'GoBack | Ep 245 - On the Line with Zohran Kwame Mamdani

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gB2PJ9Nq68On the second episode we head to Kiss's childhood stomping grounds in the Bronx to explore how, when organizing for freedom, small sometimes equals strong.You can hear our extended interview with the Friendly Fridge founders Selma and Sara as well as Black Trans Travel Fund founder Devin Lowe here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf9-hUSYLNI),One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve 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.Subscribe to Respair on Youtube to catch the whole series - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're hyped to share this interview that's part of a brand-new travel show we've created called One Million Experiments: In the Field! Check out the full episode here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuKv7ozCYrAOn the first episode we head to Minneapolis, the center of the 2020 uprising, to explore what has grown from the ashes of righteous anger. In the episode we talk with poet Danez Smith and organizer Kandace Montgomery–you can hear the extended interview here, and check out the video version on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rvfBbG8ix4).One Million Experiments: In the Field is a travel show about how people create safety without policing and prisons. Since the 2020 uprising, One Million Experiments has been in the lab with organizers from across this land talking about what keeps us safe and inviting you to participate in the joyous work of liberation. Now, five years after uprising, hosts Damon and Daniel get out of the lab and into the field to make tangible and irresistible community-built strategies for safety that exist all around us, and serve 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.Subscribe to Respair on Youtube to catch the whole series - https://www.youtube.com/@respairmediaFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

Congratulations to friend of the pod Zohran Mamdani for winning the NYC mayoral election! In honor of this historic win, we're re-running our 2020 episode with him. You can also check out episode 92 for another Mamdani interview. Original caption:This episode heads to the East Coast to chop it up with Zohran Kwame Mamdani. Zohran is currently running for a NY State Assembly seat representing Astoria, Queens. He's been endorsed by DSA, and a wide swath of other progressive and to the root coalitions. He's also one of Kiss' oldest friends. Zohran talks about how he's shifted his campaign into a mutual aid project, the lessons he learned as a foreclosure prevention counselor, the shortcomings of representative politics, and his high school vice presidential campaign.Recorded 5/21/20 in ChicagoMusic from this week's episode:Park - Isaiah RashadFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

Sometimes you see some art that makes you stop, feel, and change your sense of reality. When that art is in connection to movements for liberation, the possibilities for transformation are endless.Richie Reseda is a brilliant cultural organizer, social entrepreneur, creative director, and music, film, and content producer who was freed from prison in 2018. He is a central driving force behind Songs From the Hole, a remarkable film that is now available on Netflix about the art and struggle of his friend and collaborator JJ'88. A documentary built around a visual album of music created inside, the film is a remarkable testimonial to how people fight to assert their humanity and creative spirit under the conditions of the carceral system.Richie is also the central figure in the 2018 documentary The Feminist on Cellblock Y, which focuses on the feminist political education and community-building work he led while inside. He talks to Dame and Kiss about the battle for ACTUALLY good art that creates liberation, living in the balance of the streets and the movement, and how we must hold our integrity above all else in the art we make and the world we build.SHOW NOTESWatch Songs from the Hole - https://www.netflix.com/title/81992626Stream the album - https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jj88Check out Question Culture, Richie's worker-owned media production, creative direction, and artist management company - https://www.questionculture.com/Cop some clothes from the For Everyone Collective - https://foreveryonecollective.com/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're honored to talk on this episode with Nachelle Pugh, a beautiful soul who we both have the deepest appreciation for. Nachelle is the Executive Director of the John Walt Foundation, an on-the-ground nonprofit founded in the wake of the death of her son Walter Long, Jr. aka John Walt. A pivotal member of Chicago's best rap crew Pivot Gang, Walt was taken from us in February 2017–in the years since, his mom Nachelle has devoted herself to building connective spaces for young artists and creators in Chicago while also providing direct mutual aid support for families across the city. She talks about her own childhood in the 'Go, the embrace that she received from Chicago's hip hop community after Walt's death, the disgust and grief of moving through the trial of his murderer, and much more.SHOW NOTESSupport the John Walt Foundation - https://www.johnwaltfoundation.org/recurring-donationGet a ticket for Dinner with John, their annual fundraiser on Oct 16 - https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/dinner-with-john--2025Buy a ticket for John Walt Day, an annual concert featuring Saba and the whole Pivot Crew, on Nov 28 - https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/49633875Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

