Podcasts about nocopacademy

You know those times when you sit and have a conversation with someone you just met and you talk about what you have in common? And hear a story or two around Chicagos counter culture. Also a fun story about helpingout a friend, who is also an Exotic Dancer and all the assumptions that go with it. Enjoy! Mentions: I had to say it Podcast: https://ihadtosayitpodcast.com/ Live Rishi, use the code "TABLE50" and get 50% off your entire order: https://liverishi.com/ HighSpeed Daddy: https://www.highspeeddaddy.com/?rfsn=7178368.317ce6 Unfiltered Discussions: https://www.instagram.com/unfiltereddis/ Me: https://berawpodcast.com/ 'til next time! Chicago's counter culture has been a dynamic force, shaping the city's identity and challenging societal norms for decades. From the early 20th century to the present day, Chicago has been a hotbed of artistic innovation, political activism, and social rebellion. One of the most notable periods of counter culture in Chicago's history occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. The city was a hub for the civil rights movement, with activists like Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party organizing protests and advocating for racial equality. Chicago also played a crucial role in the anti-war movement, with massive demonstrations against the Vietnam War taking place in the city's streets. The 1960s and 1970s also saw the rise of the Chicago Imagists, a group of artists who rejected the dominant trends of abstract expressionism and instead embraced figuration and narrative storytelling in their work. Artists like Roger Brown, Jim Nutt, and Ed Paschke gained international recognition for their bold and provocative paintings, which often depicted surreal and fantastical scenes inspired by popular culture and everyday life in Chicago. Music has also been a central part of Chicago's counter culture, with the city's vibrant jazz and blues scenes influencing generations of musicians and inspiring new genres like house music and hip-hop. Legendary blues clubs like Chess Records and the Checkerboard Lounge were incubators for talent, while iconic venues like The Aragon Ballroom and Metro provided stages for emerging punk and alternative bands. In addition to its artistic and musical contributions, Chicago's counter culture has also been defined by its grassroots activism and community organizing. Neighborhoods like Pilsen and Logan Square became centers of resistance against gentrification and displacement, with residents fighting to preserve their cultural heritage and maintain affordable housing. Grassroots organizations like the Jane Collective, which provided safe and affordable abortions before Roe v. Wade, demonstrated the power of collective action and solidarity in the face of oppressive laws and social stigma. Today, Chicago's counter culture continues to evolve and thrive in response to new challenges and opportunities. The city's LGBTQ+ community, for example, has made significant strides in recent years, with the annual Pride Parade drawing thousands of participants and allies from across the Midwest. Organizations like the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and the Inner-City Muslim Action Network are working to address systemic issues like poverty and homelessness, while grassroots movements like #NoCopAcademy are challenging the city's investment in policing and incarceration. Despite its rich history of resistance and rebellion, Chicago's counter culture faces many obstacles, including systemic racism, economic inequality, and political corruption. However, the city's tradition of grassroots activism and community organizing provides hope for a more just and equitable future. As long as there are people willing to challenge the status quo and fight for social change, Chicago's counter culture will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and inspire generations to come.

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 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

Author Kat Howard returns to Friday Morning Coffee and talks with Daniel Ford about her book A Sleight of Shadows, the sequel to An Unkindness of Magicians.  In her intro, host Caitlin Malcuit discusses heat-related deaths in Texas following the governor banning water breaks in the "Death Star" bill. She also calls attention to a screening of "#NoCopAcademy," a documentary that "tells the story of Chicago's 2017-2019 campaign to stop a $95 million cop academy and invest in Black youth and communities instead, on July 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. EDT.  To learn more about Kat Howard, visit her official website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Also listen to her last appearance on the show way back in 2017!  Writer's Bone is proudly sponsored by Libro.fm, As Told To: The Ghostwriting Podcast, and A Mighty Blaze podcast.

