KPFA - Hard Knock Radio

Davey D speaks with filmmaker, journalist, and community leader Kevin Epps, known for documentaries like Straight Outta Hunters Point and his work with the SF Bay View. Davey reminds listeners that years ago Epps was involved in a fatal shooting inside his home that was widely understood as self defense. Then–DA George Gascón declined to bring charges in 2016, and many in the community believed the matter was settled. Attorney and longtime friend Julian Davis joins to explain how the case has resurfaced and why Epps is now on trial for murder nearly a decade later. Davis stresses Kevin’s long record of service, mentorship, and storytelling for Black San Francisco, framing him as someone who consciously chose community work over street life. He lays out how, despite the original self-defense finding and the application of California’s “castle doctrine,” the DA’s office later revived the case in 2019 without new evidence. Instead, Davis says, the prosecution leaned on controversial 3D forensic animations created by the same contractor who produced misleading visuals in the Laquan McDonald police shooting case. Those animations in Epps’s case have since been ruled inadmissible at trial, but they were still used to justify bringing charges. Davis argues this points to selective prosecution and a reluctance to accept that a Black man from Bayview-Hunters Point acted in legitimate self-defense. He also details the political shifts inside the DA’s office: the role of an aggressive ADA who pushed the case in Gascón’s final days, his firing under progressive DA Chesa Boudin, and the current law-and-order climate under DA Brooke Jenkins. Davis connects this to broader backlash against progressive prosecutors and a pattern of going hard on Black defendants while showing leniency to police. Inside the courtroom, Davis flags two major concerns: a judge with little criminal background who tends to favor the prosecution, and a key witness whose story has repeatedly changed over nine years, including her portrayal of the deceased as suddenly “calm and peaceful.” Despite troubling rulings and excluded evidence about the intruder’s violent past, Davis believes the core facts still clearly support self-defense. The segment closes with a call to action: pack the courtroom for closing arguments, sign statements and petitions at JusticeForKevinEpps.org, and pressure DA Jenkins to drop what Davis characterizes as a profound miscarriage of justice. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Reviving a Case, Erasing the Truth: The Case Against Kevin Epps appeared first on KPFA.

Host Davey D sits down with longtime organizer Minister King X and his attorney Eric Sapp to break down a federal lawsuit that exposes how California is criminalizing dissent and formerly incarcerated people under the label of “Black identity extremism.” The conversation centers on Penal Code 4571, a little-known statute that makes it a felony for anyone who has ever been in state prison to be on land adjacent to a jail or prison without permission from the warden or sheriff, even if they’re peacefully protesting on a public sidewalk. Minister King recounts how undercover agents grabbed him outside his Oakland office after he helped organize a peaceful demonstration to free elder Ruchell Cinque Magee. He was told he’d violated parole, only to later learn he was being targeted for protesting and organizing against the “prison slave industrial complex.” Eric explains that 4571 has been on the books since the 1940s, rarely used but always there as a tool to make examples out of people like King and chill activism by formerly incarcerated organizers. Their lawsuit argues the law violates the First Amendment and due process because it’s vague, overbroad, and weaponized to silence political speech. The discussion then widens out. Eric connects the “Black identity extremist” label to a long history of repression from the Red Scare and criminal syndicalism laws to COINTELPRO and today’s domestic extremism frameworks. He stresses that the legal standard is incitement, not vague notions of extremism, and that political advocacy — including calling for revolutionary change — is constitutionally protected. Minister King situates his work in that lineage of struggle, highlighting elders who spent decades in solitary because of their ideas, not their actions, and describing current efforts to build unity across race and class, end violence and hostilities, and fight a system that still functions as modern-day chattel slavery. As they reflect on the birthday of Chairman Fred Hampton, King frames this lawsuit as part of a broader push for shared humanity, community power, and resistance to fascism, urging people to show up, stay informed, and stand with those being labeled and targeted for loving their people out loud. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Silencing Activism Through a Hidden Felony Law: Penal Code 4571 appeared first on KPFA.

Host Davey D opens Hard Knock Radio by situating listeners in the aftermath of a horrific mass shooting in Stockton, where four young people were killed at a birthday party, and connects it to recent shootings in San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and across the Bay. He pushes back on simplistic narratives that blame “out-of-control gangs” or Hip Hop, and instead invites frontline workers from United Playaz — Rudy Corpuz, Jason Lacey, and Everett — to unpack the deeper mentality, systems, and trauma driving this violence. Rudy stresses that this crisis is not new, just closer to home and more visible. He notes that many shootings never make the news, even as gun violence remains the leading cause of death for young people in the US. From his vantage point, there is effective work happening: United Playaz and similar groups are saving seven out of ten kids they touch, often working directly with shooters and youth in Juvenile Hall. He explains that many teens pick up guns out of fear and a refusal to remain victims, a dynamic made worse by bullying, lack of guidance, and social media “banging” that turns online talk into deadly conflict. Rudy also links school, prison, and social media as profit-driven systems that normalize Black and Brown death. Jason builds on that by calling for a restorative justice mindset where society owns its role in creating these conditions. Growing up in Pomona, he says guns and gangs were a neighborhood “social norm,” and mass incarceration, militarized schools, and media demonization all pushed Black and Brown youth toward cages. After serving 25 years, he now uses his story to give young people real information about prison and alternatives to violence, emphasizing that it’s okay to care, to want better, and that everyone has a part to play in changing the culture. Everett, who once faced the death penalty at 19, talks about internalizing a belief system that taught him not to care, and later realizing it was rooted in trauma and miseducation. He argues that intervention has to start from birth, surrounding children with positive environments and countering the lure of the block when school offers no visible payoff. All three guests stress mental health, healing, affirmation, and “living amends” — giving back after harm — as crucial to breaking cycles of violence. They close by urging community members of all backgrounds to join the work, support efforts like the United Playaz gun buyback, and choose connection over punishment as the path forward. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post A Horrific Mass Shooting in Stockton, California appeared first on KPFA.

Host Davey D opens Hard Knock Radio by framing housing and policing as intertwined crises, then centers the conversation on Rahim Kurwa’s book Indefensible Spaces: Policing and the Struggle for Housing. Kurwa begins with the story of Michelle Ross, a Section 8 voucher holder who moved from Los Angeles to Palmdale in 2008. Once there, she faced relentless harassment. City inspectors and sheriff’s deputies repeatedly raided her home, her address was posted on an I Hate Section 8 Facebook page, neighbors graffitied her house, and someone threw a bottle of urine at her children. Kurwa explains that Ross was one of thousands of tenants in Antelope Valley who were policed in this way. To make sense of this, Kurwa lays out three threads. First, Antelope Valley functions as a “safety valve” for Los Angeles, absorbing defense industry jobs after World War II and later absorbing residents pushed out by rising housing costs. Second, shifts from public housing to vouchers pushed poor residents, especially Black families, into marginal suburban areas. Third, there is a long history of policing as a tool to maintain racial segregation and to regulate Black homes. Kurwa and Davey pull the lens back to the deeper history of the region. Kurwa describes an early museum that twisted Indigenous history to erase Native presence and justify a white suburban origin story. He then highlights Black histories in the Valley, including Charles Graves, a formerly enslaved man who struck gold, founded an integrated school, and became postmaster. They trace the creation of Sun Village as an all Black town, built because Black families were shut out of Palmdale and Lancaster, and discuss its rise, decline, and recent revitalization around institutions like Jackie Robinson Park. The conversation then returns to policing and housing policy. Kurwa connects historical “man in the house” rules and midnight welfare raids to contemporary voucher policing in Antelope Valley, where neighbors weaponize nuisance ordinances, Section 8 rules, and online platforms to surveil and evict tenants. He notes that local organizing and litigation led to a landmark Department of Justice case linking policing to Fair Housing Act violations, but enforcement has been weak and overpolicing continues. They close by tying this local story to national patterns. Kurwa warns that crime free housing laws, school policing, gang databases, and immigration enforcement normalize everyday people acting as enforcers, turning homes and neighborhoods into contested, heavily surveilled spaces rather than places of safety and belonging. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Rahim Kuwra Indefensible Spaces appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Hard Knock Radio – December 1, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Hard Knock Radio – November 28, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Hard Knock Radio – November 27, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Davey D continues his week long focus on Black men and mental health with writer, activist, and filmmaker Kevin Powell, framing the conversation around how Black men can become fully human in a society that constantly puts them in a box. Davey opens by noting Powell’s long record of speaking openly about therapy and healing long before it was common language in the culture. They begin with writing and technology. Kevin explains that he still drafts everything himself, using his phone like an old notebook, and only leans on tools like spell check and transcription. Both he and Davey stress that AI can be useful for research, but cannot replace the mental muscle you build by reading, writing, and doing deep primary work. They warn that algorithms can erase key parts of Black cultural history, using examples like Roberta Flack’s anti war song on Vietnam, or the absence of Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Sly Stone from mainstream lists of songwriter poets. From there, the conversation moves into manhood, pain, and representation. Kevin traces his journey from an angry young activist and Real World cast member numbing himself with alcohol, to a man in long term therapy who embraces yoga, nature, and emotional honesty. He links his transformation to reading Malcolm X, Black Panthers, radical Black women writers, and seeing how unresolved trauma, father absence, and rigid ideas of masculinity destroy lives, including artists like Tupac, Biggie, Nipsey, and D Angelo. Powell describes his film When We Free the World, built over six years with about seventy Black men from teens to elders. The film centers Black men talking frankly about depression, addiction, violence, body image, sexuality, and joy, insisting that Black males must talk to survive. Together, he and Davey close by offering practical tools for mental health: therapy, small trusted circles of brothers, clear boundaries, journaling as self reflection, movement, and protecting Black boy joy and Black male complexity in the face of an unhealthy celebrity culture and a toxic, narrow model of manhood. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Journalist Kevin Powell Discusses Mental Health appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Hard Knock Radio – November 25, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Hard Knock Radio – November 24, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

On a recent episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D sat down with Ryan Nicole”a Grammy-nominated musician, educator, playwright, and community advocate”whose work seamlessly blends art and activism. The wide-ranging conversation delved into Oaklands housing crisis, media narratives targeting Black and Brown cities, and her groundbreaking creative projects, including her new EP Yours Truly and the acclaimed musical Co-Founders. From Track Star to Cultural Advocate Davey D opened by highlighting Ryan Nicoles multi-faceted journey, from holding high school track records to starring in commercials and producing socially conscious films. One of her notable works, The Haven Project, was born during the pandemic to shed light on Oaklands housing crisis. The film emerged after a 2019 United Nations visit declared Oakland a public emergency due to its soaring unhoused population”then over 7,000 people. The Musical Co-Founders Ryan Nicoles hit play Co-Founders exemplifies her approach to cultural activism. Co-written with Beau Lewis and Adisha Adefala, the musical tells the story of Asada Thompson, a Black woman coder from West Oakland who battles gentrification and systemic barriers in Silicon Valley. The play explores themes of race, gender, and economic survival while paying homage to Oaklands spirit of resilience. Everywhere we performed, it sold out, Nicole said, hinting at efforts to bring the production to Oakland and San Francisco by 2026. Music with Depth Nicoles latest EP, Yours Truly, offers a deeply personal glimpse into her life. Recorded in just 30 days, the project reflects on mental health, loss, and self-discovery. The title track, she revealed, addresses depression and suicide awareness, inspired by personal losses during the pandemic. Before I tell people to march, I think you should know me, she said, underscoring the importance of vulnerability in her art. Cultural Collaboration and Future Projects Ryan Nicole is part of a vibrant creative ecosystem alongside names like Ryan Coogler, Boots Riley, and Cat Brooks. Together, theyre shaping Oaklands cultural renaissance. If you can get the hearts of the people, you can shift how they live, vote, and build, she said. With her work in the Grammy-nominated group Alphabet Rockers and her growing solo catalog, Ryan Nicole continues to blend music, activism, and storytelling. Later on we hear from Poor News Magazine and America’s War on disenfranchised communities. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Ryan Nicole on Art, Activism, and Oaklands Struggles and Poor News Magazine appeared first on KPFA.

