Sonali Kolhatkar speaks with Erick Edstorm.

Just as there is a national conversation around defunding the police as we see the human toll of a domestic war by law enforcement against people of color, some have begun linking that idea to defunding the US military. After all, we spend a massive chunk of our federal tax dollars to outfit troops and purchase weapons of mass destruction which are mostly used to terrorize and bomb people of color in other nations – nations like Afghanistan where the US’s longest war continues – slipping in and out of the American public’s consciousness.

Now a veteran of the longest official war in US history has written a scathing indictment of that never-ending battle. Writing in his new book Un-American author Erik Edstrom says, “In American parlance, ‘Never Forget’ is tacitly—and exclusively—reserved for Americans to serve in their role as righteous victims, never as aggressors. Instead, let us ‘Never Forget’ the far larger costs of America’s permanent war posture and realize that humanity’s greatest problems will not be solved by the military.”

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. 

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