Guests Ann Wright and Pat Elder – Military Families in Hawaii Protest Polluted Water
From the archives of Friendly Fire, today is a replay of its important and still relevant program with US Army Colonel (Ret.) and former US State Department official ANN WRIGHT discussing US Navy pollution problems at US Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman in Hawaii. Also joining the conversation is US Military Poisons Project Executive Director PAT ELDER. Both of these activists with USN resistance to cleaning up and fixing leaking fuel tanks adversely affecting thousands of US military personnel. This show is a rebroadcast from 12/21.
About PFAFS. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large family of man-made chemicals that contain carbon, fluorine, and other elements.
These chemicals have been in use since the 1940s and are found in a variety of products including firefighting foams, household products such as non-stick cookware, food packaging, and stain and water repellants.
The two most widely studied PFAS chemicals are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS); these chemicals were voluntarily phased out of production in the United States. However, as many as 3,000 other PFAS chemicals still are used in a wide variety of applications.
These chemicals are persistent and resist degradation, meaning they accumulate in the environment and in your body over time. – From Military Poisons Website
THE WOMEN’S HOUR with PATRICIA LAW Saturdays at Noon
Guest YUSEF MILLER — LYNCHING IN AMERICA
[In case you missed the show, during the week, we are replaying Patricia’s conversation with Yusef about these historical events,]
Patricia is in conversation with Yusef Miller, an amateur historian, on the history of lynching which continued in America into modern history and current memory, about courageous African American leaders and a concise timeline of historical events in America, information rarely, if at all, covered in text books, and more. You won’t want to miss Yusef relating events in our history that we all should know.
Yusef Miller was born into a Muslim Family in Chester, Pennsylvania; he joined the US Navy after High School and retired after 24 years of Active Duty service as a Chief Hospital Corpsman at Camp Pendleton California, spending those years as an EMT(I.V. insertion, Medication Dispenser), Laboratory Technician (Phlebotomy, Immunizations), Clinic Manager (Administration, Discipline, Education, and Medical Research). Yusef Miller is currently a member of the Board of Islamic Society North County (Escondido Musullah). Upon retirement from the Armed Service, Yusef filled his time with Social Justice activities, first through Interfaith teams, fighting disparities on all fronts: Race, Religion, Gender, Immigration Status to name a few.
Yusef’s volunteer work as a Social Justice Advocate includes:
Founder of “Pink Crescent”, a breast health awareness organization, in cooperation with the Komen Foundation and the Quarterly Regional Breast Health forum which aims to increase the survival rate of women of color and increase inclusion in clinical trials, by visiting and educating women’s groups on the seriousness of testing and prevention.
Founder of Mosques Against Trafficking (M.A,T.) in Oct 2016; Fighting human trafficking in San Diego County is a must for us all as San Diego is in the top 13 of worst cities in the US in term of human trafficking. We are increasing information and taking active steps to end human exploitation.
Environmental equity promoter – educating the community on clean air, clean water, and clean soil in a manner and does not neglect environmental injustices particular to communities of concern. Advocating from such platforms that include: Chair of the Environmental Climate Justice Committee of NSDC NAACP, Equity Advisor for Clean Earth For Kids, Clergy for the Coastline, and as Co-Chair of Interfaith for Climate and Earth Justice.
David Loy is the legal director of The First Amendment Coalition
Loy is a veteran civil liberties litigator who has defended the First Amendment rights of reporters, photographers, bloggers, students, teachers, activists, protesters, musicians, Marines, and motorcycle club members. He has fought for public disclosure and governmental transparency for over 20 years. He joins FAC from the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties, where he served as legal director for nearly 16 years, overseeing a diverse docket of civil rights cases.
Loy directs FAC’s strategic litigation program, enforcing California and federal open-government laws and defending First Amendment protections. And he will work with other senior staff to champion legislative and policy reforms to strengthen press freedom, protest rights and access to public meetings and information. He will manage two legal fellows and contribute to FAC’s free Legal Hotline.“
David’s deep experience, keen legal mind and passion for the First Amendment make him ideally suited to oversee FAC’s growing legal work—and to expand that work to meet new threats,” said FAC Executive Director David Snyder. “We could not ask for a colleague better prepared to lead FAC’s strategic litigation program into the future. We are overjoyed to begin working with him.”
Earlier in his career, Loy worked as a staff attorney with the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City, a public defender in Spokane, Washington, and a staff attorney with the Center for Justice in Spokane.
He studied history and Chinese language at Brown University, where he was photo editor of the Brown Daily Herald. After college, he worked for a law firm in San Francisco, taught English in China, and served as the legal assistant for a Chicago legal services office. He graduated from Northwestern University School of Law in 1994 and clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Dolores K. Sloviter of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. David is an active member of the California and New York bars, with inactive status in Washington and Illinois.