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

Join Dissenters and Rampant Magazine to discuss abolition, imperialism, and building a movement for our global liberation. While the United States sends drones and drops bombs in the Middle East and Africa, militarized police at home are killing Black people and filling detention centers on the Mexico border. These are two sides of the same imperialist coin. Sprawling military bases around the world support the everyday brutal violence of empire and US-backed military coups tear apart homes and force migration. Their wars haunt our families and bring violence into our homes and neighborhoods. It is time we abolish their wars. Dissenters is leading a new generation of young people to reclaim our resources from the war industry, reinvest in life-giving services, and repair collaborative relationships with the earth and people around the world. Join Dissenters and Rampant Magazine for a discussion about rebuilding a movement against imperialism and creating a new global future built from mutual care, real safety, and liberation. Speakers: Hoda Katebi is an Iranian-American writer, abolitionist organizer, and creative educator based between Chicago and the Bay. Her work has been hailed from the BBC to the New York Times to the pages of VOGUE and featured and cited in books, journals, and museums around the world. Hoda is the host of #BecauseWeveRead, a radical digital book club and discussion series mobilizing local communities with 25+ chapters globally; founding member of Blue Tin Production, an apparel manufacturing workers co-operative run by working class women of color setting new international standards in labor and sustainability within fashion supply chains; a national lead with Believers Bail Out, a bail fund using Zakat to bail Muslims from pretrial & immigration incarceration; and organizing strategist for anti-war movements with the No War Campaign. She is the author of the book Tehran Streetstyle (2016), contributor to the book I Refuse to Condemn: Resisting Racism in Times of National Security (Manchester Press 2020), and her writing has appeared in publications including Newsweek, Washington Post, and the Columbia Journalism Review. Destiny Harris is a Black, queer abolitionist and organizer from the west side of Chicago. She is a student at Howard University. Her work is at the intersection of abolition, anti-war, anti-militarism and environmental liberation. Destiny believes in the power of storytelling, poetry and culture as means of mobilization that should always be driving our movements. She has organized throughout Chicago on campaigns like #DefundCPD, #CopsOutCPS and the #NoCopAcademy campaign which aimed to combat the narrative that our communities need police. Nadya Tannous is the General Coordinator of the Palestinian Youth Movement. PYM is a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and in exile worldwide as a result of the ongoing Zionist colonization and occupation of our homeland. brian bean is a Chicago-based socialist activist, writer, and speaker originally from North Carolina. He is one of the founding editors of Rampant Magazine. His work has been published in Jacobin, Red Flag, International Viewpoint, Bel Ahmar بالأحمر) ) and other publications. He is co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction (Haymarket Books) and recently co-authored the article, "Rebuilding the Anti-Imperialist Movement in a New Era." This event is co-sponsored by Dissenters, Rampant Magazine, and Haymarket Books. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/CgPhsFpbLoQ Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECTThis episode is Part Two 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.GUESTSRebecca Sanchez is the daughter of Jose and Rosalia Sanchez, the youngest of 8 and a tia to 17; from a tiny town in East Texas. Rebecca is an artist, educator, and the organizing manager with Grassroots Leadership, a nonprofit working to end prison profiteering, mass incarceration, deportation, and criminalization. She is also a member of Communities of Color United; an intergenerational grassroots group pushing for racial equity in Austin. All of this work is guided by the lens of artivism, personal/familial struggles, and her experience as a former art teacher in a commitment to center intergenerational creativity, healing, and autonomy.David Johnson is an organizer and policy and research analyst who draws upon his personal experience with white supremacist culture to work towards a collective divestment from harmful and violent practices, policies, and systems, while expanding investment in people-centered responses to community needs. In addition to his role at Grassroots Leadership, he is a member of Texas Advocates for Justice, the Community Strategy Team for the University of Texas' Dell Medical School Department of Population Health, the Reimagine Public Safety Task Force for the City of Austin, the Mayor's Gun Violence Task Force for the City of Austin, and the board of BRAVE Communities. He is also a community ambassador for Solstice Recovery Foundation, and the co-founder of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery - Texas (CAST).OVERVIEWBrownTown links up with Rebecca Sanchez & David Johnson of Grassroots Leadership in Austin, Texas. In Part Three of the Collective Freedom Project series, they discuss the the socio-political climate in Austin, the #DefundAPD campaign(s); #ShutDownHutto and other campaigns to close or halt construction of new jails; and the intersections of technology, surveillance, and gentrification.BrownTown and guests cover several interrelated topics throughout the course of their time together. After Rebecca and David (or "DJ") share more about their backgrounds, they quickly debunk the myth of Austin as the liberal blue bubble in a sea of red Texas, explaining the history, the municipal political system (weak Mayor vs. strong Mayor), and the social facade. DJ likens the 1-35 interstate in Texas with the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago explaining how they were both built intentionally to subjugate Black people. The team continues to sift through various topics including the affect of the George Floyd uprisings on specifically budget campaigns, #NoCopAcademy (1, 2), academic institutions and private companies' relationship with police, and the role of technology in surveillance and furthering social control. BrownTown, Rebecca, and DJ close out the an introspective note that abolishing police is more than just the defunding and dismantling the local PD but abolishing the police in our heads, in our hearts, and creating new relationships between people and our natural environment.Through the CFP, Dani Marrero Hi created a micro-doc on the various campaigns throughout Texas, which you can find among other cities/regions' videos, podcast episodes, and a plethora of resources on CollectiveFreedomProject.org/Multimedia.--Mentioned in the episode:Moving Texas ForwardMichael Ramos (1, 2, 3)Austin City-Community Reimagining Public Safety Task Force#NoNewYouthJail in Seattle, WashingtonAustin's Big Secret: How Big Tech and Surveillance Are Increasing PolicingStrategic Decision Support Centers in ChicagoShot Spotter in Chicago (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)Dave Chappell, "Racism out in the open"Follow the Collective Freedom Project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.Follow Grassroots Leadership on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Communities of Color United on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.--CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Genta Tamashiro with excerpts from the Texas CFP video; outro song Crooked Officer by Z-Ro. 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