The Hard Knock Radio conversation between host Davey D and longtime Los Angeles-based organizer Javier Gonzalez connects immigration raids, media monopolies, sports, and the rise of a new kind of techno powered control over everyday life. Gonzalez starts by updating listeners on the latest wave of ICE operations. He describes how federal agents show up masked and militarized under the banner of targeting cartels, but the real targets are everyday working people, including a pregnant mother chased in West Oakland. He notes that only a tiny fraction of those detained are accused of any crimes, comparing it to New Yorks stop and frisk where millions were harassed for almost no returns. In Los Angeles, he argues, much of the nonprofit and immigrant rights establishment has effectively waved the white flag. Groups that took federal money for English and citizenship classes have been quietly warned that if they interfere with raids, they could face racketeering or conspiracy charges. That pressure, and letters copied to donors, helped silence institutional voices and pushed resistance back to teachers, cafeteria workers, nurses, and local officials like Huntington Park mayor Arturo Flores, who once had a fake ICE agent arrested. From there, Gonzalez and Davey pivot to the Los Angeles Dodgers and owner Mark Walter. Gonzalez lays out Walters ties to private prison giant GEO Group and surveillance firm Palantir, then breaks down how the Dodgers cable deal helped create a monopoly with Spectrum. For years many fans could only watch their team by switching providers and paying a special sports fee, feeding what Javier calls a broader subscription hustle that reaches into internet, housing, software, and more. He frames this as techno feudalism built on privatizing what should be public goods like airwaves and basic connectivity. Throughout the conversation they challenge the illusion of influencer culture, where people chase small payouts while platforms and corporations extract real wealth and data. Gonzalez warns that celebrity endorsements, sports loyalty, and viral content often mask deeper political projects involving surveillance, gentrification, and mega events like the coming Olympics. He closes with a call to rebuild real organization across generations, move beyond hot takes, and recognize how power has been restructured while communities were distracted. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post The Latest Wave of I.C.E Operations appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio Summary: Davey D in conversation with Dave Zirin Davey D’s latest Hard Knock Radio conversation with sports writer Dave Zirin digs into how legalized gambling is reshaping sports from top to bottom and turning games into something that feels closer to pro wrestling than competition. The discussion starts with the recent wave of scandals, from former and current NBA figures like Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier to baseball players from the Cleveland Guardians accused of manipulating “prop bets,” all against a backdrop of 24–7 betting promotion on sports broadcasts. Zirin argues that sports media has basically become an arm of the gambling industry, with journalists acting like bookies and every game framed through the lens of point spreads and player props. He points to a growing youth gambling epidemic, overwhelmed addiction hotlines, and teenagers using their parents’ betting apps as signs that the harm is already here. What used to be small time locker room gambling among players now intersects with billion dollar app companies, creating constant “crimes of opportunity” where an athlete can influence a tiny play for quick money, while organized crime works the margins and looks for vulnerable stars to pressure or extort. The two trace the turning point back to 2014, when NBA commissioner Adam Silver publicly supported legalized sports betting and the leagues lined up behind a Supreme Court push to make it legal nationwide. The promise was that legalization would make cheating easier to detect and push out the mob. Zirin says the opposite happened. With Vegas now an official home for franchises and fantasy sports fully monetized, the money is too big, the temptation too easy, and the safeguards almost nonexistent. Davey D and Zirin also talk about how all this undercuts the wave of athlete activism seen between 2012 and 2020. When salaries and gambling-fueled profits explode, the cost of becoming the next Colin Kaepernick goes up, and resistance gets quieter. Zirin closes with a warning and a hard choice. Unless this “Wild West” gets reined in, fans may have to either walk away from organized sports or watch knowing they might not be seeing anything real, while parents are left trying to keep their kids off an addiction that is just a swipe away. Hard Knock Radio Summary: Davey D in conversation with Katie Gladstone On this edition of Hard Knock Radio, Davey D takes a deep look at the state of the economy and the widening gap between political narratives and the lived realities of working people. The guest is Katie Gladstone, Managing Director of Unrig Our Economy, an organization focused on exposing how policy choices made in Washington have driven up basic costs for families while shielding corporations and the ultra wealthy. Katie explains that Unrig Our Economy formed as Republicans pushed through a sweeping tax law filled with giveaways for billionaires and major corporations. She breaks down how that legislation slashed Medicaid, threatened food assistance, and set the stage for today’s affordability crisis. She also highlights how current GOP-led decisions—tariffs, refusal to extend ACA tax credits, and attacks on Medicaid and SNAP—are driving up costs for everyday people, even as those in power claim the economy is booming. Davey pushes the conversation further, pointing out that Democrats in solid blue states like California have also failed to address housing, homelessness, and skyrocketing living costs. He notes how media figures and wealthy politicians often misrepresent economic conditions because they are insulated from the day-to-day grind. Katie agrees that all elected officials must be held accountable, but emphasizes that with Republicans currently controlling all three branches of government, they are the ones positioned to provide immediate economic relief—and have instead chosen policies that make things worse. To help people push back against political gaslighting, Katie introduces...

