Three weeks ago, the hosts invited Mayor Joe Schember to be a guest to talk about environmental racism. Since then, there has been zero response from the City of Erie Government and the Mayor. In this mini episode of Our Erie, the hosts aka citizens to be heard insightfully share their response of being 'ghosted' and decided to make a public call.
Please read the following letter to the Mayor from the hosts of Our Erie:
"Hello Mayor Schember,
Our names are Marty Nwachukwu, DaVona Pacley, Lydia Laythe and John C. Lyons. We’re the producers of the popular podcast Our Erie. In less than 4 months, our podcast has been downloaded over 3,000 times and 72% of our listeners are 23-34 years of age. We’re really excited to reach out to you today, because we want to have you as a guest on our podcast!
We were hoping to record with you for an hour over Zoom at 6pm on one of the following dates: April 30 or May 7.
We know you’re committed to ending racism in Erie - and our podcast has consistently addressed the issues of racism, both locally and nationally. We know you’re aware of the countless intersections between environmental degradation and racism - how developments that have destructive impacts to the environment and public health are consistently placed in communities of color. As such we thought you would be especially interested in a discussion topic we’re planning: The Story of Plastic, IRG and Racial Justice through an Environmental lens.
On Wednesday, March 31st at 6:00pm, the Film Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania is hosting a Zoom discussion of “The Story of Plastic” a new documentary about plastic recycling with one of the film’s producers, Stiv J. Wilson, and concerned city of Erie residents. We thought viewing the film - and how it relates to your efforts to end racism in Erie - would be a powerful discussion to help our community become more engaged in local development, politics - and elections.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns before agreeing to be our guest. We’re really excited about the intersectionality of issues in this topic and think you’d be a great voice to have.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
The Our Erie Team"
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Tuesday's episode is with Dr. SherezMohamed of Merchyhurst University.
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Continue the conversation at https://msha.ke/ourerieseries
This podcast is produced by John C. Lyons, Marty Nwachukwu, DaVona Pacley and Lydia Laythe.
Funding provided by United Way of Erie and Ember+Forge.
Music by LiteShado.
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Like & Follow us on:
Instagram - @ourerieseries
Facebook - @ourerieseries
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We appreciate you for listening to the Our Erie podcast!
Peace.
