S2 E11: Headwaters

Toby interviews Earth First! activist Darryl Cherney. Darryl was Judi Bari’s partner in activism and music and one-time boyfriend. He was in the passenger seat and sustained minor injuries when the pipe bomb detonated in Judi’s car, nearly killing her. In the first half of the conversation, Darryl describes his experience that day. In the second half, he talks about his theory of the crime.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Private investigator Josh Morsell worked as a paralegal during the civil trial in which Judi Bari’s estate and Darryl Cherney sued the FBI and Oakland Police Department for civil rights violations. In this bonus episode, he revisits the case from his perspective inside the Bari/Cherney legal team.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Toby talks with Lucy Kerhoulas, a professor of Forest Ecophysiology at Humboldt Polytechnic Institute, about the redwood trees, their biology, the inspiration and wonder they inspire, and new challenges they face as a species in our era of climate change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Toby talks with architectural historian James Michael Buckley about his book City of Wood: San Francisco and the Architecture of the Redwood Lumber Industry which looks at how the logging of redwoods allowed for the building of San Francisco, the first major city in the American West.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the final episode of the season, Judi Bari’s story continues after her death from breast cancer in 1997. Her civil suit against the FBI and the Oakland Police Department is finally heard, and a deal is struck with Maxxam to preserve an important area of old growth redwoods. We assess Judi’s legacy and present one last theory of the bombing, one that has been overlooked for decadesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

**WARNING: This episode contains discussions about domestic violence and sexual assault. Listener discretion advised. While Judi Bari, Darryl Cherney and their supporters positioned the bombing of Judi’s car as political violence, others came to believe that a more likely suspect was her ex-husband, Mike Sweeney. While no physical evidence ties Sweeney to the crime, his background, including an alleged arson attack on a small airport near his home in 1980. And then there was the allegation of domestic abuse. But did he have the opportunity to place the bomb in her car?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the bombing of her car, Judi Bari came to believe that the attack had been carried out by a conspiracy between the FBI and elements of the timber industry. There are, in fact, a numbers of reasons to believe that the FBI was involved -- a combination of strange "coincidences" and a history of subverting radical movements. But would the FBI really assassinate an environmental activist? And did she pose such a danger to the timber industry that they would want her dead?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney no longer considered suspects, the question becomes, "if not them, who?" With the FBI and the police losing interest in the case, two journalists undertake their own investigation. A third journalist receives a letter claiming responsibility for the bomb, but all is not as it seems.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On May 24th, 1990, Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney are driving through Oakland when a pipe bomb detonates in their car. Judi is nearly killed. From the very beginning of the investigation, Judi and Darryl are the main suspects. Even while Judi lies in a hospital bed with terrible injuries, law enforcement and the media are making the case that they were transporting the bomb and it went off by accident. But that is not what happened.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Earth First! and Judi Bari plan a huge, months-long protest call "Redwood Summer," the reaction from the timber industry is fierce. Judi and other organizers are subjected to threats of physical harm and death; a disinformation campaign claims that "Redwood Summer" activists will be violent; and law enforcement and government officials seem indifferent to the danger the activists are facing. As "Redwood Summer" approaches, the situation become more tense and more volatile.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.