On this edition of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D speaks with Chicago alderperson and grassroots organizer Jessie Fuentes about the Trump backed ICE operation that has turned parts of the city into a live test site for authoritarian policing. Fuentes begins by recounting how she was roughed up and handcuffed by ICE agents inside a hospital simply for asking whether they had a signed judicial warrant. She stresses that what is happening in Chicago is not normal immigration enforcement. In her view it is political punishment for a city that refused to bow to the Trump agenda, fueled by racism, anti Latino sentiment, and open contempt for immigrants. Fuentes describes masked ICE teams in unmarked cars, swapping license plates, sweeping people off the streets, and ignoring local rules that require visible badges. Many of these agents, she explains, are lightly vetted recruits and even bounty hunters lured by big bonuses and debt relief, not seasoned law enforcement. The result is unchecked violence, including killings and assaults that have put residents in the hospital. Davey presses hard on why Chicago police and city leaders have not arrested agents who violate local laws. Fuentes points to stonewalling from police leadership and the limits of consent decrees, even as she pushes ordinances to investigate any local officers who cooperate with ICE and to enforce Chicago’s status as a welcoming city. The conversation also exposes the human impact. ICE is not rounding up the dangerous figures featured in right wing propaganda. Instead they are seizing long time residents, street vendors, small business owners, and parents with traffic tickets, then warehousing them in Broadview, a small processing center now functioning as an overcrowded and filthy detention site. Fuentes and Davey close by calling out media productions that stage anti immigrant Black and brown voices to pit communities against one another. Fuentes highlights Chicago’s rapid response network and urges people everywhere to organize, document abuses, and refuse divide and conquer tactics that protect white nationalist power at the expense of Black and brown lives. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post In Conversation with Chicago Alderperson and Grassroots Organizer Jessie Fuentes about the Trump Backed I.C.E Operation appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Hard Knock Radio – November 17, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio conversation between host Davey D and Professor Nisrin Elamin. Host Davey D opens with a straight ask. What is really happening in Sudan, and how did we get here. Professor Elamin answers with a mini history lesson. Sudan gained independence in the 1950s with a colonial economy built for export and a political system tilted toward a northern and central elite. At independence, nearly all top administrative posts went to that elite while vast regions like Darfur and the South were shut out. Resistance rose early. Two brutal civil wars followed and ultimately South Sudan voted for independence in 2011. To understand today, Elamin traces the arc to Darfur in 2003. The regime armed Janjaweed militias to crush non Arab communities. Those militias were formalized as the Rapid Support Forces in 2013. The European Union later empowered the RSF to police migrants along the Libya corridor, baking them deeper into the state’s coercive machinery. She connects economic policy to political rupture. IMF backed subsidy cuts in 2017 sparked the 2019 revolution that toppled Omar al Bashir. A transitional military council then paired generals with civilian elites. The generals kept real power and oversaw a massacre at the Khartoum sit in. External deals followed, including normalization with Israel to unlock financing, while sanctions and Gulf investments reshaped who held leverage. War erupted on April 15, 2023 as the Army and the RSF split and fought for control. The RSF’s leaders profit from livestock and illicit gold routed through the UAE. The Army and allied Islamists control major sectors and draw support from regional states worried about the Red Sea and Nile politics. Elamin centers Sudanese grassroots power. Neighborhood resistance committees ran services before the war and pivoted to emergency kitchens, clinics, evacuations, and clandestine relief. She urges listeners to study Sudan, back on the ground mutual aid, join divestment efforts that cut profits from weapons and Sudanese gold, and support groups aiding Black migrants. The message is sober but rooted in agency and hope. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Sudan at War: A Crisis the World Ignores appeared first on KPFA.

On Hard Knock Radio, Davey D sat down with Samer Araabi of AROC to unpack the realities in Gaza after the so called ceasefire and the political currents swirling around it. Araabi said the ceasefire created a brief window of relief but did not end the crisis. He noted that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since the agreement and that promised aid is falling far short. The deal calls for about six hundred aid trucks a day, but current estimates hover near one hundred. He added that the aid entering Gaza often lacks the supplies needed to reverse acute malnutrition and excludes materials required to clear rubble or rebuild homes, signaling an intention to keep Gaza in a state of destruction. The conversation widened to the battle over narrative. Araabi argued the ceasefire also served to reset media attention and punish organizers, even as public opinion shifted toward Palestinian rights. He pointed to expanding efforts to criminalize speech and label anti Zionism as antisemitism, and to heavy handed policing of protest that often backfires by exposing overreach. As an example of the political turn, he cited a recent landslide win in New York where exit polls showed voters were moved by a pro Palestine stance. Davey D and Araabi connected this moment to domestic power. They discussed police exchanges, surveillance, and how US and Israeli interests align within a broader authoritarian and late stage capitalist framework. They also drew lines to Sudan and Congo, noting regional actors and resource networks that link these crises. On what people can do, Araabi offered two tracks. Support credible groups already working in Gaza, such as the Middle East Children’s Alliance. And change the political conditions at home by cutting off arms flows. Locally, he highlighted the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo campaign focused on stopping F 35 parts shipments through the airport, along with pushes at the Port Commission, Alameda County, and the Oakland City Council. He urged listeners to plug in through AROC’s events calendar and to make this issue decisive in the coming elections. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Israel Continues to Assault on Gaza and Brown Girl Pride Explores No Sabo appeared first on KPFA.

