The Signal

CELDF’s Ben Price, Trailblazer in the Rights of Nature Movement, on His New Book, “Wouldn’t You Say: A Collection of Essays About Environment and Community”

On this special Earth Day episode of The Signal, we welcome Ben Price, education director at the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, where he has worked at since 2004. Ben is a trailblazer in the Rights of Nature movement and has a new book out: Wouldn’t You Say? A Collection of Essays About Environment and Community. 
In this conversation, we discuss his book and how the rights of nature movement challenges us to rethink our relationship with the natural world while calling us to expand our political imaginations to not just dream of what a sustainable, just world looks like – but how each of us can work in our own communities to make that dream a reality.  
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
Larissa Hopwood on the Newly Formed Doylestown Action League and Progressive Activism in Bucks County
Kadida Kenner on Defending Democracy and Voting Rights in Pennsylvania
Solidarity Journalism Can Help the Mainstream Media Restore Public Trust and Strengthen Democracy, with Dr. Anita Varma
Ralph Young on His New Book ‘American Patriots: A Short History of Dissent’
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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‘A Fight Fails Without A Dream’: DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta on How The Democratic Party Will Meet This Dangerous Trumpian Moment

Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta was recently elected Vice Chair of the DNC. He joins us today to speak about the Trump administration’s dangerous and disastrous first few months in power and what Democrats are going to do to save our economy, our constitution, our democracy, and our future.
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
Larissa Hopwood on the Newly Formed Doylestown Action League and Progressive Activism in Bucks County
Kadida Kenner on Defending Democracy and Voting Rights in Pennsylvania
Karen Downer Has Fought Racism Locally Since She Was a Child in Pre-Civil Rights Bucks County
The Democratic Party Needs a Generational Change in Leadership, with Daily Beast Columnist (and Central Bucks Grad) Rotimi Adeoye
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Larissa "Lolly" Hopwood on the Newly Formed Doylestown Action League and Progressive Bucks County Activism

On this week's episode, we welcome Larissa Hopwood, also known widely as “Lolly,” to the show. Larissa has lived in Bucks County since 1999. In addition to being a local activist and Democratic Committee Person, she's also a children's musician, author, teacher, designer, and proud mother of a trans son.
Recently, Larissa co-founded the Doylestown Action League, which has been organizing rallies and community forums in the County Seat. She joins us today to talk about her work with the newly formed Doylestown Action League, Bucks County’s local community of activists and organizers, and how you can get involved in the fight to save our country and democracy in your own neighborhood. 
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
Kadida Kenner on Defending Democracy and Voting Rights in Pennsylvania
Karen Downer Has Fought Racism Locally Since She Was a Child in Pre-Civil Rights Bucks County
The Democratic Party Needs a Generational Change in Leadership, with Daily Beast Columnist (and Central Bucks Grad) Rotimi Adeoye
This Bucks County Dad Took His Child’s School District to Court to Uncover a Secret Book Banning Scheme
Peace Activism from Bucks County to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with Barbara Simmons
Raising a Transgender Child in an Increasingly Transphobic Country, with Brett Freeman
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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The Beacon’s Emily Smith Interviews Boston University Geneticist Shoumita Dasgupta on Her New Book, Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins

Shoumita Dasgupta is the daughter of Bengali immigrants, a woman of color in STEM, and a scientist, educator, and geneticist. She is Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion at Boston University, a Fulbright Specialist, and a member of the inaugural cohort of faculty affiliates at the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.
Cyril first came across Shoumita’s work when the Beacon republished a piece she wrote for The Conversation entitled “Mass Deportations Don’t Keep Out ‘Bad Genes’: It’s Scientific Racism That’s Used to Justify Xenophobic Immigration Policies.” Well it turns out she grew up in Central PA and was childhood friends with our Publisher Emily Smith. So for today’s special International Women’s Day episode of the Signal, Emily takes over the hosting responsibilities and speaks with Shoumita about her work, and her new book Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins: Lessons on Belonging from Our DNA, which was just published in February.
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READ: 
Trump’s Executive Orders Seek to Erase Scientific Truth
Mass Deportations Don’t Keep Out ‘Bad Genes’: It’s Scientific Racism That’s Used to Justify Xenophobic Immigration Policies
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Kadida Kenner Is Defending Democracy and Voting Rights in Pennsylvania