He lives in San Diego. Follow him on Twitter.
ABOUT THE FIRST AMENDMENT COALITION
Our Mission
The First Amendment Coalition protects and promotes a free press, freedom of expression, and the people’s right to know. Nonpartisan and nonprofit, FAC believes that the broadest range of engaged and informed communities is essential to the health of our democracy — that the values expressed by the First Amendment provide a blueprint for an inclusive, equitable society and a responsive, accountable government. To that end, FAC educates, advocates, and litigates to advance government transparency and First Amendment protections for all. (Board of Directors, June 2022)
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
FAC recognizes that our mission can only be achieved by actively cultivating diversity, equity and inclusion, both inside and outside the organization. We believe that in order to realize the promise of the values underlying the First Amendment, we must reach and include as broad a range of voices as possible to inform our policies, priorities and programs. We recognize that systemic inequities rooted in, among other things, race and gender require FAC to take the initiative in seeking out and embracing a diversity of perspectives, backgrounds and life experiences. To that end, we commit to actively expanding and diversifying our networks.
We recognize it is our responsibility to allocate our resources in support of and collaboration with institutions, individuals, organizations and coalitions that reflect the diversity of California and the nation, especially those traditionally excluded from power and resources. Fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive community is both a goal in itself and an integral part of carrying out our organizational mission. Read more about this in the summary of our 2021-2026 Strategic Plan.
Richard Barnard, Sarah Wilkinson, Asa Winstanley and Richard Medhurst. These are some of the canaries in the coal mine for what is to come in the West as the region’s elite quickly becomes Israel’s international police. Medhurst joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to talk about his own experiences in the United Kingdom and Austria, where federal agents and police arrested him and searched his home under draconian counterterrorism laws.
I was just trying to tell the truth as best as I could with the facts that we had at that time and that’s it. And I think they’re trying to make an example out of me, definitely,” Medhurst tells Hedges
CHRIS WILL BE IN SAN DIEGO FRIDAY MAY 30 FOR KNSJ. PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS NOW.
Please Note: If you have not yet purchased your ticket to KNSJ’s Fundraiser Friday May 30, featuring CHRIS HEDGES ON TOUR WITH HIS LATEST BOOK A GENOCIDE FORETOLD, get your ticket at http://news.knsj.org
Tune in today at 2pm to a Friendly Fire “Blast From the Past”as we revisit an incredible day of action with Code Pink and Veterans For Peace from April of 2023. Activists led by Medea Benjamin took to the streets of Syracuse, NY, to make the public aware of the “Merchants of Death,” and Friendly Fire was there!
TALK OF THE TOWN LIVE with MIKE AGUIRRE Saturdays 11am-Noon
CALL IN WITH YOUR COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS 619-790-KNSJ (5675)
The Trump Administration: $1 Billion Cut in Mental Health Grants to Schools—OUR schools are affected in Lemon Grove, Spring Valley and La Mesa.
MIKE IS IN CONVERSATION WITH DEBBIE SKIPPER AND REBECCA BURTON WITH THE LEMON GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT
❖ DEBBIE SKIPPER, EDUCATOR AND PRESIDENT OF THE LEMON GROVE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION: Debbie is a teacher in the Lemon Grove School District. She has been a public school educator for over 25 years, working with students in grades TK-6. She started teaching kindergarten for San Diego Unified School District , then and in Las Vegas for the Clark County School District before moving back to San Diego and joining Lemon Grove 10 years ago.
❖ Debbie has been the President of the Lemon Grove Teachers Association (LGTA) for 5 years. Debbie is a proud wife and mother of two – one son working on an engineering degree and daughter graduating from high school and will be majoring in Political Science next year.
❖ REBECCA BURTON – LEMON GROVE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND STUDENT SERVICES, AND SHE NOW SERVES AS THE DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT
❖ Rebecca has been an educator for 19 years, starting as a special education teacher in Mexico, and then in public education for Title I districts in Los Angeles and San Diego county. After teaching, she moved into her first district office role as a Special Education coach, and grew into other leadership roles from there. Five years ago, Rebecca began working at Lemon Grove School District in San Diego County as the Executive Director of Special Education and Student Services, and she now serves as the Deputy Superintendent. During her time in public education, Rebecca has led launching Multi-Tiered Systems of Support across three different organizations, which have continued to grow and thrive to this day. Rebecca is deeply passionate about whole child education, creating high quality programs in underserved communities, and building school systems that function as equity champions for vulnerable student populations.
❖ LEMON GROVE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION: LGTA represents and advocates for 191 teachers, psychologists, speech/language pathologists, nurses and social workers. This small association is dedicated to the success of students, families and the local community
MEDIA GIVING DAYS TODAY AND TOMORROW–PLEASE DONATE TO KNSJ
Thank you for your donations to help ensure freedom of the press and freedom of speech!