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECTThis episode is Part One 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.GUESTXanat Sobrevilla is a co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) who started with this work as an undocumented person in 2011. Xanat leads OCAD's deportation defense work, coordinates legal intakes and appointments, manages the collaboration with the ICIRR hotline, and acts as a liaison with our network of attorneys. Her input on legal strategy continuously strengthens our organizing strategy and the integration of families with deportation proceedings into OCAD's network.OVERVIEWBrownTown shares virtual space with Xanat Sobrevilla as they discuss the #EraseTheDatabase campaign to abolish and repair the harm done by the City's gang database as well as breakdown the broader connection between local police and ICE.BrownTown and Xanat set the stage for Chicago as a site with a longstanding tradition of coalition-building nodding to the rainbow coalition of the Fred Hampton era all the way to #NoCopAcademy (1, 2) and of course #EraseTheDatabase. Xanat explains that coalitions are not just about "diversity" of organizations but about shared power that are most effective when the most marginalized people are leading. They contrast that shared power for liberation to faux progressive politics like former Mayor Rahm Emanuel outwardly proclaiming Chicago a "sanctuary city" while still upholding coordination with ICE. The gang unpacks the stark issues with Chicago's gang database as well as surveillance of Black and brown communities as a whole, while zooming out to decades of United States neoliberal policies that create forced migration in the first place (hear that, Mrs. VP?).Through the CFP, SoapBox created a micro-doc on the Erase the Gang Database coalition and campaign, which you can find among other cities/regions' videos, podcast episodes, and a plethora of resources on CollectiveFreedomProject.org/Multimedia.--Mentioned in episode:"Gang contracts" in Cicero and Berwyn (Injustice Watch) (1, 2)Cook County Takes Steps to Erase Its Regional Gang Database (ProPublica)Reimagine Chicago Mayoral Forum 2019 (@themediaconnectiontv) - Part 1, Part 2Follow the Collective Freedom Project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Follow OCAD on their site, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linktr.ee/OCAD. Support the #EraseTheDatabase effort at EraseTheDatabase.com.--CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Genta Tamashiro with excerpts from the Chicago CFP video (1, 2); outro song Once Upon a Dream by Quinto Imperio. 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

Join Stand with Kashmir and Haymarket Books for a collaborative event series uplifting the work of artists and activists fighting for self-determination and abolition in the face of police brutality, militarism, and settler-colonialism. We will celebrate transnational and inter-movement resistance, exploring both the similarities between the different movements and the aspects that make each unique in its way. We will feature activists, artists and scholars from each movement to tell their story of resistance and resilience, and to strengthen solidarity across borders Participants: Ahmer is a prolific rapper and producer from Srinagar, Kashmir. Since a young age, Ahmer has been acutely aware of the violence that plagues that valley, and his lyrics reflect a self-critical and self-aware artist that is trying to make sense of one of the most complex issues of our time. By diving deep into his and his family's history in the valley. https://azadirecords.com/artist/ahmer/ Destiny Harris is a Black, queer abolitionist and organizer from the west side of Chicago. She is a sophomore, sociology major at Howard University. She believes in the power of grassroots organizing as a vehicle to building collective power and achieving liberation throughout the diaspora. Her work is at the intersection of abolition, anti-war, anti-militarism and environmental liberation. Destiny believes in the power of storytelling, poetry and culture as means of mobilization that should always be driving our movements. She has organized all throughout the city on campaigns like #DefundCPD, #CopsOutCPS and the #NoCopAcademy campaign which aimed to combat the narrative that our communities need police. She is currently a member of Dissenters. Destiny is now working around environmental liberation with Generation Green. Uzma Falak is a DAAD doctoral fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University of Heidelberg. Her work has appeared in The Economic and Political Weekly, Al Jazeera, Warscapes, The Caravan, Himal Southasian, Anthropology and Humanism, The Electronic Intifada, and anthologies like Of Occupation and Resistance, Gossamer: An Anthology of Contemporary World Poetry, among others. Her film ‘Till then the Roads Carry Her' has been screened at numerous film festivals. She was an invited artist-scholar at Warwick's Tate Exchange, 2018 (Tate Modern, London). Her ethnographic poem ‘Point of Departure' won an Honourable Mention in the Society for Humanistic Anthropology's 2017 Ethnographic Poetry Award. Tommy “Teebs” Pico is a poet, podcaster, and tv writer. He is author of the books IRL, Nature Poem, Junk, Feed, and myriad keen tweets including “sittin on the cock of the gay.” Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he now splits his time between Los Angeles and Brooklyn. He co-curates the reading series Poets with Attitude, co-hosts the podcast Food 4 Thot and Scream, Queen! is poetry editor at Catapult Magazine, writes on the FX show Reservation Dogs, and is a contributing editor at Literary Hub. https://tommy-pico.com/ Jamila Woods is an activist, award-winning poet, and singer/songwriter whose inspirations include Gwendolyn Brooks and Toni Morrison, as well as Erykah Badu and Kendrick Lamar. As a solo artist, she specializes in an accessible yet non-commercial form of R&B that is rooted in soul and wholly modern, which can be heard on her albums HEAVN (2016) and LEGACY! LEGACY! (2019). She is also the co-editor of The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic. https://www.jamila-woods.com/ This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and Stand with Kashmir. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/YXf1wQ0ZWOM Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

GUESTAriel Atkins is a lead organizer of Black Lives Matter Chicago and was very active in the #NoCopAcademy campaign. She is also a hardcore anime and comic book nerd.OVERVIEWBrownTown finally tackles a much discussed topic on this podcast as well as in recent weeks, police abolition. Ariel begins by sharing how she came up in the movement and her transition from activist to organizer. BrownTown chimes in comparing the politicization process of the unpoliticized from the 2016 election to now (see Episode 11). All three share their thoughts and experiences since the global uprising against police brutality and white supremacy following the police killing of George Floyd. In explaining the current resurgence for the Black Lives Matter movement, Caullen sets the stage theorizing on coronavirus/quarantine breaking the trust privileged people had in the system (paraphrased from Heather McGhee) while Ariel explains the snowball of international uprisings in 2019 (shoutout Hong Kong, Chile, Venezuela).Ariel and BrownTown soon bring it home to Chicago, breaking down riots/rebellions as "language of the unheard" (MLK), critiquing Mayor Lori Lightfoot's draconian measures to quell Chicago protests and unwillingness to budge on getting police out of schools, Latinx and Black communities coming together after police manipulation of Latinx gangs, and more. Social media has been a firestorm of information, performative allyship, and a spark for real conversations and politicization. With this, the gang shares their on and offline interactions, explain #8CantWait vs. #8toAbolition, and what everyone can do to unapologetically show up for Black lives, fight white supremacy and anti-Blackness in all their insidious and invisible forms so that we all get free. Originally recorded June 15, 2020.--On Abolition: We would not be where we are in this moment if not for the centuries of work from our ancestors and decades of work from living legends such as Black Feminists Angela Y. Davis, Mariame Kaba, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore. In short, abolition is "about presence, not absence. It's about building life-affirming institutions" (Gilmore). We want to abolish these harmful systems in their current form and radically reshape our social and political structures to equitably meet our needs with respect to our natural environment. More than a political vision, abolition is a way of life that replaces carceral logics in virtually every aspect of our lives with restorative practices and ideologies.Abolition Resources and Topics MentionedAbolition 101 Guide (article) - MPD150Yes, We Literally Mean Abolish the Police (article) - Mariame KabaIs Prison Necessary? (article) - Ruth Wilson GilmoreMaking Meaning in this Moment (video town hall) - Rising MajorityA Community Compilation on Police Abolition (zine) - Sarah-Ji and Monica Trinidad of For the People Artists CollectiveConfessions of a Bastard Cop (article) - AnonymousAre Prisons Obsolete? (book) - Angela Y. DavisCarceral Capitalism (book) - Jackie WangThe End of Policing (book) - Alex VitaleWho do you Serve, Who do you Protect? (book) - Maya SchenwarFumbling Towards Repair (workbook) - Mariame Kaba and Shira HassanWhite Supremacist Infiltration of US Polices Forces (article) - Danielle SchulkinCompiled Read, Watch, Listen SpreadsheetTransformharm.org8toAbolition.comCriticalResistance.orgSurvivedandPunished.org--
Follow Ariel on Instagram and Black Lives Matter Chicago on their site, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.--CREDITS: Intro music and engineering by Genta Tamashiro with audio snippets of Ariel, recorded by Caullen Hudson. Outro song Proll'ems by two-time Bourbon 'n BrownTown alum and Chi DNA subject Tweak'G. Podcast audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro.--Bourbon ’n BrownTownSite | Become a Patron on Patreon!SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Our guests on this episode of Queering Left are activists Page May and Debbie Southorn. Our focus with them will be their work and organizing with young people, particularly #NoCopAcademy. The No Cop Academy campaign is a youth led effort supported by community organizations across Chicago that want to see $95 million invested in communities rather than in a new police training academy on the West Side. Page May is an activist, organizer and co-founder of Assata's Daughters, which creates a space where Black youth can learn political education from Black women and gender non-conforming people. Debbie Southorn works for the American Friends Service Committee and is a founding member of We Are Dissenters, a new group activating students towards anti-militarism and anti-war organizing on college campuses. Page and Debbie talk about the limitations of representation, how identity is co-opted and commercialized, and the relationship of prison abolition and queer politics.

