Flipping Tables

This episode is brought to you by ground news. Subscribe for 40% off their vantage plan at groundnews.com/monteFather Nathan Monk is a social justice advocate, author, and former Orthodox priest. He is the author of multiple non fiction books and novels including Russian Sleeper Cell and his 2015 hit Chasing the Mouse: A Memoir about Childhood Homelessness. ​Having experienced homelessness with his family during his teenage years, Nathan went on to become a priest in the orthodox church with a heart to serve the poor, the hungry and the outcast. Today we discuss his childhood, his call to ministry, why he eventually left and how he works and serves now. He's now a comedian, a member of the LGBTQ community and an activist still advocating for "the least of these".

This episode is brought to you by Ground News. Subscribe at groundnews.com/tables for 40% off their vantage plan.In this episode, we trace the extraordinary life of Malcolm X (1925–1965), born Malcolm Little in Omaha and shaped by racial terror, systemic oppression, and personal trauma. We explore his early years marked by the activism of his parents, the violent death of his father, and the institutional pressures that drove his mother into a mental hospital—forces that propelled him into a youth of hustling, street crime, and eventual imprisonment.From there, we follow Malcolm’s dramatic transformation behind bars through his encounter with the teachings of the Nation of Islam, his rise as its most electrifying minister, and his break from the movement after disillusionment with its leadership. The episode covers his pilgrimage to Mecca, where he embraced Sunni Islam and broadened his philosophy on race and solidarity. We conclude with his increasing global activism, his deepening threat to U.S. authorities and the NOI, and the circumstances leading to his assassination in 1965.This biographical journey highlights Malcolm X’s evolving worldview, his impact on the civil rights movement, and his enduring influence on Black liberation, human rights, and political thought in America.“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”― Malcolm XSourcesMalcolm X & Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)FBI Files on Malcolm X, declassified documents (FBI Records: The Vault)Papers of Elijah Muhammad, speeches and writings (Nation of Islam archival materials)Malcolm X Speeches: “Message to the Grassroots,” “The Ballot or the Bullet,” “Prospects for Freedom,” “Oxford Union Debate” (1964–1965)Manning Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (2011)Louis A. DeCaro Jr., On the Side of My People: A Religious Life of Malcolm X (1997)Michael Eric Dyson, Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X (1995)James Cone, Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare (1991)Peter Goldman, The Death and Life of Malcolm X (2nd ed., 1979/2011)Bruce Perry, Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America (1991)George Breitman, The Last Year of Malcolm X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary (1967)Herbert Berg, Elijah Muhammad and Islam (2009)Zachary K. Williams, Racial Realism and Malcolm X (Journal of Black Studies)The Journal of African American History – articles on NOI, civil rights, and Malcolm’s political developmentThe Muslim World – studies on Malcolm X’s Islamic theology and Hajj transformationThe Journal of Social History – analyses of Black nationalism and mid-century urban conditionsBlack Scholar – essays on Malcolm X’s ideological evolutionSouls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society – research on Black radicalism and Malcolm’s global politicsTaylor Branch, Parting the Waters (1988) — for civil rights movement contextPeniel Joseph, Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour (2006)Karl Evanzz, The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X (1992)Karl Evanzz, The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad (1999)Clayborne Carson, Malcolm X: The FBI File (1991)C. Eric Lincoln, The Black Muslims in America (1961; updated editions)Claude Andrew Clegg III, An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad (1997)Sohail Daulatzai, Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom Beyond America (2012)Gadiel R. Del Orbe, “Malcolm X’s Global Human Rights Activism”Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, podcast and archival work featured in Who Killed Malcolm X? (2019)Les Payne & Tamara Payne, The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X (2020)NYC District Attorney’s Office, 2021 exoneration documents of Aziz and IslamCOINTELPRO Records, U.S. Government declassified materials

