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Pod for the Cause
by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights launched “Pod for the Cause” podcast to expand the conversation on critical civil and human rights challenges of our day: census, justice reform, policing, education, fighting hate & bias, judicial nominations, fair courts, voting rights, media & tech, economic security, immigration, and human rights. Through this expanded dialogue, we want to spur activism that drives change in our communities and country. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and leave a 5-star review.
Episodes
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S08 E04: Law and Disorder: Immigration, Policing, and Community Distrust
In this episode, we explore the harms of the Trump Administration’s “unleashing” of law enforcement and what that means for immigration enforcement and policing. As ICE raids and deportations increase, local police departments are being pressured to take on immigration enforcement duties. The…
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S08 E03: Counting Chaos: The Fight for a Complete Census and Dependable Data
April 1 was the commemoration of Census Day, but the numbers that shape our country are under attack. From erasing critical datasets on government websites to revoking the census practice of counting noncitizens, the Trump Administration’s actions threaten democracy and economic stability. These...
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S08 E02: The Ballot & The Book: Access to Voting and Education Upon Selma’s 60th
On the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we explore the deep connection between education and voting rights—two pillars of democracy that have long been intertwined. For decades, education determined one’s access to the polls, as literacy tests and other barriers were used to disenfranchise…
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S08 E01: Solidarity & Strategy: We the Majority Fighting Back
In this episode we will tackle how to respond to the new administration’s early attacks on civil rights. With a wave of executive actions already rolling back key protections—harming immigrants, undermining the federal workforce, and dismantling diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility—we...
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S07 E12: Building an America as Good as It’s Ideals: A Year in Review
When season seven started in January of 2024, we set out to explore the progress and challenges in building a more equitable society. Anchored by milestone anniversaries -- Brown v. Board of Education (70th), Freedom Summer (60th), and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (60th) -- we discussed judicial...
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S07 E11: We Are Still The Majority: A Post-Election Conversation
In this episode, we dive into the post-election political and policy landscape, analyzing how recent election outcomes will impact the future of civil rights in America. Our guest experts will discuss anticipated agendas from the White House and 119th Congress. They will unpack the major policy...
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S07 E10: Part 2 – Protecting the Right to Vote
In this episode, we sit down with Khalid Pitts, Executive Vice Preside of Campaigns and Programs at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, to discuss the "And Still I Vote" campaign. Just days out from presidential election, Pod for the Cause continues the conversation about...
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S07 E10: Protecting the Vote, Preserving Democracy
With the historic and high stakes 2024 presidential election upon us, Americans must be vigilant in protecting their right to vote. Modern day voter suppression takes on various forms. It can look like voter roll purges, which often disenfranchise people of color and other marginalized groups. It...
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S07 E09: Civil Rights Act at 60 and Project 2025
This episode commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, reflecting on its profound impact in dismantling legalized segregation, securing voting rights, and expanding protections against discrimination. It explores the victories it represented for marginalized communities…
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S07 E08: Freedom Summer at 60: The Fight for Voting Rights Continues
In this episode commemorating the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer, we delve into the pivotal 1964 campaign that aimed to register African American voters in Mississippi and the Deep South and challenge systemic racial barriers. We will explore the courageous efforts of activists, the profound...
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S07 E07: Music and the Movement
June has been designated a month of awareness for several civil rights causes and constituencies. From LGBTQ Pride and Stonewall to Caribbean American Heritage and Juneteenth, the month reminds us of our ongoing efforts to achieve an America as good as its ideals. And as June is also designated...
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S07 E06: Brown v. Board at 70: Still Separate, Still Unequal
In recognition of the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, this podcast episode delves into the sobering reality that, sixty years later, American schools remain starkly separate and profoundly unequal. Despite the Supreme Court's historic...
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S07 E05: Building a Diverse Judiciary
For our courts to work for all of us, our judges should reflect and represent the diversity of our society. Federal courts have been slow to include judges of color, women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and judges from varied legal backgrounds, including those with civil rights...
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S07 E04: The State of Black Lives
February is Black History Month and an opportunity to consider the state of the Movement for Black Lives. Last year, we observed the 10-year anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s death, which compelled three Black women to turn a Black Lives Matter hashtag into a social movement. And this year marks…
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S07 E03: Centering Civil Rights in Technology
Technology is an integral part of our everyday lives. Thanks to technological advances, there are increased connections and efficiencies around how we learn, work, and play. However, technology, like every other aspect of our society, can perpetuate harms and inequities if we are not intentional...
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S07 E02: Attacks on the Dream: Dr. King’s Legacy Today
As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in January, we are provided with an opportunity to discuss the state of Dr. King’s dream at this moment. Over the years, Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has been weaponized to push for a colorblind society; and this year will…
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S07 E01: Angelic Troublemakers: The Legacy of Bayard Rustin
Welcome back to Pod for the Cause Season 7! On today’s episode, our host, Kanya Bennett, managing director of government affairs at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, discusses the life and legacy of Bayard Rustin with President Clayola Brown, head of the A. Philip Randolph...
