43 min listen
Strange Fruit #179: The Same Conversation
FromStrange Fruit
ratings:
Length:
30 minutes
Released:
Jul 9, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
When we sat down in the studio to record this week's show, it was Wednesday evening, and our hearts were heavy with the news of Alton Sterling's death. Sterling was shot and killed by police in Baton Rouge. He'd been selling CDs outside of a convenience store. It's a conversation we've had more times than we can accurately remember in our four years of producing Strange Fruit episodes. The details change, but our analysis stays the same. A police officer who hasn't been trained to recognize his own internal biases is more likely to see a black man as a threat. Media outlets look to the victim's past, and behavior during the stop, for evidence of guilt. Police who shoot people are rarely convicted of crimes. These are all factors in this cycle of police violence we're seeing in the United States — and now that most people have cell phones with video cameras, we actually see the incidents, all over the internet and TV. The morning after we recorded our episode, the whole world was watching a Facebook live video taken by Diamond Reynolds showing the last minutes of her boyfriend's life. Philandro Castile was shot by police during a traffic stop. Reynolds's 4-year-old daughter, who was in the back seat during the shooting, could be heard on the live stream telling her mom, "It’s OK, I’m right here with you." And then, the next night, a sniper shot at police during a peaceful protest in Dallas, killing five officers. The violence perpetrated by and involving the police is so constant, we can't keep up with it. So this week, we're bringing you the show as we originally recorded it, focused on Alton Sterling. We'll be at Louisville's vigil on Sunday, and we'll keep you posted on further developments. And we sincerely hope we never see another week like this.
Released:
Jul 9, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Strange Fruit #31: Urmi Basu of New Light India; Kaitlyn Hunt, Statutory Rape & Queer Relationships: Activism runs in Urmi Basu's family; her grandfather was a doctor who set up a school for _dalit_ children (India's untouchable caste) in his own home. Urmi says her family "always challenged everything that's traditional in India." Thirteen years ago, she combined her passion for gender equality and her background and education in social work—along with 10,000 rupees, or $200—to found [New Light India](http://www.newlightindia.org/). New Light is non-profit organization based in the red light district of Calcutta, intended to help victims of sex trafficking and provide healthcare to people living with HIV/AIDS. With an estimated 40,000 new trafficked sex workers in the city each year, it's no small task. But Urmi is a woman of great determination. She was in Louisville recently and she sat down to talk with us about her work, and how sex trafficking in India is part of the larger globa by Strange Fruit