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by Angélica Cordero
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- 1 weeks ago51 min
Episode 17: Now They Do What They Told Ya
What do you do when the system publicly breaks in front of everyone… and then just keeps going?In the early 1970s, America looked like it was restoring order. The protests of the 1960s had fractured public trust, televised violence had exposed deep cracks in American institutions, and “law and order” politics promised stability in return.But the conflict never disappeared. It just changed location.This episode of The Persistence traces the shift from public unrest to bureaucratic management, as social problems became increasingly reframed as crime, punishment, and individual failure. As the Controlled Substances Act expanded policing and incarceration, prisons became the place the state moved the people and pressures it no longer wanted to confront publicly.Inside those walls, incarcerated people organized against overcrowding, racialized labor exploitation, brutality, and systemic neglect. After the killing of George Jackson at San Quentin in 1971, unrest spread across the country and culminated at Attica, where prisoners negotiated publicly, issued demands, and forced the nation to look directly at what had been hidden behind prison walls.The state answered with overwhelming force.And afterward, almost immediately, the narrative started changing.This episode explores the history of Attica, George Jackson, prison organizing, law and order politics, mass incarceration, and the evolution of institutional power in post-1960s America.🎧 Listen if you’re interested in:Attica uprising · George Jackson · Prison history · Law and order politics · Mass incarceration · 1970s America · Protest movements · Political history · State violence · Social movementsThis episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT.Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsBooksA People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn“A Storm over Attica,” (Life Magazine, Vol. 71, No. 14, October 1, 1971), 26-29 p.Attica: The Official Report of the New York State Special Commission on Attica, The New York State Special Commission on Attica, chaired by Robert B. McKay, (Bantam Books, Inc., September 1972)“Attica Prison’s Bloody Monday” by John Pekkanen, (Life Magazine, Vol. 71, No. 13, September 24, 1971), 26-36 p.“Attica Revisited” by Norval Morris and Gordon Hawkins, (Arizona Law Review, Vol. 14, No. 4, 1972)Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson“‘The Dignity and Justice that Is Due to Us by Right of Our Birth’: Violence and Rights in the 1971 Attica Riot” by Andrew Mamo, (Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review (CR-CL), Vol. 29, No. 2, June 27, 2014)The Honest Politician’s Guide to Crime Control by Norval Morris and Gordon Hawkins, (University of Chicago Press, 1970)The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics by Bruce J Schulman, (Da Capo Press, 2001)“Waiting for a Riot” by James Mills, (Life Magazine, Vol. 71, No. 14, October 1, 1971), 30-35 p.Links<a target="_blank" href="https://search.freedomarchives.o
- 3 weeks ago47 min
Episode 16: I See No Changes
The late 1960s were supposed to be proof that things were working.Civil rights legislation had passed. The language of progress was everywhere. On paper, it looked like the system had responded.But on the ground?That story didn’t hold.This episode explores the turning point of the 1960s civil rights movement, where protests, policing, and public trust in American institutions began to shift.From the Watts uprising to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., from student protests and occupations at Columbia University to the Chicano walkouts across the Southwest, from the American Indian Movement and the occupation of Alcatraz to the Stonewall uprising, this wasn’t a series of isolated events.It was people adjusting.Figuring out what to do when the rules they were told to follow stopped producing the outcomes they were promised.And as that shift took hold, something else changed too.Protest started getting framed as disruption.Rights became “security.”And policing and state response to dissent began to evolve in real time.By the time we get to 1968 and the years just beyond it, what looks like chaos starts to read differently.Not as breakdown.As recognition.This episode covers the history of civil rights, 1960s protest movements, policing in America, and the evolution of state surveillance and counterintelligence.This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsBooksA People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn“Chale No, We Won’t Go!” The Chicano Moratorium Committee in “Mi raza primero!” (My People First!): Nationalism, Identity, and Insurgency in the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles, 1966-1978 by Ernesto ChávezMassacre in Mexico by Elena Poniatowska (New York , Viking Press, 1975)¡Raza Sí! ¡Guerra No!: The Chicano Movement from South Vietnam to the American Southwest by Dillon Otto, University of Colorado Honors JournalSeventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics by Bruce J. SchulmanLinks“1970: National Chicano Moratorium,” (A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States, Hispanic, Research Guides, Library of Congress)“The Chicano Moratorium: 50 Years Later,” (Los Angeles Times, Aug 2020)“Exhibits,” Stonewall 50: A Guide Honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and LGBTQ History, (Research Centers & Library, New York Public Library, Apr 21, 2026)“Flying Flag Upside Down,” (Issues, Issues Related to Speech, Press, Assembly, or Petition, Free Speech Center, Middle Tennessee State University, Sep 2025)“Indian Treaties and the Removal Act of 1830,” (1830-1860, Milestones, The Office of the Historian)“National Chicano Moratorium March,” (Locations, Demonstration Grounds)“The Stonewall Riots,” A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States: The Stonewall Riots, (Research Guides, Vernon E. Jordon Law Library, Howard University)<
