Sojourner Truth Radio

Today on Sojourner Truth: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the next President and Vice President of the United States, today, on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. This years inauguration, which is predominately virtual, will be much different from all others in the past. The ceremony is taking place just two weeks after the violent January 6 insurrection on the Capitol by far-right and white supremacist supporters of Donald Trump. People around the world will be able to stream the ceremonies from the Presidential Inauguration Committee website, as well as major social media platforms. Trump will not be in attendance and will instead hold a send-off ceremony of sorts at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. He and his family are off to their Florida residence. Up to 25,000 National Guard troops are expected to be in Washington, D.C., but there is trouble there, because they are being vetted and thus far, 12 of them have been removed from various reasons. At least two of them for supporting white supremacist groups. Biden and Harris are expected to take their oaths of office at noon Eastern at the Capitol. According to NPR, Harris will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while Biden will be sworn in by Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. After being sworn in, Biden will deliver his inaugural address, which many report will emphasize unity and reconciliation in the post-Trump era. In a pre-recorded farewell address released on Tuesday, January 9, Trump completely glossed over the violent Capitol insurrection and his role in promoting it, bragged about his record on foreign policy and said the movement he supported and grew is only just beginning. He also failed to mention his successor Biden and Harris by their names. Meanwhile, on the night before his inauguration, Biden and Harris led the first national tribute for the roughly 400,000 people in the U.S. killed by COVID-19, saying, "To heal, we must remember." Our guests are Emiliana Guereca and Susan Burton. Emiliana Guereca is an entrepreneur based in Los Angeles with a passion for giving back to the community. She was also a surrogate for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Along with being an award-winning event producer, Emi devotes much of her time to advocacy programs for womens rights, Latino education, and gender equality. After cycling in and out of the criminal justice system for nearly fifteen years, Susan gained freedom and sobriety and founded A New Way of Life Reentry Project in 1998. She opened her doors to other women returning home from prisons and jails, offering shelter, safety, leadership, and support to those seeking to rebuild their lives. Dedicating her life to helping other women break the cycle of incarceration, homelessness, addiction and despair, Susan became a recognized leader in the criminal justice reform and reentry rights movements. Susan is currently a steering committee member for the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted Peoples and Family Movement.

Today on Sojourner Truth: A white mob of Trump supporters bent on insurrection violently stormed the U.S. Capitol building yesterday in scenes that shocked the world. Thousands of protesters had been called by Trump to descent on D.C. on the day Congress was to vote to accept the results of the recent presidential election. They were further encouraged by Republican senators and members of the House who vowed to object to the results of the Electoral College in a last-ditch attempt for Trump to continue as President of the United States. This, despite the reality that he lost both the popular vote and Electoral College votes. Trump was also pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to ensure that the Biden-Harris win would not be accepted. Additionally, he had previously called the Georgia Secretary of State, in an act which many have described illegal, to pressure him into finding thousands of votes to ensure a Trump win in Georgia. The Georgia Secretary of State refused. Trump went further on Wednesday, January 6, speaking to a crowd that gathered at D.C., calling on them to march to the Capitol buildings and "not be weak." What unfolded was a scene on Capitol Hill not seen since the British stormed and burned the Capitol building in 1812. After the chaos, Congress with the blessing of Pence regrouped and went on to certify the Biden-Harris win. Despite the fact that even after the day's violence some senators and House members continued to object to accepting the Electoral College or popular vote. Notable for all of the world to see was the contrast with how law enforcement has consistently violently attacked Black Lives Matter protesters, as witnessed in the June 2020 protests in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. We have also seen this around the country, from Portland and Los Angeles to New York City and Washington State. Photos have been shown circulating on social media showing a well-prepared military force ready to meet Black Lives Matter protesters when they were in Washington, D.C. This is in stark contrast to what happened on Wednesday, when the few Capitol police on duty were quickly overrun and video has emerged of some of them taking selfies and having a cozy relationship with them. Four people are reported to have died and 59 people were arrested. Meanwhile, Democrats will now have control of the U.S. Senate, given the wins by both Democratic candidates in Georgia. Some are now calling for Trump to be immediately removed from office. Today's guests are Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Maurice Cook and Dr. Peniel Joseph.

