community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
The Best of Rustbelt Radio, Fall 2007 (December 17, 2007)
by Pittsburgh IMC: Rustbelt Radio collective
Monday, Dec. 17, 2007 at 11:29 PM
radio@indypgh.org (email address validated) 412-923-3000 WRCT 88.3FM
Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of the news from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media. This week, we will be presenting highlights of Rustbelt Radio stories from the Fall of 2007 including... * locals take to the street in actions to oppose the war, and in support of the Jena 6 * the Word on the Street from October 8th - Pittsburghers' thoughts on Columbus Day * an update on the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' march on Burger King headquarters in Miami, Florida * New Voices Pittsburgh's Reproductive Justice Weekend * Community Media advocates Push for Expanded Low Power FM Radio * Pennsylvanians push two different LGBT nondiscrimination bills * and more highlights from Rustbelt Radio's fall season But before we begin, during our best-of show we always remind our listeners that our 3-year-old program is produced entirely by volunteers and we depend upon donations of equipment and funds to continue. If you can support us with recording equipment, computers, or funds for these supplies, please call 412-923-3000, or email us at radio@indypgh.org, or donate on our website, radio.indypgh.org.
audio link: 
MP3 at 27.0 mebibytes
Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of the news from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media. This week, we will be presenting highlights of Rustbelt Radio stories from the Fall of 2007 including...
But before we begin, during our best-of show we always remind our listeners that our 3-year-old program is produced entirely by volunteers and we depend upon donations of equipment and funds to continue. If you can support us with recording equipment, computers, or funds for these supplies, please call 412-923-3000, or email us at radio@indypgh.org, or donate on our website, radio.indypgh.org.
You can also help with Rustbelt Radio and other independent media projects by getting involved with the Independent Media Center! We provide training at our office on Penn Avenue, where new people can learn about media literacy, and basic audio recording and editing skills. If you enjoy listening to the show and would like to learn more about what happens behind the scenes, please contact us.
Rustbelt Radio is broadcast live from WRCT studios every Monday at 6 PM on 88.3 FM in Pittsburgh, and the program airs again on WRCT every Tuesday morning at 9AM.
We can also be heard weekly on the following stations:
We're also available on the internet, both on WRCT's live webstream at W-R-C-T dot ORG and for download, stream or podcast from our website at radio dot I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot org.
We turn now to local stories.
On our September 10th show, we covered the controversial new Pittsburgh Public school opening on the Northside.
You can hear more from the proponents and opponents of the partnership on the September 10th edition of Rustbelt Radio.
Throughout September, Rustbelt Radio covered the Pittsburgh Organizing Group's "End War Fast" and other anti-war events that month. Here are excerpts from stories on the September 10th and September 17th shows:
The protest went on for the rest of September, with more people joining the water-only fast over the course of the month. On September 18, POG filed a lawsuit against the city of Pittsburgh for free speech violations, seeking a temporary injunction in federal court to stop city police from citing or threatening to arrest protesters. The next day, a deal was worked out to allow the protest to continue without further intervention by the city. Patrick Young of POG said (quote) "We see [the agreement] as an absolute victory on all counts. Our right to protest, to get our message out, has been affirmed. We will be free from harassment, free from police intimidation and free from arrest."
Throughout the year, Rustbelt Radio has covered the story of the Jena 6, a group of African American teenagers in the small town of Jena, Louisiana. The six male high school students were charged with attempted murder and other felonies after injuring a white student in a fight at school. That fight followed months of racial threats and intimidation against black students, and several interracial fights. The most notable incident involved white students hanging nooses on a tree to threaten black students who sat there despite the claim that the tree was for white students only. These threats, and the extremely harsh charges brought by the District Attorney, have inspired comparisons to injustices of the Jim Crow era in the South.
On September 20th of this year tens of thousands of people, of all races and from across the country including from Pittsburgh, made the trip to the town of 3,000. The mass demonstration became one of the largest Civil Rights rallies to take place in the South since the 1960's. Less than two weeks later, a nationwide student walkout was called and students from across Pittsburgh participated.
On our October 1st show, we reported on the citywide student walkout that took place earlier that day:
Since that story aired, Mychal Bell has accepted a plea deal and remains in prison. The only one of the Jena 6 to be tried, Bell faced up to 22 years in prison, but his adult conviction was set aside by an appeals court and he was set to be retried in Juvenile court. Instead, on December 3rd, Bell pled guilty to second-degree battery, and the second charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree battery was thrown out. He will be forced to undergo counseling, pay court costs, and pay $935 to Justin Barker (the white student the Jena 6 are accused of beating up) and his family. The deal stipulates that Bell must “testify truthfully” if he is called as a witness in trials for any of the other Jena 6 youth. He is being given time served which means he will be held in a juvenile prison for several months more, and his parents have been ordered to pay child support to the state of Louisiana until his 18th birthday.
