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Journalist Laura Flanders Profiles India Walton on Her Upcoming Show November 7

“I think now is the time we challenge who should be making policies.”  India Walton, 2019

Known for her tireless work as an independent journalist, interviewing activists who are creating solutions to economic injustice and catastrophic environmental destruction, Laura Flanders finds India Walton for her latest interview on her popular program on PBS stations nationwide – The Laura Flanders Show. 

Get Out the Vote Rally at Town Ballroom. Buffalo, New York. October 23, 2021. Photo: The LF Show

Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Town Ballroom last Saturday, to hear union workers, environmentalists, former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon and NY Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez help Buffalo’s Democratic nominee for mayor, India Walton, kick off the first day of early voting in one of the most anticipated elections in the country. Also in attendance, author and public television and radio host, Laura Flanders.  

Flanders is the host and executive producer of The Laura Flanders Show, one of the fastest growing news and public affairs shows in the USA.  She first interviewed Walton when Walton was Executive Director of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust and gave Walton her first national media appearance on public television in 2020 as part of a program about the city wide initiative, Making Buffalo: “Our City.”

“Then, local activists were talking about not just lobbying those in power for the changes they sought, but running for office themselves. Among those was former nurse and activist India Walton, so it’s only natural that we’d come back now that she’s running for Mayor,” Flanders told the Challenger. 

Host, Laura Flanders and Executive Director India Walton of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust discuss her latest project in collective land ownership that aims to sustain and build wealth in the community. August 2019. Photo: The LF Show

“While our program is not partisan, and it’s not campaigning for any candidate, we are curious about how change is made,” continued Flanders. In 2019, when Flanders asked Walton if she’d ever consider a run for office herself, she said she would. 

“I wasn’t surprised that she was true to her word.”

Flanders says that in her interview with the Democratic nominee this week Walton reiterated her belief that without executive power, it’s hard to make real change. On its website, and at the start of every episode, Flanders calls her show “the place where the people who say it can’t be done take a backseat to the people who are doing it. 

“Walton is a classic example of someone doing it in defiance of the nay-sayers,” says Flanders. 

“She’s taking on the establishment – not just on behalf of those who’ve been left out of decision-making – but as one of those people herself.”

 Flanders caught up with India Walton at Fitz Books in downtown Buffalo just hours after the Democratic nominee received the endorsement of the state’s two Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand and Common Council member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt. 

“Win or lose she’s changing the equation in Buffalo politics.”

Tune in to The Laura Flanders Show profile on India Walton that begins airing Sunday, November 07 at 11:30am ET on PBS stations nationwide and is available on The Laura Flanders Show Youtube channel. Viewers may also listen on radio or as a podcast. For more information, visit www.lauraflanders.org

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