Why are so many people hungry in the world's richest nation? In this episode, we unpack how food isn’t just something people eat. It’s a tool of power. From food deserts and ultraprocessed diets to collapsing health, we trace how modern food production is organized to maximize corporate profit while punishing the poor, the working class, and the oppressed.

We discuss how a handful of giant food conglomerates, like Cargill, quietly control the supply chains behind nearly everything you eat. These global monopolies use food as a weapon, flooding weaker countries with exports, destroying local farmers, and forcing nations into cycles of economic dependence where people go hungry at home.

We dive into the long history of food in colonization and racial inequality in the U.S. Drawing from the book Ruin Their Crops on the Ground by Andrea Freeman, we examine how deliberate starvation has been used by the American rulers, from indigenous land theft to the sugar plantations to SNAP benefits. This episode argues that food oppression and inequality are inherent to the capitalist production system.

In our last episode of 2025, we take a look at the American revolutionary John Brown, who believed slavery was a crime so violent and heinous that it could not be ended through patience, compromise, or moral appeals.

Brown’s commitment to Black liberation, which was rooted in faith and a keen understanding of American society, led him from “Bleeding Kansas” to the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, an act that helped ignite the Civil War (The Second American Revolution, 1861-1865). Brown knew his actions would cost him his life, and on the day of his execution, he wrote that the crimes of the U.S. would only be purged “with blood.”

Often dismissed as a madman or fanatic, Brown was in fact one of the few white abolitionists willing to fight to destroy slavery outright. Brown’s life, strategy, and sacrifice should be studied and honored by all those devoted to today’s freedom and resistance struggles. As Malcolm X later put it, “When you want to know good white folks in history where black people are concerned, go read the history of John Brown.”

We also touch on the radical abolitionist tradition, including the uncompromising and quirky Quaker, Benjamin Lay.

Listen to John Brown's Body, sung by Paul Robeson

In this episode, we speak with Eli Erlick, celebrated author, trans activist, and educator based out of New York City, who recently published the groundbreaking new book Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950.

In a time of moral panic when trans people are being turned into political scapegoats, with hundreds of new bills restricting their rights and visibility, Erlick’s book is a powerful reminder that trans people have always been here. Drawing on court files, newspapers, and other primary sources, Erlick uncovers the lives of trans kids, workers, activists, and athletes who lived long before words like “transgender” existed.

We talk with Eli about why reclaiming erased history matters now; why there is no such thing as the “first” trans person; how language shapes who is allowed to exist; early gender-affirming care and activism; Magnus Hirschfeld’s legacy; and how trans athletes, youth, and public life became today’s battleground in the culture war.

As Erlick writes, “History has always been a malleable tool used for political ends.” This episode is about restoring the past that reactionaries are trying to erase, and using history as a tool for truth, understanding, and future liberation.

You can learn all about Eli, order her book, and check out her tour dates on her website elierlick.com.