A civil rights attorney and the son of Chinese immigrants, Oliver Ma is running for the post of Lieutenant Governor. He spoke to us here in Alameda about his platform promoting the basic needs of Californians for housing, health care and relief from the predations of the fascist Trump regime -- as well as his aim of tackling policies responsible for the wealth disparities that have made life in California so precarious for so many.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

Last fall, the venerable Alameda Food Bank, founded by concerned citizens in 1977, moved into a new facility on West Ranger Avenue at Alameda Point and opened a free grocery store called the Island Community Market. Director Teale Harden tells us about how it differs from other food bank operations while serving 12 percent of Alamedans and how it's preparing to do so much more.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

Alameda will be electing a new mayor this fall as Marilyn Ashcraft finishes her second term in office. City council member Tracy Jensen, who is finishing her first term, has decided to run for the job. She spoke to Island City Beat recently about the issues that concern us: housing, food security, police surveillance, the threat of federal invasion, climate change and more.

In the coming weeks, we will put similar questions to other candidates for mayor, which may include current council member Tony Daysog and former member Malia Vella. Stay tuned!

The City of Alameda and Christ Episcopal Church jointly fund the 'AWS' at Parish Hall - Grand at Santa Clara streets which provides our unhoused neighbors with a warm, dry, caring place to sleep, with dinner and breakfast. A limited shower and clothing program is also available. Today we speak with two of the many people who make this lovely effort happen.

https://sites.google.com/view/alamedawarming/home?authuser=2

In Part 2 of our interview with the authors of "Motown: The Making of Working Class Revolutionaries," we explore with Jerome Scott and Walda Katz-Fishman the question of what revolution means, are we in a revolutionary process and how do we engage in actions that force our current political structure to shift its focus and make technology serve - not profit from - a more just and equitable society.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

For black history month, we interviewed two veteran activists of the 1970s Detroit black liberation struggle. In the book, "Motown and The Making of Working Class Revolutionaries", Jerome Scott and Walda Katz-Fishman describe how black industrial workers understood that gains won from corporations and racist unions would be thwarted by automation and changes in the global economy. They began to study Marxism to understand the system and reformulate their political perspective. The result was 50 years of study, struggle and the ability to anticipate the revolutionary moment we are in today.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

In Part 2 of our interview with Alameda activist Cynthia Bonta, she tells the story of the manongs, the elderly Filipinos who were forcibly evicted from the International Hotel in San Francisco in 1977 and how it inspired her dedication to telling the Filipino-American story. For Alamedans, it will be significant because the story of how many Filipinos arrived here through their enlistment in the U.S. Navy and what they experienced has yet to be told.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

The mother of state Attorney General Rob Bonta is well known in Alameda as a spokeswoman for Filipino culture and an activist on behalf of immigrant and renters rights and the Sister City Committee. In the first of a two-part interview, Cynthia Bonta describes her part in the 1965 Delano grape strike, the fight against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos and even enlightens us about the brutal U.S. defeat of Philippine Independence in 1899.

Links & Resources
• PBS documentary recommended in this episode: Delano Manongs

Podcast Host: Laura Thomas