Between The Lines - Jacqueline Patterson: With Pressure, U.S. Climate Movement is Becoming More Inclusive of Communities of Color (Week Ending Nov. 27, 2015)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

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With Pressure, U.S. Climate Movement is Becoming More Inclusive of Communities of Color

Posted Nov. 18, 2015

Interview with Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP's Environmental and Climate Justice Program, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

The U.S. environmental movement has long had a reputation for attracting mostly white middle-class activists. But for many decades, the struggle for environmental justice has been fought out in overwhelmingly low-income communities of color that border some of the nation's most polluting industries.

In 2009, the NAACP hired Jacqueline Patterson, the first director of the group’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program. The program, she explains, was established because at the time there was no visible racial justice component inside any of the nation's mainstream climate organizations. Over the past six years, Patterson has been at the forefront of helping front-line communities integrate climate activism into their agenda and pushing big green environmental groups to integrate a social justice lens into their daily work.

Patterson was one of the speakers at the third annual Climate Stewardship Summit on Nov. 5 in West Hartford, Connecticut, sponsored by the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network. In an interview with Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus, Patterson discusses some of the successes a more integrated movement has achieved and the challenges that remain.

JACQUELINE PATTERSON: When we talk about intersectionality in this climate space, it’s about the fact the entities that are pushing back on having regulations for clean air are pushing back on incentivizing and supporting RE&D on the expansion of clean energy and even energy efficiency are the same entities that are also pushing for stripping of voting rights and suppressing the votes in certain areas. The same folks who would vote in favor of the types of regulations that we need, the folks who are most impacted by dirty air and so forth are the folks whose votes are being suppressed. So we just see a whole intersection between environmental issues and the types of policies that we need and issues around voting rights and voter suppression.

BETWEEN THE LINES: There was a question raised by a white woman – and I’m saying race because I think it’s relevant to the point – she looked around the room and at least 90 percent of the people here are white people. I think her point was, we have to get everybody involved in this. And the first answer that was given by an African-American man was it’s survival issues. A lot of black people are struggling more just to survive, so they’re thinking the next hour, the next meal, and not necessarily down the road, even though they may understand the issues and they may want to get involved. Do you agree with that analysis?

JACQUELINE PATTERSON: That is true certainly of some people, for sure, and I think obviously if there had been time to have a longer conversation, I think he was raising that as one point, I don’t think he was saying that explained the whole thing. So I followed up by saying also that there are folks who are engaging on the front lines of environmental and climate justice struggles because, again, they’re the ones who have those things in their backyards, they’re the ones with the high rates of asthma, the ones dying of lung disease even though they’ve never smoked a day in their lives. They’re the ones who are facing all of this. So there are communities all over the country engaged in this all day, every day.

One of the questions is why is that this group isn’t connected to those groups. I think that’s the bigger question that we need to ask in terms of what kinds of relationships we need to be building at the local level so that, if there’s a group doing this work all day, every day, and if there’s another group having a similar conversation somewhere else, why it is that they’re not connecting together. Those are some of the questions I’d love to see asked, and then also, when we first did our report, "Coal-blooded: Putting profits before people," where we were looking at coal-fired power plants throughout the country, there were definitely communities where the coal plants might be right in their backyard, but they would say to us, "You know, we drive past that thing every day and we never tied it to the fact that half the people in our church are on respirators and half the kids in our schools are carrying asthma inhalers every day. We just never made that connection because that’s just the way our lives are. Like this is just the state of affairs. We didn’t know necessarily that it’s different from any other community."

So we started having conversations around these connections, and people haven’t done a good job – big environmental groups – in messaging these real human impacts. They’ve been talking about the polar bears, the ice caps, the bees – you know, all these different things that people don’t necessarily tie to their everyday life. And so we really have started with a whole story collection piece, and that’s what we’ve focused on, collecting stories around climate change and how it’s affecting communities so people do see it through a story-based lens.

BETWEEN THE LINES: I have to say, I’ve been a member of the Sierra Club for 30 to 40 years, so I get the magazine. And I have to say I think the most recent issue was the “climate justice” issue. I feel like – and I know they’ve hired a lot of folks around the country who do this work – they’re the biggest grassroots-based group of the Big Greens. Do you feel like the Sierra Club or any other “big green” group has been making progress toward incorporating issues of climate justice into their work?

JACQUELINE PATTERSON: Yeah, and that’s what I was saying in answer to your first question; that’s one thing I’ve seen in the evolution over the six years, that there has been definitely more of a leaning in and more of a conversation about how these different issues intersect. Sierra Club, in particular, they have a great environmental justice program and they’ve made a commitment to diversity and inclusion, and doing training around that throughout the organization, so that’s been positive. They explicitly leaned into the Black Lives Matter movement and that’s been positive as well. Not leaning into other issues in a quid pro quo way – like we’re going to do this and then we want you to do that, but really recognizing that these issues are directly intersectional – the fact that black lives are devalued in association with interactions with the police is related to the fact that black lives are devalued and that black communities are disproportionately dumped on or contaminated or polluted, so it’s really all the same conversation; it’s not trading engagement.

Also, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Earthjustice, Union of Concerned Scientists and others – some of these big greens – have leaned into this process called the Building Equity and Alignment Initiative, which is a collaboration between grassroots frontline community groups, big green organizations and foundations, where they’re all coming together to really talk explicitly about how we can change the way we’re doing this and how we can center anti-oppression work and real frontline community leadership in advancing this movement.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Also, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Earthjustice, Union of Concerned Scientists and others – some of these big greens – have leaned into this process called the Building Equity and Alignment Initiative, which is a collaboration between grassroots frontline community groups, big green organizations and foundations, where they’re all coming together to really talk explicitly about how we can change the way we’re doing this and how we can center anti-oppression work and real frontline community leadership in advancing this movement.

For more information, visit the NAACP's Environmental and Climate Justice Program at naacp.org/programs/entry/climate-justice; NAACP Climate Justice Blog; NAACP ClimateJustice Initiative Toolkit.