Today on Sojourner Truth: A possible sweep by Democrats in the Georgia Senatorial election. Victory has been declared for 51-year-old Raphael Warnock, who makes history as the first Black Senator from the southern state of Georgia. He narrowly defeated Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler was appointed to her seat by the governor of Georgia to fill a vacancy left by Johnny Isakson, who resigned his Senate seat due to health reasons. Loeffler is an ardent Trump supporter and is one of the Senators who today will challenge the election of Biden/Harris. Liberal Democrat Jon Ossoff maintains a narrow lead over Republican Trump supporter David Purdue. If he wins, Jon Ossoff will be the youngest Senator to be seated since Joe Biden. Ossoff is of Jewish descent. Are we witnessing a resurgence of Black-Jewish alliances reminiscent of the civil rights era? What role did Black voters play in the outcome? Our guest is Jill Cartwright, Georgia statewide organizer for Southerners for New Ground (SONG). All this, as drama unfolds in Congress today as elected officials on both the House and Senate side will attempt to stop the electoral college vote certification of the Biden/Harris administration. Donald Trump has made a phone call that may have been illegal to a Georgia election official pushing him to nullify the vote count there and instead give the Georgia vote to him. Trump is also making the false claim that Vice President Pence has the power to nullify the electoral college vote, but thus far Pence is said to have explained to Trump that he does not have such power. Meanwhile the streets of Washington, D.C. will be hot today with thousands of Trump supporters descending on the nations capital to demand that Trump remain President. Trump and other elected officials who stand with him are expected to speak to the crowd and D.C.s mayor has requested assistance from the National Guard. Law professor and attorney Marjorie Cohn joins us. Trouble in Los Angeles for the new District Attorney George Gascon. He was elected with the support of BLM and other community based organizations. He promised major criminal justice reforms and then proceeded to implement them only to be met by resistance by Los Angeles County prosecutors, who have filed a law-suit against him. Whats going on? For our ongoing Campaigners for Black Lives, we speak with Dr. Melina Abdullah, founder and coordinator of BLMLA.

Today on Sojourner Truth: Is biomass fuel the answer to containing the spread of wildfires? Or is it simply another false solution taking away focus from the relationship between climate change and the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires? On Tuesday, November 24, environmental justice organizations around the world will mark the International Day of Action on Forest Biomass. What is biomass fuel? Why are environmental activists opposed to it? For our weekly Earth Watch, our guest is Rachel Smolker. She is co-director of Biofuelwatch, where she works to raise awareness of the impacts of large scale bioenergy on climate, the environment and human rights. Her work has spanned from local grassroots organizing to participation in the United Nations conventions on climate and biodiversity. She is on the steering committee of the Campaign to Stop GE Trees. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and worked previously as a field biologist. She lives in Vermont where she is organizing resistance to a fracked gas pipeline and to logging on public lands. Across the U.S. South and Midwest, farm workers are waging labor struggles against corporate exploitation and toxic work environments. Farm workers are among the most underpaid workers in the United States and often work in perilous conditions. They're also forced to live in cramped quarters, making them more vulnerable to COVID-19. Our guest is Stephen Bartlett. Stephen is the Coordinator of Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville, which aims to create a joyous, diverse, and sustainable community of well-nourished people and well-compensated farmers and food workers. Stephen is also a member of Louisvillians Showing Up For Racial Justice. Also, we speak with Eleanor Goldfield who made the brand new and well-reviewed film, "Hard Road of Hope." It tells the story of how migrants were brought to West Virginia to work in the coal mines and how they worked together against dangerous and oppressive working conditions.

Today on Sojourner Truth: Over the past century, Black landowners in the U.S. South have lost over 12 million acres of farmland, mostly from the 1950s onward, according to The Atlantic. Joe Brooks, the former president of the Emergency Land Fund, a group founded in 1972 to fight the problem of dispossession, estimated that about 6 million acres was lost by Black farmers between 1950 to 1969 alone. This represents an average of 820 acres a day, an area the size of New Yorks Central Park wiped out every day. Black-owned cotton farms in the U.S. South have almost completely disappeared, withering away from 87,000 to just over 3,000 in the 1960s alone. Furthermore, the racial disparity in farm acreage dramatically increased in Mississippi from 1950 to 1964, when Black farmers lost almost 800,000 acres of land, according to the Census of Agriculture. This land loss is also a financial loss, estimated to be around $3.7 billion to $6.6 billion in todays dollars. Today, only 1.3 percent of U.S. farmers, or about 45,000, are Black, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Back in 2010, the National Black Farmers Association held a demonstration in Washington D.C., where they drove their tractors around Capitol Hill to demand justice. A similar tractor protest was mobilized by the National Black Farmers Association in 2002. In 2020, under Trumps regime and during the height of the COVID-19 virus, only 0.1 percent of pandemic relief funding to help U.S. farmers during the Trump administration went to Black farmers, according to The Washington Post. Black farmers received only $20.8 million of the nearly $26 billion of payments made in two rounds of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program announced last year. Fast forward to 2021, under the presidency of President Joe Biden. A coalition of over 25 grassroots organizations have filed an amicus brief asking a federal court in Wisconsin to allow the distribution of $4 billion in loan forgiveness set aside by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, known as the USDA. The amicus brief speaks out against decades of injustice, systemic racism and admitted discriminatory behavior by the federal government. The assistance package was part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (known as ARPA) signed into law by Biden back in March. However, on June 10, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a temporary restraining order, stopping relief to over 17,000 Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color. Furthermore, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction to further delay the relief to Black and Indigenous farmers provided by Congress in the ARPA. This decision puts them in severe financial peril, taking them off their lands and inhibiting their centuries-long struggle for equity in agriculture. Over 200 groups have signed a statement in support of immediately distributing the relief, pointing out that this landmark piece of legislation is desperately needed. Joining us to discuss this are Keisha Stokes-Hough, Lorette Picciano and John Zippert.