This episode is hosted by Desiree Hellegers and features these segments:
The Municipal Eco-Resiliency Project (MERP): We feature an interview with MERP organizer Yolotli X speaking about their personal journey from street kid to urban farmer and about the work of this anti-capitalist collective that is carrying on the legacy of Vivan Barnett, organizing with Portland households to ramp up food production and advance food sovereignty. And we hear audio of a new song that MERP activists produced featuring Wassla, Mic Crenshaw, Toni Hill, and Talilo. Special thanks to MERP for letting us feature audio produced as part of their media organizing.
Black Labor in the Making of America: We revisit Laurie Mercier's 2020 interview with historian Joe Trotter about his important book, Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America (2020). Joe William Trotter, Jr., is Professor of History and Social Justice and Founder and Director of the Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of Black Milwaukee and Coal, Class, and Color and is past President of the Labor and Working Class History Association.
Winning Together: The Portland Rising Committee of Portland Jobs with Justice, a labor-community organizing coalition, will be holding a workshop on lessons from the Minnesota Community-Labor Movement. Tyler Fellini, Executive Director of Portland Jobs with Justice, joins Frann Michel to discuss the Minneapolis campaign; the importance of community-labor solidarity; moving beyond protest to strategy; the free March 8 workshop; and why trying to protect each other from illness is part of community care.
What We Can Win Together: Strategies From The Minnesota Community-Labor Movement, Saturday, March 08, 2025 • 2:00 PM-4:00 PM P.A.T. Hall • 345 NE 8th Ave., Portland, OR 97232 US, Masks required and provided
Reading by Said Shaiye: We feature excerpts from a February 2025 reading at Washington State University. Said Shaiye is an Autistic + ADHD (AuHD) Somali Writer, Photographer & Filmmaker in Minneapolis. He is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow & was awarded a 2024 MN State Arts Education Grant to lead a BIPOC autistic writing workshop where members publish their own books at year's end. His debut book, Are You Borg Now?, was a 2022 Minnesota Book Award Finalist in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir. He has published poetry & prose in Indiana Review, Texas Review, Obsidian, Brittle Paper, Pithead Chapel, 580 Split, Entropy, Diagram, and elsewhere.