Ep 375 - Olga Bautista, Environmental Justice Leader from the Southeast Side

The guys are joined by professor and Great Lakes champion Rachel Havrelock, whose Freshwater Lab at UIC leverages narrative and the humanities to raise awareness about water issues in the Great Lakes and empower people to claim and protect the most vital public asset. Rachel breaks down the pressing issues affecting our waterways, the absurd gift that is the Great Lakes, and what the history of our rivers and lakes can teach us about how to build stronger and more resilient societies. SHOW NOTESCheck out the UIC Freshwater Lab - https://www.freshwaterlab.org/Get Rachel's book The Joshua Generation about Israel and militarism - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691198934/the-joshua-generationFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Cin Pimentel Engagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

The 1ME squad has some announcements to make to you, the public! First off–the One Million Experiments film is now available online on Apple TV, Google Play, and Youtube Movies–check out the film and spread the word.Next, the podcast is coming back this summer for Season 3: Crisis, a suite of brand-new episodes focused on what we can learn crisis response in our communities to help us move through the sociopolitical crisis of this moment. And last but not least, we're hyped to announce 1ME: In the Field, a new travel show from Respair coming Fall 2025! Five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to reconnect with the experiments featured on the 1ME podcast, explore the spaces and places these local organizers call home, and showcase the vibrant, joyful conversation creating new possibilities for wellness and protection. Continuing the work of the podcast and film, the series makes tangible and irresistible the community-built definitions and strategies for safety that are already being created, and serves as an antidote to the despair created when carceral systems are the only option. We don’t need one answer to how we get free–we need one million experiments. Buy the film on Apple TV: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/one-million-experiments/umc.cmc.68zguswxm7obivz6mc84a68zkBuy the film on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/One_Million_Experiments?id=inFVsotZISU.P&hl=en_USBuy the film on Youtube Movies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-mmLXi58H4Lock in to the Respair youtube channel for In the Field: https://www.youtube.com/@RespairMediaCheck out 1ME: https://millionexperiments.com/

The sports arena is a microscope into our culture, and Dave Zirin is peering through the glass with a thoughtful and searing eye. A longtime sportswriter and commentator, Dave is the sports editor for The Nation, a weekly progressive magazine dedicated to politics and culture. He joins AirGo on this episode to chat about the role of sports as both distraction and prism in a time of fascism, how militarism has coopted sports culture, and his relationship to the sports discourse mainstream.SHOW NOTESRead Dave's work at The Nation - https://www.thenation.com/authors/dave-zirin/Peep his site Edge of Sports - https://www.edgeofsports.com/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind us live! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

The guys get back up with Olga Bautista, a longtime collaborator and  Environmental Justice leader whose work has reshaped the landscape of Chicago. The Co-Executive Director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, Olga has been a leading force in the campaigns to defend the Southeast Side from environmental pollution, harmful development, and dangerous industry. She breaks down what EJ means in the era of Trump 2.0's attack on the movement, how its principles can serve as a guide as we fight for collective survival, and what's going on in her neck of the woods around the proposed "quantum campus" development on the old US Steel South Works site.SHOW NOTESSupport Southeast Environmental Task Force - https://www.instagram.com/se_taskforce/?hl=enFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITS Hosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles Photo by Oscar Gomez, Borderless Magazine

What the hell is actually happening in Congress in the midst of authoritarian takeover? The guys are joined by Rep. Delia Ramirez, the congresswoman for Illinois' 3rd District, who shares what it looks and feels like to walk into the Capitol under this administration, the ways that the ramp-up of Trump's deportation infrastructure harms us all, and how the lessons from building grassroots power on the northwest side of Chicago have the potential to reshape our political reality.SHOW NOTESConnect with Rep. Ramirez's office - https://ramirez.house.gov/Watch this episode on Youtube! - Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Cin Pimentel Engagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

