Forward Together: A Podcast from the Arkansas Poor People's Campaign

In Episode 11, longtime Arkansas Poor People’s Campaign committee member and Little Rock, Arkansas native Mary Givens explains the generational trauma and the relationship with her dad that sets her activism on fire. Givens’ 20-year-career in literacy activism right here in Central Arkansas, her parents’ wisdom, and Mary Turner, a woman who was barely twenty-years-old and eight months pregnant when she met with a Georgia mob in 1918, unfold in this episode as Mary lays out the causal relationship between generational racist violence and the structural oppression that protects it as poverty and illiteracy go unchecked in Black communities crying out for healing and repair. Listen in as Mary breaks down the different kinds of racists and likens them to the various Covid strains that have infected communities, some more harmful than others, but each dangerous and potentially deadly.  Our podcast ends on a high note with a nod to the work that activist groups have done and continue to do despite setbacks like murdering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Arkansas’ newest stand your ground laws.

In Episode 10, Nate Davis catches up with Fair Sentencing activist Kaleem Nazeem, a charter member of the Arkansas Poor People’s Campaign, who left his Little Rock community at the age of 17 to begin a life sentence in what he calls the “Bondage System”. Kaleem shares what Little Rock was like in the late 80s and 90s and how the streets compensated for what the school to prison pipeline steals from young black boys. You’ll find out what happened when 21-year-old Kaleem wouldn’t pick cotton for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, and what it means for a soul to live with intention. Listen in as Kaleem, who will graduate from Arkansas State University with an Associate’s degree in science this summer, explains freed spirits, enslaved spirits, and its impact on the metamorphosis that we all undergo while becoming the whole and fulfilled human beings that we are truly meant to be.

Welcome to Episode Nine of Forward Together: A Podcast from the Arkansas Poor People’s Campaign where we shine a light on the people and ideas that drive the movement to end the evils of systemic racism, poverty, militarism, ecological devastation, and false moral narratives of religious nationalism. As Director of DecARcerate Arkansas, Zachary Crow is a familiar name in Arkansas’ activist circles. DecARcerate is a young organization, founded in late 2015,  and in today’s podcast, Zachary shares challenges and successes that DecARcerate Arkansas faces while appealing to a conservative Arkansas legislature for policy change. In July 2020, Nate sat down with the Vilionia, Arkansas native to probe his ideas on abolition and incarceration, his route to Director, and the difficulty that many White Americans have acknowledging that systemic racism and inequality actually exist--- despite real evidence, like Covid-19’s impact on lives of incarcerated people here in Arkansas. To learn more about DecARcerate, go to https://www.decarceratear.org/

In this episode, Southwest Little Rock, Arkansas native Osyrus Bolly, reflects on the many ways that solutions for social injustice actually refine and defend systemic racism rather than remove false narratives that lead to injustice like “colorblindness” and the “over-policing of African American communities” that begin in elementary school. Osyrus Bolly’s work to defund the police and rebuild the Little Rock School District centers his activism. Stay tuned as Osyrus, a long time member of the Arkansas Poor People's Campaign, explains how his success with invigorating youth advocacy rests in his being a Little Rock native, aware, at a very young age, of the structural differences in place that disrupt positive outcomes for Black and Brown communities.

In this special bonus episode, host Nate Davis sits down with ARPPC contributing artist, Adam Cox, to discuss his musical background, his involvement with the ARPPC, and his current creative project. Use the options below if you want to support Adam's music album project. Venmo: @Adam-Cox-54 Go Fund Me: https://gofund.me/cb347b35

In this episode, University of Texas alum and El Dorado, Arkansas native Laura Villegas, a Spanish language interpreter and member of our Greatest Generation, explains how life as a New York City editor in the 1960s, a parent in Argentina, and an educator in northwest Arkansas led to the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, the Poor People’s Campaign, and liberating Arkansas’ migrant communities. Stay tuned as Laura and host Nate Davis explore White privilege, silence, and widely accepted myths in white families that have gone unquestioned for generations, and are currently being dismantled in the US as the demographic shifts.

In Episode Six of Forward Together, military veteran and Little Rock medical doctor John Brineman, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, recalls the moment he joined the Poor People’s Campaign in a live video call with Rev Barber. and why he describes that moment in his life as the “most American thing” he could think to do.

In episode five, Nate and Pastor Frederick discuss capitalism’s harmful effects on humanity in healthcare and the necessity of reframing the lens with which we see each other. Pastor Fred, hospice chaplain and Memphis Theological Seminary graduate, reveals the moment he realized the absolute sacredness of human life, as well as the effort that people of all faiths must put in to liberate both victims of oppression as well as those oppressors who victimize. The dehumanizing impact of valuing economic identities over spiritual identities and Martin Luther King’s radical gospel takes center stage in this podcast journey that moves in and out of poverty, privilege, and its impact on a 35-year-old African American male raised in Hope, Arkansas

In this episode, Nate Davis goes back in time with Arkansas activists Liz Branch and her husband Bill whose opposition to racial injustice began as a teen on the back of city buses in 1950's Atlanta, Georgia. Get in on this fast-moving, inspirational conversation where Bill and Liz effortlessly prove that justice is what love looks like in public, and how their love for Christ and each other has transcended time, space, and more importantly helped heal communities throughout the US, Little Rock, and Central America.

In this bonus episode, join host Nate Davis as he visits with local artists involved in the curation of the 7th Street Mural in Little Rock. After these conversations, Nate sits down with his daughter, Sara, to discuss her participation on the projects at the 7th Street Mural.

In this episode, host Nate Davis welcomes Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice and Arkansas Peace Week co-founder, Hamid Ebrahimifar. Join us as Hamid shares how his brother’s incarceration in 1970’s Iran launched him into Little Rock where he’s become an icon for humility, determined dedication to activism, art, education, and protest against global militarization---all of which led to this summer’s visual campaign for human rights on Little Rock’s 7th Street.

In this episode, host Nate Davis talks with global fusionist Solomon Burchfield, APPC co-chair and community advocate who works to eliminate chronic homelessness in his Fayetteville, Arkansas hometown. Join us as Solomon explains how finding commonality in hard conversations can aid in the quest for justice, and the role love plays in his arguments to make the world a better place. https://www.voterview.ar-nova.org/VoterView https://www.acluarkansas.org

In this episode, host Nate Davis talks with the powerful and insightful Rev. Dr. Anika Whitfield, activist and co-chair of the Arkansas Poor People's Campaign. Stay tuned as Dr. Whitfield shares her upbringing, her influences, and her motivation to lead the campaign for justice here in Arkansas.