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WPFW The purpose of WPFW is to provide outlets for the creative skills & energies of the community, to co
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Only the real OGs will appreciate this one! 👇The multi-talented genius Bill Taylor is critical in today's conversations,...
07/24/2025

Only the real OGs will appreciate this one! 👇

The multi-talented genius Bill Taylor is critical in today's conversations, in no small part because of his commitment to making sure people understood what jazz was and why it mattered.

He held a doctorate in music education and used his media presence (on platforms like NPR, CBS, and beyond) to educate the public about the profound cultural and political depth of Black music.

At a time when jazz was often dismissed or whitewashed, Taylor insisted on its dignity and revolutionary spirit.

In today’s media landscape, we find that the same conversations are necessary.

Billy Taylor’s legacy provides something of a template for how artists can shape culture, not only through performance, but through teaching, defending, and contextualizing Black creativity.

For example, Taylor’s “I Wish I Knew…” (the tune that's playing now), sung at protests and rallies as well as performance halls, is as much a song as it is a quiet form of collective prayer.

Today, the track resurfaces in documentaries, liberation playlists, and social media tributes 😉, reminding us that the struggle for freedom is ongoing, deeply spiritual, and carried through jazz music.

In a world starving for truthful storytelling and cultural literacy, Billy Taylor’s life reminds us that art without context is exploitation,

and that, conversely,

art with conscience can be revolutionary.

We're glad he was born.

Do you know of Billy Taylor’s work?
Text WPFWFM to 801801 to support a station that remembers the artists who've taught us how to be free.

Listen to AfricaNow! July 23, 1:00PM (U.S. Eastern) on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or at www.wp...
07/23/2025

Listen to AfricaNow! July 23, 1:00PM (U.S. Eastern) on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or at www.wpfwfm.org featuring--On Fanon with Kenya Organic Intellectuals Pt. 1.  As we commemorate Frantz Fanon's 100th birthday (July 20) AfricaNow! features a discussion on his influence on activists' worldwide works with Nicholas Mwangi a member of the Kenya Organic Intellectuals Network and is part of the Ukombozi Library.  The discussion explores the continuities in movements in Kenya–from the struggle against colonial rule to speaking truth to power in post-independence Kenya.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online: visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. You can also text to donate by simply texting WPFWFM (not case sensitive) to 801801 and then follow the instructions. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFWFM write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Wednesday, July 23, 11 am-12 pm, ETon We the People; WPFW 89.3FM, wpfwfm.orgLive streamed and archived:Preserving and Ma...
07/22/2025

Wednesday, July 23, 11 am-12 pm, ET
on We the People; WPFW 89.3FM, wpfwfm.org
Live streamed and archived:

Preserving and Maintaining Culture
We often use the terms "culture;" and sometimes even "culture wars". But what does "culture" really mean.

Why is it important to pay careful attention to this notion and to even take care of this aspect of life?

Guest: James Counts Early is the former Smithsonian Institution Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service.  His previous positions include: Director, Cultural Heritage Policy at The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Community Program Associate; Howard University Institute for Arts and Humanities; and Interim Director of the Anacostia Community Museum. Mr. Early also serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Heritage Studies; and on the boards of the U.S. Chapter Association of Critical Heritage Studies and the Institute for Policy Studies. He actively consults regarding issues of cultural democracy and concerns of the African Diaspora.

Please tune in & support WPFW, your jazz & justice radio station. You can now listen to the show's podcast on our website or various social media apps/platforms. 

There are at least three ways you can donate to WPFW:

Give online in support of this show and the station please use the following link: https://www.wpfwfm.org and clicking the big red 'Donate' button be sure to indicate We the People in your selection.

You can also text to donate by simply texting WPFWFM (not case sensitive) to 801801 and then follow the instructions. Or, you can use Cash App with $WPFWFM, type in this show's title (We the People). 

And please tell a friend about the show! Thanks.

WPFW 89.3FM - Pacifica Foundation radio - Washington, D.C., building a better world one broadcast at a time by serving the collective need and imagination of the community.

Building Bridges radio, WPFW 89.3 FM DC, Streaming @ wpfwfm.org, Mon, July 21, 2025 * 7 PM: Educators Union - No to ADL ...
07/20/2025

Building Bridges radio, WPFW 89.3 FM DC, Streaming @ wpfwfm.org, Mon, July 21, 2025 * 7 PM: Educators Union - No to ADL in School

Here's the thing about going to the moon...👇That little jaunt through the cosmos cost the United States approximately $2...
07/20/2025

Here's the thing about going to the moon...👇

That little jaunt through the cosmos cost the United States approximately $26 billion (not adjusted for inflation) between 1960 and 1973.

Think about how that money could've been spent toward the betterment of civil and human rights in the states, especially during a time when the demand, urgency, and need for such funding was at an all-time high.

