a replay of a community discussion held on April 8 about the recently-launched rent stabilization campaign in Saint Paul. I co-moderated alongside MK Nguyen, and we were joined by members of Housing Equity Now - Saint Paul. The forum was co-hosted by The UpTake Community News, where I work as Executive Director, Voices for Racial Justice, and other Minnesota-based community partners.

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On today's episode we discuss rent stabilization and launch a month-long deepdive into the stories and issues of housing justice across Minneapolis-Saint Paul. 

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In this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we hear from community leaders about what they believe we should know about Minneapolis right now and what this moment means. We also hear from Ms Margaret of Ms Margaret Live about her media and organizing work. 

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Today's episode includes an interview with interview Rep. Rena Moran, who represents Frogtown and parts of Rondo in the Minnesota State Legislature. We also hear from members of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofit unionization campaign, Ileana Mejia and Amber Davis.

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On March 18, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel, hosted by the Minnesota Women’s Press, about what it means to transform justice and the different ways to think about and act on that task. I also recently had the opportunity to Guest Edit their latest issue on “Transforming Justice,” and so, for this panel, we gathered three of the voices together from that issue - Salena Beasley, Robin Wonsley Worbolah, and Nevada Littlewolf - together to more deeply discuss their work. We’ll listen to part of that panel during this episode.

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Recently, my team at The UpTake and I had the chance to interview Governor Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan Friday morning in a streamed interview. Here's that interview now.

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Episode 31 of the Radical News Radio Hour shares part two of a community panel, “Politics, Policy, and Power: A roundtable discussion on BIPOC liberation and policymaking."

A transcription will be available at www.journalismofcolor.com soon. 

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Today's episode includes an interview with Sophia, a youth climate activist. We’ll also speak with Clark Goldenrod, a budget expert with the Minnesota Budget project, as well as Julia Freeman, the Director of Community Engagement with Voices for Racial Justice.

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On today's special episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we’ll be listening to a previously-recorded and streamed panel discussion, “Politics, Policy, and Power: A roundtable discussion on BIPOC liberation and policymaking: part 1.”

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On today’s episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we’re talking about the Page Amendment with Our Children MN Campaign Manager and Executive Director Nevada Littlewolf. The Page Amendment is a proposed constitutional amendment, in Minnesota, that would - if passed by the voters in 2022 - provide a civil right to a quality public education to all Minnesota children.

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On today’s episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we’re talking about education equity. We’ll listen to a clip from a recent discussion held by the Federal Reserve, reported by Rico Morales. Then we’ll listen to some announcements from Peter Rachleff at the East Side Freedom Library.

You can find the transcript for this episode here.

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On today’s episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we’re discussing education equity. We’ll start with an interview with Denise Specht, President of Education Minnesota, as we discuss the intersections of education, racial justice, and policy making at the Minnesota State Legislature. Then we’ll listen to a discussion on the intersections of ethnic studies and the school-to-prison pipeline. 

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During this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we discuss the environmental justice organizing happening in Minneapolis' East Phillips Neighborhood, as well as universal childcare and early learning in Minnesota.

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On today's episode, recorded before the insurrection that occurred on Jan. 6, we hear from organizers with Voices for Racial Justice about the work happening to prep for the legislative session, as well as Peter Rachleff with the East Side Freedom Library.

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On today’s episode of the Radical News Radio Hour we’re talking about the Line 3 Pipeline. We’ll also open up a conversation that will continue in future episodes and wrap up in January around how local organizations and movements are activating and organizing around the upcoming session. Our first interview will be with Education Minnesota President Denise Specht.

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On today’s episode of the Radical News Radio Hour we’re discussing the upcoming East Side Housing Justice Summit, as well as how we can support educators during this pandemic. We’ll also be re-airing an interview Representative Rena Moran, who represents the Frogtown area at the Minnesota State Capitol. 

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On today’s episode we discuss the work and future of the House Select Committee on Racial Justice with Representative Rena Moran, who represents Minnesota House District 65A, which includes this Frogtown Neighborhood, and recently won re-election to her seat.

