FM March 28 – Elections / Survivors / Adornment

THIS WEEK on Feminist Magazine with co-hosts Lynn Harris Ballen & Kiyana Turner …
FIRST … The 34th Congressional District is holding a special election for the House of Representatives, with primary voting next week on April 4. And more than half of the twenty-three candidates in the primary race are women, in a district including areas of LA from Boyle Heights & Downtown to Eagle Rock & Mount Washington. We’re talking to one of them today – Maria Cabildo – endorsed by the LA Times as ‘a new kind of candidate for a new kind of Democratic Party”. We’ll hear from her about her decades of work as co-founder of the East Los Angeles Community Corp – working to build affordable housing in East L.A., and pushing social justice measures – and how she plans to keep putting her ideals into action.
AND … On day two of now attorney general Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing, he faced the withering testimony of rape survivor Amita Swadhin. She argued that Sessions wasn’t fit to be the nation’s top law enforcer based on his remarks about the infamous Trump Access Hollywood tape. As well as his voting record against VAWA – the Violence Against Women Act – and on LGBT rights. We’re joined by Amita – the founder of Mirror Memoirs – to hear about her work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors and how we can make change now.
PLUS … For women of color, ancestral and modern adornment practices — including hair braiding, jeweled accessories, body painting, and fashion — help to weave the past into the present, connecting them to their indigenous roots. Cherise Charleswell talks to multidisciplinary artist Tanya Melendez and photographer Amanda Lopez, to discuss ‘Adornment’, their art show that celebrates the beauty and strength of women of color, and their fight to resist cultural genocide.
ALL this this Tuesday at 2pm PDT on Feminist Magazine on KPFK. WHAT Feminism Sounds Like!