The Stigma of Death and Dying
Dan’s wife Brittany Maynard sought adventure up until the very end. When it became clear that the brain tumor she’d been diagnosed with would ultimately take her life, Brittany chose to end things on her own terms.
Medical aid-in-dying, commonly known in the U.S. as “death with dignity,” enables someone with a terminal illness to request a prescription for medication that will end their suffering. In the final episode of season 4, we explore end of life choices, and the social and legal systems that either allow or prevent individuals from determining how they die.
Featuring Dan Diaz, an advocate for the legalization of medical aid in dying, Kim Callinan, CEO of the organization Compassion and Choices, and Dr. Rob Jonquiere, Executive Director of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, in conversation with Host, Hazami Barmada.
Seeing Through Colorism
Ronald fell in love with television as a child, but as a queer, black boy from a Latinx household, representation was deeply lacking. He watched as the media amplified toxic and misleading stereotypes of people of color—many of whom were cast as maids, terrorists, or drug dealers.
In this episode, we dig into colorism and how “whiteness” is often correlated with success and greater opportunity. We unpack how prejudice—or ‘pre-judgement’—occurs based on skin color, and discuss the tangible impact this has on the ability for people of color to secure safe housing, advance their careers, and experience fair and unbiased policing.
Featuring Ronald Hinton, actor, writer, and founder of Shared Soil Productions, ReNika Moore, Racial Justice Program Director at the ACLU, and Dr. Mia White, Assistant Professor at the School of Public Engagement and Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment, at The New School, in conversation with Host, Hazami Barmada.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com
The Fight Against Food Insecurity
Kimi Ceridon and her sister never went without food growing up, but living paycheck-to-paycheck meant her parents constantly worried about how to pay for meals. What they did eat was often low-cost and low-quality food.
This is what experts call ‘food insecurity,’ an issue that has grown substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic to affect over 750 million people worldwide. In this episode, we dig into why so many people are unable to secure sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, and the stigma faced by those who experience food insecurity today.
Featuring Kimi Ceridon, a Massachusetts-based writer, Maximo Torero, Chief Economist of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and Clancy Harrison, Founder of the Food Dignity Movement and host of The Food Dignity Podcast, in conversation with host, Hazami Barmada.
Understanding the Complex Causes of Addiction
Addiction was common in the McDaid family. So when Carol, the youngest in her upper middle class household began using, the disease quickly took root. Carol sipped her first drink at age 12, and by 16 was using IV drugs. It wasn’t until her drug use threatened her career that she decided to enter treatment.
One in every ten people in the U.S. experiences drug addiction, which is nearly the entire population of Texas. In this episode, we seek to understand the varied causes and consequences of drug abuse, and how new pharmaceuticals that came onto the market in the late-90s—prescription opioids—changed the landscape of addiction for an entire generation.
Featuring Carol McDaid, a D.C. lobbyist specializing in addiction and mental health policy, Diane Sevening, former President of the Association for Addiction Professionals and Assistant Professor at The University of South Dakota, and Marta Michelle Colon, Founder of BeGutsy, a national campaign that educates the Latinx community on the dangers of opioid use, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
Ending Child Marriage in the U.S.
Sherry Johnson grew-up in Tampa, Florida as a member of the Pentecostal church. She was only 11-years-old when her mother married her off to a man nearly twice her age. She had already been a victim of years of sexual violence, abuse that resulted in her first pregnancy at age nine.
As many as 12 million underage girls are forced to marry each year, meaning more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. In this episode, we explore the many causes of child marriage, including gender inequality, generational tradition, poverty, and war. We expose the global nature of this issue and how the U.S.—a country without any federal laws prohibiting child marriage—continues to contribute to these statistics.
Featuring Sherry Johnson, Founder of the Svon Foundation, Princess Mabel van Oranje, Founder and Global Champion at Girls Not Brides, and Tannistha Datta, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com
The Danger in Being Undocumented
Juan Escalante’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Venezuela when he was a child. It wasn’t until he applied to college that he learned his family had overstayed their visa.