Instead of funding universal healthcare, free public education for k-12--or even higher education--, instead of mass funding job and training programs to support disenfranchised industrial workers as their jobs were shipped over seas, etc.,

what the U.S. did was fund a pointless war for 20 years, while also expending resources to visit the moon.

The inimitable Gil Scott-Heron captured this contradiction perfectly in his 1970 spoken word piece “Whitey on the Moon,” where he exposed the absurdity of Black families struggling to pay rent while taxpayers funded the space race.

That's not to say that Black folks didn't see that potential in the moment and make the most of it.

In another realm, something extraordinary was also happening: Afrofuturism--

an imaginative cultural movement blending Black identity, science fiction, history, and speculative visions of freedom.

Transcendent artists like Sun Ra imagined alternate universes where Black people could escape earthly oppression.

In his far-out cosmic philosophy, space travel became a metaphor for liberation beyond the confines of white supremacy.

Today, while the moon landing remains a monumental moment in human history, Afrofuturism reminds us who was left behind in that triumph.

Black artists, thinkers, and organizers continue to expand Afrofuturist visions, from Janelle Monáe’s "Dirty Computer," to Ryan Coogler’s "Black Panther," to the political imaginations of activists dreaming new worlds beyond colonial capitalism.

In an age where systemic racism persists, climate catastrophe looms, technological power is increasingly centralized, and the threat of AI boggles comprehension for what lies over the horizon,

Afrofuturism continues to ask:

Who controls the future?

And who gets to imagine one?

Listen to AfricaNow! July 16, 1:00PM (U.S. Eastern) on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or at www.wp...
07/16/2025

Listen to AfricaNow! July 16, 1:00PM (U.S. Eastern) on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or at www.wpfwfm.org featuring--Afro-Colombians & The Petro Administration Three Years On.  Marino Córdoba Berrio, President of the National Association for Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES), reflects on the challenges, effectiveness and more of the three-year-old government headed by President Gustave Petro in Colombia, particularly as it pertains to dealing with issues affecting Afro-Colombians.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online: visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. You can also text to donate by simply texting WPFWFM (not case sensitive) to 801801 and then follow the instructions. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFWFM write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Wednesday, July 16, 11 am-12 pm, ETon We the People; WPFW 89.3FM, wpfwfm.orgLive streamed and archived:Hubert HarrisonFo...
07/15/2025

Wednesday, July 16, 11 am-12 pm, ET
on We the People; WPFW 89.3FM, wpfwfm.org
Live streamed and archived:

Hubert Harrison
Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism

Hubert Henry Harrison (1883–1927) was a journalist, activist, and educator who proposed radical solutions to radical injustices. Crushing poverty, white mob violence, imperial conquests and world wars were some of his concerns. Harrison was a leading figure in struggles for socialism, internationalism, free love, freethinking, and free speech. The “Harlem Renaissance” was his time; however, he has been erased from popular memory.

Guest: Dr. Brian Kwoba is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the African and African American Studies Program at the University of Memphis. His research centers on political thought and social movements among people of African descent in the United States and across the globe.

While completing his doctoral degree at the University of Oxford, he co-founded the Oxford Pan-Afrikan Forum (OXPAF) and the Rhodes Must Fall movement to decolonize education at Oxford. Over the past two decades, Dr. Kwoba has been an activist on issues including peace building, immigrant workers' rights, socialism, climate justice, Falastin, and the movement for Black lives.

Please tune in & support WPFW, your jazz & justice radio station. You can now listen to the show's podcast on our website or various social media apps/platforms. 

There are at least three ways you can donate to WPFW:

Give online in support of this show and the station please use the following link: https://www.wpfwfm.org and clicking the big red 'Donate' button be sure to indicate We the People in your selection.

You can also text to donate by simply texting WPFWFM (not case sensitive) to 801801 and then follow the instructions. Or, you can use Cash App with $WPFWFM, type in this show's title (We the People). 

And please tell a friend about the show! Thanks.

WPFW 89.3FM - Pacifica Foundation radio - Washington, D.C., building a better world one broadcast at a time by serving the collective need and imagination of the community.

ToHealDC 10am Mon July14: STANDING UP to Support Immigrant Communities in the DMV🌟a Salute to Arturo Griffiths, a hero f...
07/14/2025

ToHealDC 10am Mon July14: STANDING UP to Support Immigrant Communities in the DMV🌟a Salute to Arturo Griffiths, a hero for the people

Listen at 89.3 FM & wpfwfm.org.

Building Bridges radio, WPFW 89.3 FM DC & wpfwfm.org, Mon. July 14, 2025 * 7 PM: Immigrant Workers “Immigrant Workers Es...
07/13/2025

Building Bridges radio, WPFW 89.3 FM DC & wpfwfm.org, Mon. July 14, 2025 * 7 PM: Immigrant Workers “Immigrant Workers Essential, United, Unyielding.”

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