Jamala Rogers, according to the website bearing her name, grew up in a working class neighborhood Kansas City, MO, coming "of political and cultural age during the tumultuous 60’s... She’s been organizing and raising hell ever since."
"Jamala currently resides in St. Louis, MO where she has devoted all of her adult life to creating a child-centered, family-oriented community–one that embraces, celebrates and protects human rights for all citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation or religion...
"Jamala is a featured columnist for the award-winning St. Louis American newspaper [this is her 25th year]... and is on the editorial boards of BlackCommentator.com and The Black Scholar. She has authored many articles for both local and national publications on issues that she is passionately involved in."
Rogers is married to legendary St Louis activist Percy Green and is one of the founders of the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS). OBS is celebrating its 38th anniversary on Saturday Jan 27, 2018.
Here's a glance at how the conversation went:Chapter 1. A 15 minute introduction crammed into 5. (0:00-5:00)
Chapter 2. Not asking for permission. Hank asks Jamala how she came to be a leader in the black community. (5:00-11:45)
Chapter 3. Malcom X or Dr. King? Garvey or DuBois? Green or Rogers? Getting to systemic change isn't an either/or proposition. (11:45-16:45)
Chapter 4. Bringing along people to help them learn about empowerment. Not everyone understands the reasoning behind protests, Rogers asks you to imagine the society we're trying to create. (16:45-26:00)
Chapter 5. The fight for local control of the St Louis City Police Dept. After a 30 year fight, this may be one of the brightest feathers in Rogers' cap. (26:15-31:00)
Chapter 6. Protest vs Activist vs Organizer. You should have seen Jamala glaring at Hank over her glasses when he described her as never having been loud. "I can get loud if I need to," she retorted. (31:00-43:00)
Chapter 7. Highs, lows, and legacies. The first black mayor in St Louis, Reggie Clemons, Frankie Freeman, and what lies ahead for Rogers. (43:00-51:00)
You can also catch guest host Hank Thompson on the air Sunday nights at 6pm on 88.7 WSIE.
Andy Heaslet engineered the show.
*Our thoughts and prayers are with you, DJ Wilson!*