Kadida Kenner is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the New Pennsylvania Project. Kadida is a tireless advocate for social and economic justice issues and is motivated to empower and excite the electorate to enthusiastically vote in every election — all the way down the entire ballot.
Kadida has led efforts to stop the passage of a judicial gerrymandering constitutional amendment, raise the minimum wage, fairly fund public education, protect federal courts from problematic judicial nominees, and protect the state courts from extremist attempts to undermine their independence.
Kadida also serves as co-chair of Why Courts Matter – Pennsylvania, an advocacy campaign of the New Pennsylvania Project, seeking to protect the independence of our state and federal courts and educate the electorate about their importance. 
I first spoke to Kadida Kenner 3.5 years ago when I was writing a progressive column for the conservative Bucks County Courier Times when her voting rights organization the New Pennsylvania Project had just launched. Since then her group has grown to 65 full- and part-time staffers across the commonwealth, and Kadida and her colleagues tireless advocacy in defense of democracy and voting rights is needed now more than ever.
She joins us today on The Signal to talk about her lifelong journey in civil rights activism and what the New Pennsylvania Project is currently working on in order to defend, expand, and strengthen voting rights and voter engagement across the state.
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
Author Elaine Weiss on the Four Little-Known Activists Who Were the ‘Beating Heart’ of the Civil Rights Movement
Karen Downer Has Fought Racism Locally Since She Was a Child in Pre-Civil Rights Bucks County
Black History Is a History of Resistance and Liberation, with Rann Miller
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Elaine Weiss on Her New Book ‘Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement’

Elaine Weiss is an award-winning journalist, author, and public speaker. She is the author of The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote and Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army of the Great War. She joins us today to talk about Her new book, Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement, which comes out March 4th. Her book, which tells the story about how four ordinary citizens through social movement organizing affect change, offers valuable lessons for today as the country finds itself engaged in a new Jim Crow moment and a renewed battle over civil rights. 
Listen on Apple, Spotify, and iheart 
ALSO LISTEN TO:
Karen Downer Has Fought Racism Locally Since She Was a Child in Pre-Civil Rights Bucks County
Black History Is a History of Resistance and Liberation, with Rann Miller
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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Karen Downer Has Fought Racism Locally Since She Was a Child in Pre-Civil Rights Bucks County

Karen Downer recently stepped down as president of Bucks County NAACP after holding the position for six years. In this conversation, Downer shares her experiences growing up as a Black girl in Bucks County, her early involvement in civil rights activism, and her leadership role and work with the local NAACP. She discusses the challenges faced by the Black (and broader) community, particularly in education and policing. She emphasizes the importance of allyship and inclusivity in the ongoing fight for civil rights and racial justice.
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ALSO LISTEN TO:
Black History Is a History of Resistance and Liberation, with Rann Miller
How Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement Will Legalize and Deploy Vigilantes to Push Their Agenda, with David Noll
Former FBI Agent Who Once Infiltrated Neo-Nazi Groups and Militias Explains Why Law Enforcement Fails to Take Far-Right Extremism Seriously
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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The Money, Lies and God Behind the Authoritarian and Fascist Movement Seeking to Destroy American Democracy, with Katherine Stewart

Katherine Stewart is the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, the award-winning book upon which the documentary feature, God & Country, produced by Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner, is based. She has covered the intersection of faith and politics for over 15 years; her work appears in the New York Times, The Washington Post, the New Republic, the Guardian, and Religion News Service and she has been featured on broadcast media outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, and NPR. Her 2012 book, The Good News Club, covered the religious right’s effort to infiltrate and undermine public education.
On Feb. 18th Stewart’s explosive follow-up to her 2020 book The Power Worshippers will be published. MONEY, LIES, AND GOD: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy  “exposes the inner workings of the ‘engine of unreason’ roiling American culture and politics, but aims at a bigger and more challenging target: how did we get to the point where there is an organized political movement within the United States that is working to destroy American Democracy? Furthermore, why have so many Americans turned against democracy?
Stewart takes readers to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist houses of worship, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down. She introduces us to reactionary Catholic activists, atheist billionaires, pseudo-Platonist intellectuals, self-appointed apostles of Jesus, disciples of Ayn Rand, women-hating opponents of ‘the gynocracy,’ pronatalists preoccupied with the dearth of white babies, Covid truthers, militia members masquerading as “concerned moms” and battalions of spirit warriors who appear to be inventing a new style of religion even as they set about attacking democracy at its foundations.”
Katherine joins us today to talk about her new book and the role Christian nationalism and the Christian right play in this broader, and ascendent authoritarian and fascist movement that has democracy in its crosshairs – both in the U.S. and abroad.
Listen on Apple, Spotify, and iheart 
ALSO LISTEN TO:
How Donald Trump and the MAGA Movement Will Legalize and Deploy Vigilantes to Push Their Agenda, with David Noll
Former FBI Agent Who Once Infiltrated Neo-Nazi Groups and Militias Explains Why Law Enforcement Fails to Take Far-Right Extremism Seriously
The Growing Fascist Threat To American Democracy, With Jeff Sharlet
The New Apostolic Reformation: A Revolutionary Theocratic Movement Coming For Pennsylvania, The Nation, And The World
Kristin Kobes Du Mez on Evangelical Support for Trump and Project 2025’s Christian Nationalist and Authoritarian Designs for the Nation
The Christian Right’s Crusade for Power and War on Democracy, with Katherine Stewart
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
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