Rustbelt Radio has also followed the outbreak of noose-related racial threats which have occurred since the Jena 6 case became nationally known. Pittsburgh, like many other parts of the US, has had many such incidents, at both the workplaces and schools of African Americans, as well as at a state prison.
From the October 8th Rustbelt Radio: Word on the Street:
For more local news, you can visit pittsburgh dot I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot org.
[ HMB BREAK RUSTBELT - 0:20 (fades down 0:10 in to start global intro) ]
You are listening to the best of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news overlooked by the corporate media. Today we are sharing some news highlights from the past few months' programs.
On October 29th Rustbelt Radio reported on the legal challenge to the Bush administration's "no match" policy:
Judge Breyer's ruling was to be followed by a court case to determine whether the plaintiffs' complaints about the rule are valid. Despite this setback, the Bush administration is continuing to fight to enact the no-match rule. On December 5th, Judge Breyer granted a motion filed by the Department of Homeland Security to suspend the court case until DHS can revise the rule, and conduct a survey to assess its economic impact on small businesses. DHS has until March 24th to submit a new version of the rule.
Also on our October 29th show, we reported from the annual IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, DC.
That was Omékongo Dibinga, speaking in DC in October, before a protest march to the IMF and World Bank annual meetings. You can hear more of his spoken word performance on our October 29th program.
The struggle for fair food intensified this fall, with the "KingDOOM Days of Action" held by the Student/Farmworker Alliance October 27 through November 4 across the nation, including an event in Pittsburgh. A month later, the Coalition of Immokalee workers led a march on Burger King headquarters in Miami, Florida. Rustbelt Radio spoke with Marc Rodriguez of the Student Farmworker Alliance for the November fifth show.
The SFA is a national network of students, youth and other community members organizing with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to eliminate sweatshop conditions and modern-day slavery in the fields. Earlier this year, the Coalition won their campaign to get McDonalds to pay a penny more per pound for tomatoes picked in Immokalee, Florida. But Burger King and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange are pushing back. Burger King has refused to work with the Coalition, and will not agree to the same demands that McDonalds and Yum Brands have met. The growers association has gone so far as to announce that it will not allow any of its members to collect the extra penny for farm workers.
As Burger King and the tomato growers toughened their stance against the farmworkers, support continued to roll in during the weeks leading up to the Coalition's march on Miami. More than fifteen hundred Coalition members and allies turned out for the nine mile march on Friday, November 30th. From the Coalition's website, w w w (dot) c i w (dash) online (dot) org, excerpts from speeches from the day, mixed with music from Haitian band Rara Lakay:
On November 20th, Burger King and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange organized high profile press junkets to counter the Coalition's claims of a human rights crisis in Florida's tomato fields. That same day, three tomato pickers made their way to the Collier County Sheriff’s office after having escaped from a U-haul truck. They had been held against their will by their employer. The three men told police of an Immokalee-based tomato harvesting slavery ring in which workers were beaten and forced to work. Federal prosecutors filed charges and arrested four members of the farm labor operation.
CIW member Lucas Benitez addressed Burger King shareholders on November 29th, saying, quote: "These cases belie your management’s claim that all is well in the fields of Florida. But instead of accepting our invitation to work together to address the reality of modern-day slavery in Florida, and the sweatshop conditions that give rise to it, your CEO has opted to fight us by partnering with the most conservative elements of the very industry in which these slavery cases continue to flourish." (end quote)
Rustbelt Radio will continue to follow the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, in their fight for fair food and justice in the tomato fields of Florida.
Ipas and Sistersong Reproductive Health Collective's statistical project Mapping Our Rights reported on the disparities between black and white women receiving pre-natal care. In 2007, the percentage of white women in Pennsylvania who received prenatal care during their pregnancies, beginning in the first trimester, was 80%. In comparison, only 57% of African American women in Pennsylvania received prenatal care that year. We now bring you voices from New Voices Pittsburgh's Reproductive Justice Weekend, a gathering that addressed women of color's access to reproductive health.
Legal scholar Dorothy Roberts shared what sparked her interest in reproductive justice.
Loretta Ross of Sistersong broke down the concept of intersectional identity:
For more from Reproductive Justice Weekend, listen to our October 15th show.
You're listening to the best of Rustbelt Radio's fall 2007 season.
On our October 8th show, we covered the case of drug law sentencing in crack cocaine cases.
Since that story aired, the sentencing changes have gone into effect as of November 1st. Then on December 11th the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to retroactively reduce the federal prison terms for crack cocaine offenders. The individual reduction petitions can begin on March 3, 2008 and can reduce sentences by an average of 27 months.
Seven years ago, the Federal Communications Commission recognized the need for more diversity in programming on the radio airwaves. The FCC began taking applications for new Low Power FM or LPFM radio stations. But the new broadcasting window was immediately closed due to lobbying by powerful corporate radio interests. Educational institutions, labor unions, churches, towns, and community groups seeking to start Low Power radio stations have faced restrictive license requirements that limit community access to the airwaves.
But there is new hope. In late October The Senate Commerce Committee approved the Local Community Radio Act. The legislation is designed to ease licensing restrictions enough to allow for hundreds of new non-commercial stations. Following the Senate Commerce Committee's approval of the bill Rustbelt Radio carried this story on the importance of LPFM.
On our October 8 show, we brought you coverage of impassioned advocacy for two different LGBT nondiscrimination bills.
One bill under discussion was the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA. Pittsburghers had gathered at a town hall meeting to learn about and express their concerns regarding efforts to strip gender identity protection from the bill. On November 7, in a 235-184 vote, the U.S. House did pass a modified ENDA that provided employment protection based on sexual orientation, but excluded gender identity protections.
The National Center for Transgender Equality, which organized the October town hall meeting, expressed deep disappointment that the substitute bill passed over the objections of 350 LGBT organizations who are part of the United ENDA coalition.
The notable exception to that coalition is the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBT advocacy organization. Although HRC had earlier promised it would [quote] "not only support, but in fact would oppose anything less than a fully inclusive version of ENDA," [end quote] HRC reversed its position and backed the divisive bill. This led to widespread outrage among LGBT advocates, as well as the resignation of three prominent transgender advocates from HRC's board and committees.
The passage of ENDA was symbolic given that no parallel bill has been introduced in the Senate, and President Bush vowed to veto it regardless. Some speculated that the watered down bill was pushed through the House over the objections of LGBT advocates because of the shortage of agenda victories since the Democrats took control of Congress.
On the state level, in contrast, fully inclusive LGBT protections are moving forward. Polling data released by Equality Advocates Pennsylvania this November shows that voters across Pennsylvania overwhelmingly support the current LGBT non-discrimination bill being considered in Harrisburg.
Seventy-one percent of voters support the current legislation (House Bill 1400 and Senate Bill 761) prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Stacey Sobel, executive director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, notes that the state legislature is in recess until the end of January. This means that legislators are currently back in their districts. Sobel emphasized that the most powerful voices are those of constituents, and the most critical thing anyone can do right now is call or visit their legislator. There are many legislators in Southwestern Pennsylvania who are not currently signed on as supporters of the bill. If you don't know your Pennsylvania state representative, you can look them up at equality PA dot org.
Throughout 2007, many Pittsburghers spoke out against the violence plaguing their communities. A report released in January 2007 by the Violence Prevention Center revealed that Pennsylvania led the nation in homicides rates for African Americans. These factors led to several community organizations including The Black Political Empowerment Project and One HOOD, to join together with community members to take action against violence. The Coalition Against Violence was formed, with a mission to present an anti-violence document containing specific strategies and actions for change.
On September 17th, in commemoration of the UN International Day of Peace, the Coalition unveiled it's "Community Manifesto" and "Role of the Family." These two sections will be the preambles to the 2007 anti-violence strategy document.
As part of the Day of Peace presentation, Dr. Goddess performed a spoken word piece entitled: "We Demand." which originally aired on our September 24th show:
The "Community Manifesto" urges the African American community to take immediate action to end the violence. It is a call for citizens to take collective ownership of this problem and to provide the leadership necessary for finding bold, long-lasting and, peaceful solutions to the violence threatening the life-blood of the community. People attending the Coalition's presentation took turns reading the Manifesto's recommendations:
For more from the Coalition Against Violence and their Day of Peace presentation, you can listen to our September 24th show.
[ Outro Music ]
Thanks for tuning in to the Best of Rustbelt Radio, Fall 2007 here on WRCT Pittsburgh, WPTS Pittsburgh, WNJR Washington, WVJW Benwood, WIUP Indiana and WKCO Gambier.
Our hosts this week are Matt Toups and Andalusia Knoll. This show featured the work of:
This week's show was produced by Phill Cresswell. Special thanks to our all volunteer staff of hosts, producers, and contributors!
You can get involved with Rustbelt Radio! To contact us, or to send us your comments, email RADIO at I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot ORG. All of our shows are available for download or podcast on our website at RADIO dot INDY-P-G-H dot ORG and this show can be heard again Tuesday morning on WRCT at 9 AM after Democracy Now!
Our next regularly scheduled program will air on the week of January 7th. Thanks for listening to Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's weekly review of news from the grassroots.
The Best of Rustbelt Radio, Fall 2007 (December 17, 2007) (ogg vorbis)
by Pittsburgh IMC: Rustbelt Radio collective
Monday, Dec. 17, 2007 at 11:29 PM
radio@indypgh.org 412-923-3000 WRCT 88.3FM
audio: ogg vorbis at 24.0 mebibytesaudio: ogg vorbis at 24.0 mebibytes
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