12 - The Lynching of Emmett Till

06/04/20 • 32 min

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This is an episode about the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Black boy Emmett Till, which was perpetrated after a white woman named Carolyn Bryant falsely accused Emmett of harassing her. In light of the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, and the false allegations against a Black birdwatcher by a white woman named Amy Cooper, it's necessary that we address how the system in which we live executes violence against Black people in order to maintain a regime that entitles white people.

"Some of us, white and black, know how great a price has already been paid to bring into existence a new consciousness, a new people, an unprecedented nation. If we know, and do nothing, we are worse than the murderers hired in our name." ~James Baldwin

Sources and further reading: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

SUPPORT BLACK LIVES MATTER: https://blacklivesmatter.carrd.co/

Sources and further reading: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw

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11 - Solanas, SCUM & the Attempted Assassination of Andy Warhol

In 1967, little-known writer Valerie Solanas self-published her anti-patriarchy pamphlet, the SCUM Manifesto. To some, the Manifesto is a revolutionary work; to others, a misandrist screed. Whether it’s intended as pointed satire, or as Solanas herself once claimed, “dead serious,” the text has regardless become a staple of a particular strain of radical feminism.

But Valerie Solanas wasn’t only a woman of biting words; she was a woman of action. On Monday, June 3rd, 1968, Solanas made her way to 33 Union Square West in New York City. In a brown paper bag, she concealed a .32-caliber Beretta automatic and .22 Colt revolver. The building housed Andy Warhol’s famed avant-garde space, The Factory, and Solanas was after the pop artist himself.

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13 - The Iran-Contra Affair

On January 20th, 1981, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th President of the United States. At the same time, halfway across the world, the 52 American hostages that have been held by the Islamic Republic of Iran were released to US personnel after 444 days in captivity since 1979.

Although those events appear unrelated at first glance, the links between them run deep like roots underneath a forest floor; in particular, it has been alleged that during the 1980 presidential elections, the Reagan campaign reached out to Iran and intentionally sabotaged their negotiations with the sitting President, Jimmy Carter. Reagan offered Iran much better terms to keep the hostages and so deliberately decimated the popularity of the incumbent Carter. In return, Reagan promised that should he win, Iran would receive weapons and funds from the US government.

Fast forward to 1981, and as Ronald Reagan places his hands on a bible to swear the oath of the Presidency, 52 Americans were shuttled from Tehran via Algeria, Germany, Ireland, and finally to the United States. Little did people know at the time that this was the tip of an iceberg that spans three continents, paramilitary death squads, metric tonnes of cocaine, and various American political figures committing high treason — and getting away with it.

SUPPORT BLACK LIVES MATTER: https://blacklivesmatter.carrd.co/

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Sources: https://bit.ly/3bhoMVw