We Are Back!
The New Voices from the Frontlines—Wake Up and Smell the Revolution
Every Tuesday, staring Tuesday November 29 2022 at 8 AM pst.

Host Eric Mann, co-host and producer Channing Martinez, and co-producer Julian Lamb are excited to bring you a new format to continue our political and cultural revolutionary politics.

This week on Voices from the Frontlines with Eric Mann:

A Conversation with Junius Williams—significant figure in the Newark N.J. Black Power Movement from 1965 to the present, director of The North, and author of Unfinished Agenda: Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power, The Black Liberation Movement yesterday, today, and tomorrow

A Conversation with Emily Zamora, lead student organizer for UCLA Friends of the Strategy Center and Bus Riders Union on the struggle against Anti-Blackness and Academic Opportunism at the UCLA Luskin school—and the opportunities for radical reform at Luskin and all of UCLA

Sing Along with Jerry Butler—For Your Precious Love
Get up and Dance with Peaches and Herb “Shake Your Groove Thing”

Channing Martinez on the Strategy Center and Bus Riders Union Holiday Block Party—Saturday December 17 2022 from 12 to 4pm at Strategy and Soul Movement Center 3546 Martin Luther King Blvd LA 90008, confirm if you can at www.thestrategycenter.org and bring family and friends. RSVP Today

Are you listening? Send your comments, questions, and suggestions to eric@voicesfromthefrontlines.com.

Listen to Voices from the Frontlines beginning November 28th, 2022 at 8AM PST on KPFK 90.7FM OR click below to stream the show live on KPFK.

Wake Up And Smell The Revolution Episode 1

VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINES
Your National Movement Building Show
“Wake up and smell the revolution”
Tuesday April 04, 2023 | 8 AM PST

On todays show Voices from the Frontlines
present
Barbara Lott-Holland
on
The Bus Riders Union Film
And
Life as a Consciousness Raising Experience




Recruited on the bus in 1998, Barbara has been a cornerstone of the organization since then. A resident of South LA and a transit-dependent bus rider for nearly four decades, Barbara has been elected by our members to the BRU’s leadership body, the Planning Committee, for twelve years running. She has acted as Co-Chair of the Planning Committee and of the Monthly Membership Meeting for ten years. During that time, she has served as spokesperson and representative of the BRU in the media, with public officials in LA and Washington, and in national and international social movement forums. She is the only recipient of the Strategy Center’s W.E.B. Dubois Fellowship (2009-2009).




Eric’s sings "In the Still of the Night” by: The Five Satins, and "Please MR. Postman" By: The Marevelettes.

Eric will also read his commentary on the Democrats trivial indictment of Donald Trump, the unsettling precedent it sets, and its destabilizing implications  for representative democracy.




 The Bus Riders Union film is a documentary about an activist group called the Bus Riders Union. Their focus is on improving the public transportation system in Los Angeles. The bus system there is in a sorry state. Busses are overcrowded. A rider will routinely see three busses pass her by, completely full, before being able to board. Handicapped riders find that the lift system on most busses is broken. Many riders need to take three or more busses to arrive at their destinations, and late night service on some routes is discontinued without any notice. On top of this, the MTA was planning a massive fare increase and focusing their energy on subways and trains that are costly and benefit mainly upper class white people. The B.R.U. views this struggle over Los Angeles busses as the new civil rights battle. The bus system is utilized almost exclusively by minorities and low income residents. Since the busses are so unreliable, workers are not able to predictably arrive on time and therefore have trouble holding jobs. This means that an already disadvantaged segment of the population is being further held back. Kikanza Ramsey, B.R.U. organizer, describes her organization as "an experiment to see if we can create a multi-racial, bi-lingual, gender-balanced mass movement of working class people." The tape follows the legal struggles of the group throughout the 90's as they battle with the city and the MTA for service improvements. ("Https://Mediaburn.Org/Video/Bus-riders-union/")




It's fund drive time for KPFK, KPFK is member driven, listener supported, independent progresses public radio. With your generous financial help we can keep it that way.

please donating to KPFK and help it stay on the air. You can contribute to KPFK by going to their website at kpfk.org

Thank you.

