Ep 294 - Lisa Beasley

On this episode, the guys are joined by the hilarious Lisa Beasley. Lisa is a comedian, producer, spacemaker, and artist who has, most recently, blown up for her acerbic and spot-on impressions of our infamous mayor Lori Lightfoot. Lisa breaks down how she has grown as a creator, the heartbreaking origins of her fantastic Lori impression, and the ways in which this pointed political satire is a salve for both her and the Chicago movement community as a whole.

SHOW NOTES

Follow Lisa - https://www.instagram.com/lisabevolving/

JY Plantz - https://instagram.com/jyplantz

Black Magic Potions - https://www.instagram.com/blackmagicpotions/

Wakandacon - https://wakandaconforever.com/

Anjanette Young - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/opinion/anjanette-young-police-justice.html

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 293 - Tasha Listening Party

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them on the line for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth.

We had the privilege and joy of catching up with AirGo fam Tasha, who just dropped the wonderful album Tell Me What You Miss the Most. She digs into the stories behind the songs, creating refuge through music, drawing boundaries for relationships with audiences, the legacy of her collaborator on the project, and much more.

Listen to Tell Me What You Miss the Most - fatherdaughter.co/tasha

Follow Tasha - www.instagram.com/wowtashawow/

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 292 - One Million Experiments Part 3: The Friendly Fridge with Selma Raven and Sara Allen

Welcome to One Million Experiments, a brand new podcast exploring how we define and create safety, wellness, and protection in a world without police and prisons. Through longform interviews with movement workers across the world who have created community-based safety projects, 1ME expands our ideas about what keeps us safe, and celebrates the work already happening to build solutions that are grounded in transformation instead of punishment.

On this episode, we talk with Selma Raven and Sara Allen of the Friendly Fridge BX, a community food distribution point and mutual aid experiment at 242nd Street and Broadway in the Bronx. The duo talks about how the experiment has been transformative for all, the steep learning curve that the two of them had as the fridge got up and running, and how the act of experimentation taught them to act boldly and without permission.

Support the Friendly Fridge - https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-friendly-fridge-bx

Follow them on IG - https://www.instagram.com/thefriendlyfridgebx/?hl=en

Find a Community Fridge near you! - https://freedge.org/locations/

Subscribe to One Million Experiments - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-…ts/id1589966282

Explore all of the Experiments - millionexperiments.com/

Submit your Experiment - millionexperiments.com/Submit-a-Project

Subscribe to AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 291 - femdot. Listening Party

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them on the line for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth.

On this listening party episode, we're joined by AirGo fam femdot, who just released the stellar EP Not For Sale. We talk through the hypothesis of the project, creating cohesiveness across several years of music, the tension between money and self-worth, and much more!

SHOW NOTES
Listen to Not For Sale - femdot.ffm.to/notforsale

Support Delacreme Scholars - delacremescholars.org/

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Ep 290 - One Million Experiments Part 2: The Black Trans Travel Fund with Devin Lowe

Welcome to One Million Experiments, a brand new podcast exploring how we define and create safety, wellness, and protection in a world without police and prisons. Through longform interviews with movement workers across the world who have created community-based safety projects, 1ME expands our ideas about what keeps us safe, and celebrates the work already happening to build solutions that are grounded in transformation instead of punishment.

On this episode, Dame and Daniel talk with Black Trans Travel Fund Founder & Executive Director Devin Lowe. Devin breaks down how the experiment emerged out of the needs of his loved ones, the surprising and gratifying ways that the work has expanded, and the relationship of freedom of personal movement to collective liberatory social movement.