- Mar 27, 202640 min
Episode 15: Strange You Never Knew
In this episode of The Persistence, Angélica Cordero examines the breaking point of the 1960s, when the promises of the Civil Rights Movement collided with the reality of the Vietnam War, political violence, and a growing crisis of trust in American institutions.By the mid-1960s, landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act suggested progress. But on the ground, racial inequality, police violence, and economic injustice persisted. Then 1968 reshaped everything.The Tet Offensive exposed the gap between government messaging and the reality of the Vietnam War. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while organizing for labor and economic justice. Weeks later, Robert F. Kennedy was killed. Across the country, protests, uprisings, and political fractures revealed a deeper truth: the system wasn’t failing. It was functioning as designed.Through the rise of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the emergence of Black Power, and the tensions within coalition politics, this episode explores how movements shift from demanding civil rights to confronting power itself.This is a story about the 1960s, but it is also about how people recognize when the official narrative stops making sense and what happens next.This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsBooksThe Day They Marched: 1963 March on Washington Booklet edited by Doris E. SaundersJane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII by Pauli Murray and Mary Eastwood (George Washington Law Review 34, No. 2 December 1965: 232-56p) (How and Why Was Feminist Legal Strategy Transformed, 1960-1973?, Women and Social Movements, Alexander Street)The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II by Luis Alvarez“Zoot Suit” performance and play full textLinks“A Million Vietnam Wars,” (Blogs, Folklife Today, American Folklife Center & Veterans History Project, Library of Congress)“An Invisible Giant: The Legacy of Pauli Murray (J.D. ’44, H. ’17), Trailblazing Civil Rights Lawyer,” (The Dig, Howard University)“America Sees the Truth,” (Stories, National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian)“Baptist Street Church Bombing,” (Famous Cases and Criminals, History, FBI)“The Civil Rights Movement and the March on Washington, 60 Years Later,” (Library Guides, Libraries, University of Minnesota)“History, Heartbreak, and Hope: Robert F. Kennedy and 1968,” Dr. Wesley Arden Dick, (News, Albion College) “Historical Profile: Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray ’65 JSD,” (Yale Law School Today, Yale University)“In Previously Unseen Interview, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Shares How Legal Pioneer Pauli Murray Shaped Her Work on Sex Discrimination,” (Time Magazine)“Jane Crow & the Story of Pauli Murray,” (Stories, National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian)<a target="_blank" href="https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/july-2-1964-remarks-upon-signing-civil-
- Feb 6, 202621 min
Am I invisible 'cause you ignore me?
In this minisode of The Persistence, Angélica Cordero takes a hard look at the phrase “If you see something, say something” and what it’s really taught us about staying quiet, staying safe, and staying out of it. From civic culture to everyday behavior, this episode breaks down how silence often gets framed as maturity or common sense—when in reality, it can protect power and delay change.Through moments in history, civil rights struggles, and cultural flashpoints, Cordero shows how refusal, disruption, and non-cooperation have always been part of how progress actually happens. Silence doesn’t just happen. It’s encouraged. It’s rewarded. And it has a history.This episode explores:* Why “staying out of it” is rarely neutral* How power relies on compliance and quiet participation* The real cost of opting out when things go wrong* How refusal and non-cooperation create pressure for change* Why these patterns keep repeating todayThis episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsLinks“There’s Nothing I Enjoy More Than Acting In The Theater” - Ian McKellen EXTENDED INTERVIEW (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)SupportIt’s free, it’s fast, and it tells the algorithm overlords this work matters. Supporting The Persistence means supporting all of it: the podcast, the posts, the zine, the whole enchilada.Send a post or an episode to a friend, a professor, or that cousin who loves debating politics at dinner.One quick Apple Podcasts review does more than any marketing budget I don’t have.Every coffee, every donation (and paid subscription) literally keeps the mic on and the stories flowing. Collaborate (let’s dream bigger): Educators? Creative? Filmmaker/Podcaster? Org with a mission? Let’s talk.Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and share your thoughts with Angélica by emailing wearethepersistence@gmail.com.Don’t forget to sign up for host Angélica Cordero’s newsletter, Obsessively Curious!! It includes short insights that connect unlikely histories, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Get full access to Obsessively Curious at obsessivelycurious.substack.com/subscribe
