The Signal

The Signal | Students and Teachers Fight Back Against Book Banning in Central York, with Christina Ellis and Ben Hodge

Today host Cyril Mychalejko talks to Christina Ellis and Ben Hodge about how and why students and teachers must organize and mobilize themselves and the larger community to resist book bans and other reactionary right-wing assaults on public education. 
Christina Ellis is an 18-year-old African-Caribbean American college student and activist. She was the former vice-president of Central York High School’s Panther Anti-Racist Union student club, better known as PARU. She and PARU worked together to reverse a book ban that the Central York School District placed on books/resources that promoted diversity and inclusion. While at Central York High School, she helped organize a peaceful protest that advocated reversing the ban. Christina and others continue to educate students and the public on the importance of diversity education and inclusion within her community. She is now at university working towards a career in medicine and will continue to advocate for minorities in medicine.
Ben Hodge is the founder and faculty advisor of the Panther Anti-Racist Union. A 20-year veteran of the classroom, he teaches Acting classes at Central York High School and serves as the Artistic Director for the Central York Performing Arts program. Ben is passionate about the acting profession and enjoys training and mentoring young actors, and teaching them to take control of their everyday lives through theater. A staunch advocate of the Diversity programming in the Central York School District since 2006, he has focused primarily on diversity education, mediation, and social-emotional awareness. After the murder of George Floyd, he wanted to create a safe space where students could come together and have meaningful discussions around social justice initiatives outside of their regular classes. This is how the Panther Anti-Racist Union was born. 
The Signal is a podcast by The Bucks County Beacon. Twice a month we will use this space to shine a light on the right-wing extremist currents streaming though Bucks County and beyond. We will talk to guests who will help listeners navigate these perilous political waters by providing insight, analysis, and organizing solutions so that we can steer the community toward calmer, saner progressive routes.
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Reading Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue:
Teachers, Students and the Central York Community Defeated a Racist Book Ban in Their School District, by Cyril Mychalejko
Why Diversity in Education Matters, by Christina Ellis
Q&A with Central York Student Organizer Edha Gupta, by Cyril Mychalejko
Central York High Schoolers Protest Book Bans (Again). Here’s What They Have to Say, by Kelly Jensen
It Takes A Village: Expelling Right-Wing Extremism From Bucks County School Districts, by Cyril Mychalejko
ALSO LISTEN TO:
EPISODE 2 - The Merchants of Deception: The Dark Money and Front Groups Behind School Privatization, with Maurice Cunningham
EPISODE 6 - The Right’s Long War On Public Education, With Jennifer Berkshire
EPISODE 7 - Understanding Backlash Politics And Religious Conservatives Inciting School Board Wars, With PRRI’s Melissa Deckman
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress

The Signal | Understanding Backlash Politics and Religious Conservatives Inciting School Board Wars, with PRRI’s Melissa Deckman

Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., is the CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research at the intersection of religion, culture, and public policy. Her first book, School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics, won the American Political Science Association’s Hu Morken Award for best book on religion and politics. Melissa is also author of Tea Party Women, which examines the role of women in conservative politics and co-author of  Women and Politics, a top-selling textbook on gender politics in the United States.
Deckman's commentary and research about politics has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Hill, Vice News, The Wall Street Journal, 538, and Politico, among other outlets. Prior to her appointment as PRRI’s CEO, Deckman was the Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs and chair of the Political Science Department at Washington College, where she taught courses on American politics, women and politics, religion and politics, research methods, and state and local politics.
Melissa and I talk about the ideology and worldview conservative activist parents are promoting, and how if you cut through the noise they are making you realize they are in the minority. 
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on Today’s War on Public Education in America
The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, by Katherine Stewart
Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization, by Maurice Cunningham
A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School, by Jennifer Berkshire
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
From the New Deal to the War on Schools: Race, Inequality, and the Rise of the Punitive Education State, by Daniel S. Moak
ALSO LISTEN TO:
EPISODE 2 - The Merchants of Deception: The Dark Money and Front Groups Behind School Privatization, with Maurice Cunningham
EPISODE 6 - The Right’s Long War On Public Education, With Jennifer Berkshire
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress

The Signal | The Right’s Long War on Public Education, with Jennifer Berkshire

Jennifer Berkshire writes about the intersection of education and politics for the Nation, the New Republic, the New York Times, and other publications. She is the creator and co-host of the education policy podcast Have You Heard, and the co-author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School. Jennifer teaches in the journalism program at Boston College and in the Education Studies program at Yale University. Her next book, The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual, will be out in 2024. Today we speak to her about the Right’s Long War on Public Education and how to fight back and win!
The Signal is a podcast by The Bucks County Beacon. Twice a month we will use this space to shine a light on the right-wing extremist currents streaming though Bucks County and beyond. We will talk to guests who will help listeners navigate these perilous political waters by providing insight, analysis, and organizing solutions so that we can steer the community toward calmer, saner progressive routes.
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on Public Education in America
Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization, by Maurice Cunningham
Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform, by Diane Ravitch
Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools, by Jonathan Zimmerman
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, by bell hooks
 The Teachers,  by Alexandra Robbins
LISTEN TO EPISODE 2 - The Merchants of Deception: The Dark Money and Front Groups Behind School Privatization, with Maurice Cunningham
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress

The Signal | The Growing Fascist Threat to American Democracy, with Jeff Sharlet

On this episode, Bucks County Beacon Editor Cyril Mychalejko welcomes Jeff Sharlet to the show. Jeff (@JeffSharlet) is the bestselling author or editor of eight books, including The Family, made into a Netflix documentary series. He's the Frederick Sessions Beebe '35 Professor in the Art of Writing at Dartmouth College and a contributing editor to Vanity Fair. His newest book is The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, described by The New York Times as "riveting" and The Washington Post as "journalism-as-art." Today we talk about his new book and the growing fascist threat to American democracy. 
The Signal is a podcast by The Bucks County Beacon, I’m your host and the Beacon’s editor in chief Cyril Mychalejko. Twice a month we will use this space to shine a light on the right-wing extremist currents streaming though Bucks County and beyond. We will talk to guests who will help listeners navigate these perilous political waters by providing insight, analysis, and organizing solutions so that we can steer the community toward calmer, saner progressive routes.
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue (in addition to Jeff’s new book)
How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, by Jason Stanley
Saving History: How White Evangelicals Tour the Nation's Capital and Redeem a Christian America, by Lauren R. Kerby
The Flag and The Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy, by Philip S. Gorski, Samuel L. Perry
A Field Guide to White Supremacy, by Kathleen Belew and Ramon A. Gutierrez (editors)
No Pasarán! Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis, by Shane Burley (editor)
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress

The Signal | Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette Socialist and Scourge of Empire, with Dr. Kate Connelly

On this episode, Cyril welcomes Dr. Kate Conelly to the show. Kate is a writer, historian and activist. She is a biographer of Sylvia Pankhurst, her book Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette Socialist and Scourge of Empire was published by Pluto Press in 2013. In 2019 she edited and introduced Pankhurst's previously unpublished manuscript about her suffrage lecture tours in North America, now published under the title A Suffragette in America: Reflections on Prisoners, Pickets and Political Change.
Kate is currently researching the links between labour movement activists in the USA and Pankhurst's organization, the East London Federation of Suffragettes. Twenty years ago, Kate was one of the leaders of the school strikes against the war on Iraq. She has been a campaigner ever since. She is a member of the socialist organization, Counterfire, and contributes regularly to its website. Kate works as a lecturer at the London centers of several U.S.-based universities, including Aradia University near Philadelphia."
The Signal is a podcast by The Bucks County Beacon. Twice a month we will use this space to shine a light on the right-wing extremist currents streaming though Bucks County and beyond. We will talk to guests who will help listeners navigate these perilous political waters by providing insight, analysis, and organizing solutions so that we can steer the community toward calmer, saner progressive routes.
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue
Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette Socialist and Scourge of Empire, by Katherine Connelly
A Suffragette in America: Reflections on Prisoners, Pickets and Political Change, by Sylvia Pankhurst and edited by Katherine Connelly
Rebel Crossings New Women, Free Lovers, and Radicals in Britain and the United States, by Sheila Rowbotham
Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons From Five Revolutionary Women, by Kristen Ghodsee
Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto, by Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser
Additional Resources: 
International Women’s Day: a working class, socialist history, by Katherine Connelly
The Radical History of International Women’s Day and the Feminist Movement, with Liza Featherstone
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress
 

The Signal | The Radical History of International Women’s Day and the Feminist Movement with Liza Featherstone

On this episode, I welcome Liza Featherstone to the show. Liza Featherstone (@lfeatherz) is an author, journalist, essayist and critic. She is a columnist at Jacobin and The New Republic, as well as a contributing writer at The Nation. I'll be talking with Liza about the radical history of International Women’s Day and feminism.
Featherstone is the author of Divining Desire: Focus Groups and the Culture of Consultation, published by O/R Books in 2018, as well as Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart (Basic Books, 2004). She co-authored Students Against Sweatshops (Verso, 2002) and is editor of False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Verso, 2016). She’s currently editing a collection of Alexandra Kollontai’s work for OR Books and International Publishers, and writing the introduction to that volume.
Featherstone’s work has been published in Lux, TV Guide, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ms., The American Prospect, Columbia Journalism Review, Glamour, Teen Vogue, Dissent, The Guardian, In These Times and many other publications. 
Featherstone teaches in NYU’s Literary Reportage program as well as at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs. She is proud to be an active member of New York City Democratic Socialists of America and of UAW Local 7902.  
The Signal is a podcast by The Bucks County Beacon, I’m your host and the Beacon’s editor in chief Cyril Mychalejko. Twice a month we will use this space to shine a light on the right-wing extremist currents streaming though Bucks County and beyond. We will talk to guests who will help listeners navigate these perilous political waters by providing insight, analysis, and organizing solutions so that we can steer the community toward calmer, saner progressive routes.
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue
The Rising of the Women Feminist Solidarity and Class Conflict, 1880–1917, by Meredith Tax
Feminist Solutions for Ending War, Edited by Megan MacKenzie and Nicole Wegner
Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, by bell hooks
Feminist International: How to Change Everything, by Verónica Gago, translated by Liz Mason-Deese
False Choices The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton, by Liza Featherstone
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress

The Signal | Merchants of Deception: The dark money and front groups behind school privatization with Maurice Cunningham

On this episode, Cyril welcomes Maurice Cunningham to the show. Maurice is the author of the book Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization. He retired in 2021 as associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. His work has been distributed through the Independent Media Institute and has appeared in publications that include the Boston Globe, Alternet, Tampa Bay Times, The Detroit Free Press, and The Portland Press-Herald (ME), as well as The Bucks County Beacon. Today we talk about a report Maurice just published this month for The Network for Public Education entitled Merchants of Deception: Parent Props and Their Funders, which pulls back the veil on the right-wing figures, their tactics, and the funding behind today’s attack on public education in Bucks County and beyond. 
The Signal is a podcast by The Bucks County Beacon, I’m your host and the Beacon’s editor in chief Cyril Mychalejko. Twice a month we will use this space to shine a light on the right-wing extremist currents streaming though Bucks County and beyond. We will talk to guests who will help listeners navigate these perilous political waters by providing insight, analysis, and organizing solutions so that we can steer the community toward calmer, saner progressive routes.
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue
Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization, by Maurice Cunningham.
A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School, by Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider
Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools, by Diane Ravitch
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, by bell hooks
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer
Additional Resources: 
The Disinformation Playbook Targeting Our Public Schools and Elections
MassPoliticsProfs
The Network for Public Education
Public Schooling Battle Map
Bucks County Beacon Education Coverage
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress

The Signal | Immigrant Solidarity: From Bucks County to the Border with Sue-Ann DiVito

Sue-Ann DiVito is a Bucks County mother, grandmother, and political activist. Her “witnessing” has included three trips to the border to see first hand the humanitarian crises exacerbated by policy failures, of Republican and Democratic Administrations alike. She most recently returned from a solidarity delegation sponsored by Witness at the Border called the “Journey for Justice: A Border Pilgrimage.” 
The Signal is a podcast by The Bucks County Beacon, I’m your host and the Beacon’s editor in chief Cyril Mychalejko. Twice a month we will use this space to shine a light on the right-wing extremist currents streaming though Bucks County and beyond. We will talk to guests who will help listeners navigate these perilous political waters by providing insight, analysis, and organizing solutions so that we can steer the community toward calmer, saner progressive routes.
Host Cyril Mychalejko’s 5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on the Issue
Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration, by Aviva Chomsky
All-American Nativism: How the Bipartisan War on Immigrants Explains Politics as We Know It, By Daniel Denvir
Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, by Valeria Luiselli
A History of Violence: Living and Dying in Central America, By Óscar Martínez
Presente! Latin@ Immigrant Voices in the Struggle for Racial Justice / Voces de Inmigrantes Latin@s en la Lucha por la Justicia, Edited by Cristina Tzintzún, Carlos Pérez de Alejo, and Arnulfo Manríquez
Additional Resources:
Immigrant Rights Action
www.immigrantrightsactions.org
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition
https://paimmigrant.org 
Witness at the Border
https://witnessattheborder.org 
To learn more about the Bucks County immigrant and women-led nonprofit that was founded in 2017 following an ICE raid in Doylestown, read the Bucks County Beacon’s article: “How Immigrant Rights Action Is Serving Bucks County’s Immigrant Community.”
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 
Follow us on Twitter:
@BucksCoBeacon
@cmychalejko 
@RCpress