SHOW NOTES

Support the work of BTTF - https://www.blacktranstravelfund.com/donate

Miss Boogie - http://www.instagram.com/dearmsboogie/?hl=en

Noname Book Club - https://nonamebooks.com/

TDoR - Trans Day of Remembrance - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_Day_of_Remembrance

The Emergency Release Fund - https://www.emergencyrelease.org/

Legal Aid Society - https://legalaidnyc.org/

STAR Manifesto - https://peaceandsocialism.tumblr.com/post/634720140594937856/star-manifesto

Afrofuturist Abolitionists of the Americas - https://twitter.com/AbolitionF_ists

Subscribe to One Million Experiments - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-million-experiments/id1589966282

Explore all of the Experiments - https://millionexperiments.com/

Submit your Experiment - https://millionexperiments.com/Submit-a-Project

Subscribe to AirGo - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Climate Changemakers Episode 2.6 - Diana Hernández

Climate Changemakers is back for Season 2! And this year, hosts Damon and Kiss are reaching beyond Illinois and talking with environmental justice movement workers from across the land about what ideas guide their work, which strategies have been effective, and what advice they have for Elevate as the organization works to put people and the planet first in the fight to build equity through climate action.

On the final episode of Season 2, the guys head to the Bronx to talk with Diana Hernández. A professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Diana digs into her process of moving from advocating solutions to building deeper understanding of the problem, how her childhood in the South Bronx built her understandings of health and community, the complexities of fighting for quality housing for all, and much more. Plus, a cameo from her six month-old daughter!

SHOW NOTES

Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation by Jonathan Kozol - www.goodreads.com/book/show/51537.Amazing_Grace

Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago by Jonathan Kozol - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heat-wave-eric-klinenberg/1117244493

Ep 288 - Long Live Malik Alim

This episode is an audio remembrance and tribute to our comrade and brother Malik Alim, who transcended this plane August 20, 2021. Thanks to all of the family and community members who shared their messages and memories.

Donate to the Malik Alim Legacy Fund - www.gofundme.com/f/malik-alim-family-legacy-fund

One Million Experiments Part 1: The Hypothesis with Mariame Kaba

Welcome to One Million Experiments, a brand new podcast exploring how we define and create safety, wellness, and protection in a world without police and prisons. Through longform interviews with movement workers across the world who have created community-based safety projects, 1ME expands our ideas about what keeps us safe, and celebrates the work already happening to build solutions that are grounded in transformation instead of punishment.

On this first episode, hosts Dame and Kiss introduce the project alongside Interrupting Criminalization's Eva Nagao. Then the guys take a deep dive into the project with 1ME co-creator Mariame Kaba, who talks about the project's evolution, the limits of framing the projects as "alternatives" to police and prisons, and how she hopes the project moves people into movement and action.

SHOW NOTES

The podcast is brought to you by AirGo (airgoradio.com), Project Nia, and Interrupting Criminalization (www.interruptingcriminalization.com).

Subscribe to One Million Experiments wherever you get your podcasts!

Explore the One Million Experiments Virtual Encyclopedia -millionexperiments.com/

Paola Rojas - sfonline.barnard.edu/navigating-neo…s-and-hearts/#

Project NIA - project-nia.org/

adrienne maree brown - adriennemareebrown.net/

Shira Hassan - just-practice.org/about-shira

Ruthie Wilson Gilmore - www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazi…lson-gilmore.html

Mia Mingus - twitter.com/miamingus


Climate Changemakers Episode 2.5 - Monica Lewis-Patrick

Climate Changemakers is back for Season 2! And this year, hosts Damon and Kiss are reaching beyond Illinois and talking with environmental justice movement workers from across the land about what ideas guide their work, which strategies have been effective, and what advice they have for Elevate as the organization works to put people and the planet first in the fight to build equity through climate action.

On Episode 5, Dame and Kiss head east to talk Detroit with the inimitable Monica Lewis-Patrick. Known as the "Water Warrior," Monica is the cofounder of We The People Detroit, a community-based grassroots organization aiming to inform, educate, and empower Detroit residents on imperative issues surrounding civil rights, land, water, education, and the democratic process. She talks about the links between water access and austerity, the gender-based violence of water shutoffs, the regional coalition of water organizing across the Great Lakes, how her mother called her to action, and much more.

