All too often we think about, or more accurately don't think about, the ripple effects of low-wage work on families beyond the thought that things must be tight. In this conversation, based on their important book, Getting Me Cheap: How Low Wage Work Traps Women and Girls in Poverty, Lisa Dodson, Amanda Freeman, and I discuss the implications not just in the present but in the future for those trapped in this deeply unjust cycle. When we think about who is providing the childcare, the elder care, the cleaning services and more that we rely on to keep life functioning in the ways we are accusto ..read more

When I first heard about Engage and Evade: How Latino Immigrant Families Manage Surveillance in Everyday Life, Asad L. Asad's brilliant exploration of how undocumented people navigate living in the U.S. I thought that I had a pretty good understanding of the situation. I did not.  The experience of living undocumented in the U.S., particularly in southern border states, is a unique dance of engagement and evasion as Asad lays out. In reading his book, and in this conversation, I found myself both frustrated at the ever-changing  (but never resolved) immigration system and with a whol ..read more

Kat Calvin & Omkari Williams Kat Calvin and I both wrote books! Kat's is American Identity In Crisis: Notes from  an Accidental Activist. Mine is Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World (Without a Bullhorn).  When we realized that our books were coming out within weeks of each other we thought that we should have a conversation about them and the work we do in the world. Kat's work is getting the 26 million Americans who don't have ID the state issued ID that they need to do things like get a job, a home, a bank account, you know, little things like that. Mine ..read more

Often, when we think about racial justice immediately following the Civil War we think about a relatively narrow slice of Black history. Blair LM Kelley's Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class shines a light on stories that we don't hear enough about.  Drawing on stories from her own family and extensive research Blair tells us a compelling tale of Black folk beginning to claim their place in America as free people.  With stories of washerwomen, Pullman Porters, and other Black workers who fought for rights for themselves, started unions, and paved the way for the modern C ..read more

Gaelynn Lea Season 2  Episode 17 In this conversation NPR Tiny Desk Concert winner Gaelynn Lea and I talk about her disability activism, politics, music, and more. This conversation made me think about things like our culture's ideas about beauty, for one, in entirely new ways. Music, activism, politics, Gaelynn weaves all these together for a discussion that will likely expand your thinking on a whole lot of things. I loved talking with Gaelynn, I think you're going to love hearing what she has to say. For a written transcript of this episode click here ..read more

David Mura If I am a broken record on any subject it's probably on the impact of story and how the stories we tell to ourselves and others shape our understanding of the world. In his powerful book, author David Mura, writes about some of the stories that underlie the American experience.  With examples from literature and film David explores and important perspective in our fight for racial justice. If we don't know how the biases we hold are the storyline of our society it's gonna be impossible to rewrite those stories.  Reading David's book, and then speaking with him, was a fasci ..read more

Leah Penniman In 2018 Leah Penniman wrote Farming While Black, a beautiful book recounting her experience of building Soul Fire Farm and, also, a guide for other Black and Indigenous people looking to reconnect to the land. Now Leah has compiled a treasure trove of conversations that she's had with other Black people who work in harmony with the Earth. Black Earth Wisdom brings together the voices of these leaders in service of guiding us all to a deeper connection with the land, with it's place in all of our lives, and the necessity of rebuilding the connection to Earth that, for far too ..read more

:Debilyn Molineaux Have you ever wished for an unmistakable sign of the direction you should be going in? I know I have. For Debilyn Molineaux, President and CEO of Bridge Alliance that sign set her on a path to work towards healing the divides that are ripping at the fabric of the United States.   In this conversation Debilyn and I talk about where we are as a country, how we get out of the mess that we're in, and about the experience that shifted the work that she does in the world.   What if the critical piece of healing what ails us is as simple, not easy, but simple, as listenin ..read more

Shaun Marq Anderson Given how little we are taught about Black history in general it's not surprising that most of us, me included, have relatively little knowledge of the role that Black athletes have played in the social justice movement before the late 20th century. But since the Reconstruction Era Black athletes have been pushing the envelope, trying to move us towards justice and equity. Shaun Marq Anderson and I talked about the history of Black athlete activism and how the Sports Justice Movement has been evolving over the years as well as his new book, The Black Athlete Revolt. From Bl ..read more

Allison Butler We hear a lot about Critical Race Theory, as we should. But what about Critical Media Literacy? Have you ever even heard the term? I hadn't. Then I read The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People. Not to quibble with the authors but really, this isn't only for young people. This is for all of us.  We're taking in so much information from so many media sources and yet we rarely, if ever, stop to think about what those sources are, their agendas, and what that means for what we're hearing and reading. Allison Butler and her co-authors take this on a ..read more