Become informed, politized, and moved to act,  please send comments and suggestions  to eric@voicesfromthefrontlines.com.

Listen to Voices from the Frontlines Tuesdays at 8AM PST on KPFK 90.7FM, KPFK.org.

Barbara Lott-Holland on The Bus Riders Union Film And Life as a Consciousness Raising Experience

Melanie Fiona recently collaborated with Questlove and The Illadelphonics to produce a remix jam session mixtape version of The Bridge (her debut album releasing later this summer).

WQST Radio Presents - Melanie Fiona Meets The Illadeplphonics (Live Session From The Bidge

Today’s show features people doing things: no critics, observers, no professors unless they are organizing on campus, not\ news commentators, nor talking heads, just taking action!  

First up… Channnig talks with Ivette Ale who is trying to get rid of women’s prisons. LA County has approved a 3.5 billion dollar jail expansion plan for two new jails. One is a women’s jail in Lancaster, and the second is the placement to men central that is being billed as a mental-heath jail, for both men and women with mental health issues. Justice LA has been leading the work fighting back again the jail expansion plan. Ivette reports that 42% of people in LA county jails are pre-trial, meaning they have not been convicted of anything. The office of diversion and re-entry has been doing great work that will hopefully ultimately undercut any jail expansion attempts. Reach out, join the fight, and be one who is taking action! You an reach Ivette and Justice LA here. Ivette@curbprisonspending.org. Justicelanow.org. 

Eric and Channing also talk with Kirti Baranwal, a leader of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, about the strike the misallocated school district funds. Kirti Baranwal; www.utla.net, www.wearepublicschools.org. Kirti asks that you call Austin Beutner, Superintendent of LAUSD, businessman, philanthropist, and civic leader, urging him to TAKE corrective ACTION (213) 241-7000! Call him to tell him to spend the school districts money, the way that the communities need so that they can thrive and self-actualize. 

Take a listen, and then, TAKE ACTION!!!

Bonus Show #4: June 25, 2010

Voices Radio: We talk about Women's prisons and the UTLA teachers strike.

“There is no such thing as history, there’s only the battle and struggle over the historical record”. - Eric Mann.

Eric talks about his very specific interpretation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight for black liberation, which Eric wrote about in www.counterpunch.org in 2015 and recently re-wrote/published called, All Hail the Revolutionary King: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Revolutionary Tradition. He also reads an excerpt from his article; “The annual King Day celebrations provide a great opportunity to defend Dr. King revolutionary legacy against the systems’ effort to white-wash and degrade his frontal challenge to their crimes. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the great revolutionaries in U.S. and world history. He was a leader of the civil rights and black liberation movement, a fierce internationalist, anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist, a black militant, pro-communist socialist, and part of the movement that was far to the left of, and in opposition to the Democratic party.” 

In addition, Channing talks about the United States public education system’s tendency to over-associate the Democratic party with the Civil Rights movement. Channing and Eric make it clear that there were members of the Democratic party who were part of the Civil Rights movement, but the party as whole was not responsible for the civil rights movement, as commonly taught. 

Also, The Pan African Film Festivals’ showing of The Bus Riders Union film, on will be held on Tuesday February 12th at The Strategy Center at the corner of Crenshaw and MLK in Los Angeles. We hope to see you there.

Take a listen to the rest of show and write to us your thoughts about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his fight for civil rights and black liberation.

Vol 5 [Disc 1]

Voices Radio: Eric and Channing honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.

Today on Voices Radio Channing Martinez, Producer and co-host of Voices From the Frontlines, and Barbara Lott Holland, long time member of the Bus Riders Union and Associate Director of the Labor Community Strategy Center, review The Strategy Center’s Bus Riders Union film, and the economic racism that is at the core of MTA’s transit-racist narrative. Some of the featured fighters are The Labor Community Strategy Center’s Director, Eric Mann, Della Bonner, Rosio Mendiola, Kwanza Ramsey, Connie Rice, and many others. 

