Bourbon 'n BrownTown

BrownTown shares space with Chicago Palestinian Film Festival Executive Director Nina Shoman-Dajani, filmmaker Justin Mashouf, & protagonist of the short film $17.74, Hamzah Furqani. The team discusses the inner-workings and impact of the longest running Palestinian film festival in the world, centering the responsibility creators and storytellers have in sharing their to amplify resistance, solidarity, and joy. Originally recorded April 26, 2025. GUESTSNina Shoman-Dajani currently serves as the Executive Director for the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. She is also a community college administrator and teaches Middle Eastern Studies at Saint Xavier University and has served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC). She is a contributor to the recently published book Teaching Palestine: Lessons, Stories, Voices and one of the authors of Beyond Erasure and Profiling: Cultivating Strong and Vibrant Arab American Communities in Chicagoland. Nina is a co-chair for the MENA/SWANA Caucus and the Transnational/International Committee of the National Advisory Council for the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE), a former board member for the Arab American Studies Association and a board member for the Syrian Community Network, a refugee resettlement agency in Chicago.Justin Mashouf is an award-winning filmmaker and artist based in Los Angeles. He is the co-founder and Executive Producer of Stay Focused Pictures, a production company specializing in documentary development and production. A finalist for the Pillars Fund x Riz Ahmed inaugural Artist Fellowship, Justin's career spans over 10 countries and includes feature films, commercials, TV specials and documentaries including his CPFF-accepted short film $17.74.Hamzah Furqani is the protagonist of $17.74. Raised in Los Angeles, Hamzah is a former gang member who spent 39 years incarcerated. In 1989, while serving his sentence, he began his journey of personal transformation by converting to Islam. Later, while incarcerated and before his release, he donated a month-long paycheck to support relief efforts in Gaza. Follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!--Mentioned Topics & More Info: Related episodes:Ep. 113 - Palestinian Liberation: Divestment, Encampments, & Institutions ft. AmoonaEp. 112 - DNC: Pt. 2 ft. Nesreen Hasan & Nadiah AlyafaiEp. 111 - Palestinian Liberation: Anti-Zionism & Jewish Solidarity ft. Rabbi Brant Rosen & Lesley WilliamsEp. 102 - Palestinian Liberation: In This Moment ft. Muhammad SankariProfessor Refaat Alareer (video, 1, 2)--CREDITS: Intro song from Leve Palestina (Hijazi Remix ) 2023 | تحيا فلسطين ; outro soundbite from Refaat Alareer. Audio engineered by Kassandra Borah.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown brings back Damon A. Williams and Daniel Kisslinger of Respair Production & Media, a movement journalism and media hub creating and supporting the media needed to reshape culture toward liberation. The double duos discuss the creation, process, and impact of their half hour experimental documentary One Million Experiments (2023). Stewarded by Interrupting Criminalization and built out of AirGo's podcast series of the same name, the film showcases a collection of community-based safety projects that explore how we define and create wellness and reduce harm in a world without police and prisons. This is the inaugural episode of a new BnB series entitled “The Wrap Up” which invites collaborators and community partners to take a behind the scenes look at SoapBox films, unpacking the nuts and bolts while thinking more deeply about power, struggle, and storytelling. Once again, let's get meta! Originally recorded April 2025. GUESTSDamon and Daniel are the Founders of Respair Production & Media, and the Creators of AirGo. Respair Production and Media is a movement journalism and media hub creating and supporting the media needed to reshape culture toward liberation. AirGo is the flagship show of Respair, the podcast features over 300 episodes of conversations reshaping the culture of Chicago and beyond for the more liberatory and creative.Damon A. Williams is a movement builder, organizer, hip-hop performing artist, educator and media maker from the South Side of Chicago. He is the Co-Founder of the #LetUsBreathe Collective, an artistic activist organization birthed out of supply trips to support the Ferguson uprising in resistance to the murder of Mike Brown. The Collective operates The #BreathingRoom Space, a Black-led liberation space for arts, organizing, and healing on Chicago's South Side. In honor of his leadership, Damon been named a TIME Magazine's 2020 Guardian of the Year, a Field Foundation 2021 Leader for a New Chicago, a Margaret Burroughs Fellow by the UIC Social Justice Initiative's Portal Project, and a Power of Cash Narrative Change Fellow by Economic Security of Illinois. Follow Damon on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.Daniel Kisslinger is a Chicago-based host and producer who creates dialogue-based media showcasing the stories, voices, and artworks of communities challenging power, reconfiguring public life, and reimagining our world. An Anthem Award-winning filmmaker, Lisagor Award-winning journalist, and twice Webby-nominated podcast producer, Daniel has also been named an Artist Fellow as part of the UIC Social Justice Initiative's Portal Project, as well as a Power of Cash Narrative Change Fellow by Economic Security of Illinois. His words have been featured in NY Times bestseller We Do This ‘Til We Free Us and The New Normal, a salon journal published by The Hoodoisie. Daniel has been the Executive Producer of the Poetry Foundation's acclaimed VS podcast, and editor of CTU Speaks!, a podcast produced by the Chicago Teachers Union. He also works as a consultant helping organizations, individuals, and companies build humanizing, subject-to-subject podcasts from scratch. Follow Daniel on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.Mentioned in episode:Ep. 34 - Movement Media ft. Damon Williams & Daniel Kisslinger of AirGoSubmit your experiment!Tom Callahan's film Remembering WaterMalik Alim & The Breathing Room (1, 2, 3)Freedom Square#NoCopAcademy campaign and filmRemembering RonnieManPeople's Grab ‘n' Go (1, 2, 3) which is now Market BoxFollow Respair on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. Follow AirGo on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and listen to them on Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts!--CREDITS: Intro music Family Still by Matt Muse and outro music Messy Moments by Damon A. Williams. Episode photo by Qurissy Lopez. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles and Kassandra Borah. Production assistance by Jamie Price.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

BrownTown takes on  "La Plataforma 2" (2024) with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) about a vertical prison where those inside are fed off of a descending platform, leaving only the diminishing leftovers for those below. BrownTown and the alderhomies breakdown the second installment noting the commentary on governance systems, resistance factions and social movements, relational ethics, and abolition.--GUESTSAlderwoman Rossana Rodriguez (33rd), now in her second term, is the Chair of the Committee on Health and Human Relations for the Chicago City Council. Rossana was born and raised in Puerto Rico and started organizing at six years old when her community had to fight for access to running water. Organizing soon became a fundamental part of her life and remains her main tool within her work in government. Rossana came to Chicago after austerity and budget cuts forced her to leave her job as a drama teacher in Puerto Rico. She originally moved to Albany Park to work as a theatre director with a youth theatre company 14 years ago and chose to stay and organize around housing, education, immigrant rights, and mental health. She is the chief sponsor for the Treatment Not Trauma legislation and continues to organize with grassroots organizations to transform Chicago. Follow Rossana on Facebook, Instagram, (personal, political) and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 33rd ward services at Rossanafor33.org.Alderperson Jessie Fuentes (26th) is a queer Latina grassroots organizer, educator, and public policy advocate with over a decade of experience in education, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, community development and sustainability. A lifelong Chicagoan and resident of the Northwest side, Jessie spent most of her formative years growing up and working in Humboldt Park. Through personal resilience, community support and restorative justice, Jessie turned her most traumatic life experiences into tools to uplift others facing similar circumstances. In her previous roles as an educator and Dean of Students at Roberto Clemente Community Academy and as an organizer around issues of violence prevention, housing affordability, and re-entry for returning citizens, she convened and connected community stakeholders to create community-driven solutions to the biggest problems facing Humboldt Park. Jessie recently served as the Director of Policy and Youth Advocacy at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. She Co-chaired the Violence Prevention program of the Illinois Latino Agenda and is also a Founding Member of the Illinois Latino Agenda 2.0, focusing on community development and Latine equity. Follow Jessie on Facebook (personal, political), Instagram (personal, political), and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 26th ward at Jessiefor26thward.com. Opinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, Rossana, and Jessie as individuals, not their organizations or places of work. CREDITS: Intro music Revolución and outro music End Credits by Aitor Etxebarria from the film's soundtrack. Episode photo from La Plataforma 2. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles and Kassandra Borah. Production assistance by Jamie Price.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown finally talks Trump 2.0, local collective resistance, the election blame game, and the half century of neoliberalism got us here. As the news cycles have been dominated by Trump, tariffs, Musk, and the MAGA mess, BrownTown speaks candidly on the the first few months of the new (yet old) administration, and how to not only resist the re-branded fascist takeover but unapologetically and collectively fight it and win (without relying on the same institutions that made it possible in the first place). BrownTown also reflects on where the podcast and SoapBox at-large was during Trump 1.0, comparing and contrasting both moments. Caullen and David unpack the Right's “shock and awe” strategy, Chicago ICE raids and the community response, Trumpism and weaponization of whiteness, and when the manniverse met the broligarchy. As we try to sift through poor analysis of this moment with even worse political actors, we're left with the words from comrade Asha Ransby-Sporn who proclaims that "we owe it to each other to resist attempts to disorient, divide, and distract us from the reality of government takeover by the billionaire Right […] The conditions of the moment demand that we are clear-eyed enough to meet the conjuncture and find openings for those new paths forward” (In These Times). Originally recorded February 21, 2025. Mentioned in or related to episode:Previous BnB episodes on Trump 1.0's first 100 days & Decoding TrumpismGovernor Pritzker's State of the State addressCaullen's Trumpism: A Brief History 2016 articleVoting Stats (1, 2, 3) CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Jasmine Crockett talking to a reporter; outro music tv off by Kendrick Lamar featuring Lefty Gunplay. Audio recorded by Kiera Battles and engineered by Kassandra Borah.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown on BrownTown. BnB audio engineers Kiera Battles and Kassandra Borah hop off the 1's and 2's and onto the guest couch to help BrownTown breakdown the podcast's episodes of 2024. Last year we continued our Palestinian Liberation series, gave analysis on local and federal elections, revealed new SoapBox moves, unpacked the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, reconnected with old media-maker comrades, and had our first in-distillery recording. For better or worse, here's to 2025!With 12 total full episodes, 2024 brought 11 guest episodes (5 repeat, 8 new; 4 with 2+ guests), only 1 with no guests, only 1 virtual recordings, 4 series-type episodes, and 0 bonus episodes. In addition to the breakdown, the expanded team breaks bread about leadership,  creative careers, and this political moment. Originally recorded January 30, 2025. Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application or right here! GUESTSKiera Battles is nearing the completion of her master's program at Berklee College of Music. During her time there, she has begun laying the foundation for her own business as part of her culminating project. This venture is dedicated to empowering individuals in the music industry, helping them develop the skills and confidence needed to make a significant impact in the field. As her business grows, Kiera plans to continue pursuing her diverse passions—whether that's through audio, venue work, making waves in the music industry, or being an absolute menace.Kassandra Borah is a soon-to-be graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where she currently serves as president of the Women in Audio Club. This May, she will be among the first graduates of the college's newly launched Sound Design program. With a deep foundation in music performance and composition, she was inspired to expand her expertise into the realm of audio for visual media. Passionate and driven, Kassandra is excited to launch her career, with a particular focus on sound design for animation and video games. CREDITS: Intro music from Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl LIX Halftime performance; outro music Free Luigi by Cooked Music. Audio recorded by Troy Alim and engineered by Kassandra Borah.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown travels to CH Distillery in West Loop, Chicago to talk drinking, distilling, and dialectics with Head Blender Tyrus Yamagiwa. Tyrus walks BrownTown through his journey blending bourbon for Jeppson's Bourbon who acquired the Chicago famous Malört beverage in 2018. The gang discuss blending 101, bourbon preferences, "breaking bread" with community over a shared practice, Marxist dialectical materialism, compulsory drinking culture and more! They even take some sips of Jeppson's finest. Salud! Originally recorded December 23, 2024. GUESTTyrus started at CH Distillery in 2015 and is now the Head Blender for Jeppson's Bourbon. He started brewing beer on his own before learning bourbon blending from friends and future colleagues. Follow Tyrus on Instagram and Twitter.Visit CH Distillery in West Loop, Chicago, and follow them on Facebook and Instagram. Visit Jeppson's Bourbon site and the Malört site and Linktree. Catch more of Tyrus and CH on the Key in the Lake Podcast, Storytime Podcast, and their article in InsideHook.--CREDITS: Intro music A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey. Outro music A Waltz for Old Jeppson (Carl's Theme) AKA The Malört Song by Archie Powell and The Experts (YouTube, Spotify). Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Antonio Frausto, Partner at CH Distillery.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown shares space with Amoona, Chicago-based Palestinian student organizer, to further the conversation on Palestinian liberation, focusing on the student encampment movement in spring 2024 and how institutions have responded since. After 140+ college campuses put on demonstrations for Gaza solidarity, the war machine drudges on with the help of school administrators and other institutions suspending, evicting, and even firing students, professors, and employees over their support for Palestine and stance against genocide. As the student intifada slows during this time, what does the interconnected and transnational struggle for collective liberation look like going into 2025? Here's their take. Originally recorded December 9, 2024. GUESTSAmoona is a Palestinian student organizer currently living and working in Chicago who is also very connected with abolitionist work across the state of Illinois. She extends shoutouts to Jisoor, Palestinian Youth Movement, NSJP, and PNAP!