Sonali Kolhatkar speaks with Kali Akuno.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted whose labor our entire society depends on and it’s not corporate executives. Grocery workers, migrant farmworkers, meat packers, delivery drivers, Amazon workers, postal carriers, nurses, and janitors – all those deemed “essential workers,” are required to show up to work even as the rest of us are quarantined at home for our own safety.

But most of these essential workers are not just keeping us fed and healthy – they are also often the least paid, most vulnerable workers.

Now, there are growing calls for a General Strike on May Day – the same day that  President Donald Trump has insisted the US will restart its economy and return to business-as-usual.

Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson. Also formerly the Co-Director of the US Human Rights Network and the Executive Director of the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) based in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

Rising Up with Sonali is a radio and television show that brings progressive news coverage rooted in gender and racial justice to a wide audience.

Rising Up With Sonali was built on the foundation of Sonali Kolhatkar's earlier show, Uprising, which became the longest-running drive-time radio show on KPFK in Los Angeles hosted by a woman.

RUS airs on Free Speech TV every weekday.

Missed an episode?  Check out Rising Up on FSTV VOD anytime or visit the show page for the latest clips.

#FreeSpeechTV is one of the last standing national, independent news networks committed to advancing progressive social change. 

#FSTV is available on Dish, DirectTV, AppleTV, Roku, Sling and online at freespeech.org.

Capitalism Cooperation Jackson Coronavirus COVID-19 Free Speech TV General Strike Kali Akuno May Day Rising Up with Sonali Sonali Kolhatkar Strike US Economy