The film will be featured on the opening night of the Pan African Film Festival. https://www.paff.org/films/#!/film/bus_riders_union 

They discuss the issues that were part of the fight to create a better more sustainable Los Angeles, starting with the MTA, a decent decree which was won in court, and the fight that the union had to continue in the streets in order to keep the MTA accountable. The union won $2.5 billion in transit improvements. The union still maintains the fight. Take a listen to the show and tell us what you think and join the fight! 

Accompanying this review of the Bus Riders Union film, and the continued fight to end transit-racism, is a poem about Aretha Franklin, by Nikki Giovanni.

Take a listen.

Voices Radio - Channing and Barbara discuss the Bus Riders Union film.

Today on Voices From the Frontlines - we learn that civil rights leader and Black Lives Matter activist and Founding member, Dr. Melina Abdullah faces 8 felony charges… Why are our civil rights leaders facing prosecution in “liberal” L.A., you ask??? Find out… Join your community members, and The Strategy Center on Thursday, February 8th, 9 a.m., at 210 W Temple St. Dept. 43. Los Angeles, Ca., as we fight for Melina and request that Los Angeles City Attourney Mike Feuer drop ALL charges against Dr. Melina Abdullah, because criminalizing and silencing black voices WILL NOT HAPPEN!!! To sign the petition requesting that Mike Feuer drop these charges please click bit.ly/freemelina. For more background on these charges, and Melina’s diligent stand for justice, please visit https://thelandmag.com/the-people-v-melina-abdullah/

Eric and Channing talk about the Bus Riders Union film with Ayuko Babu. Eric talks about his encounter with Haskell Wexler and the making of this film which addresses the challenges faced during the fight to end transit-racism. The film has films within it, vignettes of real people, doing the work, and whose individual stories   impact the overall narrative; Della Bonner - leader of Bus Riders union, Rosolio Mendiola, was a room-service waiter who was highly dedicated to the movement, and several others. 

The Bus Riders film is in part a tribute to Haskell Wexlers legacy. Bus Riders Union film, Tuesday Feb 12th 6 p.m. during the Pan African Film Festival at Cinemark on the corner of MLK and Crenshaw. To request information write to info@thestrategycenter.org, or visit www.paff.org for more details. 

In closing Eric and Channing talk with Ayuko Babu about the new documentary about the late, great, Aretha Franklin on, called Amazing Grace, which airs opening night of the PAFF at the Directors Guild of America (DGA). Ayuko also mentions three, of many, powerful films that you must see…

1. Power To Heal - by Director Charles Burnett. It’s a story of the fight by the civil rights movement to fight to expand health care and the fight for medicare. 
2. Dare to Dream - Cubas Latin American Medical School - Is the largest medical school in the world, training nearly 30,000 doctors since 1999.
3. Boss - The Black Experience in Business by Stanley Nelson; the struggle to create black business in America. The untold story of African American Entrepreneurship where skills, industriousness, ingenuity, and sheer courage in the face of overwhelming odds provided the back bone of nations economy and social growth. 
Take a listen and join the revolution!!!

Why Wont They Listen?

Voices Radio: Support for Dr. Melina Abdullah, the BRU, and we hear from the PAFF's E.D., Ayuko Babu

Eric, Channing, and Alan discuss the importance of this film, featuring the success of the people of the Bus Riders Union and those in support of the movement. The film shows us just how important it is to demand what you want, get organized,  and remain diligent in the fight. Eric makes a really good point when he said that most documentaries make you aware of a problem, but this film shows you the problem AND the solution! This is a documentary that is showing you a movement that won and continues to win its fight. It is phenomenally inspiring.

