Freedom to Read; The Magic of Purple Districts; Black Maternal Health Week; Student Loan Crisis Update
On the Radio Show This Week
- We start out talking about the importance of having the freedom to read age-appropriate educational materials and how to push back against harmful book bans across the country
- After that, we touch base on the beauty and power of "purple places" in the United States, exploring the unique role these areas play as epicenters of local organizing and democracy
- Following that segment, we dive into Black Maternal Health Week, discussing the urgent need for maternal health equity and the specific policy solutions that support Black moms and families
- Finally, we close the show talking about the student loan crisis families are facing across America, the impact of new repayment rules, and how to take action to abolish student debt
Watch and Listen
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Special Guests
McKenna Samson, PEN America, @penamerica; Beatriz Beckford, MomsRising, @MomsRising, @MamásConPoder; Tina Sherman, MomsRising, @MomsRising, @MamasConPoder, @TinaShermanNC; Julia Barnard, Debt Collective, @StrikeDebt, @debtcollective.
Key Highlights and Expert Quotes From This Episode
“At a townhall meeting in the purple district of Carlisle, PA, I heard a conversation between two people that went: ‘I voted for Trump but I didn't vote for this. This is fascism!’ Then someone else said, ‘Well, I'm hearing that this might not be fascism, this is an oligarchy.’ The fact that this language is even emerging in these spaces and that people are educating each other about it and doing it in the context of their voting decisions was really powerful.”
— Beatriz Beckford, National Director, Youth & Family Justice, MomsRising
“I would hope people will join us at Debt Collective. I talk to people every day who have a lot of shame and sadness around their student debt and we like to say you are not alone, and that debt is a form of social control—it is not an individual failing, this is a social failing, and we're stronger together. So we at Debt Collective have a lot of opportunities to get involved, to take collective action to push back on some of these bad changes. And again, I do think we can win this. These are political decisions, we can make different ones.”
— Julia Barnard, Higher Ed Director, Debt Collective
“Books can oftentimes be the very first time that a student is learning about different cultures, different people, different experiences in the world that they themselves may not have particularly experienced. It allows them to elevate themselves, to open their minds, developing more empathy for one another. Without access to books, people are often maybe a bit more closed-minded; they are ignorant of the world around them.”
— McKenna Samson, Program Manager, Freedom to Read, PEN America
“We know that more than 80% of maternal deaths are preventable. And when it comes to Black mamas, we are facing the disparity of rates: we're dying at rates three to four times more than our white counterparts. And that's regardless of socioeconomic status, that's regardless of education level, that's regardless of where you live. It is just the fact of being Black in America and giving birth.”
— Tina Sherman, National Director for the Maternal Justice Campaign, MomsRising
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