- Jan 10, 202638 min
Episode 14: The World Keeps Turning
In this episode of The Persistence, Angélica Cordero traces how some of the most consequential changes in history didn’t begin with explosions or speeches, but with stillness. Opening with a personal memory of watching Jurassic Park alongside her grandmother (who always knew exactly when someone was about to make a terrible decision), Cordero draws a sharp line between moments we recognize as obviously reckless and the real-life systems we’re taught to trust long past their breaking point. From Mahatma Gandhi’s strategy of non-cooperation to the Greensboro sit-ins, the rise of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Freedom Rides, and the student-led confrontations that defined the early 1960s, this episode explores how quietly refusing to play along can expose the lie underneath power. With wit, cultural fluency, and a clear-eyed look at how systems react when compliance runs out, The Persistence invites listeners to reflect on the moment their own script cracked and what happens when stillness turns into momentum.This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsBooksAmerica Dreaming by Laban Carrick HillLegendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life by Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo MarquezPersistence: Evelyn Butts and the African American Quest for Full Citizenship and Self-Determination by Kenneth Cooper AlexanderLinks“Ella Baker,” (People, SNCC Digital Gateway, Duke University Libraries)“Founding of SNCC,” (Events, SNCC Digital Gateway, Duke University Libraries)“Freedom Riders” in 1961: A Newborn Library and the World Beyond, (Olin @ 50: Inspiration Since 1961, Cornell University Library)“Freedom Rides,” (Civil Rights Digital Library, University of Georgia Libraries)“Jane Stembridge,” (Events, SNCC Digital Gateway, Duke University Libraries)“The Civil Rights Movement and Wesleyan Freedom Riders,” (2008 Issue 3, Historical Row, UpFront, Wesleyan University Magazine, Sep 20, 2008)The Creative Act: Marcel Duchamp’s 1957 Classic, Read by the Artist Himself by Maria Popova, (The Marginalian, Aug 23, 2012)Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights, (Historic Speeches, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)“Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in remembered by those who witnessed history,” (Museum Events, International Civil Rights Museum and Center, Aug 13, 2022)SupportIt’s free, it’s fast, and it tells the algorithm overlords this work matters. Supporting The Persistence means supporting all of it: the podcast, the posts, the zine, the whole enchilada.Send a post or an episode to a friend, a professor, or that cousin who loves debating politics at dinner.One quick Apple Podcasts review does more than any marketing budget I don’t have.Every coffee, every donation (and paid subscription) literally keeps the mic on and the stories flowing. Collaborate
- Dec 24, 202514 min
It's coming on Christmas
Christmas is often sold as a season of arrival and perfection, but its oldest stories tell something very different. In this episode of The Persistence, Angélica Cordero explores how modern Christmas imagery, from Santa’s familiar red suit to the feeling that the holiday should look a certain way, was shaped by 20th-century culture, then peels back the gloss to examine Christmas as a story of movement, displacement, and care. At the heart of the episode is A Charlie Brown Christmas, the 1965 animated special that defied television norms with its silences, real children’s voices, and sad little tree, shaped in part by Mexican immigrant animator Bill Melendez. From the nativity to Peanuts, this episode reflects on why stories that resist polish and certainty endure, and how belonging is often something we practice quietly, not something we’re handed.This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT.Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and share your thoughts with Angélica by emailing wearethepersistence@gmail.com.Don’t forget to sign up for host Angélica Cordero’s newsletter, Obsessively Curious!! It includes short insights that connect unlikely histories, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show.Thanks for reading Obsessively Curious! This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Obsessively Curious at obsessivelycurious.substack.com/subscribe
- Dec 12, 202541 min
Episode 13: Hypnotized, Mesmerized by What Our Eyes Have Found
