Karen Hunter Show

Scott Santens - UBI Advocate and Author of Let There Be Money

About the Book:What is money? How is it created? What's the point of taxes and how should they be implemented? Are federal deficits bad for the economy? Would abolishing poverty lead to higher inflation? Is inflation something to avoid? These are just some of the questions Scott Santens explores in order to answer the biggest question of all about the concept of universal basic income (UBI) and virtually all government spending in general: "How do we pay for it?" Utilizing modern monetary theory (MMT), Santens leads readers through a fascinating journey. He connects the economic dots in a way everyone can understand in order to clearly see the big picture that is humanity's relationship to money and what's truly possible with it if used to its maximum potential. With a shift from money-based thinking to resource-based thinking, Santens masterfully communicates the need for MMT to be embraced by policymakers, and the need for MMT advocates to embrace UBI and evidence-based policymaking. MMT's incorporation of UBI provides us the means to finally build an economy that works for everyone, built with a mindset of abundance on an unconditional foundation of human rights and opportunity for all.

Nijla Mu’min - Writer & Director

Nijla Mu'min is a writer and filmmaker from the East Bay Area. Her work is informed by poetry, photography, fiction, and dance. Named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine in 2017, she tells stories about Black girls and women who find themselves between worlds and identities. Her short films have screened at festivals across the country. Her filmmaking and screenwriting have been supported by the Sundance Institute, IFP, Film Independent, Women In Film LA, and the Princess Grace Foundation. In 2011, she worked as a Production Assistant on Ava DuVernay’s film, Middle of Nowhere. In 2014, she was selected for the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive, and she was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at the 2014 Urbanworld Film Festival, for her script Noor. Nijla attended the 2017 Sundance Institute Sound and Music Design Lab for Jinn. Her short film Dream was acquired by Issa Rae Productions for online streaming in 2017. Her debut feature film, Jinn, starring Zoe Renee, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Simone Missick, premiered at the 2018 South By Southwest Film Festival, where she won the Special Jury Recognition Award for Screenwriting. In 2018, she directed an episode of Ava DuVernay's critically-acclaimed series "Queen Sugar.” Jinn, a New York Times Critic’s pick, was released in November 2018 by Orion Classics, and is currently streaming on Amazon. In 2021, she directed an episode of “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” for Hulu. She is currently developing her second feature film, Mosswood Park. She is a 2013 graduate of CalArts MFA Film Directing and Creative Writing Programs, and a 2007 graduate of UC Berkeley, where studied in June Jordan’s Poetry for the People Program.

Konda Mason - Founder of Jubilee Justice, a collective that supports Black farmers

New rice mill--the first ever to be operated by a cohort of southern Black farmers -Five Acres and a Mill - 64 Parishes [https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/64parishes.org/five-acres-and-a-mill?fbclid=IwAR3AtfUchbVqWIoCaKOrnDfKl_ZRHYr3jFKm9XpcedhE31dvoB2uiQ7jZn0__;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!cTJV_oWF-aJY_z0z5gu3iRl3xxJbsrsUmPphmxELnZKAjzJl7P_bvt8V_8zcx4MICh-RJk1g3V_FNm1sULcvb-IxOiBzcsU$] https://www.wwno.org/coastal-desk/2023-06-07/as-the-u-s-invests-more-in-climate-smart-ag-these-louisiana-farmers-could-serve-as-a-model [https://www.wwno.org/coastal-desk/2023-06-07/as-the-u-s-invests-more-in-climate-smart-ag-these-louisiana-farmers-could-serve-as-a-model] Visit: jubileejustice.com / [https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/jubileejustice.com__;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!cTJV_oWF-aJY_z0z5gu3iRl3xxJbsrsUmPphmxELnZKAjzJl7P_bvt8V_8zcx4MICh-RJk1g3V_FNm1sULcvb-IxaoQmA2g$]@swamikondananda

