Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco
Issue: Environmental and Social Justice
Program Topic: Standing Rock Day of Solidarity Actions, the Minimum Wage Referendum Passes in Maine and the Annual Solidarity Harvest Efforts
Key Discussion Points:
1) Tuesday marked a day of national action in solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux’s resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), which is slated to carry Bakken shale oil through sacred grounds and underneath the Missouri River, a drinking water source for millions.
2) Numerous rallies took place across Maine, including over 65 people in Ellsworth and over 200 in Bangor. Today we hear from three Penobscot women who spoke at the Bangor rally before people marched to the federal building. A number of Wabananki tribal members and other Mainers have been or currently are at Standing Rock. On December 2nd another delegation will travel our with supplies.
3) On this past election day, 4 states voted to pass a minimum wage increase. In Maine, voters passed Question 4, approving a $12 an hour minimum wag by 2020. We speak with labor organizer Jack McKay about this and the annual Solidarity Harvest, a Thanksgiving effort focusing on laid off workers in the area, while examining systemic changes needed to increase food security in the state.
Guests:
Dawn Neptune Adams, Penobcsot Nation, Sunlight Media Collective
June Sappiel, Penobscot Nation, Standing Rock Water Protector
Sherri Mitchell, Penobscot Nation, Indigenous Rights Attorney
Jack McKay, director of Food AND Medicine, president of Eastern Maine Labor Council