Women Revolutionaries to Inspire a New Generation

In our second episode celebrating Women’s History Month, co-hosts Dani Abdullah and Derek Ford bring one of the women revolutionaries they study and admire to the table, women who made significant contributions to the anti-imperialist struggle through united fronts, in the theoretical and practical terrains. They didn’t share their choices with each other, so what results is a spontaneous and authentic dialogue that is informative, relevant, and at times amusing. As Dani says, this episode of Naptown People’s Radio hopes to inspire a new struggle of women in America and across the world and heighten their consciousness of the need for a militant, unified campaign around the burning demands of the day. First, however, our Naptown Breakdown starts with the massive $4 billion data center approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission on March 18. Our hosts note how even a quick scan of media coverage on data centers in Indianapolis shows widespread opposition and zero support from the people. The Sabey Corporation’s petition to build a massive center in Decatur Township—a proposal that the Decatur Township Civic League rejected last month with a vote of 95 opposed and two in favor—passed narrowly with the support of Indy Economic Development Inc., an entity tied to the city government and chaired by Mayor Joe Hogsett. The only remaining procedural obstacle concerns the precise economic incentives Hogsett and his economic development gang will offer Sabey; what kind of obstacle the people will pose remains an open question. The escalating U.S. war on Iran hit home on March 12 when a service member from Indiana was killed during a refueling mission to support operations against Iran. Seth Koval of Mooresville is among the hundreds of U.S. service members killed and thousands wounded as the war enters its third week. To defend its sovereignty, in the first week Iran destroyed 150 missile launch platforms, 23 Patriot Air Defense Systems, 36 aircraft and helicopters, and almost 50 percent of the U.S.’s weapons stockpiles. At the time of recording, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) shot down a U.S. Air Force F-35 stealth fighter jet operating in Iranian airspace. Iran’s military also struck down over 100 drones since the latest attack began and the U.S. is set to deploy thousands more “boots on the ground” in an unpopular and illegal war that is directly against the interests of the people of the U.S. The contemporary moment in which the U.S. no longer maintains unipolar dominance over the world order is similar to the era in which our two featured revolutionaries organized. In the main segment, Derek leads a discussion about Naptown’s own Shirley Graham before Dani turns to one of Graham’s contemporaries, Trinidadian-born Claudia Jones. The two concentrate on Shirley Graham’s influence on her second husband, W.E.B. Du Bois (particularly her role in correcting his early support for Japanese colonialism in China and Korea) and position Graham as a mother who helped shepherd the next generation of New Afrikan/Black revolutionaries in the U.S. Shirley Graham and Claudia Jones were not only good friends but close comrades in the Communist Party. Across this part of the segment, Dani highlights Jones’ theoretical work, including her theory of “super-exploitation” of Black women workers, and its political implications. Dani and Derek show the key distinctions between Jones’ politics and contemporary “politics” of intersectionality before discussing her comradely political critiques of the CPUSA during its later years when it abandoned the struggle for Black liberation in the U.S. Throughout the segment, our co-hosts highlight how Graham and Jones can help inform today’s efforts to organize a revolutionary socialist and anti-imperialist movement. Finally, the Indy Liberation Store (which is part of and helps support the Indy Liberation Center) is honored to be among the 37 bookstores featured in the 2026 Indy Indie Book Crawl between March 18 – 22. Listen to the end to hear about this weekend’s extended Store hours and special programming at the Indianapolis Liberation Center. Events: Indy Liberation Store: Indie Indy Book Crawl Extended Hours Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Study Group I Patriarchy, War, and Homelessness: Indy Hope Packages Assembly Poetry as Protest Open Mic Night Liberation Forum: War is a Women’s Issue at Home and Abroad Summer ’26: Intern with the Indianapolis Liberation Center Show Notes: Support Naptown People’s Radio Support the Indianapolis Liberation Center Shop the Indy Liberation Store Indianapolis Liberation Center