Every year, visa overstays outnumber those who enter the U.S. illegally. These same undocumented immigrants pay $11 billion in U.S. taxes annually. Nearly 3 in 4 are considered essential workers. In this episode, we reveal the barriers undocumented immigrants face when they attempt to work within the U.S. immigration system. We look into a system ripe with malpractice and burdensome bureaucracy—which can result in a single application taking up to 40 years to process.
Featuring policy and advocacy insights from Juan Escalante, an immigration rights advocate, Angeline Chen, Senior Attorney at Clark Hill, and Rosa Velazquez, Lead Immigration Rights Advocate for Arkansas United, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com
How We Fail Rape Survivors
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses sexual violence. Stephanie Mosley experienced sexual violence perpetrated by a schoolmate in college, then a football player at her alma mater, the University of Alabama. In spite of being blamed and called a liar, Stephanie ultimately decided to press charges — but her case was never prosecuted.
It is estimated that out of 1000 rapes, only 310 victims report the incident. Of these, only 25 are prosecuted. In this episode, we tackle weak enforcement mechanisms that fail to hold sexual violence perpetrators accountable, how victims are silenced from reporting their case, and why survivors like Stephanie don’t get the justice they deserve.
Featuring policy and advocacy insights from: Stephanie Mosley, Rape Survivor and Creator of The Antidote Conference, Jacqui Hunt, Global Lead, End Sexual Violence Campaign, at Equality Now, and Jane Manning, Director at Women’s Equal Justice Project, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com.
Taking Down Revenge Porn
As a teen, Leah Juliett sent nude photos to a boy who spent years requesting them. When the boy learned that Leah was gay and paying attention to other people, Leah became one of the millions of victims of revenge porn — more accurately known as nonconsensual pornography (NCP).
In this episode, Hazami Barmada explores where NCP is criminalized, the lack of regulation that prevents victims from getting justice, and what (little) recourse victims have in getting their life and dignity back.
Featuring policy and advocacy insights from: Leah Juliett, Founder and Executive Director of March Against Revenge Porn; Elisa D’Amico, Chief Legal Officer of A4D and Co-Founder of Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project; and Dr. Kristen Zaleski, Clinical Director at the Mental Health Collective and Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California.
Don’t Hate, When We Menstruate
Yanique Brandford had to skip school and go to the nearest shopping mart to buy herself period products. The price tag was $15, and she only had $8 in her bank account. Born from a single parent household where money was tight, Yanique’s mom had to make sanitary pads out of cardboard, plastic or newspaper. In this episode, Hazami Barmada tackles the “pink tax” and breaks down misconceptions around period poverty — a stigmatizing experience that happens even in the richest countries. We also examine paths towards safe and affordable menstrual products and why education is key in achieving period equity.
Featuring policy and advocacy insights from: Yanique Brandford, Founder of Help A Girl Out, Laura Strausfeld, Attorney and Co-Founder of Period Equity, and Jennifer Gaines, Program Director at Alliance for Period Supplies, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder of the Humanity Lab Foundation.
The Irony of Mass Incarceration
Shon Hopwood is a serial robber who spent 11 years in federal prison. But when he walked out of prison in 2008, Shon couldn’t have predicted an incredulous twist: earning the title ‘Professor’ at Georgetown University while raising his young family.
While the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, there is little evidence to show that with more people in the prison system, crime rates are significantly reduced or that public safety is ensured. In this episode, we discuss the irony of the American criminal justice system. On the podcast, we explore if prisons are aimed to rehabilitate, the vicious cycle created by the prison industrial complex, and how one former inmate remarkably started his legal career within the four walls of prison.
Featuring policy and advocacy insights from: Professor Shon Hopwood, Former Inmate and Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University; Dr. Annahita Mahdavi West, Activist and Associate Professor at Long Beach City College; and Dr. Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Senior Research Analyst at The Sentencing Project. In conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder of the Humanity Lab Foundation.
