takeback politics

Every so often in the heart of a great conversation, you get a powerful story. takeback bites is a shorter audio collection of stories, ten minutes or less, that highlight the perspectives that drive our passions and lay the foundation for our values and beliefs.  Last year, we spoke with Donavan McKinney, organizer, activist, and at the time candidate for State Representative. We were discussing what propels his purpose and drives his passion to serve others. He shared with me a short story from his high school years centered around the compounding transportation and economic barriers present for families in Detroit's neighborhoods, the prevalence and impact of untimely death amongst our youth, and the desire of a parent to always want the best for their child.  Donavan's story is powerful to me because we share so much of the same in our experiences both riding the bus to school, parents who worked in cities different from where we attended school, and both adjusted where we went to high school because our parents' had high hopes for our futures. Our stories are different only because of the difference in the systems and investments that drastically impacted the experiences in our lives. I am thankful to call Donavan one of my dearest friends and a comrade in the work ahead of us to build safety and equitable opportunities for all of us.

Coming out of the 2020 election into a new Administration and with power realigned in Congress, climate, infrastructure, and clean energy have emerged as unifying and critical policy issues across diverse constituencies. Climate policy intertwined with infrastructure is likely to see major action early in the Biden/Harris Administration. Herasanna chats with Jeremy Orr and Justin Onwenu about the big reforms that we can anticipate, what bold action is needed to responsibly address and correct present inequities, the intersections of public health and COVID-19, and what we can do to restore the US as a climate-conscious leader. 

The political shift this year has changed how we interpret and interface with our understanding of government. We kicked it with our friend Aaron Stephens, the Mayor of East Lansing this week on takeback politics to talk about what we've learned about politics from the 2020 COVID-19  pandemic and how government at all levels really works for us. Aaron Stephens is the Mayor of the city of East Lansing, the home of Michigan State University. Aaron was elected to the East Lansing City council in 2017 as a senior at Michigan State University. 

In this episode, Herasanna is joined by friends Janelle Moulding, MSW and director and producer of Break the Chain Laura Swanson for a timely conversation about their journeys through activism and the lessons learned about boundaries, managing your expectations, elevating others and the importance of prioritizing self in order to serve.

Herasanna is joined by community organizer and environmental justice advocate Donavan McKinney for a conversation on the state of Michigan's environmental infrastructure -- addressing concerns about ongoing water contamination, the state of our shorelines, what should be next for Enbridge's Line 5, and what investments are necessary to ensure Michigan's environmentally sustainable future.