SHOW AUDIO: kpft_2014-06-18_2200, Ray HILL about CRIME & PUNISHMENT
Link is usually posted within about 72 hours of show broadcast.
Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show (every Wednesday night from 10-11PM CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My engineer and discussion partner is Egberto Willies (@EgbertoWillies).
Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig is usually a call-in show. Whether you’re listening live on the radio or on the internet from anywhere in the world, when the show is live, we take calls at 713-526-5738. (Long distance charges may apply.)
For the purposes of this show, I operate on two mottoes:
- You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts;
- An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.
GUEST(S): RAY HILL: Human Rights activist, writer, producer, radio host, ex-con and Local Legend.
TOPIC:
- Capital punishment
- Prison conditions (AS punishment or FOR punishment – David Fowler, KPRC Radio talk show host, The David Fowler Show)
- Whatever comes up in conversation
“All of my contact information is treated like a public utility. For over thirty years, I gave my phone number on The Prison Show at least twice each month. I have a POBox so folks won’t show up at my front door…”
CONTACT INFO (provided by Ray Hill, published with permission): Ray Hill, P. O. Box 3624, Houston, TX 77253-3624. Email: hillray@sbcglobal.netRay Hill Vita Sheet (provided by Ray Hill, published with permission):
- Seventy-three year old native Houstonian.
- Graduated from Galena Park Public Schools;
- Attended Steven F Austin State University, University of Houston, Tulane University, New Orleans, no degrees.
- Came out as a gay man to my family and at Galena Park High School in 1958.
- Cofounder and President of Promethean Society (Houston’s first gay/lesbian organization (1967-1969);
- Cofounder (1968), former Board Member and former General Manager (1980-1981) of Pacifica Radio, KPFT-FM;
- Cofounder, Executive Director Houston Human Rights League (1976-1986);
- Cofounder (1975), Past President (1989) of Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus;
- Winner of landmark First Amendment US Supreme Court Case, Houston v Hill (107 S.Ct 2502, 1987);
- Cofounder/organizer (1976), Past Chair (1984-1985) of Houston Lesbian Gay Pride Week;
- Former Chair (1984-1986) of Montrose Activity Center;
- Chair of Executive and Coordinating Committees for the First March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights, 1979;
- Founder and original producer and host (1975-1980) of Wilde N Stein (one of the first regularly scheduled gay/lesbian radio shows in the country and the only one in the South in the 1970’s);
- Founder and producer/host of The Prison Show, KPFT;1980-2012;
- Cofounder OF Kaposi’s Sarcoma Foundation (1980), became KS/AIDS Foundation, is now AIDS Foundation Houston);
- Convict (1970-1975), Texas Prison System;
- Founder and Executive Director of First Amendment Lobby of Texas (1982-1997);
- Author of first “Safe Sex Pamphlet” in the country to help prevent the spread of HIV, published by Citizens for Human Equality CHE, Houston, 1982;
- Contributor to the first three International Conferences on Gender Law and Employment;
- Author of Model Transgender Policy for Jails and Prisons;
- Founder/producer/host of The Prison Show (the only show of its kind in the US), 1980 to 2012 (continues in retired status);
- Former board member of Texas C.U.R.E. (Prison reform group) 1986- 1989;
- Former member of Houston AIDS Prevention Community Planning Group, representing incarcerated populations 2000-2006;
- Winner of four Federal suits against the City of Houston for police abuses including
- the previously mentioned Supreme Court decision;
- a challenge to a city ordinance requiring people to document their identity on demand of a police officer (the ordinance was removed as a result of my case);
- a challenge to a city ordinance “blocking the sidewalk (the ordinance was removed as a result of my case);
- and two cases challenging the city ordinance criminalizing the interruption of a police officer (the first case resulted in the rewriting of the ordinance and the second (the Supreme Court decision eliminated both the ordinance and the state law).
- Awarded
- 1999 First Amendment Award by Houston Trial Lawyers Foundation;
- The 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award from The Unity Committee (several organizations supporting equality for transgendered people);
- The 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Stonewall Lawyers Association;
- Lifetime Achievement Award from ACLU, Texas 2005,
- Trailblazer Award from SCALE, 2006 (HIV and AIDS stakeholder organizations);
- The John P. McGovern Award for 2008 by University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston;
- Amicus Achievement Grant, South Texas Collage of Law, 2010;
- 2014 Heritage Award from Houston GLBT Pride Organization.
- Writer/performer,
- Ray Hill, The Prison Years (Best OneCharacterShow1997, The Houston Press) at Actor’s Workshop, The Little Room DownstairsandBiba’s One’s A Meal,
- 20 performance run,
- Printed script available.
- Ray Hill & The Sex PoliceatBiba’s One’s A Meal,
- 11 performance run;
- Ray Hill In Love, Valentine’s Day 2000 at Stages Repertory Theater;
- Outlaw, Queer Like Ray Hill at Ashland Street Theater,
- 14 performances;
- A Stroll Through Houston Gay History with Ray Hill at Gay and Lesbian Community Center, June 18, 2001;
- Ray Hill, The Prison Years, reworked and presented at The Philly Fringe 2005, receiving critical acclaim.
- Ray Hill, The Prison Years (Best OneCharacterShow1997, The Houston Press) at Actor’s Workshop, The Little Room DownstairsandBiba’s One’s A Meal,
I have had seven wonderful men in my life; a famous drag queen: Tiffany Jones (Kenneth Whitehead); a famous hair dresser: Bob Oliphant; a would-be cop: Fred Paez; a country boy from Lufkin: Dale Sweat; a Lutheran minister: The Rev. Kent Naasz; and Patricio Domingo Bravo an expatriate from Chile; Rene Castillo, an outlaw. Only Patricio survives. Tiffany, Kent, Bob and Rene died of AIDS; Dale was murdered by a burglar, Fred was assassinated by a police officer.
NOTE: This post is subject to update before and after the show.
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Some of the links used for this show are BELOW the break:
SOURCES (Below the break) Not all topics discussed on tonight’s show:
- Ray Hill – Houston (Houston Press)
- The Prison Show – The New York Times
- KPFT – The Prison Show | Prison & The Row
- KPFT – The Prison Show – Archive
- Prison Reform Activist.Gay Activist. Ray Hill. – YouTube
- KPFT’s “The Prison Show” | Campaign to End the Death Penalty
- Links mentioning Ray Hill On Wikipedia
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