The latest episode of The Persistence opens with a very relatable childhood crisis: that first moment when a story you believed your whole life suddenly unravels. Host Angélica Cordero uses this myth-busting moment as a bridge into a larger cultural awakening, tracing how early 20th-century art movements like Dada, Neo-Dada, Judson Dance Theater, and Fluxus began shredding America’s shiny narratives long before the 1960s demanded it. Along the way, she spotlights boundary-pushers such as Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, and Yoko Ono, revealing how their weird, radical, rule-breaking work was not just art but prophecy. These creators exposed cracks in the culture decades before the mainstream could admit the foundations were shifting. This episode invites listeners to rethink the stories they were raised on, reflect on their own moments of disillusionment, and recognize why challenging the status quo has always been a necessary act of resistance.This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsWant the full context? Check out the episodes referenced here:BooksAn Audience of Artists: Dada, Neo-Dada, and the Emergence of Abstract Expressionism by Catherine CraftAutocritique: Essays on Art and Anti-Art, 1963-1987 by Rose, BarbaraThe Experimenters by Eva DíazMarcel Duchamp’s Fountain: Its History and Aesthetics in the Context of 1917 by W. A. CamfieldNeo-Dada 1951-54: Between the Aesthetics of Persecution and the Politics of Identity by Seth MccormickPop Art and the Origins of Post-Modernism by Sylvia HarrisonSpecifically:* “Barbara Rose: Pop, Pragmatism, and ‘Prophetic Pragmatism’”, p. 115–145LinksA (Grudging) Defense of the $120,000 Banana by Jason Farago (New York Times, New York, Dec 8, 2019)About Peggy Guggenheim, (Peggy Guggenheim, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice)"The Avant-garde and the Society of Independent Artists", (Movements, Documenting the Gilded Age: New York City Exhibitions at the Turn of the 20th Century, New York Art Resources Consortium, New York, NY, 2011)“Chapter 23: Dada” by D. Rogers & Julianne Gough Hartley, (History of the Fine Arts: Visual Art, Brigham Young University)The Creative Act: Marcel Duchamp’s 1957 Classic, Read by the Artist Himself by Maria Popova, (The Marginalian, Aug 23, 2012)The Creative Act by Marcel Duchamp, (Convention of the American Federation of Arts in Houston, Texas, April 1957)“Enter Digital Archives of the 1960s Fluxus Movement and Explore the Avant-Gar
- Oct 24, 202530 min
Don't Kid Yourself Baby
Finding the perfect theme song is almost impossible, until you stumble on Folds Band’s “Don’t Kid Yourself, Baby,” a funk-infused tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer, the civil rights legend who could turn a microphone into a movement. Band member Seth Moskowitz discovered her fire-breathing 1969 speech from the Vietnam Moratorium at UC Berkeley, and the rest is soul-shaking history. Hamer didn’t just fight voter suppression in Mississippi; she faced beatings, threats, and still showed up to shake the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Her voice, now echoing through basslines and protest chants, proves that politics is everywhere—in your playlists, your power, and your daily hustle. Tune in for a story that hits hard, grooves deeper, and reminds us that speaking up is always on beat.This episode was written by and produced by Angélica Cordero, with a little help from ChatGPT. Our theme song is Don’t Kid Yourself Baby by Fold, used with their blessings. Podcast artwork for The Persistence features Mexican-American activist Jovita Idar and was created by Tamra Collins of Sunroot Studio.Resources For Fellow Wascally WabbitsBooksUntil I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America by Keisha N. BlainLinks1961 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 1 (University of Maryland School of Law, 1962)1960 Census: Population, Supplementary Reports: Per Capita and Median Family Income in 1959, for States, Standard Metropolitan Areas, and Counties (United States Census Bureau, 1965)Civil Rights Excerpts from the 1961 United States Commission on Civil Rights Report (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1961)Fannie Lou Hamer (FBI The Vault, FBI)Fannie Lou Hamer and the Fight for Voting Rights by Keisha N. Blain (Blog, Smithsonian American Women’s History, Smithsonian, 2024)Fannie Lou Hamer: Civil Rights Activist by Kay Mills (Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society, 2015)Fannie Lou Hamer survived a prison beating, taught black people their rights and stood up to a president by Jamie Gass (The Hechinger Report, 2017)MFDP Challenge at Democratic National Convention (Digital SNCC Gateway, Duke University Libraries)Pioneers in the Black Women’s Suffrage Movement: Fannie Lou Hamer (News, League of Women Voters of CaliforniaRemarks regarding Mississippi economics, May 30, 1964 (Civil Rights Movement Archive, Duke University Libraries, 1964)Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court by Michael Li (Research Reports, Brennan Center for Justice, 2025)Stunned By Her Thunder: Fannie Lou Hamer by Jennifer Davis (Blogs, In Custodia LegisLaw Librarians of Congress, Library of Congress, 2021)The Sweat and Blood of Fannie Lou Hamer by Rosalind Early (Humanities, The Magazine of The National Endowment for the Humanities, Winter 2021)Testimony Before the Credentials Committee, Democratic National Convent
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About The Persistence
The Persistence, hosted by Angélica Cordero, dives into the untold stories of people who’ve shaped history but rarely get the spotlight. Mixing bold personal stories, deep historical insights, and today’s fight for justice, each episode uncovers the connections between past movements and modern struggles. If you’re ready to see history through a fresh, intersectional lens, this is the podcast for you. obsessivelycurious.substack.com
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