Here is what went down on Hard Knock Radio. Davey D opened by pressing into a fresh claim from Donald Trump that American troops should intervene in Nigeria to protect Christians. He linked it to earlier talk about South Africa and asked a basic question. What is really happening on the ground and who would benefit from U.S. muscle Lagos based journalist Sam Olukoya said the talk did not come out of nowhere. Members of Congress have floated genocide language for a while. Still, a direct military threat from a U.S. president jolted the country and has dominated conversations across Nigeria. Responses are mixed. Some fear Marines landing and firefights with Nigerian soldiers. Others think any action would be limited to strikes on groups linked to Al Qaeda or ISIS. Olukoya stressed that anxiety runs highest in the Muslim north where U.S. intentions are widely distrusted and where many read any American move as part of an American and Israeli alignment Two motives kept coming up. Religion and oil. Davey raised the export of U.S. evangelical politics to Africa and the long history of missions as cover for power. He also pointed to the obvious. Nigeria is an oil state with deep American business ties. Olukoya agreed both factors shape perceptions. He added an important corrective for U.S. audiences. Western media often highlight Christian victims while ignoring Muslim victims. Boko Haram and armed bandit groups have killed across communities. Christians and Muslims are both bleeding On politics, Olukoya sketched the system as similar to the U.S. with a Senate and House. He noted the current president is a Muslim married to a Christian pastor and has pitched that relationship as a symbol of unity. That fuels a common view inside Nigeria. If Washington were serious about helping it could share technology and arms rather than deploy troops. Direct intervention signals other motives The wider chessboard matters. France has lost ground in the Sahel. Russia and its contractors have moved in. China looms on the economic side. Some in the West see a strong Nigeria aligned with neighbors as a problem. Many Nigerians see instability as useful to outside powers and unity as the best defense On AFRICOM and U.S. outposts, suspicion runs deep. The Muslim north rejects any American military presence. Analysts in the south also warn about hidden agendas. Olukoya closed with a sober note. Security has worsened over the last fifteen years with more armed groups than he can count. Nigeria needs real support and real accountability. What it does not need is another proxy battlefield dressed up as salvation. Later Davey also speaks with fashion designer and creative Senay Alkubelan about creatives connecting to the continent of Africa. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Trump’s Threats of Military Intervention in Nigeria and Creatives Connecting to the Continent of Africa appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio opened with a sobering conversation about the death of 72 year old Brentwood resident Yolanda Ramirez after an encounter with police. Host Davey D spoke with KPFA’s Frank Sterling, civil rights attorney Melissa Nold, and family members Rich and Rudy. The family and their attorney allege that Ramirez suffered a head injury during a disputed detention and that crucial details were not shared with loved ones or hospital staff. Sterling set the scene from East Contra Costa County, noting a long history of policing concerns in Antioch, Pittsburg, and Brentwood. He called Ramirez’s death preventable and urged Brentwood City Council to review body camera video and conduct an independent inquiry rather than accept a police narrative at face value. Rich recounted the day of the incident. Ramirez went to help her brother with medical appointments after a dispute with her sister. Witnesses told the family a male officer forced Ramirez into a patrol car and her head struck the window. Rich said officers logged a resisting arrest code, yet never notified the family as Ramirez was transported to the hospital. She later underwent surgery for a brain bleed and died on October 3. Rudy, her husband of 54 years, described Ramirez as a loving caregiver and organ donor who devoted her days to grandchildren and church. Attorney Melissa Nold said the family heard nothing official for weeks. She cited photos of handcuff injuries, new witnesses who contradict claims that Ramirez fled, and the absence of prompt witness interviews by police or the district attorney. Nold has filed a claim and arranged a second autopsy with help from Colin Kaepernick’s foundation. Sterling called for public pressure at a special Brentwood City Council meeting, with a rally at 6 and public comment at the start of the 6:30 session, including a Zoom option. The family wants transparency, accountability, and the full truth about Yolanda Ramirez. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Yolanda Ramirez Murdered by Police in Brentwood appeared first on KPFA.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. The post Hard Knock Radio – November 10, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.