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S06 E12: 10 Years Since Shelby SCOTUS Decision: How Voting Rights Have Drastically Changed in a Decade
Join Kanya Bennett as she discusses the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder with Carolyn Shields, President of the Shelby County Branch of the NAACP, and Deuel Ross, Deputy Director of Litigation at NAACP Legal Defense Fund. This episode was recorded before...
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S06 E11: Honoring Juneteenth and the Need for Reparations for Black Americans
Join Kanya Bennett as she discusses Juneteenth and reparations with Jeff Robinson of The Who We are Project, Kavon Ward of Where is My Land, and Keenan Keller of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
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S06 E10: Attacks on Black Political Power
Join Kanya Bennett and cohost Jheanelle Wilkins, director of state and local government affairs at the Leadership Conference, as they discuss recent attacks on Black political power with District of Columbia Councilmember Robert White, Melissa Wasser of the ACLU-DC, Dr. Sekou Franklin of Middle...
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S06 E09: Banning Books, Queer People, and Black History Part 2
Join our host, Kanya Bennett, as she continues the conversation around book bans and curriculum censorship with Maggie Tokuda-Hall.
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S06 E09 Banning Books, Queer People, and Black History Part 1
Join our host, Kanya Bennett, as she discusses book bans and curriculum censorship with Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead and Khalil Gibran Muhammad.
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S06 E08: Talking Traffic Stops: The Urgent Need for Police Accountability and Transparency
Join our host, Kanya Bennett, as she discusses police violence and reform with Chelsea Glass and Josh Adams of DeCarcerate Memphis and Krissy Roth, Senior Policy Associate at The NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
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S06 E07: Until Justice Is Won: Civil Rights and Sports
Join our host, Kanya Bennett, as she discusses the role of sports in the civil rights movement with Domonique Foxworth — former NFL defensive back, senior writer for Andscape, and host of The Domonique Foxworth Show, an ESPN podcast.
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S06 E06: Combatting Online Misinformation and Disinformation
Our host, Kanya Bennett, is joined by Joe Miller, President and CEO of The Washington Center for Technology Policy Inclusion (WashingTECH), and Dave Toomey, Voting Rights and Technology Fellow at The Leadership Conference to discuss the dangers of disinformation on social media and how we can...
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S06 E05: Now What?: Post-Election Accountability
Our host, Kanya Bennett, is joined by Paige Fernandez, the National Organizing Manager at the Center for Popular Democracy, and Tanya Clay House, Executive Vice President of Campaigns and Advocacy at the Hip Hop Caucus to discuss what advocacy and accountability look like to keep advancing civil...
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S06 E04: Affirmative Action Means Opportunity for All
On today's episode of Pod For the Cause, our host, Kanya Bennett, is joined by Star Wingate-Bey, a 2016 graduate of the University of North Carolina and a student intervenor who helped defend UNC's admissions policy in the affirmative action case involving the universtiy and Genize Bonadies…
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S06 E03: Our Bodies are on the Ballot
On today’s episode of Pod for the Cause our host, Kanya Bennett discusses the intersectionality of abortion rights and voting and its impact on Black women with Marcela Howell, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Agenda.
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S06 E02: Why Our Courts Matter
On today’s episode of Pod for the Cause our host, Kanya Bennett will discuss the importance of our courts with Kadida Kenner, chief executive officer of the New Pennsylvania Project and co-chair of Why Courts Matter – Pennsylvania, and Kim Tignor, executive director for the Institute for...
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S06 E01: Vote to Save Democracy
Welcome back to Pod for the Cause Season 6! On today’s episode our new host, Kanya Bennett, managing director of government affairs at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund, will discuss voting and civic engagement with Cece Huddleston,...
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S05 E08: Vote For Justice
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Sakira Cook, Senior Director of the Justice Program at The Leadership Conference and the The Education Fund, and Reginald Belle, Campaigns and Programs Fellow at The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund to discuss how we can transform the...
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S05 E07: Local Organizing & the Legacy of Black-led Civil Rights Movements
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Arekia Bennett-Scott, executive director of Mississippi Votes, and Jordan Johnson, executive director of Georgia Shift, to discuss the legacy of Black-led civil rights organizing, the importance of youth in these movements, and how to evolve to meet the...
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S05 E06: Trans Rights are Civil Rights
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Diego Sanchez, Director of Advocacy, Policy & Partnerships at PFLAG and Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality to discuss the intersectionality of inequity and how it impacts the transgender community. They...
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S05 E05: Winning the Narrative
What is narrative and why should it matter to activists? Vanessa is joined by Ellen Buchman, President at The Opportunity Agenda, Dr. Jiggy Geronimo, a progressive research and messaging expert, and Tyler Lewis, Director of Messaging and Project Management at Third Sector to discuss how civil...
