Laura Flanders & Friends

We are in what today’s guest calls a dark night of our national soul. But this notion of becoming is what Joy Harjo, the renowned poet, performer, writer and activist of the Muscogee Creek Nation takes up in her career. She is just out with “Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age”, a guide, dedicated especially to Indigenous girls, for people trying to find their way in a time of transformation.

After this past Election Day, “politivists” Cori Bush and Kat Abughazaleh say the tides are changing. In what was widely viewed as a rebuke of the Trump administration’s policies, Democrats won races at every level in blue and red states on November 4, including Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayor’s race. Where does the Democratic Party go from here?

Laura Flanders sits down with the directors of CYCLE, a newly-released investigative feature documentary that focuses on the 2019 killing of Ty’rese West, an 18-year-old Black teenager from Racine, Wisconsin who was shot to death after being pulled over by a Mount Pleasant police officer for riding a bicycle with no headlights.

The U.S. military is sworn to serve the Constitution, but that’s getting complicated under the current administration. Now the President is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act. What difference would that make? Laura’s guests are U.S. House Representative Pramila Jayapal and Marine veteran Janessa Goldbeck, who say it’s time to reject authoritarianism and uphold the Constitution.

Need courage? Watch "The People, United" — a gripping short film about everyday Americans standing up to ICE and winning through nonviolent resistance. Created by Ellen Gavin and presented in collaboration with the Dolores Huerta Foundation and People for the American Way, the video is a powerful example of storytelling as an organizing tool. Hear how narratives shatter fear and build movements.

About 750,000 people are on unpaid leave as the U.S. government shutdown continues — but some of the most caring parts of the government's work have been shut down for months. Civil rights attorneys Palmer Heenan and Paul Osadebe recently signed a shocking complaint letter describing chaos within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is responsible for protecting fair housing.

Mahmoud Khalil discusses his terrifying detainment, the “Palestinian Exception” and the case brought against him by the Trump administration. Despite risks of deportation, Khalil continues to courageously speak out, and he and his legal team have filed a civil rights lawsuit with the U.S. District Court of New Jersey against the Trump administration to challenge his arrest and detention by ICE.

When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in September 2024, it came as a shock. But it’s the mutual aid networks that responded with creative, effective strategies to distribute water, medicine and help communities rebuild. Laura Flanders heads to some of the hardest-hit areas in western North Carolina and speaks with community activists to hear the lessons to be learned for the future.

The problems with our legal system are more conspicuous than ever, but thought leaders like Kimberlé Crenshaw have been sounding the alarm for decades. Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum, Crenshaw is celebrating the organization's 30th anniversary and joining Laura Flanders in this episode to discuss the challenges ahead.

Former Labor Secretary and longtime professor Robert Reich joins Laura Flanders to discuss two bullies against U.S. democracy: concentrated wealth and corporate power. As Reich shares, growing income inequality yields corruption in our politics and economy. No one election will change everything, but that’s not a reason not to act to defeat the Trump administration — in Congress, and at the polls.

With each glimmering piece he creates, artist Akinsanya Kambon brings suppressed histories of both colonization and liberation to life. His ceramic works depict struggle and survival across the African diaspora, and stepping into his studio is a spiritual experience, as Laura Flanders recently discovered. Join Flanders and Kambon as they discuss how art keeps spirits alive.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to strike the United States, killing 1,833 people, displacing hundreds of thousands more and causing more than $100 billion in damage. Louisianans wanted change and climate action, but 20 years on, a state ravaged by climate disasters is now ground zero for a whole new kind of storm: liquified natural gas facilities.