The podcast chronicles the stories of people living in rural Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey and North Carolina
September 15, 2020 (Chicago, IL) – George Goehl of People’s Action today launched a six-part podcast, To See Each Other, to help illuminate the lived experiences of people living in rural and small-town America. To See Each Other explores how people are truly reshaping small town America and why writing it off as “Trump country” hurts us all. During the episodes, listeners will be afforded an intimate look into the lives of rural people and communities left out of our politics.
After four years of seeing their communities written off as ”Trump country” and havens for conservative white racists, people from Iowa to North Carolina to New Jersey are speaking out on their fights to protect their water, rescue struggling family farms, combat racism and white supremacy, survive a crippling opioid crisis and crushing debt, reverse the effects of climate change, and save small-town America.
“Over the past four years, America has become more divided than ever. We’re living in a country where people are angry, fearful, and are resorting to finger pointing and blame. COVID-19 has also ravaged rural communities that were hurting long before the pandemic. I grew up in a small-town–Medora, Indiana–where we actually recorded the last episode, so this is personal for me. I am honored to help share these stories, one being my own, in the hope that people can truly understand and see each other,” Director of People’s Action George Goehl said.
In his new podcast, George introduces listeners to a fourth-generation pig farmer in Rhodes, Iowa, a Hurricane-Sandy-survivor-turned-climate-activist in rural New Jersey, and a Black woman quite literally from the wrong side of the tracks, campaigning to co-govern with her community in North Carolina. While also sharing some of the most difficult details from his own life and struggles in rural America, George helps us see how people are reaching across race and socioeconomic lines to organize their communities and fight for a multiracial democracy that works for all of us
Episode Overviews:
- Episode 1: George sets the scene and goes into detail about why the podcast is important in this moment.
- Episode 2: In Michigan, we learn what happens when we listen, truly listen, when we meet people where they are, when we honor each others’ lived experiences, and repair divides both political and personal.
- Episode 3: In rural Iowa, George brings us to the frontlines of an intergenerational, intersectional fight for the right to clean water and a return to a stewardship of the earth, while local farmers push against corporate greed and environmental contamination.
- Episode 4: In a small town in New Jersey, we’re introduced to a community that refuses to let itself be washed away from rising seas and continued climate disasters who will do whatever it can to raise up survivors of Hurricane Sandy and fight climate change even as people tell them it’s an impossible effort.
- Episode 5: In North Carolina, we see friendships being forged in the face of centuries of racism, anti-racist organizing happening at the corner of Plantation and Corporation avenues and meet a historical political candidate, a Black woman quite literally from the wrong side of the tracks, campaigning to co-govern with her community.
- Episode 6: In Southern Indiana, we meet a doctor, a mother, and a recovering addict doing their best to mobilize their community, eradicate their shame, and speak and work with compassion to help their neighbors.
To See Each Other, now available on all major streaming platforms, is hosted by George Goehl, and produced by People’s Action and the MashUp Americans.
To See Each Other is funded by the Pop Culture Collaborative’s Becoming America Fund, which supports pop culture projects that immerse millions of Americans in the galvanizing story of the pluralist nation we are becoming.
George Goehl is the Director of People’s Action. People’s Action and the People’s Action Institute are one of the largest multiracial, people’s organizations in the country with 36 member organizations in 28 states, representing over a million grassroots leaders in communities and online. From family farms to big cities, from coast to coast, they fight for community over greed, justice over racism, and people and planet over big corporations.
All episodes of the podcast may be found here.
For requests to speak with George or others highlighted throughout the episodes, please contact PeoplesAction@ellecomm.com.
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About People’s Action:
People’s Action is a national network of 36 state and local grassroots, power-building organizations united in fighting for justice. We operate the largest progressive rural organizing project in the country. The Nation called our Iowa presidential forum the “most in-depth, people-powered forum” of the 2020 cycle.
About The Mash-Up Americans:
The Mash-Up Americans is a Creative Studio focused on re-centering stories on voices you don’t usually hear. The Mash-Up Americans has developed chart topping podcasts with Reese Witherspoon/Hello Sunshine, Rainn Wilson/SoulPancake, and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, among others.
Production Team
To See Each Other is executive produced by Rebecca Lehrer and Amy S. Choi of . The senior producer is Sara Peligrini. The development producer is Melissa Lo, and the production manager is Shelby Sandlin. To See Each Other is sound-designed by Pedro Rafael Rosado with original music by the Tang Brothers.