--Mentioned Topics & More Info: Episode correction: The abduction and murder of the 43 students in Southern Mexico was in 2014, not 2012/2013 as stated.Related episodes:Ep. 112 - DNC: Pt. 2 ft. Nesreen Hasan & Nadiah AlyafaiEp. 111 - Palestinian Liberation: Anti-Zionism & Jewish Solidarity ft. Rabbi Brant Rosen & Lesley WilliamsEp. 102 - Palestinian Liberation: In This Moment ft. Muhammad SankariThe HoodoisieBoycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)Students, faculty say the UChicago is backing out on its promise to host Gaza scholars (WBEZ)Northwestern, 5-day encampment (coverage from TRiiBE, Daily Northwestern, WGN on agreement)Pro-Palestinian protestors demonstrate against Barnard, Columbia University trustees (Barnard Bulletin, Columbia Spectator)Swarthmore student faces expulsion for using bullhorn (The intercept)Professors condemn Columbia crackdown on pro-Palestine students (Guardian)The Rundown: New protest rules at Chicago universities (WBEZ)UC Berkeley: +200 students arrested 3 hospitalized Columbia University calls on NYPD to disperse crowd arresting +100 (Higher Ed Drive)UChicago withholding degrees (Chicago Maroon)--CREDITS: Intro song from Rap Street Palestine (Ard Kan3an & ana Palestine) cypher; outro song HINDS HALL2 by Macklemore ft. Anees, MC Abdul, Amer Zahr. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by unknown of DePaul University Egan statue during Pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide action.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown talks all things DNC aftermath with US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) organizers Nesreen Hasan and Nadiah Alyafia. The new friends breakdown DNC week from the formal mass March on DNC protests, autonomous disruptions, anti-war/genocide political education programming, to the convention spectacle itself and what it meant (or didn't mean) for Chicago on the national scale. Originally recorded September 7, 2024. GUESTSNesreen Hasan is a Chicago-based Palestinian community organizer with USPCN who has been organizing for nearly 15 years. Nadiah Alyafai is a proud Yemeniyeh who also has been organizing with USPCN for 8 years, and advocating for her people ever since she was little.Learn more about USPCN's work on their website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Mentioned in or related to episode:Ep. 111 - Palestinian Liberation: Anti-Zionism & Jewish Solidarity ft. Rabbi Brant Rosen & Lesley WilliamsEp. 110 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 1 ft. Bill AyersEp. 102: Palestinian Liberation: In this Moment ft. Muhammad SankriMarch on the DNC 2024F*** the GNC Convention from the DissentersAhead of the DNC, City Hall spent $814,000 on a fence to lock out homeless people, (Chicago Sun-Times)Ana Navarro (1, 2)Active vs. Passive  voice breakdown from @sunnmcheauxCorrection: Atlanta Olympics were in 1996, not 1994--CREDITS: Intro and outro soundbites from the March on DNC protests filmed by David and Caullen. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Jordan Esparza.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown invites Rabbi Brant Rosen and Lesley Williams of Tzedek Chicago, a proudly anti-Zionist intentional Jewish congregation based on core values of justice, equity, and solidarity. In this installment, they discuss this current moment in the struggle to Free Palestine with special regards to Brant and Lesley's positionality as Jewish faith leaders and scholars. The gang distinguishes "anti-Zionism" from "anti-Semitism", discusses AIPAC's consistent meddling in US elections, the strategy behind ceasefire resolutions, the work of Palestinian and other scholars writing in solidarity, and more! Ultimately, BrownTown and guests uplift the work in the past 11 months (and beyond) while trying to answer what real solidarity looks like and how to reclaim Judaism from Zionism. #FreePalestine. Originally recorded August 12, 2024, a week before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. GUESTSBrant Rosen is the founding rabbi of the congregation Tzedek Chicago and the co-founder of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council. His writings have appeared in many journals and publications, including Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, The Nation, and Truthout. He is also the author of the popular Jewish social justice blog, Shalom Rav; his curated collection of blog posts and reader comments, Wrestling in the Daylight: A Rabbi's Path to Palestinian Solidarity was published by Just World Books in 2012 (updated in 2017). In 2020, he was named as a Topol Fellow in Conflict and Peace in the Religion, Conflict and Public Life Institute at Harvard Divinity School. Follow Brant on his blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.Lesley Williams has organized around anti-racism, Islamophobia and Palestinian rights for Jewish Voice for Peace in Chicago and served on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace Action. As part of the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, Lesley participated in two solidarity and resistance West Bank delegations with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists and is on the CJNV strategies and values team. She has spoken on Islamophobia and antisemitism at the American Studies Association conference,  Democratic Socialists of America, the MAS-ICNA conference  the American Muslims for Palestine conference, and at several universities and church groups, and recently appeared on the Friends of Sabeel program: Countering Christian Zionism. She is a consultant and speaker for the PARCEO "Antisemitism From a Framework of Collective Liberation" curriculum. She reviews books on race, Islamophobia and Palestine for Booklist magazine, and her writing has appeared in Truthout, Mondoweiss and AWBC Magazine. Follow Lesley on her blog, Facebook, and Instagram.Follow Jewish Voice for Peace on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter;  Jewish Voice for Peace Action on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Follow Tzedek Chicago on Facebook and Instagram.--Writings by Lesley:To be Black and Jewish after CharlottesvilleThe Anti-Defamation League Kills the Black/Jewish AllianceWe Cannot Fight Anti-Semitism and Anti-Black Racism in IsolationWhite Jews: deal with your privilege and call out Jewish support for white supremacyMessage to my white Jewish friends: I feel no more fear and rage after Pittsburgh than I feel every day as a black person in this countryThis is NOT What America Looks LikeWritings by Brant:Zionism and the Quest for Peace in the Holy LandOn Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for JusticeReclaiming Judaism from Zionism: Stories of Personal Transformation. Op-ed in support of Chicago's Ceasefire ResolutionAmid Israel's Brutality in Gaza, It's Time to Commit to Anti-ZionismProtesting Genocide at the DNC in Chicago: Beyond “One Issue”Mentioned Topics & More Info: Ep. 102 - Palestinian Liberation: In This Moment ft. Muhammad SankariHoda Katebi on holding your institutions accountableDrop The ADL CampaignInternational Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine - Webinar featuring Lesley and BrantPalestine Book AwardsBlack Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of ColorThe Message by Ta -Nehesi CoatesAIPAC be AIPAC'n (Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar)Gazans say "thank you" to American university encampmentsCeasefire Resolution in EvanstonJournalists Ghassan Kanafani and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic IntifadaWe Charge Genocide: 1951 and 2014--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Brant Rosen at a Jewish Voice for Peace rally during the Democratic National Convention week. Outro song from Rap Street Palestine (Ard Kan3an & ana Palestine) cypher. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown is honored to be joined by an OG in the game -- activist, organizer, and professor Bill Ayers. The gang discusses the similarities, differences, and peculiarities of Chicago hosting the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and in 2024. Bill bears witness to the socio-political context leading up to the 1968 Convention while they analyzes the role of grassroots movement-building (or the "fire from below") on electoral politics, anti-war/genocide activism, and building towards revolution. Originally recorded August 12, 2024, a week before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. "Two things that are never on the ballot are war and capitalism." --Bill Ayers GUESTBill Ayers is a long-time activist, organizer, and is formerly a Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, (now retired). Bill has written extensively about social justice and democracy, education and the cultural contexts of schooling, and teaching as an essentially intellectual, ethical, and political enterprise. His books includeTeaching toward Freedom, Fugitive Days: A Memoir; Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident, Race Course: Against White Supremacy, Demand the Impossible! A Radical Manifesto, and most recently When Freedom is the Question, Abolition is the Answer: Reflections on Collective Liberation.Read more about Bill on Influence Watch or his website and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Listen to his podcast Under the Tree and follow it on Instagram, and Twitter. Mentioned in or related to episode:Views from the front lines of Chicago's 1968 DNC protests (Chicago Sun-Times)Pro-Palestinian activists prepare to rally at Democratic convention in Chicago (LA Times)Will this year's Democratic National Convention in Chicago be a repeat of 1968? (WBEZ)March on the DNC 2024F*** the GNC Convention from the Dissenters--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Martin Luther King's Jr.'s last speech "I've been to the Mountain Top". Outro music Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P  by Ric Wilson. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by unknown.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown gets philosophical with return guest CA Davis, multimedia storyteller and creator of a LATTO Thought, an audio docuseries revolving around the history of race in America. Halfway through 2024, the team discusses intimate journeys of introspection in the context of fractured and generative interpersonal relationships, current events, and cultural work in an effort to create a better world. From experimenting with psychedelics to familial proximity to the military industrial complex to Black Buddhism, BrownTown and CA unpack the uncertain future of the American experiment...and their place in it. After all, “The horrors of the world exist and yet so do we.” Originally recorded July 2, 2024. GUESTCA is, above all else, a storyteller. His mediums range from filmmaking to sound design, documentaries, composing music, and essaying, all of which revolve around the history of race in America as well as broad existential queries and experiences of human life. Having taken a hiatus from his audio documentary series, a LATTO Thought, as well as from filmmaking as a whole, CA is currently rekindling a project about his dad's and grandfather's legacies of being Black in America and their roles (and benefits) being in the US military.--Follow CA on his site CADavis.me, LinkedIn, and Instagram!Follow and listen to a LATTO Thought Podcast on your application of choice; learn more at LATTOthought.com; follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and toss the bag on Patreon!--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Michael Pollan's "Same Brain" metaphor. Outro music Schism by TOOL from the movie's soundtrack. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles and Kassandra Borah. Episode photo by Joe Martinez.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown takes on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022) with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the first for Whiskey & Watching installment of 2024! BrownTown and the return guests breakdown the film and its predecessor's social impact and commentary on imperialism, geo-politics, science and spirituality, diasporic traditions, Black and Brown solidarity, and so much more. Originally recorded May 30, 2024.Mentioned in episode:BnB Alum Ricardo Gamboa on Chicago's Gaza Ceasefire resolution#TreatmentNotTrauma campaign and planUS-Indian Boarding School History2020 Cicero & Cermak: Black & Brown Tensions (1, 2, 3)--GUESTSAlderwoman Rossana Rodriguez (33rd), now in her second term, is the Chair of the Committee on Health and Human Relations for the Chicago City Council. Rossana was born and raised in Puerto Rico and started organizing at six years old when her community had to fight for access to running water. Organizing soon became a fundamental part of her life and remains her main tool within her work in government. Rossana came to Chicago after austerity and budget cuts forced her to leave her job as a drama teacher in Puerto Rico. She originally moved to Albany Park to work as a theatre director with a youth theatre company 14 years ago and chose to stay and organize around housing, education, immigrant rights, and mental health. She is the chief sponsor for the Treatment Not Trauma legislation and continues to organize with grassroots organizations to transform Chicago. Follow Rossana on Facebook, Instagram, (personal, political) and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 33rd ward services at Rossanafor33.org.Alderperson Jessie Fuentes (26th) is a queer Latina grassroots organizer, educator, and public policy advocate with over a decade of experience in education, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, community development and sustainability. A lifelong Chicagoan and resident of the Northwest side, Jessie spent most of her formative years growing up and working in Humboldt Park. Through personal resilience, community support and restorative justice, Jessie turned her most traumatic life experiences into tools to uplift others facing similar circumstances. In her previous roles as an educator and Dean of Students at Roberto Clemente Community Academy and as an organizer around issues of violence prevention, housing affordability, and re-entry for returning citizens, she convened and connected community stakeholders to create community-driven solutions to the biggest problems facing Humboldt Park. Jessie recently served as the Director of Policy and Youth Advocacy at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. She Co-chaired the Violence Prevention program of the Illinois Latino Agenda and is also a Founding Member of the Illinois Latino Agenda 2.0, focusing on community development and Latine equity. Follow Jessie on Facebook (personal, political), Instagram (personal, political), and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 26th ward at Jessiefor26thward.com. Opinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, Rossana, and Jessie as individuals, not their organizations or places of work. CREDITS: Intro soundbite and episode photo from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer and outro music Con La Brisa by Ludwig Göransson from the movie's soundtrack. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown on BrownTown. Once again, our comrades build on previous discussions from 2019 (Ep. 39) and 2020 (Ep. 59) on the interrelationship between working within and outside of the movement media landscape while balancing a healthy personal life, financial well-being, and everything in between. The duo situate what recent growth means for SoapBox as an entity while also attempting to navigate the inherent contradictions of trying to dismantle capitalism while working within it. In this moment colored by genocide in Gaza, mass migration due to decades of neoliberal policy, and revanchist regressive public policy across the US, we are reminded of the necessity of liberation work as well as the toll it takes on our everyday. How do organizers, activists, creators, and freelancers at large sustain the self in order to sustain the work? How do we do fight the power while avoiding burnout and paying the rent? Here's BrownTown's take. Originally recorded April 17, 2024. Other topics mentioned:Ep. 95 - HomeEp. 64 - Non-Profit Industrial Complex ft. Lizette GarzaOne Fair Wage Ordinance Approved by Chicago City Council (NBC)One Million Experiments (2023)No Cop Academy: The Documentary (2023) CREDITS: Intro sound bite from The Boondocks. Outro song Thank you, Goodbye by GENTA. Audio engineering all by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Glitter Guts.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown talks memes, mass mobilization, and more with Camila Cuevas (AKA @ComradeCami), Chilena expat living in Florida, USA. She uplifts liberation struggles and provides social movement resources through memes and social media via what she calls "thirst-trapping the masses into class consciousness." The team dissects our current moment in the social media landscape, the influence of TikTok on Palestine and other issues, how to push radical politics in a policed tech-world controlled by billionaires, and breakdown their favorite political memes. Originally recorded April 17, 2024. "Dude. They have all the money in the world to make propaganda…AND WE GOT MEMES!" Follow Camila on Instagram @comradecami (backup @issacommiemami), Twitter, and listen to the 805 Uncensored Podcast. Mentioned in episode:Ep. 77 - Independent Media Creation in the Age of Spin (& Capital) ft. Sophie Elizabeth JamesUS-backed coup in Chile: Salvador Allende & Augusto Pinochet (NPR)The Supreme Court effectively abolishes the right to mass protest in three US states (Vox)MEMES: Communist Squidward, 9/11 (slide 7), Brandon v. Vallas, rubbing hands dudePolitical meme/video accounts to follow:@this_is_memecoreJames Rehwald@blackleftiss@buddyhead_@peachteacommunist@cocktailsandcapitalism@abnormalize.being@anfemwaves@wlotspod@thisamericanleft@seedingsovereigntyCaitlin Johnstone (IG, Twitter, YouTube) CREDITS: Intro soundbite from @seansvv on TikTok. Outro music Harlem Shake by Baauer. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown chops it up with Dixon Romeo, Executive Director of NotMeWe and organizer with the Bring Chicago Home campaign. On March 19th, 2024, Chicago voters have the opportunity in the state primary elections to restructure the already existing, one-time Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) "on properties when they are sold to create a substantial and legally dedicated revenue stream to provide permanent affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness" (BringChicagoHome.org). The gang breaks down the years of organizing it took to get here and the ballot measure itself which increases the existing flat tax from .75% for the total price of all homes to 2% on the home price over $1 million and 3% for on the home price over $1.5 million, yet decreases for all homes under $1 million (~93% of new home buyers). BrownTown and Dixon also push back on real estate lobby-backed lies and places this moment in broader social and political context regarding the mere existence of homelessness in the richest, most powerful country in the world. Get in loser, we're Bringing Chicago Home! Originally recorded March 1, 2024. GUESTSDixon Romeo is a lifelong South Shore resident and executive director of Not Me We, a grassroots community group building power for poor and working-class folks in the neighborhood. Dixon is also an organizer with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, which includes organizations across Chicago and residents at risk of being displaced by the Obama Center and the University of Chicago. Follow Dixon on Instagram and Twitter; and NowMeWe on Facebook and Instagram!Support Bring Chicago Home on their website and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! Vote now until March 19, 2024. SoapBox Micro-doc PSA coming soon! Mentioned in episode and more information:Lightfoot's Promises to Use Federal COVID-19 Relief Funds to Transform Chicago Falling Short (WTTW)Bring Chicago Home referendum info (WGN, Video)Chicago Coalition for the HomelessFebruary 23rd lawsuit and March 6th appeal win for BCHOpinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, and Dixon.CREDITS: Intro soundbite from ABC Chicago. Outro music from Journey by Tobe Nwigwe. Episode photo from Chicago Coalition for the Homeless' website. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown sits down with co-authors of the "Girl, I Guess" Progressive Voter Guide, three-peat guest Stephanie Skora and newcomer Raeghn Draper to talk all things 2024 Cook County Democratic Primary Elections. From ethics and attitudes in long-form opinion journalism to new endorsement standards surrounding Palestinian liberation, the gang situates the relationship between electoralism and the Left in this moment and extrapolates its potential for the future. Originally recorded February 8, 2024. GUESTSStephanie Skora is a writer, educator, speaker, organizer, and non-profiteer based in Chicago, Illinois. She lives as a Stone Top hard femme trans Lesbian and working-class anti-Zionist Ashkenazi Jew, and mobilizes her identities to work in solidarity with Palestinians, to queer Jewish spaces, and to fight for justice and liberation for all trans people. Stephanie is the Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of Brave Space Alliance, serves as Board Treasurer for the Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, and is the co-author and editor of the "Girl, I Guess" Progressive Voter Guide. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.Raeghn Draper is a Chicago-based writer, community organizer, and hospitality professional originally from Milwaukee, WI. Since 2019, they have been involved in the Chicago social justice scene and co-founded the Chicago Hospitality Accountable Actions Database (CHAAD) Project. This commitment extends to their current role at Futures Institute as the Lead Storyteller, where they blend creativity with a drive for social change. Through their activism and advocacy, they strive to raise awareness of the issues that affect workers of color in the industry and work toward meaningful change. Follow them on Instagram. Mentioned in episode and more information:Previous episodes. 80 & 60 with Stephanie SkoraKim Foxx's trajectory (1, 2, 3, 4)Rossana Rodriguez: Passing the Chicago Ceasefire vote & 2019 election winHow the U.S. Drove Venezuelans North (In These Times)New endorsement standards regarding PalestineBring Chicago Home & its Golden Shrug!Injustice Watch's 2024 Cook County Judicial Primary Election GuideOpinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, Stephanie, and Raeghn as individuals, not their organizations or places of work.CREDITS: Intro and outro music from Polls by Piff Marti. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown on BrownTown. BnB audio engineer Kiera Battles is back with her behind-the-scenes insights on the podcast as the team discusses the episodes of 2023. Last year brought the continuation of the Whiskey and Watching series, a host of episodes surrounding the 2023 Chicago Municipal Elections, a resurgent discussion of #NoCopAcademy in the midst of the #StopCopCity struggle in Atlanta, and plenty of reflective conversations on the podcast, SoapBox at large, and the direction of the movement media ecosystem. For better or worse, here's to 2024!With 17 total full episodes, 2023 brought 15 guest episodes (6 repeat guests; 8  with 2+ guests), only 1 with no guests, only 2 virtual recordings, 6 series-type episodes, and 2 bonus episodes. In addition to the breakdown, BrownTown chops it up about recording in different locations before settling into the new SoapBox office, their favorite episodes, and their hopes for 2024. Originally recorded December 19, 2023. GUEST: Kiera Battles is the BnB audio engineer and a music industry hopeful. Starting on the stage with choir and orchestra and later transitioning to life behind the scenes, music has always been with her. She began her audio journey during her junior year of high school as part of a vocational program to later get her BA from Columbia College Chicago in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing on Audio Arts with a concentration in live sound as well as Music Business. She continues to work in the audio and business side of the industry while earning her MA in Music Business at Berklee College of Music to later gain the tools and knowledge to start her own company. CREDITS: Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz. Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application! For more information on the podcast, check out Bourbon 'n BrownTown on the SoapBox website.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown invites Muhammad Sankari from the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) to discuss this current moment in the struggle to Free Palestine. The gang frames Israel's genocide in Gaza and assault on the other territories in historical context with regards to the long history of resistance struggles across the globe. #FreePalestine. Originally recorded December 19, 2023. GUESTMuhammad Sankari is an organizer with the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), a national, multi-generational Palestinian and Arab community-based organization in the U.S. fighting for the total liberation of Palestine. Follow USPCN on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!--Mentioned Topics & More Info:All Out for Palestine - Action ToolkitBlack and Palestinian Organizing ToolkitEpistemicide according to BnB Alum Ricardo GamboaWhite House funding for Weapons Sales in Israel (In These Times)Why Journalists Must Speak out About Gaza (In These Times)South Africans in Israel (Middle East Eye)Confronting colonialist propaganda, Zionism and the Civilized/Holy (TRiiBE)Biden says he has 'no confidence' in Palestinian death count (Reuters)White House walks back Biden's claim he saw children beheaded by Hamas (Aljazeera)The Ferguson-Palestine connection (1, 2, 3)Hoda Katebi on holding your institutions accountablePro-Palestinian Protesters take Chicago's Lakeshore DriveChicago Elected Staffers demand Ceasefire Resolution (1, 2)"Israeli Diaper Forces"George Khoury of USPCN--CREDITS: Intro song MTAKTAK شب جديد - متكتك by Shabjdeed and outro song 47SOUL by Dabke System. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Jordan Esparza.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown shares space with frequent collaborator, Isiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney, photographer, A&R, organizer, and overall creative from Chicago's South Side. ThoughtPoet and BrownTown unpack the Afro-futuristic and "hood empathetic" themes of his photography work, his and SoapBox's collaboration in the "One Million Experiments" film, lessons from the 2020 uprisings, and more. What does community-building really look like in Chicago's growing multidisciplinary creative scene when coupled with abolitionist politics and possibilities? Here's their take. Originally recorded October 25, 2023. GUESTIsiah “ThoughtPoet” Veney is a photographer, writer, A&R, and creative director from the Chatham and Burnside area of Chicago. While recently being named a Black history maker by the Chicago Sun Times and ever since his highlighted works with Truestar Magazine showcasing Chicago's musical talent, he has been on a mission to capture and express powerful opinions and perceptions through imagery and writing. His #HeartMelanin portrait series (since 2013), is a collection of emotions and snapshots of the Black Chicago renaissance. He is also founder of the creative agency Unsocial Aesthetics (site, IG) which helps artists with their creative pursuits while also explaining the Black Chicago origins connected to the scene. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter!--Mentioned Topics:Ep. 95 - HomeChicago Drill 'n' ActivismBlack Chicago Renaissance (TRiiBE)Love and Struggle Photos#SadBoyEnergy (The Prelude) (Chicago Reader)Testimonies from the Land: A photo essay (South Side Weekly)Damon Williams' "One Hundred Other Jobs" postOne Million Experiments (site, IG posts: 1, 2, 3, 4)Ep. 13 - Chi DNA: Black History & Resistance in Chicago ft. Kofi Ademola--CREDITS: Intro song Chronic Chronicles by Water & Farmabeats and outro song Smoke Anthem by Stock Marley. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Jansen B.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown on BrownTown. Join Caullen and David as they celebrate BnB's 100th episode with guest hosts and homies Samantha Grund-Wickramasekera and Camille Williams. Sam is a long-time listener and SoapBox board member while Camille was one of the first podcast guests. As collaborators and friends of BrownTown, they have seen the podcast and SoapBox as a whole grow over the years and detail that as they lead a reflection on where the podcast has been, where it is, and where it's going. Here's to 100 more!GUESTSSamantha Grund-Wickramasekera is a proud Chicago native and Chicago Public School graduate who grew up in West Rogers Park. She graduated summa cum laude from DePaul University with a double major in political science and women and gender studies, with a minor in LGBTQ studies. Samantha became a Double Demon when she attended DePaul's College of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctor and a Healthcare Law certificate in 2017. Since then, she has served as the senior judicial law clerk to the Honorable Franklin U. Valderrama in the Circuit Court of Cook County and as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois. Currently, she serves as an appellate judicial law clerk to the Honorable Cynthia Y. Cobbs in the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, where she reviews and decides state-based criminal and civil appeals. She also serves as an adjunct professor at DePaul's College of Law, focusing on appellate advocacy. Samantha has served as a board member on Soapbox's Board of Directors since 2020 and has authored various editorials for the organization. Finally, Samantha is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and the daughter of a Sri Lankan immigrant. She is proudly brown, Jewish and intersectional, loves lifting weights and playing soccer, will judge a restaurant entirely on the quality of its French fries, and is the mother of the best doggo in the world, Hallo Mahalo.Camille Williams is a South Side resident, a community member whose foundation is built on advocacy. Camille is currently studying Health Science at Rush University and is the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Lead at Chicago Votes.Mentioned Episodes:Ep. 7 - Public Health & The Death Gap ft. Jessica PuriEp. 8.3 - Sexism in Mixed CompanyEp. 14 - Chi DNA: Electoral & Radical Politics ​ft. Camille WilliamsEp. 19 - Happy Father's Day ft. Larone EllisonEp. 25 - *LIVE AT DEPAUL* Chi DNA: Exile, Refuge, & Displacement ft. Jessica Puri & Heavy CrownzEp. 29 - Code Switching ft. Heavy CrownzEp. 37 - Public Health 2.0 ft. Le Greta HudsonEp. 53 - Police Abolition ft. Ariel AtkinsEp. 95 - HomeThe Collective Freedom Project (2021)Whiskey & Watching (2022-Present) CREDITS: Intro music Celebration by Kool & The Gang and outro instrumental Weakest Link by Woozy & GENTA. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz. Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application and SoapBoxPO.com/Podcast for more information.