A Video Interview Series with Social Justice Warriors and Hip Hop and Hardcore Legends
Featuring Steven Donziger, Marianne Williamson, Christian Smalls, Sara Nelson, Radley Balko, Alec Karakatsanis, Scott Hechinger, Eliza Orlins, Olayemi Olurin, Samuel Sinyangwe, Kamau Franklin, Cerise Castle, Alex Vitale, Victoria Law, Dylan Rodriguez, Emily Galvin-Almanza, Kevin Gosztola, Brooke Binkowski, Occupy Wall Street, Susan Bro (the mother of Heather Heyer), Lord Goat (Goretex of Non Phixion), Danny Diablo (aka Lord Ezec), Tiffany Flowers, Carlton Williams, Nicole Porter, Alex Mingus, Alan Dettlaff, Chuck Modiano, Great Doucette, Trevor Aaronson, Ashoka Jegroo (Ash Agony), Arianna Afeni Evans, Shahid Buttar, Mr. Five Mualimm-Ak, Vincent Schilling, Janos Marton, Louis L. Reed, Glenn Martin, Gregory McKelvey, Misty Winston, Matt Rogers, Michael McKay, Alan Kessler, The Free Jessica Reznicek Team, Portland District Attorney Mike Schmidt, and more!
The Best of the AWKWORD INTERVIEWS
In reverse chronological order (2020-2023)
AWKWORD INTERVIEWS Danny Diablo aka Lord Ezec, NYC Hardcore and Hip Hop Legend
AWKWORD speaks to NYC legend Danny Diablo aka Lord Ezec, graffiti artist, rapper, label owner and founding member of hardcore bands Crown of Thornz, Skarhead and Icepick, about punk, Hip Hop, New York City, politics, drugs and sobriety, making peace with his police sergeant father, anti-fascism in the 70s, 80s and 90s versus anti-fascism today, and how he and I are aging ever so gracefully.
AWKWORD INTERVIEWS Lord Goat aka Goretex of Non Phixion
AWKWORD speaks to legendary Hip Hip artist and street philosopher Lord Goat AKA Goretex of Non Phixion about growing up poor in old NY; the creation, dissolution and reemergence of Non Phixion; the group’s history with MC Serch, Geffen, Warner Bros and Linkin Park; recording the classic album The Future Is Now; the 90s underground hip hop scene; the state of Hip Hop and the music industry today; the influence of drugs on his life and music; and how society reminds him of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
AWKWORD INTERVIEWS Radley Balko, Author, Rise of the Warrior Cop
AWKWORD speaks to famed justice journalist and author Radley Balko about his seminal work., Rise of the Warrior Cop, the militarization of police, counter-protest violence, no-knock raids, civil asset forfeiture, and the war on drugs; the power of police unions and police foundations; defunding the police and removing them from schools, traffic stops and mental health crisis response; mutual aid, community defense, running for office, and what we can do in our own neighborhoods to counteract the prison industrial complex; and whether he would consider himself an abolitionist.
AWKWORD INTERVIEWS Journalist Trevor Aaronson + Alphabet Boys Podcast Subject Zebbodios Hall
AWKWORD talks about US government counter-protest violence with journalist Trevor Aaronson, creator of the Alphabet Boys podcast, and Zeboddios Hall, a Denver activist whose story is told throughout the first season. Hall was set up by the FBI following its infiltration of the city's Black Lives Matter movement; the FBI sent Michael Windecker, a formerly incarcerated violent far-right extremist with a sexual assault conviction, to wreak havoc on the community and initiate violence at protests.
AWKWORD Interviews The Free Jessica Reznicek Team
AWKWORD speaks to a representative from the team dedicated to freeing Jessica Reznicek, a climate justice activist sentenced to eight years in federal prison for nonviolent direct actions against the Dakota Access Pipeline. We discuss who Jessica Reznicek was and is, her actions to combat the climate emergency, her criminalization and incarceration, and the movement to free her from prison, as well as the climate justice movement, the increasingly fascist government response to leftist organizing and activism, the case of Steven Donziger, the movement to stop Copy City and the importance of honoring the memory of Tortuguita, a nonviolent climate justice activist murdered by George state police on the proposed site of the nearly 400-acre Cop City military-police training center.
AWKWORD Interviews Sara Nelson, President, AFA-CWA
AWKWORD speaks to Sara Nelson, national labor leader, flight attendants union boss and former top Biden pick for labor secretary, about corporate-government collusion and American capitalism, labor organizing, labor unions, the most important rules for a successful general strike, and more.
