News Headlines: January 17, 2019

Sojourner Truth Radio

Today on Sojourner Truth: We continue our coverage of the massive Los Angeles teachers strike, now in its fourth day. Previous days have seen massive rallies of tens of thousands of teachers and supporters and pickets at the 900 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools that are impacted. There are 30,000 teachers out on strike. Now, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the union representing the teachers, say they are going back to the bargaining table. Our guest is Arlene Inouye, chair of the UTLA bargaining team, a UTLA secretary and a speech and language specialist. Arlene has worked within the LAUSD system for over 25 years and has three generations of LAUSD students in her family. In recent days, we have seen a lot of coverage of the Women's March, which is coming up on its third anniversary this Saturday. You may remember the massive women's marches that have taken place since Donald Trump has been in office. The third annual Women's March is taking place in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington D.C. and other cities. This years march is not without controversy. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands are expected to hit the streets on Saturday, January 19. Our guests are Gina Belafonte with Women's March Los Angeles (who is organizing the program) and Emiliana Guereca, chair of the Women's March Foundation - Los Angeles. And for our weekly Earth Watch, we speak with Adam Carlesco about water issues in the United States. Adam is a staff attorney for climate and energy matters with Food & Water Watch, an international non-profit committed to protecting drinking water, promoting sustainable agriculture and ending global reliance upon fossil fuels through social activism and legal action. On Monday, January 14, the Food & Water Watch organization submitted a letter to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights bringing to light numerous troubling water issues in the United States. This comes as Washington is up for review for its federally-mandated compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, or ICCPR.