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown again chops it up with the Hoodoisie fam, co-host Ricardo Gamboa and Executive Director Mia Carbajal for "Whiskey & Watching." The team deconstructs the darling 90's comedy-drama "I Like It Like That" (1994), the first large studio film directed by a Black woman. The film centers around an Afro-Latina woman in the Bronx whose life is turned upside down when her husband is arrested after trying to steal a radio during a blackout. While he's incarcerated, she is forced to find a way to survive and take care of her family. Through that process, she comes into her own power, changing the dynamics of their relationship and that of the whole neighborhood. From the technical cinematic aspects of the film to decolonial politics it offers, the squad explores how femininity and sexuality is presented, the messiness and necessity of restorative practices, the intersections and limits of adultism and masculinity, and framing the hood as a site for capitalist production. Through the complexity of it all, Ricardo reminds us that revolution is attainable in the universe of relationships and we are lucky enough to rehearse what that looks like. Originally recorded September 2023. GUESTSThe Hoodoisie (1, 2) is a block-optic, radically politicized, biweekly live news show based in a different gentrifying neighborhood every month. Ricardo and Charles invite artists, activists, comedians, saboteurs, political figures, culture makers, and musical guests to share their experiences, perspectives, and talents. The Hoodoisie gives "the chance for everyday people [particularly queer, working-class, and people of color] to engage in the discourse that shapes their lives that they're often excluded from.” Imagine if The Daily Show got hijacked by radical POC and queers and they brought along a DJ and a bar...that's the Hoodoisie. Come out for a conversation and follow Hoodoisie on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube! Follow Ricardo on Instagram and Twitter and Mia on Instagram and Twitter! CREDITS: Intro soundbite and episode photo from I Like It Like That by Pete Rodriguez. Outro music is Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown shares space with Chicago Southsider and former #NoCopAcademy organizer Freedom X as they reminisce about the height of the campaign and discuss what the new feature documentary means to them in this moment. Come see the film this #NoCopTOBER and be on the lookout for future screenings at Linktr.ee/NoCopAcademy and SoapBoxPO.com/NoCopAcademy! #NoCopDoc GUESTFreedom X is a Chicago South Side revolutionary who was a youth organizer during the #NoCopAcademy campaign from 2017-2019.--For all things #NoCopAcademy, visit Linktr.ee/NoCopAcademy. Peep NoCopAcademy.com for campaign information (Toolkit, Timeline, Chant Playlist, etc.); follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and visit SoapBoxPO.com/NoCopAcademy for all things documentary related! Announcements will also be made via SoapBox Newsletter, sign up!Public screenings as of 10/610/7: International Social Change Film Festival (Chicago)10/10: Announcement for November screenings and more10/15: Gary International Black Film Festival (Gary, IN)10/16: Campaign-produced Screening Malcolm X College (Chicago)10/21: International Social Change Film Festival (Atlanta)No Cop City Anywhere by Benji's Hart (In These Times)Ep. 26 - Coalition-building & #NoCopAcademy ft. Monica Trinidad & Debbie Southorn CREDITS: Intro from No Cop Academy: The Documentary teaser trailer. Outro from the #NoCopAcademy chant playlist! Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown talks water access, water solidarity, and abolition as presence with Avalon Betts-Gatson and Tommy Hagan, organizers with the Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois (CDI). From indigenous land back struggles to fighting for clean drinking water for incarcerated peoples, water is the most basic human right. The gang gets meta discussing organizing strategies within coalitions of various ideologies, access points to abolition, and the role of prisons and carceral logics in current campaigns, recent events, and everyday life. Originally recorded September 11, 2023. GUESTSAvalon Betts-Gaston is a Chicago native, non-licensed attorney, ordained minister, and passionate advocate to dismantle, change and build a legal system focused on humane justice and harm reduction, not just punishment.  Avalon made her public debut as an advocate at a young age when she convinced her fellow Congressional pages to protest apartheid outside of the South African embassy in Washington, D.C.  This passion against various societal injustices continued throughout her life and was super-charged and focused on the criminal legal system after she was wrongfully convicted in 2015. She is the first known formerly incarcerated Board Chairperson for Community Renewal Society, and is also on the FreeHer Campaign Advisory Council, a board member of Chicago Votes, a 2022 JLUSA Leading with Conviction Fellow, and is currently the Project Manager at the Illinois Alliance for Reentry & Justice.Tommy Hagan is the Co-Director of the REAL Youth Initiative. He has spent the last 8 years working to build power with currently incarcerated people in the United States. As a student at the University of Chicago, he helped launch the Bridge Writing Workshop, a weekly creative writing workshop at Cook County Jail. Tommy also participated in and co-wrote a published report on Northwestern University's Children and Family Justice Center's Reimagining Youth Justice Project. From this report, Tommy helped launch the Final 5 Campaign - a coalition fighting to close the 5 remaining youth prisons in Illinois. Part of the Irish diaspora, Tommy is dedicated to ending practices of settler colonialism, imperialism, and military occupation.Learn more about CDI on their site and their SoapBox page; follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.--Mentioned in episode:#StopCopCity RICO charges & #NoCopAcademyThe Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a SlaveRuth Wilson Gilmore - racism definition & "Abolition Geography"Bella BAHHS' January 6th article (TRiiBE)Dylan Rodríguez on Millennials Are Killing Capitalism“We can't have #LandBack without #WaterBack” --Pueblo Action Alliance's #WaterBack campaignWater access struggles (US): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Water access struggles (Internat'l): Honduras, Palestine, Bangladesh --CREDITS: Intro from the SoapBox-produced Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois press conference video on April 21, 2022. Outro song Wavy by Tobe Nwigwe. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown is delighted to -- for the first time -- share a new series from our movement media fam over at AirGo. Help This Garden Grow is a new six-part podcast documentary series telling the story of Hazel Johnson, a visionary of the Environmental Justice movement and a resident of the Altgeld Gardens community on the far South Side of Chicago. Hazel is the founder of People for Community Recovery, a 40 year-old organization that fights to address the toxic industrial pollution that has been killing the members of her community. Over the course of the multigenerational multipart documentary, hosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger talk with organizers, policy-makers, historians, and community members about how PCR emerged and led, the legacy of Ms. Johnson's work, and how this marginalized Chicago pocket built the lineage of today's vibrant, impactful, and necessary modern environmental justice movement. Help This Garden Grow is presented by Respair Production & Media, Elevate, and People for Community Recovery. Subscribe by searching Help This Garden Grow wherever you get your podcasts (Apple, Spotify), check out respairmedia.com for more info, and support the work of People for Community Recovery!--Be on the lookout for future screenings of One Million Experiments and new episodes from Bourbon 'n BrownTown including our 100th episode! CREDITS: Intro audio mixing by Kiera Battles. Episode music credits: Contact by Anitek, Sunrise Drive by South Londo HiFi, Intelligent Galaxy by The Insider, Roy by Blanked, Spilled Beans by Gurty Beats, Life Is by Cosimo Fogg, Merry Bay by Ghostwriter Official, Catch My Breath by Ambient Boy, Be Quiet by Jahzzar, Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown chops it up with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the inaugural recording within the Harambe Studios at the SoapBox office. Chicago City Council is now the most Black and Latine, the most queer, the most politically left, and with the most female leaders in the city's history (and in some cases, currently in the country). With that, the gang discusses Mayor Johnson first 100 days, progressive city policy, the relationship between representation and the co-struggle for liberation, Twitter trolls, and everything in between. GUESTSAlderwoman Rossana Rodriguez (33rd), now in her second term, is the Chair of the Committee on Health and Human Relations for the Chicago City Council. Rossana was born and raised in Puerto Rico and started organizing at six years old when her community had to fight for access to running water. Organizing soon became a fundamental part of her life and remains her main tool within her work in government. Rossana came to Chicago after austerity and budget cuts forced her to leave her job as a drama teacher in Puerto Rico. She originally moved to Albany Park to work as a theatre director with a youth theatre company 14 years ago and chose to stay and organize around housing, education, immigrant rights, and mental health. She is the chief sponsor for the Treatment Not Trauma legislation and continues to organize with grassroots organizations to transform Chicago. Follow Rossana on Facebook, Instagram, (personal, political) and Twitter (personal, ward). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 33rd ward services at Rossanafor33.org.Alderperson Jessie Fuentes (26th) is a queer Latina grassroots organizer, educator, and public policy advocate with over a decade of experience in education, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, community development and sustainability. A lifelong Chicagoan and resident of the Northwest side, Jessie spent most of her formative years growing up and working in Humboldt Park. Through personal resilience, community support and restorative justice, Jessie turned her most traumatic life experiences into tools to uplift others facing similar circumstances. In her previous roles as an educator and Dean of Students at Roberto Clemente Community Academy and as an organizer around issues of violence prevention, housing affordability, and re-entry for returning citizens, she convened and connected community stakeholders to create community-driven solutions to the biggest problems facing Humboldt Park. Jessie recently served as the Director of Policy and Youth Advocacy at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. She Co-chaired the Violence Prevention program of the Illinois Latino Agenda and is also a Founding Member of the Illinois Latino Agenda 2.0, focusing on community development and Latine equity. Follow Jessie on Facebook (personal, political), Instagram (personal, political), and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 26th ward at Jessiefor26thward.com.--Mentioned in episode:Ep. 90 - Electoral & Radical Politics 4.0 ft. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez & Alderperson-elect Jessie FuentesEp. 91 - Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements 2.0 ft. Morgan Elise JohnsonEp. 94 - Police Abolition 2.0 ft. District Councilors David Orlikoff & Ashley VargasSh*t Talks: Studio Sessions - People Power & ElectoralismChicago's Progressive Alderpeople Retain Seats, Look To Expand Influence On City Council — And Even Mayor's Race (Block Club)Chicago Is About To Have The Gayest City Council In The Country (Chicago Magazine)We Have the Most Diverse City Council in Chicago History (Chicago Magazine)Brandon Johnson, LSCs, and police in schools (WBEZ)Treatment Not Truma (1, 2) and the 2022 referendumBring Chicago Home and One Fair WageContentious Co-governance (In These Times) Opinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, Rossana, and Jessie as individuals, not their organizations or places of work.--CREDITS: Intro soundbite of Rossana Rodriguez at the 2020 Freedom Square action. Outro song Contra Todo by iLe. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown sits down with the original "Ad Man" Justin Stillmaker to reflect on the role of advertising as propaganda, its attempts to co-opt social movement language and optics throughout the past half decade, and the odd trajectory of the term "woke" (and the right-wing obsession with hating it). Now in 2023, with unapologetic anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Black, and anti-labor laws and rhetoric sweeping the country, where do we situate so-called “wokeism” in normalizing hate, harm, and regression? With their varied experiences creating and consuming media as well as involvement in liberatory struggles, BrownTown and Justin try to make sense of the relationship between the current political landscape and the media industry . Originally recorded July 10, 2023. 2019's first installment established advertising as a pillar of consumerism serving as a jester for a larger capitalist economic structure while analyzing the then unique wave of commercials co-opting movement optics and language. Episode 2.0 in early 2021 reflected on the institutional and media landscape post-COVID lockdown, post-George Floyd uprisings, and post-2020 elections, where the movement co-optation skewed towards “uplifting Black voices'' regardless of anti-Black policies, shitty marketing, and the mere fact that the capitalism can't breed liberation. GUESTJustin Stillmaker has been a creative director at Publicis and Leo Burnett and has directed commercials for Disney, Target, Dremel, Nickelodeon, and ComEd. He has worked with Fortune 500 brands from Target to TikTok and has a deep understanding of designing and operating Artificial Intelligence platforms, communicating messaging for emerging brands, and developing the visual language of companies and brands. Justin has directed numerous short films, web series, and music videos that have been screened at dozens of film festivals around the country. He has a deep passion for film, basketball, and terrible puns. Follow Justin on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and his site JustinStillmaker.com. Watch and/or listen to his Twitch show Connect the Dots on YouTube or whoever you find your podcasts.--Mentioned Topics:Episode 95 - HomeChicago Drill 'n' ActivismPaul Ryan likes RATM?SNL sketch on Kendall Jenner's Pepsi AdDave Chappelle & "cancel culture"#MeToo & Anziz Ansari “cancelation” (1, 2)CPD sexual assault allegations--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from The Daily Show and outro Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown on BrownTown. As SoapBox (the film and movement media hub that powers Bourbon 'n BrownTown) moves into its first-ever office, Caullen and David discuss their journeys finding and curating spaces to call home, personally and professionally. BrownTown affirms housing as a human right while examining Chicago and America's dialectical relationships -- the housing crisis and Bring Chicago Home legislation, decades of US imperialism and caring for asylum seekers, Wall Street bailouts and billionaire tax breaks while the working many unionize for better workplaces, etc. While films like SoapBox's Calvin's Story (2016) create empathy, we must balance the interpersonal with the need to radically transform systems if we are ever to bring everyone home. Originally recorded June 19, 2023. Topics Mentioned:Ep. 64 - Non-Profit Industrial Complex ft. Lizette GarzaHot Ones event with Digs With DignityChicago Coalition for the HomelessCorporate landlords (1, 2)--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from PBS Newshour and outro music Dirty Money by Diddy ft. Skylar Grey. Episode photo by James  Murray of SoapBox. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