AWKWORD Interviews Stephen Semler, Co-Founder, Security Policy Reform Institute
AWKWORD speaks to Stephen Semler, co-founder of Security Policy Reform Institute, about the militarization of police, the criminalization of protest, and the connections between the military industrial complex and prison industrial complex.
AWKWORD Interviews Kamau Franklin, Founder, Community Movement Builders
AWKWORD speaks to Kamau Franklin, movement lawyer and founder of Community Movement Builders in Atlanta, about the movement to stop Cop City and its connection to abolitionist and liberation movements, historically and currently, across the US and worldwide, as well as what you can do in your own community to produce true public health and safety.
AWKWORD Interviews OLayemi Olurin, Movement Lawyer
AWKWORD speaks to Olayemi Olurin, abolitionist movement lawyer and popular political commentator, about the meaning of abolition, finding common ground and ending the infighting amongst the left, converting neoliberals via un-learning and re-learning, combatting copaganda, the importance of storytelling, the best alternatives to cops and cages, and what you can do in your community.
AWKWORD Interviews Samuel Sinyangwe, Mapping Police Violence Creator and Campaign Zero Founder
AWKWORD speaks to Samuel Sinyangwe, aka Sam Swey, activist, organizer and data scientist/analyst, creator of Mapping Police Violence (mappingpoliceviolence.us) and Police Scorecard (policescorecard.org), and co-founder of Campaign Zero, one of the inspirations for TEN DEMANDS (tenforjustice.com). We talk about his upbringing in the South, the school-to-prison pipeline, crime and copaganda, and how data can help prove the truth and value of the abolitionist agenda.
AWKWORD Interviews Steven donziger, Movement Lawyer & Former US Political prisoner
AWKWORD speaks to Steven Donziger, an internationally acclaimed movement lawyer targeted by Chevron and the US government for winning an injunction against the corporation for its destruction of the Amazon and its local indigenous communities, about the increasing corporatization of our government and the spread of authoritarianism and fascism, plus what we can and should do about it.
AWKWORD Interviews Cerise Castle, Award-Winning Journalist
AWKWORD speaks to Cerise Castle, who uncovered 50 years of gang violence by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, publishing a massive series in 2021 for KNOCKdotLA, about LASD gangs, defunding the police, and voting in local elections.
AWKWORD Interviews Vincent Schilling, Akwesasne Mohawk & Native Viewpoint Editor
AWKWORD speaks to Vincent Schilling, Akwesasne Mohawk journalist, editor and public speaker, about the leadership of women in native communities; the missing history of residential schools; American institutional disinformation on — and media misrepresentation of — indigenous people and the so-called discovery of 'the new world;' what the so-called founding fathers took and learned from the land's original inhabitants; the impact of negative stereotypes on everyday native people; violence and threats against native journalists; and the importance of calling people out with love.
AWKWORD Interviews Susan Bro, Heather Heyer’s MOM
AWKWORD speaks to Susan Bro, co-founder of the Heather Heyer Foundation and the mother of Heather Heyer, who, after being killed at the Unite the Right rally in August 2017, became a symbol of the fight against fascism in the United States. Ms. Bro and I speak about the life and death of Heather Heyer, and how the Heather Heyer Foundation has worked to honor Heather's legacy.
AWKWORD Interviews Scott Hechinger, Civil Rights Attorney & Executive Director, Zealous
AWKWORD speaks to Scott Hechinger, civil rights attorney, long-time public defender and executive director of Zealous, about copaganda, the defund the police movement, and abolition and transformative justice.
AWKWORD Interviews Carlton Williams, Movement Lawyer & Cornell Law Professor
AWKWORD speaks to Carlton Williams, movement lawyer, organizer and Cornell Law professor, about Democrats, liberalism and criminal justice reform, and abolition, organizing and liberation.
AWKWORD Interviews Occupy Wall Street
AWKWORD speaks live to the organizers of Occupy Wall Street the day before the 10-year anniversary.
AWKWORD Interviews Dylan ROdriguez, Abolitionist author, professor & Critical resistance Founding Member
AWKWORD speaks to Dylan Rodriguez, abolitionist author, professor and founding member of Critical Resistance, about abolition, organizing, liberalism and criminal justice reform, anti-fascism, and mutual aid.
