Author, Screenwriter, Activist

Lawmakers from the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee are working together to improve health care for veterans. To discuss this new bill, we FEATURE Stacy Bannerman, the Director for The Sanctuary for Veterans and Families. Ms. Bannerman is the author of WHEN THE WAR CAME HOME: The Inside Story of Reservists and the Families They Leave Behind, and a charter board member of Military Families Speak Out, the first and largest organization of military families to actively protest a war that their loved ones are fighting. A previous member of the Spokane Human Rights Commission, she created and hosted Value Added: We’re Talking About What Really Matters, a talk radio program on KSBN AM 1230. Stacy has conducted over 400 multimedia interviews, including Hardball with Chris Matthews, BBC, Deborah Norville on MSNBC, the Lehrer News Hour, NBC Nightly News, Air America Radio, The Connection on PBS/NOW.

Author

As Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Fitr for the end of Ramadan, we FEATURE Assistant Professor of Religion, Jamillah Karim for her expertise in Islam and Muslims in the United States. She is currently completing a manuscript on relations between African American and immigrant Muslims and she investigates what it means to negotiate Islamic ideals of community against America’s race and class hierarchies. With her unique perspective, she has been featured on local cable television, Muslim Magazines, Academic Journals and Anthologies.

Board-Certified in Emergency Medicine; Attending Physician; Contributor

In Kolo Bengou, Guinea, 2 Americans among several village members are believed to carry the much feared Ebola virus. To discuss Africa-focused health issues, we FEATURE Mana Kasongo, M.D., M.S.. A board-certified emergency physician and nationally published writer, she co-founded the Black Star News, a weekly investigative newspaper in New York City, focusing on news that addresses critical issues that especially affect the African American community, including health topics. Media includes: WALB News 10, Fox News Affiliate, Newsweek Magazine, ABC News

Executive Director and Founder

The New York Times has now publicly endorsed the legalization of marijuana and to discuss drug policy reform, we are FEATURING Deborah Small. She has founded a new organization entitled Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs.With a passion for public interest work, she has worked tirelessly to promote reform of New York’s infamous Rockefeller Drug Laws and helped organize community support for ballot initiatives requiring treatment instead of incarceration for non-violent drug offenders. Ms. Small is a nationally recognized leader in the drug policy reform movement and has been a major catalyst in engaging communities of color and their leaders to address the negative impacts of the war on drugs in their communities. Media includes: NPR, WNYC, NY1, Times Union, and WBAI