Making Contact

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th 1963, at the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of the most famous speeches of all time. But it nearly didn't happen. On this special edition of Making Contact, Gary Younge, author of The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream, talks about Martin Luther King Junior's "Dream" and the story behind it. Special thanks to the New School for the recording. Featuring: Gary Younge, author and journalist Making Contact Team: Episode Host: George Lavender Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonorain Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

From its birthplace in an Oakland cafe in 1994 to the Battle in Seattle, international reporting projects, and a deep commitment to social justice journalism, Making Contact has been an important part of the media landscape for more than thirty years. Guest host Jessica Partnow guides us through some of the key moments in Making Contact's history in conversation with founders Peggy Law and Norman Solomon. This episode is part of the Making Contact Anniversary Capsule: celebrating 30 years of social justice journalism. The miniseries takes us from protests on the streets of Seattle to an Indiana family fighting for their daughter's gender affirming care. It explores a racial reckoning in the world of romance writers, and tells the story of border walls from Gaza to Arizona. These shows embody how Making Contact has been digging into the story beneath the story since 1994. Featuring: Peggy Law Norman Solomon Jeff Emtman Credits: Making Contact Team Guest Host: Jessica Partnow Executive Director: Jina Chung E

About two million Guatemalans live in the US. But, half of those here lack legal status, and tens of thousands of Guatemalans are deported back to their country each year. Are the countries these migrants left prepared for an influx of returnees?  This episode, originally released in 2018, is part of the Making Contact Anniversary Capsule: celebrating 30 years of social justice journalism. The miniseries takes us from protests on the streets of Seattle to an Indiana family fighting for their daughter's gender affirming care. It explores a racial reckoning in the world of romance writers, and tells the story of border walls from Gaza to Arizona. These shows embody how Making Contact has been digging into the story beneath the story since 1994. Featuring: Carlos Lopez, Casa del Migrante Guatemala Martin, Juan Sebastian, Rodolfo, and Hicer – Guatemalans who have migrated and been deported, or who have attempted to migrate to the US Lisbeth Gramajo, Anthropologist at Rafael Landivar University Willie Barreno, Ch

In dozens of countries around the world, millions of people live beside border walls. These heavily militarized and closely watched areas can be dangerous places to be. On this edition, from Palestinian farmers struggling to make a living next to the Israeli wall, to shootings at the fence that divides the US and Mexico. This episode, originally produced in 2013, is presented as part of the Making Contact Anniversary Capsule: celebrating 30 years of social justice journalism. The miniseries takes us from protests on the streets of Seattle to an Indiana family fighting for their daughter's gender affirming care. It explores a racial reckoning in the world of romance writers, and tells the story of border walls from Gaza to Arizona. These shows embody how Making Contact has been digging into the story beneath the story since 1994. Featuring: Alex Soto, MC Shining Soul, Hannah Hafter, No More Deaths, Isabel Garcia, Derechos Humanos co-chair, Majed Wahdan, Gazan farmer; Mohammed Qudaih, drone strike victim; Dr Na

On November 30th, 1999, tens of thousands of people shook the streets of Seattle, Washington, in protest of the World Trade Organization. The WTO symbolized the corporate takeover of human needs and the environment. On this edition, we revisit the voices from that week.  This episode, originally released in 2009, is part of the Making Contact Anniversary Capsule: celebrating 30 years of social justice journalism. The miniseries takes us from protests on the streets of Seattle to an Indiana family fighting for their daughter's gender affirming care. It explores a racial reckoning in the world of romance writers, and tells the story of border walls from Gaza to Arizona. These shows embody how Making Contact has been digging into the story beneath the story since 1994. Featuring: Gopal Dayaneni, organizer with Movement Generation; Mohau Pheko, representative of the Africa Trade Network at the 1999 Seattle WTO meeting; Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director, Oakland Institute; Chuck Collins, co-founder of United for

In 2019 a well known romance writer began tweeting about other writers in her community and concerns about racism. It led to a huge reckoning within an organization called the Romance Writers of America. And although the online debate seemed to be isolated to a specific community of romance writers and their fans, it was really a microcosm of what's been happening all over the US. In this episode we learn all about romance novels and how newer writers are changing the norms of the genre, and giving it a political power it's never had before. And, we talk about what it means for organizations to change as they grapple with questions of race. This episode, originally released in June 2022, is part of the Making Contact Anniversary Capsule: celebrating 30 years of social justice journalism. The miniseries takes us from protests on the streets of Seattle to an Indiana family fighting for their daughter's gender affirming care. It explores a racial reckoning in the world of romance writers, and tells the story of

In 2023, Kirin Clawson's endocrinologist placed a puberty-blocking implant in her arm, a medical intervention that is associated with improved mental health for many trans kids with gender dysphoria. In February 2024, Indiana joined several other conservative states banning this treatment for minors. In this episode we hear from the Clawsons how the ban has impacted their family. And, we hear from psychologist, Dr. Myeshia Price about how all adults in the lives of children can support gender diverse youth, despite increasing discriminatory anti-trans laws aimed at kids. This episode, originally released in June 2024, kicks off the Making Contact Anniversary Capsule: celebrating 30 years of social justice journalism. The miniseries will take us from protests on the streets of Seattle to an Indiana family fighting for their daughter's gender affirming care. It will explore a racial reckoning in the world of romance writers, and tell the story of border walls from Gaza to Arizona. These shows embody how Making

