Revisiting Jovan Jackson - "Dreaming of the Day I Wake Up" (from the American Dreams Podcast)

Revisiting Jovan Jackson - "Dreaming of the Day I Wake Up" (from the American Dreams Podcast)

This revisiting episode of American Dreams: Reproductive Justice continues examining how the carceral system affects families and communities through the story of Jovan Jackson, a 32-year-old Las Vegas entrepreneur and community advocate who became a convicted felon after methamphetamine use, mental health crisis, and a robbery tied to suicidal desperation. His parents describe his compassionate childhood, the family trauma after his brother Matthew was killed, and the lack of long-term adult treatment options in Nevada. Jovan says incarceration helped him sober, receive medication, and find purpose in a Nevada firefighting work camp, while criticizing prison labor pay as slavery under constitutional exception clauses; Nevada Assemblyman Howard Watts III discusses a ballot amendment to remove that language. The episode also covers barriers to employment after release, the importance of family support, AB431 restoring voting rights in Nevada, and Jovan’s decision to register to vote, run for office, and campaign on housing, criminal justice reform, and free mental health services while recovering from testicular cancer.

Revisiting: Claytee White "Fight the Power" A Tribute To Dr. Ruby Duncan

In this replay episode, host Erika Washington talks with Claytee White, recently retired founding director of UNLV’s Oral History Research Center, about how the center was built through training and fundraising to preserve Las Vegas history and how the public can access UNLV’s library archives and digitized oral histories. They revisit Ruby Duncan’s life and impact following her recent death, including her leadership in the welfare rights movement, her lobbying for food stamps and WIC, and the multicultural organizing connected to national leader George Wiley and the March 6, 1971 “Storming Caesars Palace” march. White describes Operation Life’s long-running community work—opening the West Las Vegas library, creating clinics and employment programs, and establishing Ruby Duncan Manor—and they discuss sustaining momentum through voting, policy engagement, and continued activism as rights are rolled back. * (00:00) - SNC S3 Claytee White - Ruby Duncan Final * (01:50) - Introduction & Tribute to Ruby Duncan * (04:04) - Clay T. White & the Oral History Research Center * (04:50) - How UNLV Started Collecting Las Vegas History * (08:19) - Learning Las Vegas History & Meeting Ruby Duncan * (11:54) - The Oral History Project & Documenting the African American Community * (16:43) - Ruby Duncan's Work & Operation Life * (18:40) - The Welfare Rights Movement & Food Stamps in Nevada * (21:12) - Operation Life's Lasting Legacy * (34:00) - Storming Caesars Palace & the Multicultural Movement * (36:37) - Keeping the Momentum: Democracy & Civic Engagement * (45:34) - Ruby Duncan's Legacy * (52:08) - Accessing UNLV's Oral History Archives * (54:31) - The American Dream & Closing Tribute

Revisiting Alicia Contreras Alas - "Taking the Time We've Fought For"

Host Erica Washington welcomes Alicia Contreras, founding executive director of RAIZ Arizona (an interfaith organizing community working for an Arizona where all people belong and live with abundance and dignity), to discuss sustaining leadership and organizing in the current political moment. Alicia reflects on taking a three-week WinCall residency respite in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula to rest, regulate her nervous system, and confront workaholism and imposter syndrome, noting many leaders only stop when illness forces it. They discuss Arizona’s climate of fear around ICE raids, rapid-response readiness, heightened risks for Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, and why organizing may need to look different amid funding and safety concerns. The conversation explores relationship-based interfaith organizing, confronting weaponized Christianity, defining democracy, mutual aid and neighbor-to-neighbor organizing, Pope Francis’ death and its implications, and Alicia’s vision of an American Dream grounded in safety, care, rest, and dignity

Dawn Blagrove - "This Woman's Work"

Host Erika Washington welcomes back Dawn Blaigrove, executive director of Emancipate NC, to process the Supreme Court decision weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and what it means for Black political power. They argue that chasing temporary wins and constant crisis response has prevented long-term strategy, succession planning, and “inoculation” against policymakers’ whims. Dawn urges building bottom-up power by taking over local governments, school boards, and municipal systems, creating cooperative, self-sustaining community pillars (education, safety, health, food, shelter, security) that can function with, without, and against government. They discuss collective economic responsibility, urging Black people with means to materially support others to create breathing room for long-term decisions, reject leader-centered celebrity politics, fund Black-led organizing, and still vote while holding elected officials accountable and pushing reforms, including Supreme Court reform. * (00:00) - Introduction * (01:54) - How We Keep Ending Up Back Here * (03:04) - Building Local Power & Inoculating from Policymakers * (06:00) - Sovereign Spaces & Co-ops * (09:04) - Ruby Duncan, Welfare Rights & The Cycle of Fighting * (11:27) - Long-Term Planning vs. Survival Mode * (18:20) - Economic Solidarity: Each One Help Three * (24:25) - Funding Our Own Liberation * (42:11) - Vested Interests in Black Pain * (53:46) - The Voting Rights Act & Supreme Court Decision * (01:00:26) - What This Means for the 2026 Midterms * (01:07:22) - Voting Is a Process, Not Just an Act * (01:12:36) - Radical Imagination & Strategic Planning

Claytee White - "Fight the Power" A Tribute to Dr. Ruby Duncan

Host Erika Washington dedicates this special episode of Sticky Note Conversations to the late Dr. Ruby Duncan (1932–2026), her friend and mentor, recounting Duncan’s move from Louisiana to Las Vegas and her leadership as co-founder of Operation Life and president of the Clark County Welfare Rights Organization, including the 1971 protest that shut down Caesars Palace and her work to bring food stamps to Nevada. Erika interviews retired UNLV Oral History Research Center founding director Claytee D. White about why documenting Las Vegas history matters, how the center collected oral histories of the Black community, and Ruby’s multicultural coalition-building, lobbying, and community programs such as WIC offices, a West Las Vegas library, clinics, employment efforts, and Ruby Duncan Manor. They discuss ongoing threats to voting and civil rights, the need for sustained civic action, and Ruby’s legacy of education, equity, and systemic change. * (00:00) - SNC S3 Claytee White - Ruby Duncan Final * (01:50) - Introduction & Tribute to Ruby Duncan * (04:04) - Clay T. White & the Oral History Research Center * (04:50) - How UNLV Started Collecting Las Vegas History * (08:19) - Learning Las Vegas History & Meeting Ruby Duncan * (11:54) - The Oral History Project & Documenting the African American Community * (16:43) - Ruby Duncan's Work & Operation Life * (18:40) - The Welfare Rights Movement & Food Stamps in Nevada * (21:12) - Operation Life's Lasting Legacy * (34:00) - Storming Caesars Palace & the Multicultural Movement * (36:37) - Keeping the Momentum: Democracy & Civic Engagement * (45:34) - Ruby Duncan's Legacy * (52:08) - Accessing UNLV's Oral History Archives * (54:31) - The American Dream & Closing Tribute