Rustbelt Radio for January 28, 2013
by Pittsburgh Indymedia: Rustbelt Radio Collecti Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 at 12:46 AM
radio@indypgh.org WRCT

On today's show... One Pittsburgh holds rally calling for UPMC to treat it's employees fairly Two vigils were held in honor of intimate Partner and Gun violence victim Ka'Sandra Wade Civil rights activist and scholar Angela Davis speaks as part of MLK day commemorations Rally against hate crimes based on queer and trans identity in the South Side After twelve years in solitary confinement Paul Rogers may be released to general population And more in our local and global headlines...

audio link: MP3 at 68.5 mebibytes

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Rustbelt Radio for January 28, 2013

Rustbelt Radio for January 28, 2013

[1:00] Intro

Welcome to this week's edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's bi-weekly review of the news from the grassroots, news overlooked by the corporate media.

On today's show...

One Pittsburgh holds rally calling for UPMC to treat it's employees fairly
Two vigils were held in honor of intimate Partner and Gun violence victim Ka'Sandra Wade
Civil rights activist and scholar Angela Davis speaks as part of MLK day commemorations
Rally against hate crimes based on queer and trans identity in the South Side
After twelve years in solitary confinement Paul Rogers may be released to general population
And more in our local and global headlines...

Rustbelt Radio is broadcast live from WRCT studios every other 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:

WSDR 99.1 FM in Pittsburgh
WIUP 90.1 FM in Indiana
WNJR 91.7 FM in Washington
WLRI 93 FM in eastern Pennsylvania
and FRSC 101.1 FM in Santa Cruz, California

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.

Headlines

Local News

[ 13:00 ] Angela Davis

angela_davis_mlk_obama.flac: (12:51)

[10:27 ] paul rogers (solitary confinement piece)

Paul_Rogers_radio_piece.mp3: Paul_Rogers_radio_piece.mp3 (10:27)

That piece was written and produced by bret Grote and edited by Hannah T.

break

[ HMB BREAK RUSTBELT - 0:20 (fades down 0:10 in to start global intro) ]

You are listening to Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's bi-weekly review of news overlooked by the corporate media. We continue now with more independent news from Western Pennsylvania.

[ 14:50 ] UPMC Rally

UPMC.mp3: 14:50

[10:00 ] Queer/Trans Bash Response Rally

chant.wav: (0:32)

The facebook post read:

[ quote] Members of the LGBTQ community [were] attacked at Margaritaville in the south side this past weekend. The staff kicked them out after being harassed inside along with their harassers only to [be] further attacked on the street without further intervention. This is unacceptable[.] Lets come together as a community for support of Jourdyn and Emprez as a community and show that we will not stand and be silent while hate crimes continue to be a problem in Pittsburgh [end quote].

This latest instance of people being attacked for being outwardly queer or trans had people ready to rally – as they have been ready in the past for similar events, mostly taking place in of the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Bloomfield, over the years. Each new incident carries the weight of never again along with the despair of how often that has been said.

The afternoon rally on Sunday the 27th took place on the steps of the Southside Carnegie Library, right across the street from the Margaritaville bar, at 2200 E. Carson St., where the incident took place on the night of Wednesday, January 16th. A crowd of around 60 people gathered in the cold to express their anger, sadness and hope.

One of the people who was attacked at the bar, Jourdyn, took the megaphone and explained a little of what happened that evening. Jourdyn is a person of color who identifies in this clip as a stud – a stud is someone who may appear as a woman who is more masculine than is socially acceptable.

jourdyn_on_the_events.wav: (0:59)

Gina, or Emprez, took the megaphone next. Gina was also involved in this incident and speaks to the bigger picture:

gina_megaphone.wav: (0:35)

Gina is right, it’s not just them or the other survivors in Pittsburgh who have experienced this violence. According to the most recent FBI hate crimes report from 2011, of the 6,222 hates crimes that were reported, 20.8% of hate crimes occurred against people based on their sexual orientation, second to racially motivated crimes at 46.9%. This percentage of sexual orientation-based hate crimes is up from 19.3% in 2010. They do not seem to quantify crimes against people based on their gender identity or trans identity.

