Disrupt & Dismantle

"Disrupt & Dismantle" follows Soledad O'Brien as she tackles injustices across the nation affecting the Black community, from police brutality to redlining to school to prison pipeline, to the infant mortality crisis fueled by systemic racism, this timely new series will take an active and hard-edged approach to chopping away at the roots of racism. The series focuses on REAL people with REAL problems, looking for REAL action. Through gritty reportage and true vérité moments, as well as raw emotional interviews, and rarely seen archival photos and footage, this series will offer invaluable insights and truly bring viewers along on O'Brien's journey. In each episode of "Disrupt & Dismantle," O'Brien will identify an issue within a particular community, then she will go out into the field and investigate. She'll immerse herself in the community, identify the problems and the problematic people, then speak truth to power. And, she'll continue to stir the pot until she not only gets the critical answers but also finds action items that the audience can look to put into motion in their own communities. In addition to extensive on the field interviews with O'Brien, the program features insights from activists, journalists, politicians and thought leaders.

In the first episode focusing on "Shingle Mountain" viewers will travel to Dallas, Texas where O'Brien meets a grandmother who's fighting to get a mountain of toxic shingles removed from the lot behind her house. In the process, she uncovers a widespread yet rarely-talked-about problem in Dallas, Texas: environmental racism. O'Brien investigates the city's "Southern Sector," where redlining and discriminatory zoning has segregated black and brown people and negligently subjected them to be poisoned by heavy industry. What's the fight about? Getting the city to finally remove Shingle Mountain and re-zone the lot so the industry never returns. Interviews include Former Dallas Morning News Investigative Reporter Robert Wilonsky, who broke the Shingle Mountain story, Particulate Matter Scientist Dr. Tate Barrett, President of Inclusive Communities Project Demetria McCain, Former Joppa Representative Council Kevin Felder, Executive Director of Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Jerry Hawkins Dr. Reverend Frederick Douglass Haynes III, Councilman Tennell Atkins, Environmental Activist Temeckia Derrough, Temeckia's son Roderick Randolph, Temeckia's son Leo Derrough, Former Blue Star Recycling Owner Chris Ganter, Downwinder's At Risk Evelyn Mayo, Marsha Jackson, Marsha's Daughter LaKeisha Jackson and Marsha's Granddaughter Kourtnie Holmes