The UpTake is proud to sponsor and co-produce the Radical News Radio Hour. Radical News Radio Hour is aimed at telling the stories of social movements and community organizing across the Twin Cities. The show is produced, written, and hosted by our Executive Director, Cirien Saadeh, and is created in partnership with WFNU. You can find the show on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, and most anywhere you get your podcasts.

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On this episode we discuss the outcomes that we do know from Tuesday’s Election, as well as community care and self-care after the election.

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For our very first special episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we had breaking news as it came in; the chance to hear from our listeners; lots and lots of music; interviews, pre-recorded earlier in the day, about 2020 voting and what comes next. 

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On Episode 19 of the Radical News Radio Hour, we discuss the work of MaivPAC, the only Hmong-American women’s Political Action Committee in the country, as well as the recently-passed Bonding Bill from the Minnesota State Legislature. We also introduce our newest sponsor, The UpTake, a Twin Cities-based community news organization. 

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On Episode 18 of the Radical News Radio Hour, we listen to public testimony from the Minnesota House Select Committee on Racial Justice.

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On Episode 17, we talk about the flu shot, and listen to continued coverage from the Minnesota House Select Committee on Racial Justice.

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On Episode 16 of the Radical News Radio Hour, we discuss the new Building Dignity & Respect Standards Council and Worker-driven Social Responsibility model with Rev. Doug Mork.

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On Episode 15 we discuss the House Special Committee on Racial Justice and listen to its presentation on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and Racism. We’ll also hear from Peter Rachleff at the East Side Freedom Library about upcoming events being held.

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In this week's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we'll hear a presentation recently shared by Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, a physician and epidemiologist, during the first meeting of the Minnesota Legislature's House Special Committee on Racial Justice on maternal-child mortality and racial justice. 

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On today’s episode of the Radical News Radio Hour we’ll be discussing the efforts by Surly Brewing employees to unionize, how to stay mentally healthy as the school year begins, and efforts to ensure that Minnesota’s historically undercounted communities are counted in this year’s census.

To complete your 2020 Census, please call 1-800-923-8282 or visit my2020census.gov.

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On today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we’re talking about justice for unhoused people and continuing our discussion from last week on the violent response by the Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board on those who had been living in an encampment at Powderhorn Park.

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On this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour we’ll be discussing the violent Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and MPRB police response to the encampments of houseless and homeless people, what it means to support healthcare workers during this tumultuous time, and the work of the East Side Freedom Library.

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In episode ten of the Radical News Radio Hour we discuss Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, the Minnesota State Legislature's Third Special Session, and the newly-announced Minnesota Teacher of the Year. 

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On this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, we explore climate justice and environmental justice, the intersections of climate change and environmentalism with racial equity, and how to support these local movements.

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Today's episode of the Radical News Radio Hour talks about the end of the Minnesota State Legislature's second 2020 special session, including the passage of a police accountability bill and the failure to pass a bonding bill - once again.

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During this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour, hosted by Cirien Saadeh, I interview Marjaan Sirdar, a Southside organizer and educator.

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On this episode of the Radical News Radio Hour host Cirien Saadeh interviews City of Minneapolis Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison about his vision for dismantling and defunding the Minneapolis Police Department, as well as the roots of policing and the systemic work that needs to happen to make dismantling the MPD happen.

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This episode of the Radical News Radio Hour on WFNU, hosted by Cirien Saadeh, discusses the last minutes and days of the Minnesota Legislature 2020 special session, as well as the City of Saint Paul's recent ban on conversion therapy. 

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Episode 4 of the Radical News Radio Hour on WFNU discusses bonding & equity during the ongoing legislative special session, as well as legislative responses to police reform and community calls for police abolishment.

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Episode 3 of the Radical News Radio Hour discusses different elements of the revolution that erupted in Minneapolis-St. Paul in the days following the murder of George Floyd. 

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Episode 2 of the Radical News Radio Hour discusses the end of the 2020 legislative session, how to stay healthy during a global pandemic,  and updates from Twin Cities social justice organizations. 

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Episode 1 of the Radical News Radio Hour examines social justice issues and community organizing campaigns in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota and the surrounding counties.