All Ears with Abigail Disney - Reverend Dr. William J. Barber Ii: Before George Floyd Was Ever Killed By This Cop, The Systems Were Suffocating Him

Reverend Dr. William J. Barber Ii: Before George Floyd Was Ever Killed By This Cop, The Systems Were Suffocating Him

06/11/20 • 37 min

All Ears with Abigail Disney

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Rajasvini Bhansali: The Time To Challenge The Insidious Calculus Of White Supremacy Is Now

All Ears is stepping back this week from our COVID-19 focus to turn our attention to the national anguish resulting from the murder of George Floyd by police on May 25th. At the forefront of Abby’s mind is sharing her platform with movement leaders, both as an opportunity to listen and learn. This week Abby talks to Rajasvini Bhansali, the Executive Director of Solidaire Network (a community of donors mobilizing resources to social justice movements), about why it’s hard to fund social movements, how white people need to sit with their own discomfort when confronting their own racism, and why profound personal transformation is impossible to do alone.

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Van Jones: A Video Can Change A Nation

This week on All Ears Abby welcomes CNN host and New York Times’ best-selling author Van Jones. Van talks about being a young civil rights lawyer in Oakland at the time of the Rodney King trial, and how it directly influenced his progressive activism of the last 30 years. Van says that having children made him come around to the belief that fixing the system is more productive than tearing it down, and that finding common ground is the key to systemic change. Van and Abby also discuss white fragility, Democrats’ past willingness to support “tough on crime” laws and mass incarceration, and the fact that Van is a 9th generation American, but the first person in his family to have all his rights fully recognized by the government. Learn more about Van’s extensive body of work in criminal justice reform though his organization REFORM Alliance.

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
“Van Jones on a Trump win: This was a white lash” (CNN)
How the 1994 Crime Bill Fed the Mass Incarceration Crisis (ACLU)
The Redemption Project With Van Jones (CNN Original Series)IG: @vanjones68
Twitter: @VanJones68