Mashup: A Look Back At Our First 20 Episodes

In this episode of The Protest Coverage Podcast community organizer Power Malu takes us through his journey from boxing prospect and music video fixture to traveling the world and being a voice for the people looking to lead a healthy lifestyle.

In Part II of our discussion with 21-year-old Prakash Churaman, we learn what his future goals are beyond his case and how he envisions a world where coercion of false confessions is eliminated by legal mandate.

Prakash Churaman is fighting for his life. The 21-year-old was arrested when he was 15 on a murder charge and forced to wait behind bars for four years before his trial was completed in 2018. After being convicted, Churaman won his appeal and had the conviction overturned in June 2020, prompting The State of New York to offer a plea bargain that would virtually set him free, but with a B-class felony on his record. Churaman turned down the offer, proclaiming his innocence and the belief that "the NYPD kidnapped him at the age of 15." As a result the State is still pursuing a conviction at his new trial, set for July 14. If Churaman is convicted, he faces life in prison.

In a new segment of The Protest Coverage Podcast co-host Amanda Fariah explores what happens after the news cycle has moved on from tragedy, after the story is no longer trending, after the hashtag disappears from our social media timelines. In our first installment of AFTER THE HASHTAG Amanda is joined by Toshira Garraway, whose fiancé Justin Tiegen was found dead in a recycling bin in St. Paul, Minnesota back in 2009 under mysterious circumstances.

Power Malu is a well-known organizer in New York City who has a wealth of experiences that led him to starting The Overthrow Community Fridge. In future episodes we will dive into Power touring the world, pioneering hip-hop television shows and how it all started with learning lessons from his father, a professional boxer. In this episode Power explains how he helped to create New York City's first-ever plant-based community fridge.

On the first day of the Derek Chauvin trial proceedings, the people of Minnesota (with a little New York City sprinkled in) shared their thoughts with our Amanda Fariah and predicted whether or not justice will be served for George Floyd.

Organizer and Tigrayan native Wegahta Tessema helps unpack the situation in Ethiopia's northernmost region where hundreds are killed everyday and millions face starvation.

In this week's episode, we talked with an organizer in the Black Trans community in Washington D.C. Onika Williams has endured hardships most of us could never even imagine; from living in the foster care system and contracting HIV after being forced into sex work, to being stabbed by a member of her community and refusing to press charges so as not to expose that individual to the carceral system. Follow along as Onika explains her journey in Part One of our interview.

After recording 20 episodes, The Protest Coverage Podcast tkes a look back this week with clips from some of our most memorable moments.Listen back to clips from episodes featuring Dwreck Ingram, Chivona and Hawk Newsome, Vidal Guzman, Amanda Fariah and Lucy Baptiste from our trip to D.C.and musician Caanan Towns.

Northern New Jersey organizers Victor and Nick recount an incident with municipal police that appeared to end without issue, only to resurface a few days later. Victor explains how he deals with being profiled and Nick recounts how an interview with a reputable newspaper resulted in facing jail time.