In 1965 Margaret Crane was a young designer creating packaging for a pharmaceutical company when a scientist gave her a tour of the lab. Looking at the long rows of pregnancy tests she thought, well anyone could do that test at home! So she set about designing a prototype for America's first home pregnancy test. While the design of the prototype was simple, convincing the company, the medical community and conservative social leaders that at-home pregnancy testing was safe and necessary was an uphill climb for Crane, who is only now receiving credit for her contributions to the industry. This show first aired in February 2024. Featuring: Margaret Crane - Graphic designer and inventor of the first home pregnancy test Wendy Kline - Dema G. Seelye Chair in the History of Medicine, History Faculty Purdue University Jesse Olszynko-Gryn - Head of the [Laboratory for Oral History and Experimental Media](https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/research/projects/laboratory-oral-history-and-experimental-media) at Max Planck I

Dr. Flemmie Kittrell was a Black home economist whose research in the field of early childhood education shaped the way we think about child development today. She became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and contributed immensely to programs like Head Start – even though her name is often left out of the history. We'll hear more about her life and work in a story from the podcast Lost Women of Science, hosted by Carol Sutton Lewis and Danya AbdelHameid. This episode first aired on Making Contact in March 2025. Featuring: Dolores Caffey-Fleming, Program director of Project STRIDE, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Allison Horrocks, Public historian Lauren Bauer, fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution  Credits: Making Contact Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music "Science Documentary" by

This episode honors the life and legacy of Alice Wong (Mar 27, 1974-Nov 14, 2025). We start the show with the Making Contact segment she produced in 2015, exploring the complex relationships between caregivers and care receivers: the vast majority of care recipients are exclusively receiving unpaid care from a family member, friend, or neighbor. The rest receive a combination of family care and paid assistance, or exclusively paid formal care. Whether you're a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the nature of the working relationship depends on mutual respect and dignity. The segment includes a conversation with Patty Berne, co-founder of Sins Invalid, who passed away in May 2025. The show continues with an excerpt from Wong's powerful essay, [Diversifying Radio with Disabled Voices](https://focmedia.org/2016/04/diversifying-radio-with-disabled-voices/), which is a powerful call for better inclusion and representation of

In Episode 2 of "Exposed"  from our friends at San Francisco Public Press, we explore a little-known chapter in San Francisco's nuclear era: human experiments carried out to assess the health effects of radiation. Scientists from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, located at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, designed and executed at least 24 experiments that involved gathering data from humans — in some cases, injecting test subjects with radioisotopes or having them ingest fluids laced with trace amounts of radioactive materials. Even football players from the San Francisco 49ers were enrolled as test subjects in these so-called tracer studies. We hear from military veterans who were sent on a mysterious mission to spread radioactive substances onto rooftops at an Army base near Pittsburg, Calif., for an experiment the radiation lab played a role in designing. Some recount experiences of witnessing nuclear bomb blasts in the Nevada desert. We also examine a national pattern of human radiation experim

Today we present the first half of a two-part radio documentary from our friends at SF Public Press, "Exposed," opening a window into the little-known history of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The sprawling abandoned naval base, in San Francisco's southeast waterfront Bayview neighborhood, is currently the site of the city's largest real estate development project. The base played a key role in the Cold War nuclear era, when it housed a research institution known as the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, which studied the human health effects of radiation. In Episode 1 of the podcast, we trace the radioactive contamination found in the shipyard soil today back to its origins, with nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands. We also hear from environmental justice advocates, including one who led a health biomonitoring survey revealing that nearby residents have toxic elements stored in body tissues that match the hazardous chemicals of concern identified at the shipyard.  It first aired on Making Con

We sit down with Kev Choice, a classically trained pianist, rapper, composer, and educator, who has reshaped the Bay Area music scene. Raised in Oakland with San Francisco roots, Kev blends hip-hop, jazz, soul, and classical music into a unique sound. His latest EP, _All My Love_, explores themes of love, vulnerability, and human connection, with soulful melodies and reflective lyrics capturing the complexities of relationships. This episode first aired in November 2024. Featuring Kev Choice Making Contact Team Episode host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Learn More Kev Choice | on Instagram | interview in West Coast Styles | Oakland Symphony Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground

To mark Indigenous People's Day, we'll hear two stories about communities working with food to revitalize identity and ancestry. First, we speak to Mariah Gladstone and Kenneth Cook in Blackfeet Nation in Montana about their online cooking show Indigikitchen and follow them into the field as they harvest a bison. Then, we talk to Dr. Keitlyn Alcantara about the Tlaxcala, an indigenous tribe living in central Mexico who were able to survive the expansive Aztec empire in the period just before colonization, and visit the Healing Garden at Hilltop in Bloomington, Indiana, where diaspora members connect with familiar plants, the earth and each other. This show first aired in August 2022. Featuring: Kenneth Cook, helps operate Indigikitchen Mariah Gladstone, founder of Indigikitchen Boyd Evans, rancher on Blackfeet Nation Dr Keitlyn Alcantara, assistant professor of archeology at Indiana University Margarita Martinez Osorio, PhD student of history at Indiana University Andre Bispo de Jesus, gardener at Indiana Un

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so we are revisiting a show from our archives about criminalized survival, the criminal justice system's long practice of imprisoning survivors of intimate partner violence when they fight back against their abusers. We'll hear from journalist Natalie Pattillo and filmmaker Daniel A. Nelson, who followed the stories of imprisoned women Kim Dadou Brown, Tanisha Davis and Nikki Addimando for their documentary film And So I Stayed. This show first aired in July 2023. Featuring: Natalie Pattillo, journalist, mother and co-director of the film And So I Stayed Daniel A. Nelson, filmmaker, cinematographer and co-director of the film And So I Stayed Credits: Making Contact Team Episode Host: Amy Gastelum Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Marketing Manager: Lissa Deonarain Music via WFMU free music archive Poddington Bear, Alsace HoliznaCC0, Whatever  Learn More

Almost half of Puerto Rico’s doctors have fled the island over the past decade, leading to a lack of specialists and treatment and incredibly long wait times. And this isn’t just an inconvenience. People are dying from lack of care. Why is Puerto Rico’s health care system collapsing, and why are doctors fleeing the island? We take a look at its deeply dysfunctional private medical system and why attempts to fix it, and create a universal health care plan on the island, are being hindered by Puerto Rico’s status as a US colony. Its massive unpayable debt, held by investors in the US, means that it cannot make its own economic decisions, even when it affects the livelihood of poor Puerto Ricans living there. But there might be a fix, getting rid of Puerto Rico’s debt and rethinking its colonial relationship to the US. This episode first aired in October 2024. Credits: Making Contact Team Episode Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jin

We return to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels threaten residents, and the climate plan for the city could perpetuate harmful patterns of segregation and environmental racism. With the help of the podcast Wading Between Two Titans, we’ll take a look at how urban redevelopment is pushing out low-income and Black residents and what happens when communities are displaced due to climate gentrification. Featuring: Mr. Vernell, resident Vincent Hodges, social worker and organizer Monét Johnson, lead housing and environmental organizer for New Virginia Majority Paul Riddick, former Norfolk City Council member Credits: Making Contact Team Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credit: "A Documentary" by AKTASOK via Pixabay Wading Between Two Titans Team Written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by Adri

In this episode, we'll head to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels are disproportionately threatening Black residents, while the city is also also weathering a housing crisis. We’ll hear about how sea-level rise, racism and housing are intertwined in this coastal city in a story from episode one of the podcast Wading Between Two Titans, brought to us by the University of Virginia's Repair Lab and producer Adrian Wood. Featuring: Dr. Tommy L. Bogger, professor of history at Norfolk State University | Cassandra Newby-Alexander, endowed professor of Virginia Black History and Culture at Norfolk State University Credits: Making Contact Team Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credit: "A Documentary" by AKTASOK via Pixabay Wading Between Two Titans Credits Written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by

Today on Making Contact we present “Saltwater Soundwalk,” an Indigenous audio tour of Seattle featuring a watery audio experience, with streams of stories that ebb and flow that intermixes English and Coast Salish languages. Indigenous Coast Salish peoples continue to steward this land and preserve its language, despite settler colonialism, industrialization and gentrification. Part story, part sound collage, this piece is scored entirely with the sounds of the waters and animals who live in and around the Salish Sea. This episode first aired in April 2023. Saltwater Soundwalk Credits Rachel Lam (Anigiduwagi enrolled Cherokee Nation) and Jenny Asarnow produced this work as part of FLOW: Art Along the Ship Canal, a commission from Seattle Public Utilities in partnership with the Office of Arts & Culture Special Thanks Commissioned with SPU 1% for Art Funds. Administered by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture. City of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, Mayor. This episode of Making Contact was supported in part by

On this week's Making Contact, we talk about baseball with the help of some Venezuelan players living in Peru. In a story brought to us by the podcast In Confianza, with Pulso, we hear about how their hopes and dreams of making it big can fuel community when they’re living far from home. The story featured in this show first aired in July 2024. Featuring: Raian Baute, Venezuelan baseball aficionado | Rodrigo Baute, Los Astros player | Manny Padron, Major League Baseball scout for the Miami Marlins | Franklin Lopez, Los Astros coach | Wilmer Flores, baseball player for the San Francisco Giants Making Contact Team: Episode host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/) Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music credit: "Drums" by Andrewfai via Pixabay Guest Episode Credits - In Confianza from Pulso Show hosted by Liz Rebecca Alarcón Story produced and narrated by Anthony Wallace  Edi