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S05 E04: What are our Civil Rights on the Internet?
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Sofia Ongele, Founder of ReDawn and Creative Advisor Intern at Kode with Klossy, and Laura Murphy, President of Laura Murphy & Associates, LLC and Author of The Rationale for and Key Elements of a Business Civil Rights Audit, to discuss the intersection of...
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S05 E03: Immigration and Race in America
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Lia Parada, Director of Legislative Advocacy at The Immigration Hub, and Abraham Paulos, Deputy Director at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, to discuss asylum, temporary protected status, and the state of immigration in the United States.
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S05 E02: The Biden Scorecard Episode
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Lena Zwarensteyn, Senior Director of the Fair Courts Campaign at The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund, and Patricia Richman, National Sentencing Resource Counsel at Federal Public and Community Defenders, to discuss the promises President Biden...
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S05 E01: The Intersections of Abortion Bans
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Aimee Arrambide, Executive Director at Avow Texas; Leila Abolfazli, Director for Federal Reproductive Rights at National Women’s Law Center; and Nancy Cardenas Pena, Texas Director of Policy and Advocacy at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive...
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Vision for Justice: Reimagining Public Safety
On the finale of the Vision for Justice miniseries, our guest host, Monifa Bandele, Movement for Black Lives Leadership Team, reimagines public safety with Thea Sebastian, Director of Policy, Civil Rights Corps, Alphonso David, President of Human Rights Campaign, and Eunisses Hernandez, Executive...
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Vision for Justice: Pretrial Justice
Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Congressman Ted. Lieu (D-Calif.) to discuss pretrial justice, its current framework, and the inequities that exist within it. Then, in a special Pod Squad segment, Sakira Cook, Senior Director, Justice Program, The Leadership Conference and The Education…
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Vision For Justice: The ’94 Crime Bill
On this second episode of our special series, Vision For Justice, our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.), to discuss the passing of the 1994 Crime Bill and its long-term implications on mass incarceration and Black and Brown communities. Then, in a special Pod…
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Vision For Justice: 50 Years of the War on Drugs
On this first episode of our special series, Vision For Justice, our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), to discuss the policies and ramifications of the War on Drugs. Then in a special Pod Squad segment, Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the...
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S04 E08: School in the Time of COVID
Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Sylvia Tanguma, president of the McAllen American Federation of Teachers and a teacher at James Bonham Elementary in McAllen, TX, to discuss how teachers heroically pivoted their curriculum and methods in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and what needs to…
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S04 E07: "Unmasking Reopening"
Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by mental health experts: Melvin Wilson (Senior Policy Advisor for Social Justice and Human Rights, at the National Association of Social Workers) and Sherod Haynes (MD/PhD Candidate at Emory University) to unpack mental health after over a…
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S04 E06: We Must Keep Fighting Barriers to the Ballot
Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by voting leaders: Bo Shuff (Executive Director at DC Vote), Lisa Cylar Barrett (Director of Policy at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.), and Kadeem Cooper (Policy Counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) to...
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S04 E05: SHE-cession
Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by Adrienne Lawrence (Attorney and Sr. Consultant at Jennifer Brown Consulting, Media and Legal Consultant at Bantam Impact, and the Author of Staying in the Game), Jess Morales Rocketto (Co-chair of Families Belong Together and Co-Founder at...
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S04 E04: #AVLExplains Local Elections
Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by amazing members of the All Voting is Local team: Peter Burress (Wisconsin Campaign Manager), Rosemary Avila (Arizona Campaign Manager), Ifeolu Claytor (Ohio Campaign Manager), and Ben Gardner (Michigan Campaign Manager) to break down voting…
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S04 E03: Black Justice is Our Justice
Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by Claudia Flores (Senior Campaign Manager at the Center for American Progress), Abraham Paulos (Deputy Director of Policy and Communications at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration), and Jill Yu (Managing Director and Cofounder at Act to...
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S04 E02: The First 100 Days of Biden-Harris
Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by Monica Simpson (Executive Director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective), Tina Tchen (President & CEO of TIME'S UP), and LaShawn Warren (Executive Vice President for Government Affairs at The Leadership Conference) to...
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S04 E01: This Is America
On the season 4 premiere of Pod for the Cause, Wade Henderson, civil rights lawyer, human rights activist, and interim president of The Leadership Conference, and Nelini Stamp, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the Working Families Party, join host Vanessa Gonzalez to discuss where we've...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights launched “Pod for the Cause” podcast to expand the conversation on critical civil and human rights challenges of our day: census, justice reform, policing, education, fighting hate & bias, judicial nominations, fair courts, voting rights, media & tech, economic security, immigration, and human rights. Through this expanded dialogue, we want to spur activism that drives change in our communities and country. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the show on your favorite podcast app and leave a 5-star review.
HOSTED BY
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
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