Teja Smith - Activist; Founder & CEO of GetSocial

Teja Smith has spent the last decade combatting social justice and political awareness via social media by building campaigns that impact Black and Brown communities across the country. Her contributions to #SchoolsNotPrisons, #RockTheVote, and other organizations have helped shape the country we live in today. Teja enjoys tying in political topics to hip-hop culture and making the content relatable. She created Get Social as an outlet for women of color to make their voices heard. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband and son, attending festivals and vacationing across the world. About Get Social: Teja Smith (Teja Foster) founded Get Social in 2020 after recognizing the need for women of color to take control of the space for social justice. The agency's values and alignment heavily rely on the voices of people being heard. The agency was created as a safe space for women of color to continue their fight for people's rights and work in an environment where they are trusted, heard, and uplifted daily. Since then, Get Social's work with political organizations like Rock The Vote and She The People has placed both brands as the leading organizations facilitating a successful election in 2020. Our work with foundations and organizations across the country has had an impact on the ongoing pandemic, voting rights, climate justice, and criminal justice reform. We are a powerhouse, growing bigger and stronger as the months pass. Follow Teja on Twitter @tejaatej; Follow GetSocial Twitter: @getsocialwt Visit: getsocialwithteja.com [https://t.co/C2cIxjGv55]

CCH Pounder - Award-Winning Actress

CCH is an avid art collector. A new exhibit featuring pieces from CCH’s collectionDiaspora Stories: Selections from the CCH Pounder Collectionopened in Chicago on March 18 at The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center and runs through July 16, 2023. The exhibition which was curated especially for the DuSable Museum contains 24 works of art by worldrenowned artists including Kehinde Wiley, Patricia Renee Thomas, Reginald Jackson, Robert Pruitt, Greg Breda, Ebony G. Patterson, and Mickalene Thomas, among others. Each item was curated and personally selected in collaboration with the DuSable and Ms. Pounder from her extensive collection specifically for “Diaspora Stories: Selections from the CCH Pounder Collection.” Bio: Award winning actress CCH Pounder can currently be seen as “Mo’at” in James Cameron’s AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Pounder portrayed “Dr. Loretta Wade” on the CBS series, NCIS: NEW ORLEANS for seven seasons and other notable projects include the television shows THE GOOD FIGHT, WAREHOUSE 13, SONS OF ANARCHY, REVENGE, BROTHERS, LAW & ORDER: SVU and HBO's THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY, which garnered Pounder her fourth Emmy® nomination. For seven years, Pounder portrayed "Claudette Wyms" on the critically acclaimed FX series, THE SHIELD, which earned her many accolades including an Emmy® nomination, the MIB Prism Award," two Golden Satellite Awards and the “Genii Excellence in TV Award.” Other honors for Pounder include an Emmy® nomination for her role as Dr. Angela Hicks on the NBC series ER and an Emmy® nomination for her role in FOX's The X-FILES.  In addition, she received a Grammy® Award nomination for "Best Spoken Word Album" for GROW OLD ALONG WITH ME, THE BEST IS YET TO BE and won an AUDIE, the Audio Publishers Association's top honor, for WOMEN IN THE MATERIAL WORLD. Film credits include HOME AGAIN, RAIN, PRIZZI'S HONOR, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, ROBOCOP 3, SLIVER, TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON KNIGHT, FACE/OFF, END OF DAYS, MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, ORPHAN, AVATAR, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS and her breakout role in BAGDAD CAFÉ. A graduate of Ithaca College, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the school, was their 2010 Commencement Speaker and in 2021, she received Ithaca College Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  Pounder serves on the Board of the African Millennium Foundation and was a founding member of Artists for a New South Africa. An advocate of the arts, she is active in the Creative Coalition and recent accolades for Pounder include the Visionary Leadership Award in Performing Arts from the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD) in San Francisco, the 2015 Carney Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Chase Brexton Health Care in Baltimore, 2015 Honoree at the Grand Performances Gala in Los Angeles, the 2016 SweetArts Performing Arts honoree from the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, the National Urban League’s 2017 Women of Power Award and the 2018 Bob Marley Award from AFUWI (American Foundation for the University of the West Indies). In addition to her prolific acting career and advocacy, Pounder has been extensively involved with the arts as a patron, collector, gallery owner and museum founder. Originally from Georgetown, Guyana, Pounder’s collection consists of Caribbean and African artists and artists of the African Diaspora. Her collection is heavily concentrated in the area of Contemporary Art but also includes traditional African sculptures. In 1992, Pounder and her husband, the late Boubacar Koné, founded and built the Musée Boribana, the first privately owned contemporary museum in Dakar Senegal, which they gifted to that nation in 2014. Pounder’s personal collection contains over 500 works of art, many of which she has loaned to Xavier University of Louisiana for a series of exhibitions and some which were on exhibit at Somerset House in England, Kent State Museum, The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, MI and The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago.