Ep. 34 - Movement Media ft. Damon Williams & Daniel Kisslinger of AirGo

BrownTown chops it up with Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger
of AirGo Podcast about all things independent media-making,
humanizing through subject-to-subject dialogue, and making
equitable space in Chicago’s creative communities and social
movements. Let’s get meta. Originally recorded April 22, 2019.


 


The two duos cover the impetus of both podcasts as well as some
emerging strategies and experiences of growth. AirGo elaborates
on their humble beginnings, physical/digital platforms they’ve
traversed, and their fake-to-real beef with the FCC while
BrownTown breaks down episode 8.3 and their working
relationships. The gang unpacks the power dynamics inherent in
our current media landscape (a reflection of existing systems of
oppression) including liberatory spaces, and how we can better
use our dialogue, our actions, and our skills to decolonize and
decentralize traditional power sources to better amplify visions
of a more just world. AirGo discusses the methods and theory
behind diving deeper into nuanced and complex ideas by finding
common ground with guests and collaborators using entry points
and accounting for power within public-facing conversations, our
cultural artifacts. BrownTown builds on this by pushing back on
the notion “illusions of littleness,” or falsely obscuring the
power media-makers possess in order to inauthentically give
others space while they are the ones crafting the messages. As
per usual, the gang talks #NoCopAcademy (See SoapBox's article
and Mariame Kaba’s open letter), Chicago corruption, and toxic
masculinity. With that, BrownTown and AirGo place vulnerability
in the center while challenging common myths about modern
journalism’s “objectivity."


As we constantly move within an ever-expanding digital ecosystem
while simultaneously coming into new consciousness, we must treat
media as the medium of which our audiences, our communities, and
most of all, ourselves, learn, grow, and reflect. As they say,
“do the work.”


 


GUESTS
Damon Williams is an organizer, writer, rapper, poet, comedian,
and educator from the south side of Chicago, and the Co-Host and
Co-Executive Producer of AirGo. He is the cofounder of the
#LetUsBreathe Collective, a grassroots alliance of artists,
journalists, and activists harnessing creative capital and
cultural production to deconstruct injustice in America and
worldwide. The Collective operates the Breathing Room, a
Black-led liberation space for arts, organizing, and healing on
Chicago's South Side. Follow Damon on Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook.


Daniel Kisslinger is a Chicago-based host and producer working in
the worlds of radio, live events, digital, and community
building, and the Co-host and Co-Executive Producer of AirGo. He
is also the Executive Producer of VS, a Poetry Foundation podcast
hosted by poets Danez Smith and Franny Choi, and is the Booking
Producer and Contributing Panelist for The Hoodoisie, a biweekly
block-optic news talk show hosted by Ricardo Gamboa. He is a
member of the #LetUsBreathe Collective. Daniel on Twitter,
Instagram, and Facebook.


AirGo is a weekly podcast and cultural media hub in Chicago,
showcasing the artists, rappers, poets, musicians, organizers,
and change-makers reshaping the culture of the city and country
for the more equitable and creative. Through long-form
conversations, AirGo puts Chicago's reimaginers in conversation,
documenting Chicago's radical renaissance and creating a living
archive of humanizing dialogue telling the stories of our
creative communities and social movements. AirGo is a
sponsored project of Allied Media Projects, a Detroit-based
organization that cultivates media for liberation. Follow AirGo
on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and listen to them on their
site, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
podcasts!


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CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Malcolm X’s
“Racist in Reverse” speech. Intro/outro music and audio
engineering by Genta Tamashiro.


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