When I was at the protests in DC a sweet girl came up to me and asked how to start talking when you're afraid and I worry I was too harsh. I said something along the lines of "you just have to start". We are past the point of being complicit in silence- and that doesn't mean that these conversations especially with family aren't hard. Starting can look like "If you continue to use racist and dehumanizing language I'm going to leave" and walking out of the room when they continue. There's so much power in a walk out. Starting can look like "I believe in loving and supporting people of all faiths, genders, sexuality and races and I'm not going to compromise on this."Starting can look like "Didn't Jesus say that loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself were the most important commands? Since when has love been demonizing, name calling and belittling people?"In this episode, which is by no means comprehensive, I talk about some of the big "trigger" issues we see with Christian nationalism and right wing movements. This will be one to save and re-listen to. It's a lot of information but on the first listen, just try to take one thing. This month will be a lot of calls, cards, family events. Take one thing at a time, one resistance at a time and one courageous push back at a time. You won't always get it right and thats ok. When you know deep down what you truly believe it gets easier and as you practice, it will become safe and you will become a safe space.

This episode is brought to you by Ground News. Subscribe at groundnews.com/tables for 40% off their Vantage PlanIf you've seen the amazing ads on instagram from a soap company that is very openly ANTI fascist, yes the same ads I play the resistance fairy godmother, today you meet the owners. Trevor Silva and his wife Jennifer are the founders of My Cluck Hut, a no waste, inclusive, sustainable, "pay a freaking living wage" company. This is the story of how My Cluck Hut was born out of a desire to be the one who does better instead of waiting for everyone else to do it. And the protest we mention here is the on that happened in DC last weekend - thank you so much to everyone who attended!

This episode is brought to you by ground news. Subscribe at groundnews.com/monteThis episode uncovers the hidden history and modern influence of The Family. A secretive religious–political network that has shaped American power since the 1930s. Founded by Abraham Vereide and built on the belief that God works through “key men,” The Family cultivated presidents, senators, foreign leaders, and global elites through private prayer circles, back-channel diplomacy, and the National Prayer Breakfast. We trace their role in anti-labor politics, Cold War foreign policy, international human-rights abuses, scandal cover-ups, and their deep connections to the Trump era, where “Jesus plus nothing” theology helped justify Christian nationalism and the erosion of church–state separation. Drawing from documented scholarship and investigative reporting, this episode reveals a movement that has remained influential precisely because it operates in the shadows.As always ad free and thank you for your support. SourcesSharlet, Jeff. The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. HarperCollins, 2008.Sharlet, Jeff. C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. Little, Brown and Company, 2010.Kruse, Kevin M. One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. Basic Books, 2015.Williams, Daniel K. God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right. Oxford University Press, 2010.Dochuk, Darren. From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism. W.W. Norton, 2011.Gage, Beverly. The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror. Oxford University Press, 2009.Martin, William. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America. Broadway Books, 1996.Callahan, Richard J. Jr. “The Invention of Corporate America’s Invention of Christian America.” The Marginalia Review of Books, 2020.Balmer, Randall. “The Religious Right and the Family Values Crusade.” Journal of Church and State, vol. 52, no. 3, 2010, pp. 370–394.Butler, Anthea. “Race, Religion, and the American Presidency: The Faith Factor.” Journal of American History, vol. 99, no. 1, 2012.Clark, Elizabeth A. “Invisible Hands and Divine Order: Theology and the Political Economy of American Fundamentalism.” Religion and American Culture, vol. 18, no. 2, 2008.The Washington Post archives on the National Prayer Breakfast (1953-present).The New York Times coverage of Doug Coe and Fellowship Foundation operations.Religion Dispatches (University of Southern California Annenberg) – multiple investigations into The Family’s political network.Guernica Magazine: “Christ Über Alles” interview with Jeff Sharlet.The Humanist: “The Family: More Gilead than Godly.”Encyclopaedia Britannica: “The Family (international religious movement).”Library of Congress Congressional Records on the National Prayer Breakfast (1953-1970s).Billy Graham Center Archives, Wheaton College – correspondence and records on Vereide and early ICL initiatives.