The guys are joined by Antonio Gutierrez, an anti-displacement community organizer and leader in the multi-decade struggle for undocumented rights and protections here in Chicago. They are a co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), the Albany Park Defense Network, La Guayabita Autonoma Community Garden and the Autonomous Tenants Union. Woven into this web of community work is a deep insistence on the right to remain present and unapologetic in the city they've called home for over 20 years. They talk about the nuts and bolts of anti-deportation work in the city, the emotional weight they are carrying, and how they are anticipating their personal world shifting in the face of future deportation.SHOW NOTESSupport the work of OCAD - https://www.organizedcommunities.org/sponsor-a-casePlug into Albany Park Defense Network - https://www.facebook.com/albanyparkdefense/Organize with Autonomous Tenants Union - https://www.autonomoustenantsunion.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerEditor - Cin PimentelEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

From time to time, a Chicago artist drops a new project that the AirGo crew is vibing with–when that happens, we get them on the line for a special listening party episode! Using a few of the project's tracks as jumping off points for the conversation, we dive deep into process, creativity, and growth.For this episode we get to celebrate the new project from our very own Damon A. Williams, who dropped his debut project In Process last fall. A long journey to create, the high-energy project explores the coexistence of joy and burden in a life of freedom making. Dame and Kiss are joined by guest cohost Jacoby Cochran, the host of wonderful podcast City Cast Chicago, who helps the guys listen with love to a handful of tracks from the project. Get in process with the crew!SHOW NOTESStream In Process - https://symphony.to/damon-a-williams-1/in-process-albumPeep the video for Unrecognizable - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJXs37EwIFgFollow Damon - https://www.instagram.com/damon_af/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerEditor - Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

What do you do when you see something happening that you know to be wrong? When its something seemingly intractable and massive that will negatively impact you and your neighbors? If you're Dixon Romeo, you start organizing. Dixon is the Executive Director of Southside Together, a new organization building power by organizing Black, poor, and working-class community members in Woodlawn, South Shore, Greater Grand Crossing, Park Manor and all adjacent neighborhoods, to secure economic stability and advance human rights.Dixon returns to AirGo to talk about how the new organization was birthed from two brilliant organizations merging together, give updates on some of their biggest fights, and break down the emergent campaign around the proposed "quantum campus" on the contaminated US Steel South Works site. A great way to learn about the city from the ground up!SHOW NOTESPlug in with Southside Together - https://www.southsidetogether.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerEditor - Cin PimentelEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

On this episode the guys connect the global dots with Alex of Dissenters, a national organization of young people leading the fight to reclaim our resources from the war industry, reinvest in life-giving institutions, and repair collaborative relationships with the earth and people around the world. As co-director of the organization, Alex has helped guide chapters on campuses across the country as they respond to and fight against militarism, genocide, and colonialism. They join the show to talk about their pathway to the work, how the lens of opposing militarism is helpful in this moment of overwhelm, and the value of some quality sabbatical time as well.SHOW NOTESLearn about and join Dissenters - https://wearedissenters.org/Sign up for Hazel's Seeds - https://www.respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-grow Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

Dame and Kiss have the honor and pleasure to talk with Stanley Howard, a survivor of torture at the hands of the Chicago Police Department and a brilliant force for justice in the struggles for both torture reparations and the abolition of the death penalty in IL. As a self-taught jailhouse lawyer Stanley created the Death Row 10, a group of torture survivors on death row who began the collective push for both their freedom and the end of state-sanctioned murder. Since getting out a little over a year ago, Stanley has been actively advocating for and supporting people on the inside through his work with the Uptown People's Law Center. Come learn from Stanley with us–this is a special one!SHOW NOTESBuy Stanley's book "Tortured by Blue" - https://www.semcoop.com/tortured-blueSign up for Hazel's Seeds - https://www.respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-growFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradioFind One Million Experiments on tour! - www.respairmedia.com/eventsBring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel KisslingerAssociate Producer - Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles