Episodes

  • We Want the Whole Menu with Dreisen Heath

    We Want the Whole Menu with Dreisen Heath
    Jun 30 2026
    Dreisen Heath doesn't do sequencing. She doesn't want the appetizer. She doesn't want to wait for the main course. She wants the whole menu—reparations legislation, economic justice, striking the punishment clause from the 13th Amendment, restored benefits for Black veterans, and protected Black history and cultural institutions. All of it. All at once.

    In this episode, Dr. David Johns sits down with Dreisen Heath—reparations researcher, movement strategist, and founder and executive director of the Why We Can't Wait Reparations Network—in the wake of Equity Week in Washington, D.C. Together, they unpack what it meant to convene the Congressional Black Caucus, stand on the House Triangle alongside Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Summer Lee, Rep. Al Green, and dozens of partner organizations, and then walk through the reparative justice display at the Library of Congress—all ahead of Juneteenth and America's 250th anniversary.

    Dr. Heath breaks down what the infrastructure of repair actually means in practice—and exactly how the current administration is gutting it. She connects the dismantling of DEI offices and the DOJ Civil Rights Division to the accumulation of unpaid debt to Black Americans, and makes the case for why this moment demands more urgency, not less.

    This is Freedom Summer. The babies are watching. The question is whether we'll show up.

    Legislation Referenced
    • H.R.40 — Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, currently led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley
    • S.40 — Senate companion bill, currently carried by Sen. Cory Booker
    • The HEAR Act (H.R.40's Senate counterpart in earlier sessions)
    • 13th Amendment punishment clause — legislation to strike the exception allowing forced labor as criminal punishment
    • Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act (passed 2022; first introduced 1900)

    Organizations and Coalitions
    • Why We Can't Wait Reparations Network — whywecantwaitreparations.org
    • NBJC — National Black Justice Collective — nbjc.org
    • United By Equity — unitedbyequity.org
    • N'COBRA — National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
    • Black Veterans Project
    • Black Voters Matter Fund
    • Children's Defense Fund
    • National Action Network

    People Referenced
    • Rep. Ayanna Pressley — lead sponsor, H.R.40
    • Sen. Cory Booker — lead sponsor, S.40
    • Rep. Summer Lee — co-sponsor; carrying forward legislation co-authored with then-Rep. Cori Bush
    • Rep. Al Green — reparations advocate
    • Rep. Barbara Lee (now Mayor, Oakland) — longtime H.R.40 champion
    • Rep. Cori Bush — co-author of 2023 federal reparations legislation with Dreisen Heath
    • Rep. Jamaal Bowman — reparations advocate
    • Rep. John Conyers (now deceased) — original H.R.40 champion; first introduced 1989
    • Tiffany Crutcher — Tulsa racial justice leader; Legacy Festival collaborator
    • Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter — author, Radical Reparations; referenced in closing

    Events
    • Equity Week 2026, Washington D.C. — Congressional meeting (Tuesday), House Triangle press conference (Thursday), reparative justice display at the Library of Congress, Equity Ball
    • Legacy Festival, Tulsa — organized in memory of the Tulsa Race Massacre
    • Freedom Summer 2026 — the organizing frame for this episode and season
    • America 250 — the U.S. 250th anniversary, named as a 'fake celebration' framing the urgency of this moment

    Historical Context
    • Tulsa Race Massacre (1921) — destruction of Black Wall Street; Tulsa litigation referenced as a model
    • Rosewood Massacre — looted homes before burning
    • H.R.40 first introduced: 1989 (36+ year delay as of this episode)
    • First-ever committee vote on H.R.40: 2021
    • Treasury Judgment Fund — permanent taxpayer fund; discussed as a future vehicle for reparative repair
    • Holocaust victims reparations — U.S. government assistance for U.S.-based Holocaust survivors to reclaim looted art and artifacts; cited as evidence the federal government already has infrastructure for repair


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    28 mins
  • Freedom Summer 2026 with Brittany Packnett Cunningham

    Freedom Summer 2026 with Brittany Packnett Cunningham
    Jun 23 2026
    Freedom Summer didn't end in 1964 — it lives in every classroom, every protest, every young person who picks up a book and sees themselves as their own liberator. In this conversation, Dr. David J. Johns sits down with his sister and colleague Dr. Brittany Packnett Cunningham — strategist, educator, Webby Award-winning host of UNDISTRACTED, and Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the Children's Defense Fund — to trace the direct line from Mississippi 1964 to the urgent work of this summer.

    They go deep on who actually carried Freedom Summer — young people and everyday Black Mississippians who risked everything for the audacity of a vote — and how Marian Wright, present on those same voter registration lines, took what she saw and built what would become CDF Freedom Schools, now serving upwards of 12,000 students every summer. Dr. Brittany explains why Freedom Schools are as much an intervention for the whole family as they are for the child — and why, in a moment when Roots has been banned in the same county where Alex Haley bought the farm that bears its legacy, we cannot afford to lose the recipes.

    The conversation moves into UNDISTRACTED — the Meteor Network flagship that Dr. David is proud to be part of as a correspondent this season — and what it means to build a platform where the questions are better and the community is ready to wrestle with them. And it closes with the ecosystem that connects it all: State of the People, Signal LIVE, All Roads Lead South, and Freedom Summer 2026 — a season-long drumbeat of mobilization, education, and local organizing rooted in the same soil as 1964.

    This is not a closed chapter. This is a living model. Class is in session.

    Show Notes:
    • CDF Freedom Schools Find a Freedom School near you, apply to become a Servant Leader Intern, or explore leadership pathways for students, parents, caregivers, and faith leaders: childrensdefense.org
    • Freedom Summer 2026 Host a satellite rally, join Juneteenth Week of Action events, and plug into mobilization happening across the country all summer long: freedomsummer2026.com
    • UNDISTRACTED / The Meteor Webby Award-winning podcast hosted by Dr. Brittany Packnett Cunningham, flagship of the Meteor Network. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts and at wearethemeteor.com
    • State of the People / Signal LIVE Black-owned, Black-led media ecosystem founded by Angela Rye. Watch Signal LIVE, explore The Black Papers, and tap into the community: stateofthepeople.tv
    • Juneteenth Week of Action events: June 18 (Georgia State Capitol/Liberty Plaza), June 20 (125th Street, Harlem), June 22 (mass virtual meeting with Freedom Trainers/Ashley Woodard Henderson)
    • — UNDISTRACTED Live: June 22, Washington DC


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    42 mins
  • In Our Comfort, We Cannot Get Free with Tiffany Loftin

    In Our Comfort, We Cannot Get Free with Tiffany Loftin
    Jun 16 2026
    Tiffany Dena Loftin has been in this work for over two decades — from a TRIO student at UC Santa Cruz organizing against tuition hikes, to leading the United States Student Association, to fighting for student debt cancellation at the NAACP and the Debt Collective. She's a labor organizer, a voting rights strategist, a founding member of Freedom Side, and one of the most disciplined relationship builders in the movement. She also served on the advisory board when Dr. David J. Johns led the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. Today, she steps into the classroom for the first time.

    This conversation goes everywhere it needs to go. They talk about how authoritarianism uses isolation as a weapon — and why people are making intentional, physical, sometimes spontaneous choices to gather again. They get into what it actually means to find an organizing home when you care about everything. Tiffany tells the truth about the Debt Collective, the SAVE program, and what borrowers sitting in default right now actually need to do. And she closes with a charge that lands hard: we are not going to get free being comfortable.

    We're dropping this episode the week of Juneteenth. The promise of freedom is real. The weight of this moment is real. Both are true at the same time.

    Find your organizing home. Not tomorrow. Now.

    SHOW NOTES

    Connect with Tiffany Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Threads, Bluesky: @tiffanydloftin How We Get Free

    Podcast: @howwegetfreepod

    Organizations & Resources Mentioned
    • Freedom Summer 2026 / All Roads Lead to the South blackpowerwarroom.com/dayofaction
    • The Debt Collective — the first union of debtors in the United States debtcollective.org
    • United States Student Association (USSA) usstudentassociation.org and @usstudentassociation.
    • The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) ticas.org
    • The Education Trust edtrust.org
    • NAACP naacp.org
    Referenced in This Episode:
    • DeJuana Thompson / Black Voters Matter Courtland Cox, SNCC veteran and mentor Carmen Berkeley — on building relationships, not titles Marshall Ganz — on relationships as the currency of power (Harvard Kennedy School) Kingian Nonviolence Certificate Program
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    28 mins
  • Equity Week- All of Us. All the Time. with- Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter

    Equity Week- All of Us. All the Time. with- Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter
    Jun 2 2026
    Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter is back in the classroom — and this time, the lesson is urgent.

    One week out from Equity Week 2026, Dr. Hunter — professor of sociology and African American studies, author of Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation, and NBJC board member — walks us through everything you need to know. Why the week exists. Who it was built for. What it asks of you.

    Then we go deeper. The Trump administration’s $1.7 billion fund to compensate January 6th participants is not just wrong — it’s a moral inversion. Dr. Hunter breaks it down: the difference between hush money and reparations, what the Central Park Five actually had to wait for, and why enslaved people didn’t need pardons because they never committed a crime.

    He also gives the class a new frame: reparative justice. What it is, why it covers everything from police reform to educational equity, and why — when it comes to reparations — our work has already been done.

    Equity Week 2026 is June 10–13 in Washington, D.C. Register at nbjc.org/equity-week.

    EQUITY WEEK 2026
    • June 10–13, 2026 | Washington, D.C.
    • Register: nbjc.org/equity-week
    • Equity Ball tickets: NBJC Eventbrite page (or pay at the door)
    • OUT on the Hill Advocacy Day — meet directly with lawmakers and their staff
    • Equity Ball at the Historic Howard Theatre

    NBJC RESOURCES
    • nbjc.org
    • nbjc.org/nbjc-policy-agenda

    LEGISLATION REFERENCED
    • H.R. 40 — Federal Reparations Commission Bill (Rep. Ayanna Pressley)
    • The Third Reconstruction Bill — Rep. Barbara Lee (Poor People’s Campaign)
    • G.I. Restoration Bill — Rep. Seth Moulton, with Rep. Clyburn
    • Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Act — Rep. Jamie Raskin

    IN THE NEWS
    • theGrio: Trump’s $1.7B Fund for J6 Participants — May 20, 2026
    • Central Park Five / Exonerated Five — context for the fund comparison

    BOOKS & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
    • Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation — Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter
    • Substack: open.substack.com/drdavidjjohns


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    34 mins
  • Greenwood Was Never Just a Place. It Was a State of Mind.

    Greenwood Was Never Just a Place. It Was a State of Mind.
    May 26 2026
    There are moments in this work when you sit across from someone and realize you're not just talking to a lawyer. You're talking to a son. A keeper. A man who has spent his entire adult life making sure that what happened in Greenwood — and what Greenwood actually was before they burned it down — is never forgotten and never left unanswered.

    This week, we’re joined by civil rights attorney, author, and Justice for Greenwood Foundation executive director Damario Solomon-Simmons. His first book, Redeem a Nation: The Century-Long Battle to Restore the Soul of America, just dropped — and it is a history, a legal thriller, and a blueprint all at once.

    We talked about what it felt like to knock on Mother Lessie Benningfield Randle's door at 106 years old and ask her to run toward justice one more time. We talked about Greenwood as a love story. We talked about exhaustion, rest as a revolutionary act, and what it means to keep fighting when the courts keep saying no. And Damario left us with a name we all need to know: Hal Singer — a survivor, a musician, a man on hospice who still wanted to fight — whose words became the foundation of the Justice for Greenwood program.

    Get the book. Get in community. Show up.

    Class is in session.

    SHOW NOTES
    • Book: Redeem a Nation: The Century-Long Battle to Restore the Soul of America Available now wherever books are sold. Community toolkit (free): redeemanation.com Join the 11,000 Campaign: redeemanation.com

    • Justice for Greenwood Foundation: justiceforgreenwood.org Get involved in genealogy work, legacy protection, narrative work, and legal advocacy.


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    30 mins
  • The Klan Never Left. They Just Changed Their Clothes.

    The Klan Never Left. They Just Changed Their Clothes.
    May 19 2026
    This one is different. No guest. Just me—and the truth I can't stop sitting with.

    The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is gone. Not weakened. Not under threat. Gone. The legal architecture that turned 7% Black voter registration in Mississippi into 60%—dismantled, decision by decision, by a Supreme Court that was never neutral and was never on our side.

    But that's not even the whole story. Because while the courts were killing the VRA, the Justice Department was being turned into a weapon. FBI agents raided a Black state senator's office mid-day—Fox News already on the scene—while allies under federal investigation had their evidence destroyed. Ballots from Fulton County are in federal custody. Arizona. Michigan. They are building the architecture of election interference before the midterms. In public. And most people don't even know it's happening

    This episode is about all of it. The Proud Boys as a militia. The Roberts Court as an antidemocratic enforcement mechanism. The Southern Strategy, sixty years old and running on steroids. And the organizing tradition—Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, Hungary's opposition movement—that proves rigged maps can be beaten and stolen futures can be reclaimed.

    This is the class I didn't want to have to teach. But you need it. Pull up.

    SHOW NOTES
    • The death of the Voting Rights Act—Shelby County v. Holder (2013), Brnovich v. DNC (2021), and the April 29, 2026 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which Justice Elena Kagan called "all but a dead letter."
    • The pardon of 1,500+ January 6th participants and the DOJ's move to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders.
    • The FBI raid on Fulton County's election center, the subpoenas targeting Arizona and Michigan 2024 ballots, and what it means for the midterms.
    • The mid-day FBI raid on Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas's office, with Fox News cameras already rolling—and not one charge filed.
    • The two-tier justice system in plain sight: evidence destroyed for allies, prosecutions launched against opponents.
    • Elie Mystal's proposal to add 20 justices to structurally change the Supreme Court's incentive for extremism.
    • How Hungary's opposition built 208 local chapters and 50,000 poll watchers—and won a supermajority against a gerrymandered map.
    • The Afrofuturist tradition of Ella Baker and Bayard Rustin as the organizing inheritance we carry forward.
    • Black Power War Room — blackpowerwarroom.com
    • National Black Justice Coalition — nbjc.org
    • NBJC Equity Week — nbjc.org



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    18 mins
  • Black. Single. Mother. with Jamilah Lemieux

    Black. Single. Mother. with Jamilah Lemieux
    May 12 2026
    Jamilah Lemieux is a writer, cultural critic, and — officially, loudly, and necessarily — a published author. Her debut book, Black. Single. Mother.: Real Life Tales of Longing and Belonging, dropped in March 2026, and it is already doing exactly what the best books do: making people uncomfortable in the most clarifying ways.

    In this conversation, Jamilah and I go deep. We talk about what Aunt Toni Morrison taught us about writing the books we need—and what it means to actually do it. We trace the wreckage of the 1965 Moynihan Report, the myth of the absentee Black father, and the way respectability politics decides which single Black mothers this culture chooses to celebrate and which ones it chooses to punish. We talk about Nia Long, Taraji P. Henson, and Cardi B. We talk about the African ancestral village and why every-other-weekend is not enough. And we talk about what it costs all of us—not just women—when we fail to love one another fully.

    This is one of those episodes you share. With the single mothers in your life. With the men who need to hear it. With anyone who's ever made an assumption about what a Black family is supposed to look like

    The class is in session.

    SHOW NOTES

    Resources & References
    • Black. Single. Mother. by Jamilah Lemieux — [BOOK LINK PLACEHOLDER]
    • Jamilah Lemieux on Instagram: @jamilahlemieux
    • Jamilah's conversation with Nia Long — https://www.playboy.com/read/entertainment-culture/the-playboy-interview-nia-long?srsltid=AfmBOoocTvvAgpTBuKE2yVFLct-1QDEHfeQspaIQBISiJT7GC0s81gaP
    • "Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood" by James Baldwin — originally published in Playboy, 1985; submitted to Walter Lowe Jr., the magazine's first Black editor. Essay also published as "Here Be Dragons" in The Price of the Ticket (1985).
    The Negro Family: The Case for National Action (The Moynihan Report, 1965) — U.S. Department of Labor

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    25 mins
  • UNtrending Rundown- Wins & Warnings

    UNtrending Rundown- Wins & Warnings
    May 5 2026
    The news cycle will not save you. This month, Dr. David J. Johns breaks down the stories that slid quietly past the headlines while our communities’ futures were being decided. We open with a win—the Global Black Economic Forum sued the state of Texas for stripping HUB certifications from 15,000 minority- and women-owned businesses, and on April 13th, a Travis County judge said: not so fast. Then we get to work: voting rights under coordinated assault, the weaponization of an 1866 civil rights law against Black scholarship programs, the true cost of Liberation Day’s tariffs on working families, a 100% pharmaceutical tariff arriving September 29th, and the faith-rooted organizing happening right now across 10 cities that nobody’s covering. Class is in session. Pull up.

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    17 mins