SHOW NOTES

Support We The People Detroit - www.wethepeopleofdetroit.com

Gloria House - snccdigital.org/people/gloria-house/

Rev. Dr. JoAnne Watson - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JoAnn_Watson

ALEC - www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

Charity Hicks - https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/commoner/remembering-charity-hicks

Prof. Gwen Winston - https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/one-song-playlist/monica-lewis-patrick-gwen-9ZWG3l-kheD/

We the Youth Detroit - www.wethepeopleofdetroit.com/youth-leaders

The New “Water Barons”: Wall Street Mega-Banks are Buying up the World’s Water - https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-new-water-barons-wall-street-mega-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/5383274

Water Shutoffs During COVID-19 and Black Lives: Case Study Detroit -https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/env.2020.0064

Clean Water and Reproductive Justice - https://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/repro/clean-water-and-reproductive-justice.pdf

Water insecurity and psychosocial distress: case study of the Detroit water shutoffs - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32930795/

Subscribe to, rate, and review Climate Changemakers on your podcast app: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/climate-changemakers/id1503392646

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Climate Changemakers Episode 2.4 - Neil Whitegull

Climate Changemakers is back for Season 2! And this year, hosts Damon and Kiss are reaching beyond Illinois and talking with environmental justice movement workers from across the land about what ideas guide their work, which strategies have been effective, and what advice they have for Elevate as the organization works to put people and the planet first in the fight to build equity through climate action.

On this episode, the guys are joined by Neil Whitegull. Neil is the Executive Director of the Ho-Chunk Housing and Community Development Agency, a nonprofit organization on Ho-Chunk sovereign land in Wisconsin. He breaks down the history of trust responsibilities between the federal government and indigenous people, the contradictions and opportunities of federal funding, Ho-Chunk stories that go back three ice ages, the film Ice Age, and much more.

SHOW NOTES
Learn more about the HHCDA: hhcda.com/

Subscribe to, rate, and review Climate Changemakers on your podcast app: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clim…rs/id1503392646

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

AirGo x Sawyer Seminar Present Radical Care, Real Alternatives Episode 6 - Land, Labor, and Climate Justice

AirGo is partnering with UIC's Social Justice Initiative to present The Sawyer Seminar, a series of conversations hosted by UIC scholars entitled Radical Care, Real Alternatives. On this sixth and final episode, we dive deep into the dynamics, structures, and transformative possibilities of the fight for Environmental and Climate Justice. The conversation is hosted by Teresa Córdova, who is the Director of the Great Cities Institute and a Professor of Urban Planning and Policy at UIC. She is joined by José Bravo, the Executive Director of Just Transition Alliance, and José Acosta-Cordova, the Environmental Planning and Research Organizer at LVEJO. The trio breaks down how the work has shifted over the last thirty years, some of the false solutions to climate change that are being proposed, and the value of multigenerational organizing in the Environmental Justice movement. It's a great convo to wrap up the suite–enjoy!

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Transcription by Ayinde Jean-Baptiste

AirGo x Sawyer Seminar Present Radical Care, Real Alternatives Episode 5 - How Finance Colonizes Urban Futures

AirGo is partnering with UIC's Social Justice Initiative to present The Sawyer Seminar, a series of conversations hosted by UIC scholars entitled Radical Care, Real Alternatives. This episode, hosted by UIC professors Rachel Weber and Philip Ashton, explores how the public goods and services on which we rely have been commodified, packaged, and sold to the highest bidder. From the Chicago Skyway to the Green Line subway to the parking spots across the city, the municipal government has auctioned off the public infrastructure in an attempt to plug short-term budget holes, with often disastrous consequences. Dive deep into the weeds and emerge with a new lens to challenge the privatization of our lived environment in Chicago and beyond.