Debbie Southorn knows how to throw down. Debbie is the cofounder of the city's Black and Pink chapter, was a central figure in the #NoCopAcademy campaign, and is a founding member of We Are Dissenters, a new group activating students toward anti-militarism and anti-war organizing on college campuses. She also works at the American Friends Service Committee, a century-old Quaker social justice organization. We talk about her path into the work, DINOSAURS, dealing with serious burnout, the impacts of militarism, and more. Follow Debbie: http://twitter.com/madlittledebbie Check out We Are Dissenters: http://wearedissenters.org NOTE: Leave AirGo a rating and review! It helps new folks find the show, and gives us the validation we deeply crave. Recorded 1/27/20 in Chicago Music from this week's show: I Can See It - Darksunn

GUESTS Tia Haywood, born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, is the Managing Attorney and Solo-Practitioner of Haywood Monte Law Offices and consultant to Shiller Preyar Law Offices mainly specializing in immigration, civil rights, and criminal defense. She graduated from Howard University (undergraduate), Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and Comillas Pontificia Universidad (Masters of Law). Tia has volunteered with Centro Sin Fronteras as a Lead Attorney, First Defense Legal Aid, Chicago Community Bond Fund, and countless other groups. Jesús Vargas, raised on the Northwest side of Chicago, is a 21-year-old paralegal at Haywood Monte Law Offices, who has previously volunteered with ALSO (Alliance of Local Service Organizations) and CeaseFire. From a young age, he was active in the community, attending and participating in numerous marches and protests dealing with criminal justice reform and immigration. OVERVIEW The American political climate has been largely and saliently polarized with the Trump administration’s legal decisions and executive orders while Chicago has also been highly visible for legal controversy in the Jason Van Dyke trial and the proceedings and activism surrounding it. Tia and Jesús help BrownTown better understand the ins and outs of the criminal justice system and immigration law through their roles in the very legal institutions that govern us. They start by discussing the Coalition to Dump Matt Coghlan, a campaign that successfully unseated the problematic Cook County judge in November 2018 (see SoapBox Dump Coghlan PSA). Tia and Jesús harp on the importance of court watching and attending public meetings to gather first-hand information about criminal justice operatives (lawyers, judges, etc.) and elected officials that continuously make real decisions that effect so many lives. Tia dives into the world of immigration law and immigration rights, making it known that immigration courts are all too similar to criminal courts yet without certain protections. As the group dives into the particulars of systematic procedures, BrownTown and Jesús discuss how dominant, problematic narratives sway how criminal justice operatives can and will apply laws and precedents selectively (see Brock Turner vs. Meek Mill). In regards to the unpoliticized or those, at-the-moment, unscathed by problematic laws and/or enforcement of such, Tia eludes that these forces don’t effect you…until they effect you, adding that by the time you need support and resources for a situation you never thought you would be in, it’s too late to act (see “First They Came” poem). The gang digresses into the Jason Van Dyke trial and the other developments surrounding it: Kwame Raoul’s review of the sentencing, the Chicago Police Department code of silence case, and, of course, #NoCopAcademy. Considering it all, BrownTown grapples with what true justice for Laquan McDonald looks like in practice and in policy. Beyond the bureaucracy itself, through personal narratives and stories of both the most and least marginalized, how do we use law and bureaucratic institutions to challenge the root causes of systemic issues? With a broken and complicated system, how do we not only imagine a different world but practically work towards it? Here’s BrownTown's take. Read related SoapBox article "Chicago at a Crossroads" -- Visit Tia and Jesús at the Haywood Monte Law Offices at the Westside Justice Center! -- CREDITS: Intro/outro song Winter in America by Gil Scott Heron. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. -- Bourbon ’n BrownTown Site | Become a Patron on Patreon! SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3 Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Craig Dellimore talks with community leaders Amisha Patel, Exec. Director of the Grassroots Collaborative, Huu Nguyen, a Board Member for Raise Your Hand Action, and Debbie Southorn, of the "No Cop Academy" group, about what keeps neighborhood-based movements going, and where they go from here.