AWKWORD Interviews Eliza Orlins, Survivor All-Star, Longtime Public Defender & Decarceral Manhattan DA Candidate
AWKWORD and his 14-year-old daughter speak to Eliza Orlins, Survivor All-Star, longtime public defender and decarceral Manhattan DA candidate, about her time on Survivor and the Survivor community, running for public office, the criminalization of race and class in America, the problem of overpolicing and the prosecution of low-level offenses, the most effective ways to improve public safety, defunding the police, and alternatives to incarceration.
AWKWORD Interviews Alex Vitale, Author, The End of Policing
AWKWORD talks to Alex Vitale, author, activist and professor, about Juneteenth and "politics of representation over politics of substance", reparations, why we need to abolish the police and prisons, what we can do for those in need of mental health support, the importance of mutual aid, what you can do in your own community, and more.
AWKWORD Interviews Marianne Williamson, Best-Selling Author, Activist & 2020/2024 Presidential Candidate
AWKWORD talks to Marianne Williamson, a best-selling author and lifelong activist who ran for President in 2020, about love and peace, religion and spirituality; Israel and Palestine; the loss of good faith conversation, and getting "canceled" on Twitter; misogyny, disinformation and lack of ethics in "the political media industrial complex;" what it was like running for President and whether she'd consider running for office again; how we hold our elected officials accountable, why she created the Candidate Summit, voter suppression, the viability of third parties, and the importance of running and supporting progressive grassroots downballot campaigns; "the dangers of incrementalism;" the feasibility of a General Strike; the "band aid" George Floyd Act and the legislative impact of the Black Lives Matter movement; and abolishing the police and prisons, and how ending poverty, early intervention, restorative justice and rehabilitation would make us all safer.
AWKWORD Interviews Alec Karakatsanis, Founder & Executive Director, Civil Rights Corps
AWKWORD talks to Alec Karakatsanis, founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, about his award-winning work ending the criminalization of poverty and the money bail system across the US, the history of policing and incarceration in America, the real motives behind reforms like police body cameras, combating arguments against defunding the police, what abolition really means, and what you can do in your own community to begin creating alternatives to policing and punishment.
AWKWORD Interviews Brooke Binkowski, Manager Editor, Truth or Fiction
AWKWORD talks to Brooke Binkowski, former managing editor of Snopes, current managing editor of Truth or Fiction, and one of the world's leading journalists working against disinformation and propaganda, about the importance of journalism for democracy, the Big Tech attack on leftist journalists, the deplatforming of Donald Trump and the dangers of censorship, the pros and cons of social media, that time Facebook tried to smear her for telling the truth, how to know who and what to trust, and how to save journalism.
AWKWORD Interviews Victoria Law, Abolitionist Activist and Writer
AWKWORD talks to Victoria "Vikki" Law, author of Prison By Any Other Name and Prisons Make Us Safer: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration, asking her what people often ask him about abolition. She answers questions like "What do we do about the rapists and murderers?," "Who do we call in an emergency?", and "How do we prevent and solve crime with police and prisons?"
AWKWORD Interviews Emily Galvin-Almanza, Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director, Partners for Justice
Public defender Emily Galvin-Almanza took what she learned at Three Strikes Project and Bronx Defenders and developed a holistic approach to defense that should (and can) be implemented nationwide (until it's no longer necessary). AWKWORD talks to the Partners for Justice co-founder and co-executive director about transformative justice, and the movement to abolish the police and prisons.
AWKWORD Interviews Christian Smalls, Founder, The Congress of Essential Workers
AWKWORD and the founder of The Congress of Essential Workers, Christian Smalls, a self-proclaimed "concerned supervisor" at Amazon who gained international notoriety in March 2020 for leading the protests against — and unionizing efforts at — the mega-corporation, discuss the results of his organizing efforts at Amazon ("they implemented what they should have implemented in the beginning"), the workers' movement and the purpose and demands of The Congress of Essential Workers, the benefits and likelihood of a General Strike, his thoughts on the People's Party, whether he'd ever align with the Far Right, what he means when he says 'abolish the police,' and what he's heard from the family of Poushawn Brown, a Black female Amazon employee who died recently at 38 after COVID testing her fellow employees for months without a mask, hazard pay or social distancing regulations.
AWKWORD Interviews Mike Schmidt, District Attorney, Portland
AWKWORD and Mike discuss shrinking the criminal justice system from the inside, prison and police abolition, and how Portland and Oregon are responding to the invasion of militarized federal forces.