BrownTown breaks down the relationship between police abolition and state-sanctioned police accountability measures with newly elected Police District Councilors David Orlikoff and Ashley Vargas. The guests square their PIC abolitionist organizing roots with the new accountability structure, Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), for the Chicago Police Department. Three years after the first installment in the midst of the 2020 uprisings, BrownTown and the organizers-turned-electeds re-contextualize the path to abolition with the paradoxes, nuances, benefits, and challenges of this new structure on the foreground of the decades-long demand for community control over the police. Originally recorded June 19, 2023. GUESTSDavid is a grassroots organizer from Chicago who moved to the Northwest side 10 years ago. He was the Defund CPD Outreach Lead for the 35th Ward, where they received over 2,500 petition signatures and 71 group endorsements to reduce CPD's budget by 75% and reinvest in solutions that provide the care our communities need. He became very involved in organizing during college with Occupy Chicago, marching against the banks that stole millions of families' homes and then got huge handouts while people suffered.Ashley was born and raised in Logan Square. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the youngest of 5 children. She ran and won as a write-in candidate for the 14th District Police District Council. She began to get involved in her community during high school, organizing for immigrant rights and affordable housing. Now, she has worked in successful grassroots campaigns and plans to continue her work of liberating marginalized people. Follow David on Ashley on Instagram. Topics Mentioned and GlossaryThe youth are on fire by Jim Daley (Chicago Reader)Progressive primary winner loses Buffalo New York Mayorship to write-in (AP)LAPD Officers' Union Lists 28 Calls for Service That Someone Else Can Handle (Los Angeles Magazine)Abolition resources in the 1.0 descriptionTermsOPS = Office of Professional Standards which turned into IPRA = Independent Police Review Authority which turned into the present-day  COPA = Civilian Office of Police AccountabilityCAARPR = Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political RepressionCPAC = Civilian Police Accountability CouncilGAPA = Grassroots Alliance for Police AccountabilityECPS = Empower Communities for Public Safety (which turned into...)CCPSA = Community Commission for Public Safety and AccountabilityBIA = Bureau of Interval AffairsSAFE-T Act--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Police District Council swearing in and outro music from BnB alum Fiendish. Episode photo by Darius Griffin of The TRiiBE. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

BrownTown virtually visits Atlanta and chops it up with Chelle Sanders and Jasmine Burnett, organizers with #StopCopCity. Chicago's #NoCopAcademy and Atlanta's #StopCopCity movements are part of the same struggle: to end violent policing, protect the environment and defend Black and brown lives. As similar as they are, only years apart, they also both vary in terms of structure and place-based history. Still, the Black-led, multi-racial constellations of grassroots organizations, concerned citizens, and organizers worked and are working to stop their municipalities from investing into a new police compound and divert those resources into the community and life-affirming networks of care. Building coalition and growing more general solidarity both bring strength in the very same ways they can prove difficult to navigate with groups/people coming to an issue from different perspectives, ideologies, and tactics. BrownTown, Chelle, and Jasmine unpack these struggles and the corresponding #DefendAtlantaForest effort to uplift our collective fights for liberation. GUESTSChelle is an organizer with EndstateATL, an ATL-based organization committed to the liberation of Black folk everywhere and building the future we imagine with a Black Queer Feminist politic. Chelle has organized with ESA for four years facilitating political education sessions from abolition to alternative economic systems and connecting Black folks in the city to mutual aid resources, building community along the way. In the fight to Stop Cop City, Chelle co-coordinated and facilitated the 2021 fellowship hosted by In Defense of Black Lives that helped to jumpstart the Black Stop Cop City coalition. Today, that coalition continues to build community with the Black folks who will be most impacted by its construction.Jasmine is an Atlanta native and abolitionist organizer with Community Movement Builders who has been building power in the Black community around displacement, gentrification, and to Stop Cop City.Follow Stop Cop City on Instagram and Twitter and follow Defend Atlanta Forest on Instagram and Twitter. More information on episode topics:Atlanta Community Press CollectiveGet involved with Stop Cop City For Our Futures CampaignNo Cop City Anywhere by Benji's Hart (In These Times)#NoCopAcademy Site, Toolkit, and ReportEp. 26 - Coalition-building & #NoCopAcademy ft. Monica Trinidad & Debbie Southorn CREDITS: Intro and outro soundbite a #StopCopCity protest in March 2023. Intro speaker is former #NoCopAcademy organizer Destiny Harris. Inserts within the episode are from SoapBox's No Cop Academy: The Documentary. Episode graphic from Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown shares space with the Hoodoise hosts Ricardo Gamboa and Charles Preston and Executive Director Mia Carbajal in the return of "Whiskey & Watching." BrownTown and the Hoodoise deconstruct the Oscar Best Picture "Everything Everywhere All At Once" (2022): When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, a middle-aged Chinese immigrant must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of her family and the world hangs in the balance. From philosophical nodes on decision-making under capitalism to nihilism in modern activism, the squad brings in their perspectives on love, queerness, combatting patriarchy, growing up in immigrant families, and the opportunities for grounded representation of people of color in media. Through the heaviness of it all, Charles just encourages us to, "embrace the whimsical." The Hoodoisie (1, 2) is a block-optic, radically politicized, biweekly live news show based in a different gentrifying neighborhood every month. Ricardo and Charles invite artists, activists, comedians, saboteurs, political figures, culture makers, and musical guests to share their experiences, perspectives, and talents. The Hoodoisie gives "the chance for everyday people [particularly queer, working-class, and people of color] to engage in the discourse that shapes their lives that they're often excluded from.” Imagine if The Daily Show got hijacked by radical POC and queers and they brought along a DJ and a bar...that's the Hoodoisie. Come out for a conversation and follow Hoodoisie on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube! Follow Ricardo on Instagram and Twitter; Charles on Instagram and Twitter; and Mia on Instagram and Twitter! CREDITS: Intro soundbite and episode photo from Everything Everywhere All At Once. Outro music is Foldin Clothes by J. Cole. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown reflects on the 2023 Chicago municipal elections and the importance of disrupting dominant media narratives with Morgan Elise Johnson, filmmaker, publisher, and co-creator of the TRiiBE, an award-winning digital publication and production company dedicated to reshaping the narrative of Black Chicago.Local, community, and especially radical and movement-based actors in radio, film, podcasts, and documentation have greatly disrupted the broader media landscape in the past decade for the better. BrownTown and Morgan discuss all the things from her presence on the WGN run-off election panel, the history and spectacle of political punditry, the real meaning of "tough on crime" rhetoric and what it obscures, to the harmful journalistic myth of objectivity and the violent status quo it upholds. How do we use these mediums, skills, experiences, and analyses to challenge the false/misinformed dominant narratives and uplift radical politics while continuing to access mass audiences in the ever-changing, fast-paced digital ecosystem? Here's their take. Originally recorded April 27, 2023.GUESTMorgan (she/her) is an independent filmmaker and publisher based in Chicago who is creating and preserving Black history. Most recently, she produced Unapologetic (2020). Morgan's documentary career was born at Northwestern University and grew at Milwaukee-based production house, 371 Productions, where she produced and co-directed her first documentary, There Are Jews Here (PBS/WORLD CHANNEL, 2016). She also associate produced a Virtual Reality exploration of abortion clinic harassment called Across The Line (2016) which premiered at Sundance Film Festival's New Frontiers exhibit. Her life and career evolved when she co-created The TRiiBE in 2018. Morgan has earned a spot on DOC NYC's 40 under 40 list (2021), the Rolling Stones Cultural Council and Forbes' 30 Under 30 Media Class of 2019. Follow Morgan on Instagram, and Twitter! and the TRiiBE on their site, Instagram, and Twitter!--Mentioned and related:First installment Ep. 70 ft. Mateo ZapataAre there too many Black people running for Chicago mayor? Residents weigh in by Tonia Hill (TRiiBE)Editorial: Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson found a place in his acceptance speech for God. But not Barack Obama. (Chicago Tribune)Brandon Johnson's Ground Game Defeats Obama Machine in Chicago by Luke Goldstein (American Prospect)Activist and BnB alum Damon Williams on the '23 election (before, after)Tonia and Tiffany of the TRiiBE on Ben Joravsky's podcastObama Library Lease, 19 Acres For $10 by Heather Cherone (Block Club Chicago)Benji Hart's Twitter post - election highlights and reflective thoughts--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Mateo Zapata, guest on the first installment of Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements, Episode 70 and outro soundbite from Tahman Bradley of WGN on run-off election night, April 4, 2023. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown continues to dialogue about the relationship between electoral and radical politics with Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez and Alderperson-elect Jessie Fuentes. With the historic 2023 Chicago municipal elections in the rearview, the team situates what this never-before-seen cohort of socialist and progressive alderpeople and new mayor means in terms of the city's social movements and political history. If electoralism is a mere tool in the toolbox in the work towards collective liberation, what potential does this new energy from Chicago's Left have to facilitate the conditions for political and social transformation?In this fourth installment, BrownTown and the alders discus everything from the decades-long history of mayors and movement, voter turnout, the power of relationships in organizing, to pop culture-saavy internet memes. We've witnessed the number of socialist and progressive alders grow exponentially from 2015 to 2019 to 2023. As insiders, Byron and Jessie share about going from movement to municipal government while all four unpack the nuances of sustaining a liberatory praxis in relationship to the state apparatus. Originally recorded April 6, 2023, two days after the municipal run-off elections. GUESTSAlderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) came to the US alone as a teenager where he found care in teachers, coaches, and community members who gave him shelter, guidance, taught him English, and a pathway to a good education. He eventually settled in Pilsen, a historic immigrant working class neighborhood in Chicago, and worked as an adult education teacher, founding the bilingual adult education program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Byron became politically active when he successfully lead community efforts to keep a neighborhood public school open after then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel attempted to close it. Later, he served as the Director of the Pilsen Alliance and co-founding the campaign to Lift the Ban on rent control in Illinois. As alderman, Byron was the Chief Sponsor of an ordinance to curtail harassment of homeowners who have been targeted by predatory developers. He is a member of the Chicago DSA. Byron holds a BS in Mathematics and Business Administration, an MS in Economics, and is currently a PhD candidate in Urban Education Policy. Follow Byron on Facebook (political), Instagram (personal, political), and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with his City Council work and 25th ward services at 25thward.org.Alderperson-elect Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward) is a queer Latina grassroots organizer, educator, and public policy advocate with over a decade of experience in education, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, community development and sustainability. A child of Humboldt Park and a seasoned organizer, Jessie's lived experience overcoming poverty, violence and generational trauma, coupled with her professional accomplishments, prepared her to serve the residents of the 26th Ward. Through personal resilience, community support, and restorative justice she was able to turn her most challenging life experiences into tools to uplift others facing similar life circumstances. Jessie sees her new role in City Council as a message to young people that transformation and change are possible and that one's life circumstances do not dictate their destiny. Follow Jessie on Facebook (personal, political), Instagram (personal, political), and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with her upcoming City Council work at Jessiefor26thward.com. Mentioned or alluded to in episode:Previous installments: (1.0 with Camille Williams (2018), 2.0 with Ald. Maria Hadden (pre-COVID 2020), 3.0 with Stephanie Skora (fall 2020))Chicago's Progressive Alderpeople Retain Seats, Look To Expand Influence On City Council — And Even Mayor's Race (Block Club Chi)Caullen's election Instagram highlights -- memes and commentary :)Commentary | An appeal to Chicago's Black voters: don't fear your liberation by Damon Williams (TRiiBE)The Revolutionary Column | The War on Gangs stunted our growth by Bella BAHHS (TRiiBE)Midwest Socialist Article on 2023 Municipal Elections by Chris O.Brandon Johnson's Ground Game Defeats Obama Machine in Chicago by Luke Goldstein (The American Prospect)Election Night Coverage: Morgan Elise-Johnson (of the TRiiBE) on WTTWEve Ewing's Instagram post on electoralism and movementBenji Hart's Twitter post -- election highlights and reflective thoughtsEpisode Note: Byron SIGCHO-Lopez is NOT RAYMOND Lopez, despite what David may say... Opinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, Byron, and Jessie as individuals, not their organizations or places of work.--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Brandon Johnson's April 4, 2023 mayoral election victory speech. Outro song Chi City by Common. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Davon Clark.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown again invites Hannah Linsky (she/her), vintage stylist, seller, educator, and liver and breather of all things fashion to unpack the politics of dress. In part 2, the friends go macro and discuss fashion within current and historical social movements and its impact on policy and popular culture. From Scottish Resistance to the Black Panthers to Iran's Hijab Protest Movement and everything in between, we understand that dress communicates strong cultural messages. Though often created out of specific contexts, these stylings last generations, travel across cultures, and make us investigate our notions of respectability, autonomy, and mobilization. “If fashion resists power, it is also a compelling form of it,” (Tansy Hoskins). Listen to Episode 85, Part 1! GUEST: Hannah Linsky is a vintage stylist, seller, occasional model and avid collector. She lives and breathes fashion and loves playing dress up almost as much as she loves talking fashion. She is a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned her Master's in Art Education. Her work Revolutionary Dress (site, Instagram) centers around examining historical movements through the lens of dress."Past social and political movements provide a basis for conversations about race, class, gender, sexuality, ability and culture, while dress acts as a vehicle to move the conversations from past events to the personal, present and future. Learning about the power of dress in historical movements allows for a wide range of new material to supplement common subjects already covered in educational spaces. It opens up space for discussions about social structures, culture and self-reflection."  -RevDress Mentioned in episode:Hoda Katebi's Work -- Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Websiteon WGN-TV,  "You don't sound American"on France's hijab ban and the Iran hijab protests (1, 2)2016: Beyoncé at 2016 Super Bowl and #RememberRekia Action in ChicagoNWA, Los Angeles Raiders, and the Straight Outta LA documentary (1, 2, 3)SoapBox's What's Beef? documentary on neoliberalism, gangsta rap, and NWAMexican RebozoPunk Attitude documentary and Pistol TV Miniseries CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Hoda Katebi on WGN-TV. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Hannah Linsky. --Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown on BrownTown. Now-BnB audio engineer Kiera Battles makes her debut bringing in behind-the-scenes insights to the podcast as the gang unpacks the episodes, new series, and various recording environments that made up 2022. For better or worse, here's to 2023!With 11 total full episodes, this shortened year brought 8 guest episodes (3 repeat guests), only 1 with no guests, and 2 new series (1 ongoing; 1 completed). In addition to breaking down 2022 episodes, BrownTown chops it out about episodes from 2021, the unofficial "in the age of spin" framework throughout the tenure of BnB, recording virtually versus in-person and switching locations, unions for creative industries, as well as body positivity and fat liberation. GUESTKiera Battles is the BnB audio engineer and all around audio extraordinaire who has been into music ever since starting the violin in the 4th grade and joining a choir in high school. She began her audio journey her junior year of high school and has enjoyed it ever since. Kiera graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2022 with an Interdisciplinary degree in Audio Arts and Music Business and is currently pursuing a masters in the field at Berklee College of Music. Within these departments, she hopes to break into the music industry through both the audio and the business world! CREDITS: Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz. Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application! For more information on the podcast, check out Bourbon 'n BrownTown on the SoapBox website.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown listens, learns, and discusses how to make philosophy more accessible, environmental justice through animal rights, and ethical food pathways with Shanti Chu, philosopher, writer, speaker, and creator of ChiVeg, a dynamic food blog that focuses on ethical eating with vegetarian recipes. The team explores the topics' connections to each other through personal experiences and critical pedagogy while unpacking their relation to capitalism and white supremacy. GUESTShanti Chu (she/her/hers) is a published philosopher, writer and speaker on the topics of public philosophy, food, multiracial identity, and intersectionality. She is a philosophy professor in the Chicagoland area and makes philosophy palatable for everyday life through using innovative teaching methods. In addition to her scholarship and teaching, she is the creator of ChiVeg, a dynamic food blog that focuses on ethical eating with vegetarian recipes. Shanti also does freelance writing for TimeOut Chicago and Art News. When not actively philosophizing or thinking about food, she mixes lofi house, ambient, and moody techno under the DJ duo name Evanti. Follow her on her philosophy website and YouTube channel; follow ChiVeg on the site, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest! Mentioned in episode and other resources:Grading for EquityJohn Bolton says he ‘helped plan coups d'etat' in other countries by Martin Pengelly (The Guardian)"Food desert" vs. "food apartheid"White co-optation of veganism and Black/indigenous traditions (1, 2)Ep. 78 - Black Farming & Finding Your Food Story ft. Pearl QuickEp. 37 - Public Health 2.0 ft. Le Greta HudsonFactory Farming Awareness CoalitionPhilosophers for SustainabilityPlant Chicago: Closed Loop, Open Source - Sustainable food productionSistah Vegan CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Pearl Quick on Ep. 78 - Black Farming & Finding Your Food Story and outro music The Guns of Brixton by The Clash. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Melody Joy Co. --Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown chops it up about WORK. Building on previous episodes about labor, unions, and trying to do liberatory work within capitalism, BrownTown contextualizes recent inflation hikes, the state of "hustle culture," and the seven-decade growth of corporate profits on the backs of the working class. While the majority of adults WORK, the propaganda that you must "earn" the right to live and be productive constantly in order to have any value has normalized harmful policies, language, and attitudes towards one another. Though COVID, the great resignation, Striketober, and other large phenomena have chipped the armor of capitalist logics and apparatuses, how do we better utilize that energy to sustain better material conditions forever and for always? Originally recorded October 25, 2022. “The reason all workers deserve a living wage is because all workers have to be alive. Not very complex” --@existentialcoms Previous episodes to listen to:Ep. 59 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within Capitalism (& COVID) 2.0 ft. Genta TamashiroEp. 57 - Labor Day: Workers' Rights & Class Solidarity ft. Taylor ManessEp. 39 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within CapitalismMentioned in Episode or Related Information:Katie Porter PROVES How Corporate Greed Led to Inflation, The Young TurksCEO Says He's Been "Praying for Inflation" Because It's An Excuse to Jack Up Prices by Jon Schwarz, Ken Klippenstein (The Intercept)The “Labor Shortage” Is Being Used as a Pretext to Harm Workers by Sarah Lazare (In These Times)‘Cartel-like' Gas Companies Are Profiting Billions From the War in Ukraine by John Buckley (VICE)TV Commercials Production Department Unionizes with IATSE (Hollywood Reporter)SoapBox Editorial: Interview with Caullen and Ellen Long of KartemquinShit in a bucket vs. toilets meme by Olivia LoveAccounts to follow: @blackleftiss, @economicleft, Upstream Podcast, and more!--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from The Young Turks. Outro music Pimpin' Benjamin by Coast Contra. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown invites Hannah Linsky (she/her), vintage stylist, seller, educator, and liver and breather of all things fashion to unpack the politics of dress. The friends use their experiences with clothing and fashion growing up to dissect the often overlooked yet important cultural artifact. As an everyday window into individual and collective beliefs and values, the limitless expression of how we adorn our bodies is a site for discussion around gender and patriarchy; sustainability, labor, and capitalism; and much more. The politics of dress communicate praxis of power and hierarchy yet offer an opportunity for resistance and decolonization. Stay tuned for Part 2! GUESTHannah Linsky is a vintage stylist, seller, occasional model and avid collector. She lives and breathes fashion and loves playing dress up almost as much as she loves talking fashion. She is a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned her Master's in Art Education. Her work Revolutionary Dress centers around examining historical movements through the lens of dress.Rev Dress (site, Instagram) looks at the ways dress has been used as a strategic tool of resistance and revolution, across countries, cultures, and communities from the past and today. Dress is an important and often overlooked cultural artifact, a window into so many aspects of human life and behavior. Studying what people wore can help us understand their daily experiences, beliefs, values, social structures and so much more. We can use what we've learned about past people and movements to inform our choices today, and better recognize how our dress can be one tool amongst many in our collective, ongoing fight toward liberation. Mentioned in episode:TRAP House ChicagoShein controversy (1, 2, 3)SoapBox and Demand Justice clothing collaborationsHannah's recs on accounts and people to follow:Hoda Katebi -- fashion, politics, abolition, Chicago/East BayAlokvmenon -- Degendering fashion, queering fashionAja Barber --  Intersectional sustainability and politicsDressing Dykes -- Lesbian fashion historyThe Slow Factory -- Intersectional sustainability and politicsThe Zay Initiative -- The Art of Arab DressClothes Horse Podcast -- The podcast that loves clothes but hates capitalism! CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Alokvmenon and outro music Wu Wear: The Garment Renaissance by the RZA ft. Method Man & Cappadonna. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Hannah Linsky. --Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown again shares space with Sophie Elizabeth James, sociologist and Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast host, and Pearl Quick, farmer, pastor, and poet extraordinaire, in the sophomore episode of our recurring "Whiskey & Watching" series. BrownTown and guests deconstruct, recontextualize, and, dare we say, decolonize popular films, TV shows, books, and more! This time the gang unpacks Passing (2021), the Rebecca Hall directorial debut (for better or worse) and film-adaptation of the Nella Larsen novel of the same name. In 1920s New York City, a light-skinned Black woman finds her world up-ended when her life becomes intertwined with a former childhood friend who is living as a white woman. The gang compares and contrasts the book to the movie, interpolates pivotal moments in the story and extrapolates what they communicate about survival, proximity to whiteness, navigating Blackness, and even the passivity of the very term "passing". GUESTSSophie Elizabeth James is a political sociologist, project manager in the anti-human trafficking sector, and creator of the Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast. With a masters in sociology AND pop culture, she aims to provide nuance and levity to topics taken for granted.  Pearl Quick, hailing from the South Bronx, is an educator in soil science, disease ecology, genetics, and faith formation from Sarah Lawrence & Princeton University. Pearl created ‘Many Soils,' a farming space where Black and brown youth come to learn how to decolonize their palates, look at the physical world, and grow food for themselves, their families, and their communities outside of the white gaze. CREDITS: Intro soundbite and episode photo from Passing. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Originally recorded June 2022. --Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown links up with Melvin Farley, formerly incarcerated friend of Illinois Prison Project. In Part Three of the "We Are More" series, BrownTown and Melvin discuss re-entering society after incarceration, combating the "law and order" narrative and resurgent fear-mongering politics tactics, as well as the much talked about Illinois SAFE-T Act that goes into full effect January 1, 2023. Watch the micro-docs, listen to the series, and take action at SoapBoxPO.com/We-Are-More and IllinoisPrisonProject.org.Melvin's initially shares his experience with incarceration and how the Illinois Prison Project supported in his release. The team then details some of the inner workings of the prison system and as well as the adjustments and setbacks when re-entering society. BrownTown unpacks the grassroots work that lead up to the signing of the Illinois SAFE-T Act, particularly the Pretrial Fairness Act provision, and dispels the misinformation, disinformation, and straight up lies about the new law that have been circling this season. While comparing such right-wing and establishment tactics to those of yesteryear (i.e. Willie Hortonism and fake FBI-created Black Panther Party newspapers), the gang embraces the progressive changes to come in the region while situating them within a larger struggle. GUESTMelvin Farley is an affiliate of the Illinois Prison Project who was released from incarceration 18 months ago due to the organization's efforts. He is currently establishing structure for his new life and looking forward to new opportunities and relationships. Mentioned in Episode:Illinois - Pretrial Fairness START HERE!The 2021 SAFE-T Act: ICJIA Roles and Responsibilities (Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority)How a ‘Purge' law misinformation campaign could undercut landmark criminal justice reform by Tiffany Walden (TRiiBE)No, There Is No ‘Purge Law' In Illinois. Here Are The Facts About Ending Cash Bail by Asimo & Sabino (Block Club Chi)There's no ‘Purge Law': Debunking right-wing propaganda about the SAFE-T Act by Carlos Ballesteros (Injustice Watch)Axios article on fake newspaperEpisode Correction: The FBI, not the CIA, created fake newspapers to dispel the Black Panther Party's image via the infamous COINTELPRO (but CIA still trash, doe). ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT (IPP)Through advocacy, public education, and direct representation, the Illinois Prison Project brings hope to and fight in community with incarcerated people and their loved ones for a brighter, more humane, more just system for us all. Learn more about the IPP on their site; follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.  CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Renaldo Hudson of the "We Are More" micro-doc series and outro soundbite from Melvin Farley. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Kiera Battles. This series is sponsored by the Illinois Prison Project.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown sits down with Dyanna Winchester, Decarceration Organizer with Live Free Illinois. In Part Two of the "We Are More" series, BrownTown and Dyanna discuss organizing against and within institutions to disrupt dangerous policy, addressing intracommunal violence with interpersonal relationships, supporting re-entry after being incarcerated, and more. Watch the micro-docs, listen to the series, and take action at SoapBoxPO.com/We-Are-More and IllinoisPrisonProject.org.Dyanna's shares her experience with incarceration before the team delves into policy-driven factors like the Truth in Sentencing Act and the barriers folks formerly incarcerated folks face upon re-integrating into society after being released. They also touch on the nuances and history of faith-based organizing, particularly in the Black community, as well as Live Free's full free campaign and clean state initiative. What does freedom really look like? Here's their take. GUESTDyanna Winchester is a Chicago-born, formerly incarcerated organizer and mother of two boys, one of whom was tragically killed from gun violence within the city. She received her associates degree in Liberal arts from Lakeland College and is currently studying to get her Bachelor of Science in Business Management. Dyanna spent 20 years in the prison system and has worn many hats of employment while facing barriers to financial stability due to being system-impacted. Her most influential roles have been a Community Navigator/Case Manager/Career Coach at Howard Area Community Center. Now, she is passionate about her new role as Decarceration Organizer with Live Free Illinois where she can bring forth change both in our communities and at the policy level to help deliver the liberty and dignity we all deserve. When not in her Live Free Illinois role, she enjoys loving on her family, playing with dogs, exercising, and helping others. ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT (IPP)Through advocacy, public education, and direct representation, the Illinois Prison Project brings hope to and fight in community with incarcerated people and their loved ones for a brighter, more humane, more just system for us all. Learn more about the IPP on their site; follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.  CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Michael Penny of the "We Are More" micro-doc series and outro soundbite from Dyanna Winchester. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. This series is sponsored by the Illinois Prison Project.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown shares virtual space with Sandra Brown, formerly incarcerated survivor and current Senior Advisor and Visiting Scholar with the Women's Justice Institute (WJI). In Part One of the "We Are More" series, BrownTown and Sandra discuss the four leading criminal legal system trends that have spurred the rise in women's mass incarceration and meet them with five fundamental rights and needs as pathways to justice (WJI). At the intersection of carcerality and patriarchy, the team collectively addresses and assesses root causes and ways to reverse women's incarceration on the path towards prison abolition. Watch the micro-docs, listen to the series, and take action at SoapBoxPO.com/We-Are-More and IllinoisPrisonProject.org. Mentioned in episode:Women's Incarceration Rates Are Skyrocketing. These Advocates Are Trying to Change That by Nazish Dholakia (Versa)Twitter thread on crime reporting in the media (Alex Karakatsanis)Organizations: Black and Pink, Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration, Restorative Justice Illinois, Live Free Illinois, Life Span "Justice for women isn't only what happens between arrest and prison. It's what happens before, during, and after it." --Women's Justice Institute GUESTSandra Brown is a Chicago native with a love for learning and helping others. When she became an incarcerated survivor, she spent over half of her sentence working as a teaching assistant while striving to earn an education via correspondence courses. She has helped countless women earn their GEDs as well as complete various vocational programs. For almost a decade, she served as president of Toastmasters: A Woman's Voice, where she developed communication and leadership opportunities for up to 60 women each session. Barriers that Brown experienced during her own educational and empowerment journey while incarcerated undergirds the work that she does now as a Senior Advisor and Visiting Scholar with the Women's Justice Institute (WJI) in Chicago. Though Brown lives in Los Angeles, she works to promote economic and educational opportunities to other justice-impacted women. Some of her advocacy work entails developing curriculum aimed at understanding decarceration and domestic violence as well as writing policy papers recommending ways to support quality higher education degree programs to women who are incarcerated. Her book Odyssey in Progress is now available and she has a piece featured in the reSentencing Journal, published by Tufts University. ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT (IPP)Through advocacy, public education, and direct representation, the Illinois Prison Project brings hope to and fight in community with incarcerated people and their loved ones for a brighter, more humane, more just system for us all. Learn more about the IPP on their site; follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.  CREDITS: Intro music from the Women's Justice Initiative website and outro soundbite from Sandra Brown. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. This series is sponsored by the Illinois Prison Project.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown brings you the "We Are More" campaign series! The podcast extension of SoapBox's micro-doc video series with the Illinois Prison Project centers the experiences of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, and pushes back against fear-mongering “tough on crime” rhetoric and policies resurging in the 2022 election season. With the support of directly-impacted guests, BrownTown unpacks the revanchist history of these dangerous policies, recent media sensationalism, and the importance of media literacy through an abolitionist lens. Watch the micro-docs, listen to the series, and take action at SoapBoxPO.com/We-Are-More and IllinoisPrisonProject.org. ILLINOIS PRISON PROJECT (IPP)Through advocacy, public education, and direct representation, the Illinois Prison Project brings hope to and fight in community with incarcerated people and their loved ones for a brighter, more humane, more just system for us all. Learn more about the IPP on their site; follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.  CREDITS: Intro/outro soundbites from SoapBox "We Are More" micro-docs of Renaldo Hudson (intro) and Anthony Jones (outro), edited by James Edward Murray. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz. This series is sponsored by the Illinois Prison Project.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown chops it up about electoral politics, the remap process post-2020 Census, borders and anti-Zionism, and much more with repeat guest (Ep. 60) Stephanie Skora, movement worker and creator of the popular "Girl, I Guess" Progressive Voter Guide. The gang again takes on the nuances of engaging in electoralism while holding radical politics and the importance international solidarity between colonized peoples. Originally recorded May 16, 2022, before the new Chicago ward map was approved. Spring 2022 marks two years since the most recent Census where the new representational map of our political reality has changed to, so we're told, better reflect our lived populations. It has also been one year after renewed worldwide attention on the Israeli occupation, specifically in the Palestenian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. How do we place the remap process within the broader system of American electoralism, for better or worse? More broadly, how do we conceptualize not only the invisible lines of representational democracy based on population in America but also the more militarily enforced borders that manufacture our economic and political reality to justify the state's existence, globally? This is their take. GUESTStephanie Skora is a hard femme Lesbian, trans woman, and anti-Zionist working class Ashkenazi Jew whose activist work centers around Palestinian solidarity organizing, queering Jewish spaces, and fighting for justice and liberation for all trans people. She is the COO of Brave Space Alliance, the South Side LGBTQ Center, the Board President of the Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, a longtime member of Jewish Voice for Peace, and the author and editor of the "Girl, I Guess" Progressive Voter Guide. Check out Stephanie's site and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Mentioned in episode and more information:SoapBox's Census 2020 projectNicole Lee and the 11th Ward, Chicago (Block Club Chi)The Ferguson-Palestine connection (1, 2, 3)Hoda Katebi on holding your institutions accountable Opinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, and Stephanie as individuals, not their organizations or places of work.CREDITS: Intro music from I Was a Teenage Anarchist by Against Me! and outro music Payback by Immortal Technique ft. Diabolic and Ras Kass. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. --Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown is again joined by Sophie Elizabeth James, sociologist and Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast host, and Pearl Quick, farmer, pastor, and poet extraordinaire, in the inaugural episode of our recurring "Whiskey & Watching" series. BrownTown and guests deconstruct, recontextualize, and, dare we say, decolonize popular films, TV shows, books, and more! In our first take, the homies take on The Batman, the 2022 Matt Reeves live-action feature version of the cape crusader's anthology. From analyzing the city of Gotham as a character in-and-of-itself to this new "emo Batman" to the Riddler as a 4Chan influencer ("like and subscribe, guys!"), the squad brings their own backgrounds and perspectives into how they've received new iterations of Batman throughout the decades and center the importance of media literacy even, and especially, with large blockbusters. GUESTSSophie Elizabeth James is a political sociologist, project manager in the anti-human trafficking sector, and creator of the Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast. With a masters in sociology AND pop culture, she aims to provide nuance and levity to topics taken for granted.  Pearl Quick, hailing from the South Bronx, is an educator in soil science, disease ecology, genetics, and faith formation from Sarah Lawrence & Princeton University. Pearl created ‘Many Soils,' a farming space where Black and brown youth come to learn how to decolonize their palates, look at the physical world, and grow food for themselves, their families, and their communities outside of the white gaze. CREDITS: Intro music from the 1960's Batman theme song by the Ventures and outro music from 2022's The Batman theme song by Michael Giacchino. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo from The Batman. --Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown breaks bread with long-time homie Pearl Quick, soil science educator, farmer, and pastor as they discuss the histories of Black, brown, and indigenous farming practices while navigating the relationship and resistance to oppressive institutions, and what it means to decolonize our food systems. GUESTHailing from the South Bronx, Pearl Quick is an educator in soil science, disease ecology, genetics, and faith formation from Sarah Lawrence & Princeton University. Pearl created Many Soils, a farming space where Black and brown youth come to learn how to decolonize their palates, look at the physical world, and grow food for themselves, their families, and their communities outside of the white gaze.Mentioned in episode and more information:SoapBox's Crossroads and Street Vendors Association Micro-DocSoul Fire Farm (New York) and Chicago City FarmCaullen's Climate Change MemeLucia Leon -- LinkedIn, Farm Website (Chicago)"Black Farmers Sow the Seeds for the Future" (In These Times)"How do you estimate theft from slavery?" (Vox)Black Farmers - If You Don't Know, Now You Know (The Daily Show)Justice for Black Farmers (MSNBC)"All-American Farms" (S5E2), United Shades of America (CNN)--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from AJ+ and outro music Rainforest by Noname. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Pearl Quick.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

BrownTown gets meta with return guest Sophie Elizabeth James, sociologist, program manager in the anti-human trafficking sector, and creator of the Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast. The team dissects our current independent media landscape and the digital and socio-political histories that make it up. While they center their own experience in making films and podcasts and using social media, they also lean into noteworthy media events in relation to dominant narratives on "propaganda", media literacy, and the issues of too many dudes with podcasts.GUESTSophie Elizabeth James is a political sociologist and project manager in the anti-human trafficking sector and creator of the Unpaid Emotional Labor podcast. With a masters in sociology AND pop culture, she aims to provide nuance and levity to topics taken for granted. She is most interested in how folx negotiate their identities in the sociopolitical and engaging in a system that seeks to destroy. Her favorite pastimes are verbally eviscerating bored trolls with expert use of their colonized language. Follow Sophie on Instagram and Unpaid Emotional Labor on Instagram and Patreon.Mentioned in episode:Joseph Goebbels and “Triumph of the Will”Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer TimesMedia Literacy informationLil' Wayne - "Live from the 504" FreestyleEp. 46 - Exploring Blackness & Cultural Media ft. Courtney Phillips & Matthew Manning of Gumbo Media--CREDITS: Intro/outro music XXX by Kendrick Lamar. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Victoria Price.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

EPISODE NOTE: Content warning for sounds of violence (gunshots); and spoiler alert for films mentioned belowGUESTAlyx is currently a Deputy Campaign Director on Policing and Incarceration at the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), organizes with BYP100 Chicago, and is a co-founder and writer with LEFT OUT Magazine. Her writing and activism are centered around the momentum and challenges of building Black power and self-determination. Her work at ACRE currently focuses on the relationship between the finance industry and policing, racialized capitalism, and how they exacerbate oppressions.OVERVIEWBrownTown spills even more the tea on in part two of the surveillance capitalism and abolitionist tech conversation with Alyx Goodwin. The team finishes their lengthy two-part discussion by breaking down myths of tech neutrality, offering anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian critiques of dystopian tech action movies, and lean into what their abolitionist tech future  looks like.Alyx and BrownTown pick up where they left off centering a couple reminders and updates before the dig in. The gang discusses the observations and broader lessons from the October 4th Chicago Police Department budget hearing, then-updates of the #StopShotSpotter campaign (1, 2), and the global ramifications of Facebook going down for several hours before unpacking policing as a logic, disaster capitalism, and the bias of tech. Alyx and Caullen discuss how prison tech came home during COVID-19 lockdowns and the advantages of public tech. David re-introduces the role of popular culture in both reinforcing copaganda and problematic systems while also offering heightened critiques of such "fictional" future worlds with tech and spectacle at the forefront. Caullen offers his abolitionist and anti-capitalist critiques of RoboCop (1987) and its early 90's sequels, RoboCop (2014), The Running Man (1987), Demolition Man (1993), and Minority Report (2002) while David and Alyx build out the real world implications, deducing the highly reflexive relationship between art and culture. Once again, they close out encouraging us to interrogate not only the uses of new technologies, but the technologies themselves as well as the unaltered violent systems that they often embolden. If surveillance capitalism and the prison-industrial complex is the puppet master of technology, who is the show for? Here's their take. Originally recorded October 7, 2021.Go back and re-listen to Part One!--Corrections and information on films mentioned:RoboCop  (2014) - 5 Reasons Why RoboCop 2014 Isn't As Bad As People Say It Is (& 5 Reasons It Is) (Screenrant)RoboCop (2014) - Opening scene takes place in Tehran, Iran, presented as "Operation: Tehran" in the film.The Politics of Demolition Man (video)The Running Man (1987) synopsis: By 2017, the United States has become a totalitarian police state following a worldwide economic collapse. The government pacifies the populace through The Running Man, a broadcast game show, where criminals fight for their lives as "runners", fleeing from armed mercenaries named the "stalkers", to earn a state pardon. (Wikipedia)Minority Report (2002) - Filming took place from March 22 to July 18, 2001, in Washington, D.C., Virgina, and Los Angeles. Film locations included the Ronald Reagan Building (as Pre Crime headquarters) and Georgetown. (Wikipedia)Mentioned in episode and extra information:Shoshana Zuboff featured in 'The goal is to automate us': Welcome to the Age of Surveillance Capitalism (Naughton, The Guardian)Gang database under a new fancy name Criminal Enterprise Information System (CEIS) (MacArthur Justice Center)Operation Legend is Bringing Surveillance Tech to Cities (Schwenk, The Intercept)Students Are Pushing Back Against Proctoring Surveillance Apps (Kelly, EFF)For Tech to be equitable, the people must control it (Alyx Goodwin, LEFT OUT)Issues in "crime" reporting  (Alex Karakatsanis)Afghan Activist: We All Deserve Refuge, Not Just Those Who Served the U.S. (Lazare, In These Times)Where Counter-terrorism Got Us  (Todd St. Hill, LEFT OUT)General McKenzie apologies for Kabul strike killing 10 civilians, not ISIS-K (Smith, The Guardian)Plans for $400-billion new city in the American desert unveiled (Holland, CNN)Dystopian world': Singapore patrol robots stoke fears of surveillance state (France-Presse, The Guardian)Chicago Drill 'n' Activism cross-platform documentary and multimedia project on drill rap and activismObama CBA Coalition and SoapBox projectPredictive policing and Chicago's Heat List (The Verge)Neighborhoods Watched: The Rise of Urban Mass Surveillance (Stein, et. al)Social justice solutions for BIPOC communities (SXSW)Citizens Police Data ProjectTech is Not Neutral--Sign the #StopShotSpotter petition and take action with the toolkit! Check #DefundCPD's social media for updates on the campaign (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linktree). Watch SoapBox's Stop ShotSpotter PSA here!Follow Alyxandra on Instagram and Twitter! Read her and others' work at LEFTOUTmag.com and follow LEFT OUT on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.Follow ACRE on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Medium; and BYP100 on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from SoapBox's Stop ShotSpotter PSA edited by James Edward Murray and outro song Police State by Dead Prez. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro and Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Thoughtpoet.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

GUESTAlyx is currently a Deputy Campaign Director on Policing and Incarceration at the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), organizes with BYP100 Chicago, and is a co-founder and writer with LEFT OUT Magazine. Her writing and activism are centered around the momentum and challenges of building Black power and self-determination. Her work at ACRE currently focuses on the relationship between the finance industry and policing, racialized capitalism, and how they exacerbate oppressions.OVERVIEWBrownTown spills the tea on surveillance capitalism and talks abolitionist tech with Alyxandra Goodwin, who is recently organizing the #StopShotSpotter campaign in Chicago. In part one of this two-part episode, the gang unpack surveillance in various forms from policing to social media while unpacking the many intricacies and insidious ways it controls our lives from the most intimate to the most systemic.Alyx begins by sharing her journey growing up in the Chicago suburbs and finding her interest in movement at a young age. The gang quickly digs into the relationship between social media tech surveillance and large corporations, stating that these industries are moving faster than state regulation can keep up with or can even understand (see Zuckerberg vs. Congress). Alyx unpacks her article The True Dilemma: Silicon Valley, Race & Profit while BrownTown turns the surveillance conversation to the prison-industrial complex (PIC). As capitalism's output is always profit above all, we see the PIC's usage of surveillance to further the protection of that profit on top of uplifting the anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and the overall quell of dissent that it was founded on.BrownTown and Alyx sift through numerous related topics with surveillance and social control at the forefront, centering the current Chicago campaign to cancel the ShotSpotter contract with Chicago Police Department (which several other cities have done). LEFTOUT comrade and writer Todd St. Hill's article Where Counter-terrorism Got Us adds weight to the turn of surveillance in the U.S. after 9/11 as we reflect on the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan and the new departments and machines of surveillance that it yielded. David transitions the conversation out by asking about media narratives and pop culture's role in furthering copaganda and acceptance of new technologies without interrogating the unaltered violent systems that they often embolden. If technology is a mere puppet, surveillance capitalism and the prison-industrial complex is the puppet master. Originally recorded September 15, 2021.Part two of the conversation coming soon!--Also mentioned in episode:Shoshana Zuboff's workThe Age of Surveillance Capitalism (book)The Surveillance Threat Is Not What Orwell Imagined'The goal is to automate us': Welcome to the Age of Surveillance Capitalism (Naughton)A Company That Designs Jails is Spying On Activists Who Oppose Them (Fassler) on corporate counterinsurgencyOperation Legend is Bringing Surveillance Tech to Cities (Schwenk)Raptivist Bella BAHHS on the history of Chicago gangs and machine politics (TRiiBE)Defund CPD 2021 Survey (English, Spanish)Chicago Drill 'n' Activism cross-platform, multimedia project on drill rap and activismBnB Ep. 21 - Welcome to the Gun Show (on US vs. UK drill rap)Texas police surveillance: HALO cameras, BnB Episode 73Stingray technology for phone trackingErase the (Gang) Database in Chicago (coalition, SoapBox project)For Tech to be equitable, the people must control it (Alyx Goodwin, LEFTOUT)CPD Settlement for men wrongfully accused of murder (article, SoapBox project)Police surveillance resources and research:EndPoliceSurveillance.comChicagoPoliceSurvelliance.comElectronic Frontier Foundation--Sign the #StopShotSpotter petition and take action with the toolkit! Check #DefundCPD's social media for updates on the campaign (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linktree). Watch SoapBox's Stop ShotSpotter PSA here!Follow Alyxandra on Instagram and Twitter! Read her and others' work at LEFTOUTmag.com and follow LEFT OUT on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.Follow ACRE on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Medium; and BYP100 on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.--CREDITS: Intro soundbite from SoapBox's Stop ShotSpotter PSA edited by James Edward Murray and outro song Feds Watching by 2 Chainz ft. Pharrell. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro and Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Thoughtpoet.--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

GUESTSimone St. Pierre Nelson (all pronouns) is an 18-year-old writer and audio producer who is passionate about radio, education justice, and police and prison abolition. Simone produces and teaches with RadioActive Youth Media at KUOW Public Radio, hosts a podcast amplifying youth organizers for Student Voice, and was an intern and facilitator for the Seattle-based National Center for Restorative Justice. Simone lives with their family in Issaquah, Washington, and is headed to college in California in the fall. When Simone isn't teaching and making radio, you can find them playing dungeons and dragons or walking their dog.OVERVIEWBrownTown and Simone discuss the power of youth radio in this episode that includes three (3) full audio stories produced by and featuring teens incarcerated in Seattle. In April 2021, Simone, David, and Caullen worked with the teens to create the featured stories in a two-day workshop with KUOW Radioactive Youth Media. They discuss the importance of authentic narratives in media creation, intergenerational youth programming, and uplifting justice-involved youth while navigating inequitable social conditions and the institutions that reinforce them. Collectively, BrownTown and Simone unpack their personal proximity to these themes, the pitfalls of adultism, and zoom out to compare and contrast the obvious stark differences and invisible similarities between restorative justice and the carceral system; and commissary and capitalism.As creators of media who work with younger people and were, of course, younger people ourselves, how do we make spaces not only accessible to youth of various ages but also create sustainable conditions where they can thrive and we can build together? From an abolitionist lens, how does this lend itself to making presence outside of normative, hierarchical structure that we may have been brought up in? Here's their take.--Follow Simone on Twitter, Instagram, listen to her podcast Students Speak Out, and follow her work at KUOW. Follow Student Voice on their site and Linktree.Audio stories from 'They can never lock your mind up.' Three stories from juvenile jail (in order of episode and article):'More than my name.' [transcript] -- Milli, Shadow and Glow discuss observing Ramadan in jail, what they do for joy, and what makes them proud.'Can't nobody make you change. You got to change yourself.' [transcript]-- Milli, Tilley and Trilly say job training, mentorship and access to youth programs— not incarceration— is what King County youth need to thrive.'Your body is in jail but your mind is not.' [transcript] -- From brushing their teeth to "smacking some snacks," J-Wow, T-Dog and EJ take listeners through a day in juvenile detention.RadioActive Youth Media is where young people discover public radio journalism and gain access to the skills, community and institutional resources that spur their growth as media makers. Through their stories, listeners of all ages gain a deeper understanding of young people whose voices are rarely heard by the greater public (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).--CREDITS: Intro song World in My Hands by Saba ft. Smino and Legit and outro song Guerrilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro and Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Megan Sobchuk.Special thanks to KUOW RadioActive for letting BrownTown amplify the youth stories!--Bourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECTThe Collective Freedom Project (CFP) is a movement media and resource hub that tells the stories of the local and regional efforts where people — both U.S. citizens and non U.S. citizens — are coming together to fight unique campaigns against criminalization in their communities. From Chicago to California, Atlanta to Texas, activists, organizers, and communities are rising up to fight against criminalization and violence in varied yet connected forms.SERIES OVERVIEWIn the first recording since the series, Caullen and David debrief on the series' conversations, producing the project behind-the-scenes, as well as unpack previously unheard material. Caullen outlines the timeline of SoapBox's journey in the Collective Freedom Project and what it was like pitching the podcast series. David unpacks some of the difficulties and limitations with producing even long-form audio stories, in that there is always more to explore with guests and subjects. BrownTown discusses other campaigns, past episodes, cultural/regional differences in organizing, and issues with the olympics.Mentioned in episode:Ep. 64 - Non-Profit industrial Complex ft. Lizette GarzaFinal Five CampaignGulf on Fire memeCaullen & David Interviewed with Boston DSA on #NoCopAcademy#NoCopAcademy (1, 2)Lit Review Podcast--Through the CFP, SoapBox created a micro-doc on the Erase the Gang Database coalition and campaign in Chicago, which you can find among other cities/regions' videos, podcast episodes, and a plethora of resources on CollectiveFreedomProject.org/Multimedia.Follow the Collective Freedom Project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. --CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Genta Tamashiro. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro and Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Sean Robert Kelly.This series is sponsored by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and the Four Freedoms Fund (FFF).--The Collective Freedom ProjectSite | Multimedia | Campaigns | ResourcesBourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECTThis episode is Part Four in the Collective Freedom Project four-part series with Bourbon 'n BrownTown. The Collective Freedom Project (CFP) is a movement media and resource hub that tells the stories of the local and regional efforts where people — both U.S. citizens and non U.S. citizens — are coming together to fight unique campaigns against criminalization in their communities. From Chicago to California, Atlanta to Texas, activists, organizers, and communities are rising up to fight against criminalization and violence in varied yet connected forms.GUESTSandy (she/they) is crimmigration strategist, who organizes at the intersection of criminal justice and immigrant rights with an abolition framework. Sandy is an immigrant from Zacatecas, Mexico, who has spent most of her life in the Bay Area. Sandy graduated from Sonoma State University, where she obtained her Bachelors in Psychology. Sandy led leadership development and campaign strategy while at the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA), where she served as the Executive Director. She has organized grassroots efforts to build community defense models to stop the criminalization, detention and deportation of immigrant communities.OVERVIEWBrownTown listens, learns, and breaks down California's state-wide efforts for a just budget, to resist immigrant detention, and advance alternatives to incarceration, especially on the onset of COVID-19 with Sandy Valenciano. Watch the micro-docs, listen to the series, and take action at CollectiveFreedomProject.org/Multimedia.Similar to Part Three of the CFP series with Austin, Texas, Sandy debunks the myth of California as progressive bubble it's often painted from the outside. She breaks down some of the socio-political geography of the state and the reasoning behind putting energy into state-wide legislative battles. Her and BrownTown unpack the role electoral organizing plays in budget and decriminalization fights as well as unpack the power of district attorneys. Sandy explains the threat to AB 32 (California's private prison ban) from Biden's DOJ as the group analyzes and uplifts the #DignityNotDetention and #Budget2SaveLives campaigns and what it takes to win a decriminalization agendaThrough the CFP, Lucas Solórzano of Patucon Films created a micro-doc on the various campaigns throughout California, which you can find among other cities/regions' videos, podcast episodes, and a plethora of resources on CollectiveFreedomProject.org/Multimedia.--Mentioned in the episode:Chicago VotesOakland Police Department re-allocating funds away from police and towards communities over time (1, 2)Defund Oakland Police Department - Anti-Police Terror Project (Oakland, CA)2019 Chicago City Council meeting - pastor's speech (starts at 2:24)Follow the Collective Freedom Project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.Follow Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Dignity Not Detention - California on Facebook, Twitter, and read their guide here. Follow Freedom for Immigrants on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and the #Budget2SaveLives campaign here.--CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Genta Tamashiro with excerpts from the California CFP video; outro song California Love by Tupac ft. Dr. Dre. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro and Kiera Battles.This series is sponsored by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and the Four Freedoms Fund (FFF).--The Collective Freedom ProjectSite | Multimedia | Campaigns | ResourcesBourbon 'n BrownTownFacebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | PatreonSoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support