SHOW NOTES
Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Transcription by Ayinde Jean-Baptiste

Climate Changemakers Episode 2.2 - Nicole Nelson and Valerie Marion

Climate Changemakers is back for Season 2! And this year, hosts Damon and Kiss are reaching beyond Illinois and talking with environmental justice movement workers from across the land about what ideas guide their work, which strategies have been effective, and what advice they have for Elevate as the organization works to put people and the planet first in the fight to build equity through climate action.

On this episode, Damon and Daniel have the honor of talking with two of the leading voices in the fight to save the lives and communities of Centreville, Illinois, a community that has been living in raw sewage for decades. Nicole Nelson is an attorney with Equity Legal Services, where she litigates on behalf of and works with Centreville residents, and Valerie Marion is a lifelong Centreville resident who is one of the founders of Centreville Citizens for Change, a community group that provides bottled water and other resources to their neighbors. The duo talks about how their town was structurally neglected, the physical and emotional toll of the struggle for justice, and what you can do to support.

SHOW NOTES
Donate to the Home Repair Community Fund - charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/…community-fund

Learn more and dive deeper into the fight - floodedandforgotten.com/

AirGo x Sawyer Seminar Present Radical Care, Real Alternatives Episode 4 - Immigration (im)Mobility

irGo is partnering with UIC's Social Justice Initiative to present The Sawyer Seminar, a series of conversations hosted by UIC scholars entitled Radical Care, Real Alternatives. On this episode, we dig deep into the contemporary undocumented rights movement with UIC Professor Amalia Pallares and Mijente Political Director Tania Unzueta. The former mentor-mentee duo go through the timeline of Tania's involvement in the struggle, from her canceled appearance in front of Congress on September 11th, to the fight for DACA to be passed in the early 2010s, to her step into electoral politics over the last few years. Throughout the story, the love and appreciation between the old friends shines through, and the stories Tania shares illustrate what the future of this fight can look like.

SHOW NOTES
Mijente - mijente.net/

Coming out of the Shadows - www.thesociologicalreview.com/coming-out…n-the-usa/

Radio Arte - www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/radio-…nt?oid=3905398

Immigrant youth justice league - mydocumentedlife.org/immigrant-yout…f-the-shadows/

Undocuqueer - creativeresistance.org/i-am-undocuqueer/

#Not1More - www.notonemoredeportation.com/

Secure Communities - www.ice.gov/secure-communities

NOLA Congress of Day Laborers - www.nowcrj.org/

Marisa Franco of Mijente - twitter.com/marisa_franco?lang=en

Chicago Community and Workers Rights - chicagoworkersrights.org/about/

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Transcription by Ayinde Jean-Baptiste

Episode 282 - Undocumented & Unafraid w/ Jennicet Gutierrez and Patrice Lawrence

On 5/13/21, AirGo hosted Undocumented & Unafraid, a conversation as part of Allied Media Projects' Bloom Speakers Series. The guys had the privilege and honor of learning from: Jennicet Gutierrez, an organizer with queer and trans undocumented rights organization Famila TQLM; and Patrice Lawrence, the Co-Director of UndocuBlack Network (UBN) is a multigenerational network of currently and formerly undocumented Black people. The squad talks about what they've learned in the struggle, what needs to be centered in the conversation around borders and immigration, what their freedom dreams look like, and much more. Big shouts out to Allied Media for having us!

SHOW NOTES
Deadly Exchange campaign - deadlyexchange.org/

Freedom Dreams by Robin Kelley - www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20617…-dg-kelley/

Undocublack Network - undocublack.org/

Familia: TQLM - familiatqlm.org/

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Climate Changemakers Episode 2.1 - Marnese Jackson

Climate Changemakers is back for Season 2! And this year, hosts Damon and Kiss are reaching beyond Illinois and talking with environmental justice movement workers from across the land about what ideas guide their work, which strategies have been effective, and what advice they have for Elevate as the organization works to put people and the planet first in the fight to build equity through climate action.

The season kicks off with Marnese Jackson, an advocate, organizer and mother from Pontiac, Michigan whose work lives at every scale from the personal to the global. She is a member of Michigan's State Climate Solutions Board, on the leadership team of the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition, and a facilitator of BIPOC leadership programs in the climate justice movement. She talks about getting white folks to be self-reflective, bringing together multiracial coalition, and much more!

