Episode 50: Before Tuskegee: A Journey for Recognition

07/29/22 • 47 min

On the 50th episode of “The Activist Files", legal worker Sadé Evans speaks with Helen D. Noel. Helen is an United States Air Force Chief Master Sergeant retiree, accomplished author, keynote speaker, and transformational consultant known for her nonjudgmental stance and radical coaching for others experiencing traumatic stress. This episode will discuss Helen’s 12-year journey to learn about the Rosenwald Fund study in efforts to understand the effects it may have had on her family and thousands of other African-American families. Helen is calling on the government to formally apologize for this medical study and take accountability.

Resources:

Follow the Helen D. Noel’s work here

Read about the Rosenwald Schools Act of 2020

Resources:

Follow the Helen D. Noel’s work here

Read about the Rosenwald Schools Act of 2020

Previous Episode

Episode 49: Land, Health, and History: A fight for Environmental Justice and Community Legacy

What happens to a predominantly Black community when its government officials prioritize profit over health and legacy? On the 49th episode of “The Activist Files", legal worker Sadé Evans speaks with Dr. Joy Banner and Jo Banner of “The Descendants project”, a non-profit organization that advocates for descendants of people who were enslaved in Louisiana’s River Parishes. In honor of Earth Day, this discussion centers the founders of the Descendants Project as they speak out against corporate greed and environmental racism in Wallace, Louisiana, largely known as Cancer Alley. This episode will highlight the formation of the Descendant’s project; how the founders’ community is being affected by petrochemical companies; and their current lawsuit against St. John the Baptist Parish which challenges an old corrupt zoning ordinance that would allow the construction of a massive grain terminal on their land.

Resources:

CCR Website - Case Page

Descendant's Project Press Release

Follow the Descendant’s Project work here:

Website:http://thedescendantsproject.org/

Instagram: @thedecendantsproject

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/descendantsproject/

Next Episode

Episode 51: Vision Dreaming for Black Trans Liberation - On Imagination, Mutual Aid, and the Road Ahead

How do attacks on trans organizing and rights impact related movements for bodily autonomy, reproductive justice, and liberation? On episode 51 of "The Activist Files," our Communications Associate Lexi Webster talks with Imara Jones, award-winning journalist, content creator and thought leader, founder of TransLash Media, and host of the TransLash podcast, and Diamond Stylz, activist, media maker, executive director of Black Trans Women Inc., and host of the Marsha’s Plate podcast, about how the work of movements for trans justice can inform social justice organizing on all liberation struggles.

Their discussion centers around the ways in which an emboldened post-Trump era extremist movement on the right has set into motion a plan whose long-term goal is the creation and enforcement of a white ethnostate and how such a plot relies on the eradication of minorities deemed deviant, the targeting of reproductive rights, and the elimination of any and all protections afforded to trans individuals and communities across the country. They discuss the need for a broad, intersectional approach by progressives who purport to fight for queer and trans liberation, and the continued urgency to build popular momentum for forward-thinking policies by and for Black trans people. They argue that to combat an organized and well-resourced white supremacist Christofascist, nationalist movement would require that the needs of Black trans communities are not only acknowledged, but prioritized by mainstream LGB institutions and that trans-interest groups engage in deeper dialogue and collaboration to provide guidance toward those ends. They also touch on the importance of mutual aid in this work and how our collective eagerness and ability to meet the material needs of Black trans people can act as a litmus test to assess the health of our society and movements.

Resources:

Organizations and public figures:

House of Tulip, New Orleans
The Transgender District, founded by three black trans women in 2017 as Compton’s Transgender Cultural District
Tourmaline, Black trans artist

Quotes and publications:

Biopower, theory of Michel Foucault
Necropolitics, theory of Achille Mbembe
Raquel Willis’ speech at the 2020 Brooklyn Liberation event
Toni Morrison quote
Julian K. Jarboe quote