Monday, August 8, 2016: SHOUT THEIR NAMES Town Hall

This week, Women’s Magazine features excerpts from SHOUT THEIR NAMES, a Town Hall held at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland on July 31st 2016. In response to preventable and tragic deaths, advocates at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) held this Town Hall to call attention to the ongoing crisis occurring at California Institution for Women (CIW). The program features an overview of the situation at CIW and comments from the families of several women who have born the brutal impact of the crisis.

Dear Community,
In response to another preventable and tragic death, advocates at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) are reaching out to ally organizations in the Bay to call further attention to the ongoing crisis occurring at California Institution for Women (CIW). CIW is at 130 percent capacity and has a suicide rate that is 8 times the national average for people in women’s prisons, and 5 times the rate for all California prisons.  We will be holding a Town Hall on Sunday, July 31st at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland and want to invite your organization to endorse and be part of it.

The injustice and conditions of abuse and violence at CIW are happening inside and outside of prison walls across the country. Too often, lives are being lost to state violence and the majority of lives stolen are Black and Brown, queer and transgender. At CIW, people are dying as a result of direct neglect by cops, and from medical and mental health neglect. Outside, women are being killed by police. In 2013, Kayla Moore, a Black trans woman was killed by the Berkeley police in her home. On May 19, 2016, a Black woman named Jessica Nelson Williams was killed by San Francisco police in the Bayview neighborhood. There are no shortage of examples of punishing people and communities who have survived generations of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia with policing, incarceration and neglect.

Just a few weeks ago Shaylene Graves, a 27 year old Black woman, died from this state violence. She was six weeks away from her release. Before Shaylene, Erika Rocha committed suicide. Erika was 35 years old and had been incarcerated for 21 years. She was one day away from her Youth Parole Hearing. Last November, five people at the CCWF women’s prison were physically abused, sexually harassed and placed in solitary confinement by prison guards. They are planning to bring a suit against the CDCR.

Legal advocates with CCWP are working with and supporting survivors inside and family members outside to get much needed attention and support to those suffering behind these walls. We are reaching out to you because more needs to be done.

We hope that the Town Hall Meeting on Sunday, July 31st, 2016 from 3-5pm at the East Side Arts Alliance can help us connect these struggles and bring more attention to the ongoing crisis at CIW. We hope that you will endorse the event, share the information with your networks and come to Eastside Arts Alliance on July 31st. To endorse the town hall, please email info@womenprisoners.org.

Join us in demanding justice for Shaylene, Erika and all lives stolen by the CDCR and the police. BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME ALIVE!

In Solidarity,

California Coalition for Women Prisoners

Click here to listen to the entire show. 59:50 min

This program was recorded by Mary Salome and Emily Charles of Queer in Your Ear Productions. For the full recording of the Town Hall go to: https://soundcloud.com/queer-in-your-ear

Also on today's show:
Women's Community Calendar

Monday, June 2, 2014: Phenomenal Women

PHENOMENAL WOMEN



Stephanie Camp

As we all mourn the immortal Maya Angelou, we also pay tribute to some lesser known feminist sheroes: African American feminist historian Stephanie Camp, who died in April at age 46, and psychologist Sandra Bem, whose work helped put an end to sex-segregated employment advertising and open up more careers to women.





or Get MP3

Also on the June 2nd show:
Great Films at SF DocFest: First Friday and In Goodbye Gauley Mountain.
LIFE AS ACTIVISM: June Jordan's essays in the Progressive.


Click here to listen to entire show. 59:49 min.

December 24th: Feminist Responses to Violence; What to Do on New Year's

Male Violence, Militarism and Mass Killings 

What role does gender play and why is it so ignored by the media? How is empathy bred out of men, and how can we restore it? How can we make people feel the deaths of thousands of children in Afghanistan and Palestine, or in our own inner cities, as acutely as those in Newtown, Connecticut? Is this a "tipping point" moment for action on gun control? These and other questions are explored in this engaging half hour discussion.

A discussion with authors and activists Elana Dykewomon, Kathleen Barry and Judith Mirkinson about unexplored dimensions of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. Audio: 31:26

 

  Get MP3

Interview with Meditation & Spirituality Teacher Spring Washam

Spring Washam is hosting two Great Turning events New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. She writes:

"The great turning is happening NOW as we turn towards a life sustaining model of community, generosity and interconnectedness. We have enormous power and our hearts songs are weaving a new tapestry in the collective consciousness of our human family. Gaia is our home. It’s time we reclaim the earth as our sacred altar."

In this interview with Syra Smith, she talks about her philosophy, her work in mediatation and spirituality, the purpose of the events and how they came together. The Great Turning is a benefit for The Sujata Project, which will provide accessible retreats for low-income Bay Area women.

Spring Washam, cofounder of East Bay Meditation Center and teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, talks about her work making mediatation accessible to women of color, LBT and low-income women. Audio: 15:29



Get MP3

Phenomenon 2013

Phenomenon 2013 is the second New Year's extravaganza organized by Roke Noir and Siren Theatre. The first, Blue Moon Phenomenon 2010, was named "coolest spiritual New Year's Eve for women" by the San Francisco Examiner. Food, dancing, drumming, fire play, comedy -- Phenomenon 2013 has it all. Find out more.

Roke Noir of Siren Theater explains Phenomenon 2013, a spiritual New Year's feast, ritual and celebration for women. Audio: 7:06



Get MP3

Click here to listen to entire show as it aired on KPFA, Monday, December 24th, 2012.

June 20th: Women's Magazine honors Juneteenth and Pride Month with two very important broadcasts.

This broadcast features two panel discussions held this year.


The first segment is a discussion on the criminalization of African American girls that took place at the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice in March with Rev. Dr. Toni Dunbar and Barry Krisberg.


The next segment's focus is how art and activism are tied to the Queer Women of Color Film Festival. It includes a panel with African-American writer Jewel Gomez and Chicana activist Olga Talamante. Get MP3. 1hr 32min.

We close with updates from the Women's Community Calendar. Click here to listen. 59:51 min.

April 4th: Gay suicide and DJing and gender dynamics.

Today we discuss suicide among gay teenagers and ways to address it with a Hayward High School student.

For more information check out gsanetwork and GLSEN.

Then we talk to the Sol Sistas - aka DJ Sol and Michelle - about the art of DJing and gender dynamics that accompany it.

We conclude with event updates on the Women's Community Calendar. 59:48 min

Listen to the show.