Subscribe to, rate, and review Climate Changemakers on your podcast app: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clim…rs/id1503392646

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Epide 281 - The Mentorship Suite Vol. 7: What We Learned with Jacinda Bullie

AirGo is excited to present The Mentorship Suite, a series of episodes exploring the joys, contradictions, and radical possibilities of this often fraught term. We wrap up the suite in style with co-curator Jacinda Bullie of Kuumba Lynx. Jacinda shares what jumped out to her from the past episodes, goes in-depth into how she's wrestling with accountability's complexity, breaks down how her family life informs her mentorship, and much more!

SHOW NOTES
Kesho's 4 Stages of Mentorship:
Stages
1 - Entering Humbly
2 - Negotiating the dynamics and what is being asked and offered
3 - Showing that she was enabling growth - accountable to showing what had been learned from the last time
4 - Closing of the relationship

Kesho's Steps for Healing:
1. Awareness
2. Acceptance
3. Restitution (symbolic and repair)
4. Policy change
5. Shift in cultural norms
6. Celebration
7. Memorialize the cast of characters

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

AirGo x Sawyer Seminar Present Radical Care, Real Alternatives Episode 3 - Structural Care

AirGo is partnering with UIC's Social Justice Initiative to present The Sawyer Seminar, a series of conversations hosted by UIC scholars entitled Radical Care, Real Alternatives. On this third episode we're treated to a conversation about structural care, hosted by UIC Professor Jennifer Brier and featuring longtime HIV/AIDS movement workers Charles Ryan Long, Valencia Robinson, and Kenyon Farrow. The squad talks about how they've learned to redefine care, what their work can teach us about how to respond to pandemics, and much more.

SHOW NOTES
Howard Brown Health - howardbrown.org/

Eyes on the Prize - www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperi…lms/eyesontheprize/

How the West Was Lost - variety.com/1995/film/reviews/h…as-lost-1200440212/

Tongues Untied - www.criterion.com/films/31182-tongues-untied

Credible Messengers - cmjcenter.org/

Violence Interrupters - www.violenceinterrupters.org/

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Transcription by Ayinde Jean-Baptiste

Episode 280 - The Mentorship Suite Vol. 6: Add-2

AirGo is excited to present The Mentorship Suite, a series of episodes exploring the joys, contradictions, and radical possibilities of this often fraught term. On this episode, we catch back up with an old friend–the excellent emcee and sturdy human Add-2. He's the founder and beating heart of Haven Studios, a recording space and meeting ground on the South Side. He talks about stepping away from the mic and into his purpose, the joys and pains of being a mentor, and the course he's attempting to chart for the young people about whom he cares so deeply.

SHOW NOTES
Haven Studios - www.havenstudios.org/

Listen to Add-2's first appearance on AirGo back in 2015 - airgoradio.com/airgo/2015/9/10/episode-10-add-2

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091

Episode 279 - The Mentorship Suite Vol. 5: Kesho Scott, Part II

AirGo is excited to present The Mentorship Suite, a series of episodes exploring the joys, contradictions, and radical possibilities of this often fraught term. On this episode, we share Part II of our conversation with Kesho Scott, a former Black Panther, longtime professor of Sociology and American Studies at Grinnell College, and mentor to both Dame and Kiss. The trio talks about their memories of the times that Kesho created some levitation, the deep love and appreciation they have for each other, and the calling and commitment to mentorship that sustains.

SHOW NOTES
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.M…arch_for_Meaning

Message to the Grass Roots speech by Malcolm X - www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY39tp3LEKI

SDS - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_fo…mocratic_Society

Survived and Punished - survivedandpunished.org/

Assata’s Daughters - www.assatasdaughters.org/

Become an AirGo Amplifier - airgoradio.com/donate

Rate and review AirGo - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091