Community station KNSJ plays an integral part in our neighborhoods. We talk to people and hear news and stories in our own community. Our stories are frequently ignored by corporate media whose owners have no ties to us here.
Community radio is a service—a third model of radio, a unique approach to building stations, providing an incredible diversity of radio stations on the air today serving geographic communities, local communities in a way that commercial media does not serve the local community.
As Bill Moyers, American journalist and political commentator, said years ago in a conversation with Senator Bernie Sanders,
…Take a look at this statistical snapshot of the media ecology that largely determines what you and I see, read, and hear. In 1983, 50 corporations controlled a majority of media in America. In 1990 the number had dropped to 23. In 1997, 10. And today, six. There you have it. The fistful of multinational conglomerates that own the majority of media in America. What do we call it when a few firms dominate the market? Oligopoly. Doesn’t quite rhyme with democracy…. — Bill Moyers
GINGERLILY LOWE Actor, Director, Writer, Songwriter, Teaching Artistand San Diego’s ASIAN STORY THEATER
Gingerlily has been a teaching artist with Arts for Young Audiences, Institute for Arts Education, and currently is on the teaching artist staff for Guitars in the Classroom. She is the Education Director for ASIAN STORY THEATER, writing curriculum for the theater’s education component. Gingerlily is a retired classroom teacher spending many years in San Ysidro, San Diego Unified, and The Museum School where her students always participated in lots of integrated art projects and activities–including script and lyric writing.
She performed her radio theater play, “ASIAN SCARY THEATER” at the 2024 SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL. Her play “BOUND” was presented at the OLD GLOBE THEATER’S Powers New Voices Festival, 2023. She was one of the Co-Directors and contributing song-writer’s for ASIAN STORY THEATER’s new musical “NOT WORKING” –which premiered fall 2021, and performed as Ah Toy, the second Chinese woman to arriving in the US in the 1800’s in ASIAN STORY THEATER’s, “THE GOLDEN RULE” at SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL, 2022.
Gingerlily and her husband, Kent Brisby, performed together in the PLAYWRIGHTS PROJECT 38TH “PLAYS BY YOUNG WRITERS” 2023. Currently they are working together on the LAST CENSUS PROJECT, where they have produced/commissioned over 30 scripts of varying lengths (a small festival of the plays including AST’s “CENSUS AND CENSIBILITY” were part of the OLD GLOBE 360 PROJECT 2025) leading towards a culminating production in June 2025 of “THE LAST CENSUS.”
email Gingerlily@asianstorytheater.org
ABOUT ASIAN STORY THEATER
History & Future
Asian Story Theater began in 1989, dramatizing Chinese folk tales as a project sponsored by the San Diego Chinese Center. The first production was The White Snake (1989-90), presented at the Lyceum Space Theatre and subsequently toured to county schools, libraries, and recreation centers. In 1991 the company staged its first adaptation based on the 16th century fantasy novel Journey to the West, featuring the Monkey King with additional productions following each year. In 1995 the company incorporated as the Asian Story Theater, independent of the San Diego Chinese Center, to diversify programming and expand touring operations to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Each year since, we have produced at least one production in pursuit of our mission. Touring and scale of production has varied depending on funding, talent, and venue availability. Recent years have led to increasingly diverse programs, including a full-length musical about the artist Paul Gauguin (PRICK: The Musical Paul Gauguin, November 2011-May 2012), as well as partnering to produce a pilot television episode, based on our 2006 project SHAVE ICE (December 2013). We are also committed to continuing a series of annual touring theater productions related to the Lunar New Year Celebrations, presenting WHEN THE TIGER SMOKED A PIPE, for Year of the Tiger.
WHEN THE TIGER SMOKED A PIPE, for Year of the Tiger.
We continue to explore new production partners and collaborators, such as for WHAT ARE YOU? (2019) and THE GOLDEN RULE, 2020-2022, NOT WORKING 2022- a new original musical featuring songs from our BIPOC creative community about our shared experiences during COVID, THECOFFEE PLAYS 2023 celebrating coffee stories and coffee culture around the world, and our latest endeavors Asian SCARY Theater 2023/2024 a radio theater project with “chicken-skin” storytelling and TWO DRAGONS 2024 featuring a Balinese naga shadow puppet play and a radio theater style dragon story from China. WHERE WE LAY OUR SORROWS DOWN 2024 a Cultivating Joy project
In 2024 ASIAN STORY THEATER in collaboration with TEATRO MASCARA MAGICA and SAN DIEGO BLACK ENSEMBLE is developing a new program about the census, to be presented in 2025.