We hear from from organizers like Della Bonner, Rosalie Mendiola, Eric Mann, and Kikanza Ramsey; "The Bus Riders Union in some ways is a political, social experiment, if you will, to see if we can build a multi-racial, bi-lingual, gender-balanced, mass movement of working class people that is willing to fight for a set of demands that challenges corporate capital.” - Kikanza Ramsey.

The brilliance of this film should move you to take action in your community!!! Join Voices From the Frontlines and The Strategy Center in the fight for humanity and elevation of the perpetually disenfranchised human and environmental population!

To get this film call (818) 985-5735, by 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday March 19th to pledge your support to KPFK and Voices From the Frontlines. After March 19th, call Strategy and Soul at (323) 903-6238.

A Fool's Expectations

Voices Radio discusses the success of the Bus Riders Union in this self-titled film.

Voices Radio features and celebrates the voices of those who sacrificed themselves for you and I.

This week on Voices Radio, Eric and Channing conduct another really great film review on two films that stood out to them in very particular ways, for them, as organizers and more so as people who think deeply and critically about life in all of its many complexities. 

Film is very important in the telling or human story through our individual lenses; its struggles, complexities, visions, successes, contributions to our species, teaching capabilities, etc. The best part of film takes place when the viewers have the opportunity to dissect the film, extract lessons, bring to light greater truths, correct the ill-perceived, and lend a hand in re-shaping humanity for the better. 

Channing’s review/critque is on a film called Mapplethorpe; A film about Robert Mapplethorpe, a queer artist and photographer. The film takes a look at his life, from his rise to fame in the 70’s through his decline and death in 1989. Channing discusses Mapplethorpe’s illustrations through his eyes, as a Black, Queer, male, and what they really mean to him, rather than what the element of Mapplethorpe’s fame has disillusioned.  

Eric reviews Captain Fantastic; A film about a husband (Ben Cash) and wife (Leslie Cash) who completely devote their entire lives to raising their 6 children in the wilderness of Washington State, completely isolated from society. They are trained to be physically fit and athletic, to think critically, co-exist with nature, and live without technology. When Leslie dies suddenly, Ben is forced to take this sheltered children into the outside world for the first time. 

Eric, as a father and organizer, focuses aspects of the film that make him think about raising his children, and how people in general expose their children to some really difficult aspects of life. 

Tune in to Voices From the Frontlines, watch the films, and tell us what you think.

VFTFL - Film Review, Mapplethorpe And Captain Fantastic

This Week on Voices Eric presents three great news bits on movements around the nation.

1) SF Bay View needs your help to continue the wonderful work they're carrying out in a moment of both transition, and hardship. Eric reads a great appeal from Mary Ratcliff. You can go on even before the show to support here: https://bit.ly/38SOvDD

2) In a great victory for Indigenous Land Rights, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Muscogee (Creek) nation today 5-4  rule in a significant portion of Oklahoma is indeed Indian Territory. 

3) A Great Berlin Bulletin from Victor Grossman, currently in East Germany entitled BreakUps and Leaks on the breaking down of the relationship between the U.S. and Germany via the German Federal Republic. 

 

Eric and Channing put in a lot of work to making the show happen each week, but haven't had the response sought after. we really want to hear from you this week. Please email your show responses to eric@voicesfromthefrontlines and channing@thestrategycenter.org 

Listen to Voice from the Frontlines today at 3pm PST on KPFK 90.7fm OR use the button below to Stream the show live on KPFK.

VFTFL - SF Bay View, Victor Grossman in East Germany, Oklahoma Indigenous Land Rights Victory.

Eric Mann is an environmental, civil rights, anti-war, labor-union activist and organizer. He is the host of www.voicesfromthefrontlines.com on Pacifica Radio's 90.7 FM KPFK, in Los Angeles. Eric is also the director of the Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles and a co-founder of the Bus Riders Union.

Barbara Lott-Holland on The Bus Riders Union Film And Life as a Consciousness Raising Experience

Voices From The Frontlines

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