The guys are in good company with organizer and movement podcaster Niki Franco, aka Venus Roots. Niki is the co-director of Dissenters, a national youth anti-war organization, and is the host of podcast Getting to the Root of It with Venus Roots. She discusses how organizers need to look more rigorously to the global south for guidance and solidarity, the ways that social isolation have impacted power-building on the left, and the joy of building a space for conversation on-mic. SHOW NOTESFind Niki's work - https://www.venusroots.com/aboutSubscribe to her podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6qXh3yHWkY0GeBBwzbPwYZPlug in with Dissenters - https://wearedissenters.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

We're hyped to share a new project we've been helping to build with our longtime comrades and collaborators over at OTV, a Chicago-based non-profit platform for intersectional television, supporting artists and marginalized communities. Beyond the Screen: Pushing Media, Imagination, and Legacy Forward is a 10-episode limited audio series celebrating a decade of intersectional media. Hosted by Elijah McKinnon and Dr. AJ Escoffery, the series reflects on the creative risks, community lessons, and radical care that shaped OTV’s journey over the past 10 years.Each episode unpacks one of OTV’s “10 Lessons Learned,” weaving together intimate interviews, archival audio, and unscripted commentary from the people who helped build the platform from the ground up. From artists and collaborators to cultural organizers and curators, Beyond the Screen offers a behind-the-scenes look at how OTV redefined indie media—and what’s next for intersectional storytelling. Check out the trailer, and make sure you go subscribe to Beyond the Screen on the OTV App or wherever you get your podcasts. The first episode is out today!SHOW NOTESCheck out OTV - https://www.weareo.tv/Join the 10-year anniversary celebration - https://www.beyondthescreen.live/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

Check out this sneak peek of Quantum Entanglements, a new podcast coming soon from AIrGo and Respair Production & Media! Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors on the South Side of Chicago, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is preparing to break ground on a "Quantum Campus"–a multi-billion dollar sprawling facility of next-generation technology and surveillance that could both release poisonous contamination and dismantle digital privacy around the globe. As the next industrial revolution descends on a community still reeling from the destruction of deindustrialization, we talk with organizers and neighbors living alongside the site about how they're building power, demanding answers, making sense of the area’s history, and fighting for the ability to determine the future of their neighborhoods, natural environments, and relationships as the next industrial revolution descends on their doorstep.Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

In over a decade of documenting the leading voices of Chicago's movement for collective liberation, we've seen the impact of the work of Rami Nashashibi in so many corners of our city. A true Chicago leader and visionary, Rami is the Executive Director of Director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), a community-led organization that fosters health, wellness and healing in the inner-city by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and offering opportunities for holistic health. Their work has, in many ways, served as a testing ground and blueprint for the advocacy and power-building work that has transformed our city and beyond. We talk with Rami about his path to organizing, how he's struggled for wholeness between different selves, and the power of Black-Palestinian solidarity.SHOW NOTESSupport the work of IMAN - https://www.imancentral.org/Follow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles

As we wrap up this abbreviated Season 3 of 1ME, the squad hops back in the lab one more time to break down the learnings and takeaways from our convos with REP, Cambridge HEART, and Care-Based Safety. Dame, Kiss, Eva, and Deana explore the connections in what they heard and break down how we can all show up for each other in the crises surrounding us. Skill up and get inspired, and we'll see you back in the lab soon!SHOW NOTESSupport REP - https://repformn.org/support-this-work/Support Cambridge HEART - https://cambridgeheart.networkforgood.com/Support Care-Based Safety - https://secure.givelively.org/donate/non-profit-nonprofit-enterprise-at-work-inc/care-based-safetyWatch the 1ME film - https://www.respairmedia.com/one-million-experimentsCheck out 1ME online - millionexperiments.comLearn more about Respair - respairmedia.comFollow AirGo - instagram.com/airgoradio Find us live! - www.respairmedia.com/events Bring us to your community by hitting us up - [email protected] CREDITSHosts & Exec. Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger Associate Producers - Cin Pimentel & Rocío SantosEngagement Producer - Rivka YekerDigital Media Producer - Troi Valles