Radio Curious

We continue our conversation with Pulitzer winner Isabel Wilkerson, author of “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.”  In the years between 1915 and 1970 almost six million black American citizens from the south migrated to northern and western cities seeking freedom and a better life.

Wilkerson interviewed more than 1,000 people for her book. She is the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and is a recipient of the George Polk Award and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. Her parents were part of the great migration, journeying from Georgia and southern Virginia to Washington D.C.

In part 2 of our conversation, recorded from her home near Atlanta, Georgia, on September 28, 2012, Isabel Wilkerson describes the inspiration behind her narrative non-fiction story of the six million African-Americans who migrated from the south between 1915 and 1970.

The books Isabel Wilkerson recommends are “The Ark of Justice,” by Kevin Boyle and “The Optimist’s Daughter,” by Eudora Welty.

Part one of our interview with Isabel Wilkerson is here.

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In the years between 1915 and 1970 almost six million black American citizens from the south migrated to northern and western cities seeking freedom and a better life. Our guest is Pulitzer Prize winner, Isabel Wilkerson author of “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.” Her book tells the untold experiences of the African-Americans who fled the south over three generations.

Wilkerson interviewed more than 1,000 people for her book. She is the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and is a recipient of the George Polk Award and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. Her parents were part of the great migration, journeying from Georgia and southern Virginia to Washington D.C.

In the first of two interviews recorded from Isabel Wilkerson’s home near Atlanta, Georgia, on September 28, 2012, she begins with a description of the “biggest untold story of the 20^th century.”

The book Isabel Wilkerson recommends is “The Ark of Justice,” by Kevin Boyle.

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Radio Curious brings you part two of a conversation about the subconscious mind with Shankar Vedantam, author of “The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives.”  His book encourages us to be aware of how our unconscious mind is capable of controlling our decision making capabilities.  In part two, we examine what compels suicide bombers of the early 21^st century to take their own lives and those of others. And are we, in fact, all susceptible to these ideas?  Shankar Vedantam is a national correspondent and columnist for The Washington Post and 2009-10 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

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Radio Curious brings you a conversation about the subconscious mind with Shankar Vedantam,
author of “The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives.” His book encourages us to be aware of how our unconscious mind is capable of controlling our decision making capabilities. Shankar Vedantam is a national correspondent and columnist for The Washington Post and 2009-10 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

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The history and current status of the California State Park System, as in “how’d we get here and what’s gone wrong,” is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious.

Efforts to close our state parks and transfer their management private corporate control continue to occur in California.  We visit with Franklin Graham, Ph.D. who describes how the California public trust to protect our parks has been bureaucratically compromised.

This program, recorded in the Radio Curious studios on August 20, 2012, began with Mr. Graham’s description how our state parks were established.

The book Frank Graham recommends is “West of the Thirties:  Discoveries Among the Navajo and Hope,” by Edward T. Hall.

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The Winnemen Wintu people of California, having lived near Mount Shasta, along a tributary of the McCloud River for over 10,000 years celebrate the Balas Chonas, or Puberty Ceremony when girls mature into women.  The ceremony, celebrated on July 3, 2012 was extraordinary, when Balas Chonas was held for the next Winnemem Wintu chief and spiritual leader. However, the Balas Chonas ceremonies may come to an end, if the United States government continues with a plan to raise Shasta Dam and flood out most of the tribes remaining sacred sites.

Our guest is Lyla Johnston, currently a student of Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University who is documenting the culture and sacred sites of the Winnemem Wintu.

Christina Aanestad the Assistant Producer of Radio Curious visited with Lyla Johnston at the July 3rd, 2012 Balas Chonas. They began their conversation when Christina asked Lyla how many sacred sites the Winnemem Wintu have along the McCloud River.

The book Lyla Johnston recommends is “The Red Tent,” by Anita Diamont.

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As we all know every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  The reaction, however is not necessarily equal in time or unity.  It’s often spread over time with serial impacts.

In this edition of Radio Curious we focus on the treatment of workers in the automobile industry in the United States beginning in the early years of the 20^th century.  The story is portrayed in “Brothers on the Line,” a film about Walter, Ray and Victor Reuther, three brothers from West Virginia who organized the United Auto Workers Union beginning in the 1920s.  With access to the National Archives, the Wayne State University Labor History Library and family records, Sasha Reuther, Victor’s grandson, directed the film.  It chronicles the working conditions and the successful strikes at the big three auto plants in Michigan; the political power of the United Auto Workers Union, and its involvement in the civil rights movement.  It also explains why Detroit, Michigan became the richest city in the United States in the 1950s.

“Brothers On The Line” will be shown June 3, 2012 at the Mendocino Film Festival, in Mendocino, California.

Sasha Reuther and I visited by phone from his office in New York City on May 7, 2012.  We began when I asked him what happened once the automobile became a useful, if not necessary tool of life.

The book that Sasha Reuther recommends is “U.A.W. and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945 -1968,” by Kevin Boyle.

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In 1990 Earth First! activists from Mendocino County were on a road trip to rally support for a summer effort to help protect old growth redwoods in Northern California. For years prior, logging practices took well over 90% of the original redwood growth in the area. Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari, the organizers, were in their car in Oakland, California, in May 1990 when a bomb exploded underneath the driver’s seat where Judi Bari sat.  She and Darryl Cherney were immediately arrested and suspected of bombing themselves. Although charges were never filed against the two, authorities have yet to locate the bombers.  Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari sued and won a jury award of four million dollars against the Oakland Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for violating their 1st and 4th amendment rights.

The film, “Who Bombed Judi Bari?” produced by Darryl Cherney, attempts to answer the question posed in the title; it examines their struggle with law enforcement in finding the real bomber and chronicles the history of the local environmental movement here in Northern California.

Christina Aanestad, the Radio Curious assistant producer spoke with Darryl Cherney about the film he produced and his experiences resulting from the bombing. They visited on March 29, 2011, at the studios of KMEC radio, inside the Mendocino Environmental Center, which has a long history of supporting social and environmental movements, including Earth First! They began when Christina asked Darryl Cherney to describe the attempted assassination against him and Judi Bari.

The website for Darryl Cherney’s film is www.whobombedjudibari.com.

The book he recommends is, “The Alphabet Versus the Goddess” by Alan Shlain.

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