Change Agents

Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

Change Agents: Conversations with Human Rights Activists

Steve Wessler’s guests are Jesse Graham, co-Executive Director of the Maine People’s Alliance and Ben Chin, the Deputy Director

They discussed the current and future work of the Maine People’s Alliance. We also asked when and why they decided to work on human rights and social justice work. We also discussed the following issues:
-Jesse Graham discussed the 20 years of advocacy to reduce mercury in the Penobscot River
-Ben Chin discussed the campaign to continue same day voting
-Both Jesse and Ben discussed possible advocacy efforts in the future.

Jesse Graham is co-director of Maine People’s Alliance & Maine People’s Resource Center. He has been with the organizations for more than 20 years. Under Jesse’s leadership MPA has more than tripled in membership. With over 32,000 members reaching one of every 17 households across the state and involving more than 9000 volunteers in a variety of campaigns each year. Through door-to-door canvassing, community organizing and strategic communications MPA is building the power for shifting worldview and concreate policy wins. Jesse is proud of corporate polluters accountable for mercury pollution in the Penobscot River and organizational victories to expand Clean Elections, raise the minimum wage, pass Medicaid expansion and win earned paid sick days.

Ben Chin is the Deputy Director of Maine People’s Alliance, where he has worked for grassroots social change since 2005. He helped build the teams that won minimum wage increases, expanded Medicaid, and guaranteed workers paid sick days. As a community organizer, he focused on immigrant rights. As a political director, he lobbied on many issues, especially those related to taxes and the state budget, and helped elect dozens of candidates to office. He published Maine’s first racial justice policy guide, and a white paper outlining a plan for universal childcare, home care, and paid family and medical leave. He co-hosts the Beacon Podcast, and received the Frederick Douglass 200 award for his contributions to racial justice by the Guardian and Ibram Kendi’s Anti-racist Research and Policy Center.

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

-Discussion about micro-aggressions
-Has the murder of George Floyd changed the views of college students?
-Does bias impact the level stress for Black people?

Guests:
Marcus Bruce, Professor at Bates College
Roy Partridge, Senior advisor to the President of Bowdoin College

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

Conversations with Human Right Activists: Discussion of Kristalalnacht, the book “The Night of Broken Glass” & anti-Semitism in USA schools including Maine schools

CONTENT WARNING: During our interview we read experts from the book The Nights of Broken Glass. The book contains many first person accounts of Kristtalnacht. The readings are deeply disturbing.

In the second part of the interview we discussed the disturbing level of anti-Jewish comments and so-called jokes about Jews in middle and high school. Many of the jokes are about the Holocaust. We ended the interview by discussing how to reduce the incidence of degrading comments and jokes about Jews and also about people of color, girls and women, LGBTQ people, Muslims and immigrants….

Guests:

Amy Sneirson has been the Maine Human Rights Commission’s Executive Director since late 2011. Prior to that, Amy practiced law with a focus on employment, education, and civil rights issues in private firm, nonprofit agency, and state attorney general settings in both Maine and Missouri. Originally from Massachusetts, Amy received her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester in New York and her law degree from the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mike Levey, a retired lawyer from Winthrop ME. In 1976, Michael J. Levey began private practice in Winthrop, Maine, as a primary care general practice lawyer, , principally under the name of Levey and Wagley, PA (now Levey, Wagley, Putman and Eccher, PA).. In mid-2019, after 43 years in that practice, he transitioned into full retirement.
He served on Maine’s Family Law Advisory Commission for nine years, having been appointed to the Commission by Chief Justices Daniel Wathen and Leigh Saufley of the Supreme Court of Maine. He also served on Maine’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Abuse for three years, having been appointed to the Commission by Governor Angus King.
In 2006, he was awarded the MSBA Family Law Section’s Outstanding Achievement Award and the Maine Judicial Department’s Advocate for Justice Award. He was awarded the Volunteer Lawyers Project Director’s Award in 2017.

