The LA Progressive team believes the media not only informs the public, but it can also spur public debate, shape public opinion, and shift the Overton Window. The LA Progressive embraces the idea of civic journalism and rejects the notion that objective reporting is even possible.
We Cover: california politics, california progressive politics, campaigns, city council, death penalty, elected officials, election season, elections, independent news, judges, la progressive, left leaning politics, liberal politics, los angeles, politics, progressive, progressive era politics, progressive politics
laprogressive.substack.com (https://laprogressive.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Why Fighting Racism Is Not the Same as Building a Multiracial Movement
When I sat down recently with longtime organizer Eric Mann, I expected us to talk about movement strategy. We did. But before we got very far, Mann raised something more basic: friendship.
“What’s the point of trying to change the whole country if we don’t like each other?” he asked.
It was vintage Eric—part political theory, part personal reflection, and a reminder that movements are ultimately made of human beings.
Mann has been organizing (https://laprogressive.com/election-and-campaigns/political-terms-used-in-the-united-states#Organizing) for more than six decades. His political history stretches from the Congress of Racial Equality and Students for a Democratic Society to years as an autoworker and organizer in the United Auto Workers. Today he is co-director of Los Angeles’ Labor/Community Strategy Center (https://thestrategycenter.org/), an organization that has spent decades joining grassroots organizing with political education and movement strategy.
But what has always interested me most about Eric is something else: he is a white man who has spent much of his political life trying to understand what it means to struggle for Black liberation.
That became the starting point for our conversation. To read this article in its entirety go to: LA Progressive (https://www.laprogressive.com/racism/building-a-multiracial-movement)
Get full access to LA Progressive at laprogressive.substack.com/subscribe (https://laprogressive.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
10 Sept 2026
Recalling the Torments of a Radical Truthteller - James Baldwin
In this conversation, Peter Laarman tells Dick and Sharon how he resisted reading the sprawling new biography of James Baldwin—Nicholas Bogg’s James Baldwin: A Love Story (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/books/review/james-baldwin-love-story-nicholas-boggs.html)—out of deep respect for this great writer. The reviews were all telling Peter that Boggs digs into the details of his subject’s sex life. This turned me off, says Peter, even though I am a gay man who has not been averse to slurping up the salaciousness in profiles of other gay icons. Peter went on to tell us the he resisted in this case, however, because he could not help recalling that Baldwin himself, who wrote beautifully and often about the challenges of intimacy and vulnerability, was forever reluctant to have his sexuality brought under the microscope. He thought it was vulgar. And to the end of his life, he also remained deeply conflicted about his attraction to men and sometimes boys, which is not at all surprising in view of his origin story and the straitened circumstances of his unlikely and difficult rise to recognition and respect. To read this story in full click here (https://www.laprogressive.com/racism/recalling-the-torments-of-a-radical-truthteller)
Get full access to LA Progressive at laprogressive.substack.com/subscribe (https://laprogressive.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
6 Sept 2026
Angelmarie Taylor Is Fighting Back Against Campus Repression
lder activists talk a lot about “passing the torch” to the next generation.
After spending time with AngelMarie Taylor, I’m beginning to think we may have the metaphor wrong.
Young people like Taylor aren’t standing around waiting for somebody to hand them a torch. They have already picked it up. The more urgent question is whether those of us who have been doing this work for decades are prepared to support them, listen to them and help clear obstacles out of their way.
Taylor is a Youth Vanguard (https://laprogressive.com/election-and-campaigns/political-terms-used-in-the-united-states#Vanguard) Organizer with Black Lives Matter (https://laprogressive.com/election-and-campaigns/political-terms-used-in-the-united-states#BlackLivesMatter) Grassroots, and when I recently interviewed her, I was struck by the contrast between her youth and the amount of organizing (https://laprogressive.com/election-and-campaigns/political-terms-used-in-the-united-states#Organizing) she has already packed into her life.
During her years at California State University Channel Islands, she was active with groups including Students for Quality Education, the Black Student Union, reproductive and gender-equity organizing, Students for Justice in Palestine and Students Against Fascism (https://laprogressive.com/election-and-campaigns/political-terms-used-in-the-united-states#Fascism).
But her activism started long before college.
It started when she was 10 years old.
Organizing Because Children Needed Lunch
Taylor told me that she and her siblings sometimes went to school without being able to afford lunch. Rather than accepting that as simply the way things were, she joined student government and began working to make food universally available at her school.
“I started as a student organizer when I was 10 years old,” she told me. “There were so many situations where myself and my siblings were going to school and could not afford lunch.”
That first experience taught her something enormously important: organizing could actually change conditions. To read the full article go to the LA Progressive (https://www.laprogressive.com/civil-liberties-and-civil-rights/angelmarie-taylor-is-fighting-back)
Get full access to LA Progressive at laprogressive.substack.com/subscribe (https://laprogressive.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
Who has been a guest on LA Progressive
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Jeff Mackler
Frank Joyce
Elizabeth Woodson
Tavis Smiley
Nora Lester Murad
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
178,146
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
73
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
0
Contact LA Progressive
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about LA Progressive
Who hosts LA Progressive ?
Sharon Kyle and Dick Price host the show. Published by laprogressive1.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does LA Progressive take guests?
The show does not typically feature guests, based on episode analyses.
Host of LA Progressive ?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