There was hope in the air as well. Not only did many of the speakers feel gratitude for the community response, there was also mention of the recent second inauguration of Obama and his statement of [quote] Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law…for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well [ end quote].

Here is Ton, the MC of the rally, on this:

ton_on_obama.wav: (0:38)

That was MC, Ton.

What Obama plans to do about the issue of equality for LGBTQ people in his second term is yet to be seen.

The bar’s response seemed to be contended. A megaphone holder said that the bar had no response and should be boycotted while Jourdyn, one of the attacked, shared this with Rustbelt Radio about the bar and also the police:

jourdyn_on_bar,_polica.wav: (0:38)

The bar was closed during the rally and did not open in time to ask for comment before this show aired.

In addition to local supporters and activists, two political figures were present: Bruce Kraus, the openly gay councilman who serves District 3, and Jim Sheppard, a special assistant to Mayor Ravenstahl. Here is Sheppard on the role of the Mayor and his office and the issues with police response:

sheppard_on_mayor,_police.wav: (2:54)

There is a discussion planned as follow up to this incident and rally for Saturday February 2nd at 7:00 pm at the GLCC –located down town at 210 Grant Street. Find more information at the face book event page entitled “what can I do about violence against LGBTQ people?”

chant.wav: (0:32)

This story was recorded and produced by Lizzie Anderson

[ 5:00 ] Kassandra Wade Vigils

kassandra_piece.mp3: 5

Ending

Calendar of Events

And now we present the Indymedia Calendar of Events:

Duquense University Human Rights Film Series will be showing the films Saving Face and Killing Us Softly 4 on Tuesday, January 29th. from 7-9:30 pm. The Event will take place in 105 College Hall on Duquense’s campus in Uptown.

On Wednesday January 30th, the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Race and Social Problems will host William M. Carter Jr. speaking on "The Future of Affirmative Action.” This event is on the 20th floor of the Cathedral of Learning on Pitt’s campus and lunch will be served.

Join the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee on Friday February 1st to hear about the lives and stories behind the unemployment numbers the Dept of Labor will release that morning. The committee is to demand that job killing austerity measures be suspended and Unemployment Compensation extended until the Jobs Crisis is over. This event will take place at the downtown post office located on Grant and 7th Avenue. For more information, contact Tony at 412.462.9962

The Friends Meeting House at 4836 Ellsworth Ave in Shadyside is hosting a Brainstorm for Peace event where they will ask questions such as What can we nonviolently and creatively do to bring peace in this country and around the world? What new ideas do you or your group have to share with others? How can we reach out to others to build a stronger grassroots movement? This event will take place Saturday February 2nd from 2:30 til 5:30 pm.

Also on Saturday February 2nd is We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America. This event is about the book by same title and on organizing against racism and militarism. The event will also address the case of political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoats and the campaign to end his 30 years of solitary confinement. This will take place at the Ujamaa (ou – ja – ma) Collective at 1901 Centre Ave in the Hill District.

There is a discussion planned as a follow up to the violence against the queer and trans people on the South Side that we covered earlier in the show for Saturday February 2nd at 7:00 pm at the GLCC –located down town at 210 Grant Street. Find more information at the face book event page entitled “what can I do about violence against LGBTQ people?”

[1:00] Outro

[ Outro Music ]

Thanks for tuning in to Rustbelt Radio here on WRCT Pittsburgh, WSDR Pittsburgh, WIUP Indiana, WNJR Washington, WLRI LanChester, and FRSC Santa Cruz.

Our hosts this week are [ Jessica McPherson ] and [ Lizzie Anderson ] with contributions from [ Tom Jefferson, Hannah T, Bret Grote (Grote -y), Lizzie Anderson and Jessica McPherson ]. This week's show was directed by [ Lizzie Anderson ] and produced by [ Phill Cresswell ]. Special thanks to all of our hosts, producers, contributors and interviewees.

You can get involved with Rustbelt Radio! To contact us, email RADIO at I-N-D-Y-P-G-H dot ORG. Become our fan on Facebook to receive updates on our latest episode, and follow us on Twitter @pghimc. All of our shows are available 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!

Tune in next week at this time for another edition of Rustbelt Radio, the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center's bi-weekly review of news from the grassroots.

radio.indypgh.org