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

This December edition of Change Agents focuses on American Jews supporting the rights of Palestinians. Stefanie Fox is the director of Jewish Voice for Peace. JVP advocates for the rights of Palestinians. JVP supports the call of Palestinians to boycott, divestiture and sanctions against Israel. Rabbi Brant Rosen founded a non-Zionist synagogue in Chicago. He is a member of JVP. Both guests are anti-Zionist.

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

Program Topics: Kristallnact in light of narratives in the book “The Night of the Broken Glass” and anti-Semitism in US schools

-The book “The Night of the Broken Glass” causes many people to realize that the violence of Kristallnact was far more deadly.
-Anti-Jewish degrading language and so-called “jokes” are used in US schools.
-The use of degrading language about Jews negatively impacts some Jewish students

Guests:
Catherine Share. She teaches a course on the Holocaust at Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland, Maine. Natalie and Julia are 8th grade students who are in Catherine Share’s class.

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

-Examining the conditions for farm workers in Maine
-Discussing the racial bias against farm workers imbedded in US laws
-Discussing the important pending legislation in Maine to provide farm workers with greater rights

Guests: Thom Harnett and Mike Guare are both lawyers from Maine who have and continue to work to provide farm workers with the same rights that other American workers have. Thom is a state representative from Gardiner. Mike works for Pine Tree Legal Assistance.

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

Conversations with Human Rights Advocates: Examining issues affecting transgender people including (i) discrimination and violence and (2) the issues affecting Black and other transgender people of color

Guests: Jennifer Levi and Tre-Andre Valentine

Jennifer is the director of GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project and a nationally recognized expert on transgender legal issues. Levi led the legal fight against President Trump’s transgender military ban in both Doe v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump. Levi has also been a leader in working on harm reduction for incarcerated transgender people. She is a law professor at Western New England University, co-editor of Transgender Family Law: A Guide to Effective Advocacy (2012), and serves on the Legal Committee of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and a former law clerk to the Honorable Judge Michael Boudin at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Tre-Andre is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Politcal Coalition. They is is a queer, transgender indigenous Carib Indian, South Asian and Black immigrant from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. They have over 10 years of experience in supporting LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence, grassroots organizing, community engagement, fundraising, training facilitation, educational programming and development (specializing in anti-oppression and LGBTQ+ inclusion).

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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Producer/Host: Steve Wessler

My guests were Joel Furrow the Executive Director of the Root Cellar in Portland and Lewiston Maine and Darragh Graham who directs the programming for youth in the St. Columbs House in Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Discussion of the difficult issues that face the youth from both communities. The Root Cellar in Lewiston serves mostly Somali youth and some Africans from other countries. The St. Columbs Park House works primarily with Protestant and Catholic youth.
Both guests discussed the role of religion in their work. This discussion focused on their own religious beliefs and how that informed their work. While they come from different religious traditions they found significant commonality about how religion informs their work.
Both guests discussed the emotional difficulty of their work for staff and for themselves and how to cope with the difficult issues affecting the youth they work with youth.

About the host:
Steve Wessler will soon will be starting his 28th year of working on human right issues. He founded the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Attorney’s Office in 1992 and led the Unit for 7 years. In 1999 he left the formal practice of law and founded the Center for the Prevention of Hate. The Center worked in Maine and across the USA. He and his colleagues worked to reduce bias and harassment in schools, in communities, in health care organization through workshops and conflict resolution. The Center closed in 2011 and Steve began a consulting on human rights issues. For the next 5 years much of his work was in Europe, developing and implementing training curricular for police, working in communities to reduce the risk of hate crimes, conflict resolution between police and youth. He has worked in over 20 countries. In late 2016 he began to work more in Maine, with a focus on reducing anti-immigrant bias. He continues to work in schools to reduce bias and harassment. Wessler teaches courses on human rights issues at the College of the Atlantic, the University of Maine at Augusta and at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in northern Virginia.

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