Rising Up with Sonali - 2023-3-14

This week, well mark Equal Pay Day, March 14th, with Michele Kilpatrick, Co-Director of Advocacy and Mobilization at the Center for Popular Democracy. Michele will discuss the solutions that CPD is pushing to close the gender and racial wage gap. Then, Ivette Al, executive director of La Defensa, will join us to discuss how their organization is leading the movement for judicial accountability in addressing pre-trial injustice. Finally, David Delmar Sentis, founder of Resilient Coders, joins me to explore his new book, What We Build With Power: The Fight for Economic Justice in Tech.

Rising Up with Sonali - 2023-3-7

This week, well go to Atlanta, Georgia, where activists are participating in a week of action against Cop City, a training facility for police that aims to become the largest such center in the nation. My guest Kamau Franklin of Community Movement Builders will explain what is happening, how activists are being charged and even killed, and what the diverse resistance to Cop City looks like. Then, Sheena Rolle of Florida Rising will unveil a new campaign called Wake-Up Wednesdays which aims to rewrite the regressive and harmful narratives being disseminated by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Finally, YES! Magazine executive editor Evette Dionne will preview the Spring issue of YES! focusing on Endings.

Rising Up with Sonali - 2023-2-28

This week, well examine how Seattle became the first city to pass a new ordinance banning caste-based discrimination. Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Founder of Equality Labs and author of The Trauma of Caste, who was intimately involved in the organizing, will be my guest. Then, well turn to Collette Watson and Alicia Bell of Media 2070 about how to make newsrooms more anti-racist. Well look at how media outlets have historically been complicit in perpetuating white supremacy and how they can change. Finally, as the Supreme Court this week hears arguments in a case over President Bidens student debt forgiveness program, Braxton Brewington with Debt Collective will explain whats at stake.

Rising Up with Sonali - 2023-2-21

This week, well examine the calls to nationalize the United States railroad system in the wake of the derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. My guests will be Carl Rosen of United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America and Marilee Taylor, a retired locomotive engineer and member of Railroad Workers United. Then, well continue our on-going examination of police abolition efforts. Reina Sultan, co-creator of #8toAbolition will join us to explain the 8 steps required to imagine a world without police. Then, Cosette Ayele with the tech abolitionist group RAHEEM will share her ideas on creating a network of crisis responders that can offer alternatives to policing.

Rising Up with Sonali - 2023-2-14

This week, well dissect President Joe Bidens State of the Union address with YES! Magazine senior editor Chris Winters. Hell answer the question of whether Biden effectively made the case for running for president again in 2 years. Then, well turn to Cat Brooks, radio host, activist, and abolitionist, about her response to the police killing of Tyre Nichols and what it will take to live in a world free of police violence. Finally, Aria Florant and Trevor Smith of Liberation Ventures join us to discuss a new report on reparations and the steps needed to realize them

Rising Up with Sonali - 2023-2-7

This week, well turn to Khury Petersen-Smith about what the political attacks on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota mean. Well cover not only the hypocrisy of the GOP, but the capitulation of the Democrats, particularly as it relates to antisemitism, imagined and real. Then, well get a lesson in Black history from Howard Universitys Clarence Lusane. Dr. Lusane will delve deep into the history of the great abolitionist and leader of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman. His new book is called Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy. Finally, well wrap up the show with a commentary from political prisoner and award winning journalist Mumia Abu Jamal about the police killing of Tyre Nichols.

Rising Up with Sonali - 2023-1-31

This week, well examine the impact of Black history bans on the mental health of young people of color. In the wake of Floridas ban of an AP African American history course, well turn to mental health expert, Chard Hollins. Then, well look at how rightwing groups are taking aim at non-profit bail funds after The Bail Project was shut down. Elizer Darris who leads the Minnesota Freedom Fund will explain whats at stake. Finally, well turn to Julia Peter of the Center for Popular Democracy about how the Supreme Court is out of control and how we can take it back.

Rising Up with Sonali, 1/24/23

As President Biden designates the month of January as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Melissa Hope Ditmore joins to discuss trafficked labor's role in our economy. Then, Allison Butler on media literacy and analyzing digital media.

Rising Up with Sonali, 1/17/23

Elon Musks' other project, SpaceX, and how, it too, is failing to uphold a commitment to justice. Indigenous journalist Frank Hopper joins. Then, Alicia Garza, discusses The Black Organizing Innovations Project, The Black Census Project, and more.