GUESTS Monica Trinidad is a visual artist and organizer, born and raised on the southeast side of Chicago. She is a co-founder of For the People Artists Collective, a radical squad of Black artists and artists of color in Chicago who create art for Chicago's most powerful justice movements. Monica creates artwork to cultivate the practice of hope and to spark imagination in both organizers immersed in the day-to-day spadework of movement building and in every resident in Chicago. Her work is currently in permanent collection at DuSable Museum of African American History. You can listen to her every week on the Lit Review podcast, a literary podcast for the movement, with her co-host Page May, founder of Assata’s Daughters. Debbie Southorn is a queer abolitionist who works for the American Friends Service Committee in Chicago, where she supports community-based efforts to end police violence, surveillance and militarism. She’s also a founding member of the People’s Response Team, and serves on the National Committee of the War Resisters League. From #NoCopAcademy: “#NoCopAcademy is a grassroots campaign launched by Assata’s Daughters, Black Lives Matter - Chicago, People’s Response Team, For The People Artists Collective, and 100+ grassroots organizations to mobilize against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plans to spend $95 million for a massive training center for Chicago Police in West Garfield Park on the city’s West Side. The city’s quiet unveiling suggests they are trying to avoid public scrutiny of this latest spending scheme, but we will not be robbed of our resources quietly. We refuse any expansion of policing in Chicago, and demand accountability for decades of violence. We will fight for funding for our communities, and support each other in building genuine community safety in the face of escalating attacks.” OVERVIEW As two adult lead organizers in #NoCopAcademy, Monica and Debbie outline their journeys into activism, noting how they both cut their teeth in organizing in the 2000s in resistance to the Iraq War. The group discusses Chicago’s history of radical organizing from the Rainbow Coalition in the 1960s, to We Charge Genocide in 2014, to Reparations Now and Justice 4 LaQuan. BrownTown and guests dissect what the larger Invest/Divest framework means in terms of #NoCopAcademy as positioned against reformist arguments of piecemeal solutions to systemic problems. Recorded about a month after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he would not run for a third term in February 2019, BrownTown listens to Monica and Debbie’s reaction to the newst, organizers’ relationship with his administration, and the (presumed) effectiveness of public shaming people in power. With coalition-building at the helm, Monica and Debbie are clear to describe #NoCopAcademy as a campaign first-and-foremost with a coalition built around it, rather than a coalition taking on several campaigns over its tenure (like R3 Coalition Chicago). Coalition work is difficult but, at times, necessary. Debbie elaborates, giving a nod to musician, activist, and Black Feminist Bernice Johnson Reagon’s reflections on the subject, as well as noting some of the endorsing organizations who throw down for #NoCopAcademy through their own unique perspective, experience, and analysis (noted: i2i in the Lunar New Year parade, SURJ, etc.). Last but certainly not least, the group takes their hats of to the youth who consistently spearhead the campaign, and look forward to the next iteration of the fight, the upcoming municipal election season, and what it means for the future of Chicago. Find out more about the campaign at NoCopAcademy.com and @NoCopAcademy on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. -- Follow Monica on Twitter, Instagram (personal / work), and Facebook. Learn more about her and buy her work at MonicaTrinidad.com. Follow Debbie on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and learn more about her work with American Friends Service Committee. -- CREDITS: Intro song Cops Shot the Kid by NAS. Outro music by Fiendsh. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. -- Bourbon ’n BrownTown Site | Become a Patron on Patreon! SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3 Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Topics in this episode: Intro - grad school updates/our lifelong commitment to not having our shit together (0:00- 5:43) Zainab has an on-air breakdown after learning sim is short for simulation (5:45) RIP Sridevi and Asma Jahangir two legends (10:57) Kim K wore a sari on Vogue India and Desi men lost their minds (13:00) Sana Safinaz please fuck off forever with your racist advertisements (16:00) Sana Safinaz Faces Backlash for Racist Campaign Getty Images mixed up Kelly Marie Tran and Mirai Nigasu because there's sooooo many Asians (21:35) Quick Dev Patel thirst session/discussion on beauty standards (23:00) MO SALAH-LA-LA-LA THIS IS NOW A MOHAMED SALAH FAN PODCAST WE LOVE YOU OUR MUSLIM SOCCER ICON MASHALLAH (27:20) No Cop Academy Campaign in Chicago. Discussion on Rahm Emanuel's policies on shutting down schools and expanding police in Chicago (32:19) WCW (we have so many crushes this week): Hajra Khan, Marielle Franco, Claudia Rankine, Guneez and Hannah (47:55) Links to things we referenced in this episode: Mo Salah fans chant about how they're going to become Muslim We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie No Cop Academy Donate to No Cop Academy Behind Sale of Closed Schools, A Legacy of Segregation The Laquan McDonald Email Dump Shows Rahm Emanuel's Administration in Crisis Mode No Cop Academy in Chicago: Black Students Hold Hours-Long Sit-In at City Hall Marielle Franco's Legacy and the Fight for Rio's, and Brazil's, Future Claudia Rankine --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chaivorytower/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/chaivorytower/support

    Caullen Hudson is always seeking to inspire - it's just a little different from place to place. In the gym, he's encouraging fitness enthusiasts and flipping tires. Outside of the gym at the company where he's Founder and Executive Producer - SoapBox Productions - he's encouraging youth and flipping aldermen. On this week's episode of #WeGotGoals, Hudson talks about the intersection of wellness, race, and media. His spot on the Venn diagram is right where those worlds intersect and he uses his spot to spread ideas and encourage action. In naming and branding his company, the soapbox sends a pretty clear message about what he and his business partner David A. Moran are creating. SoapBox Productions creates media - or micro-docs, as the teams calls them - to spread an idea and encourage incremental change. It all started with a documentary that Hudson produced as a Film Student at DePaul University when he studied and documented the parallels between drill rap and activism in Chicago. That project - Chi DNA - continues to live on as a multi-media project from film to editorial to a web presence. And if you're wondering what "drill rap" is, it's a form of rap that's steeped in Chicago's south side and often includes themes of violence and gang references - Chief Keef is widely associated with popularizing this form of hip-hop. Also discovered at DePaul - his love for fitness. It all started when a friend asked him to take on Shaun T.'s Insanity workouts. When he did, he fell for the kind of cardio that comes with bodyweight workouts, high knees and burpees. And as soon as he saw that DePaul was auditioning new fitness instructors for a bodyweight-specific fitness class, he took it as a sign. As those two vocations grew in parallel, Hudson saw opportunities to fight against racism, fascism and sexism in big and small ways. Inside the gym, it's as simple as renaming an exercise "person-maker" instead of "man-maker." As a producer and community organizer, he's supporting high school aged students in West Garfield Park who are organizing to fight against the erection of a Police Academy. Throughout this week's #WeGotGoals episode, you'll hear Hudson reference the project, #NoCopAcademy. To fully understand it, spend 3.5 minutes on this video. If you were moved by that short video, it's on purpose Hudson said. The arts help people understand larger social issues. “They may not read a research paper, but they’re going to watch a documentary that will help them understand,” he said.   You can listen to #WeGotGoals anywhere you get your podcasts — including Spotify! If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating and a review. Make sure to listen all the way through, because at the end, we heard from a real-life goal-getter just like you. (Want to be featured on a future episode? Send a voice memo with a goal you’ve crushed, a goal you’re eyeing, or your best goal-getting tip to me at cindy@asweatlife.com.)

“Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.” Australian physician and author, Helen Caldicott, said this and I believe it. I have the utmost respect for teachers. They are under-payed, under-appreciated, and over-worked heroes that we should all take much better care of than we currently do. Teachers, you’re amazing! Huge virtual hug to each and every one of you today.  Do you know who else believe the contents of the aforementioned Caldicott quote? Kara Bryant, my guest on the podcast today. She teaches at Village Leadership Academy in Chicago, IL. VLA is an elementary school that offers a “fresh new approach to teaching and learning that includes high lam standards, exposure to world history and geography, appreciation for cultural differences, the development of critical thinking and perspective taking skills, and socially just decision making.” In our conversation, we talk about the challenges of teaching in an urban context, the joys of teaching in an urban context, training tomorrow’s leaders, why she became a teacher in the first place, and so much more. Here’s a link to the #NoCopAcademy train takeover that Chance The Rapper retweeted.  Here is an article from Teen Vogue that featured last year’s GRC—a campaign to redistribute funding in Chicago in favor of underserved communities and schools, rather than on a new $95 million academy for cops.  Here is one (of many!) articles about VLA’s 5th grade class and their GRC. They are trying to rename Douglas Park by adding an “s” which would make the park named after Fredrick Douglass, rather than Stephen Douglas (an abolitionist vs. a slave holder). There’s also a beautiful video about this.  Amazing, right? Kara and the staff at VLA are doing incredible work. I’m so grateful for them and I’m so excited that these children get to be formed under the goals and vision of VLA.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Midwest Socialist Podcast Akele and Sarah talk to Black Lives Matter activist Maria Hernandez and Dorothy Holmes, whose son Ronald "Ronnieman" Johnson was killed by a Chicago police officer. We discuss the Justice for Ronnieman campaign, the NoCopAcademy campaign and other Black Lives Matter efforts across the city. --- To support the First Annual RonnieMan Back to School Supply Drive, donate school supplies to the following drop off locations: 1. Southside Together Organizing for Power - STOP. 602 E 61st St, Chicago, IL 60637 Monday through Friday, 10 AM - 5 PM 2. American Friends Service Committee--Chicago 637 S. Dearborn 3rd Floor Monday through Friday, 10 AM - 5 PM 3. Women & Children First Bookstore 5233 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640 Saturday 10AM–7PM; Sunday 11AM–6PM; Mon-Tues 11AM–7PM; Wed-Fri 11AM–9PM 4. Healing Village: Healing as a Radical Act of Resistance 63rd & Woodlawn You can also contribute by purchasing items from the Amazon wish-list:http://bit.ly/RonnieMan The drive will culminate in a Back-to-School party in Washington Park, AKA RonnieMan Park, on 53rd & King Drive on August 26th.

No early exit for them ahead of the holiday weekend, unless the #NoCopAcademy coalition manages to block the Chicago City Council's vote this afternoon. It's filed a lawsuit claiming the Emanuel administration has violated the Open Meetings Act by failing to allow appropriate public comment. Plus the rest of the day's news, sports, and awesome Memorial Day weekend forecast ...

This is the fifth Chicago Drill and Activism (AKA "Chi DNA") installment of Bourbon ’n BrownTown. Chi DNA is an ongoing documentary and multimedia project, which also features interviews, micro-documentaries, and editorial pieces on drill rap and the activist resurgence in Chicago. GUEST Tweak’G is a rapper and activist who has been on the front lines of the two successful grassroots campaigns in Chicago--#ByeAnita and #TraumaCenterNow at the U of Chicago. Her aggressive and truthful lyrics have been incorporated in the movement, most notably in the now infamous #RealTalk which targets Rahm’s administration after the Laquan McDonald shooting and cover-up. Born and raised in Chicago, Tweak spent 6-years in the military and now simultaneously traverses Chicago’s activist and underground rap scene as an unapologetic Black Lesbian ready for her next project. OVERVIEW Tweak’G discusses growing up in Chicago, how the Laquan McDonald scandal politicized her, the current #NoCopAcademy fight, and the new U of Chicago trauma center for adults opening in May 2018. Tweak and BrownTown also contrast the activism of today and yesteryear, noting differences in challenging patriarchy and deconstructing gender roles and sexuality. CHI DNA The Chicago Drill and Activism project explores the creation, meaning, perspectives, and connections between drill rap and the resurgence of grassroots activism since the early 2010s through the eyes of the people involved. It focuses on contemporary Chicago as an intentional place for the resurgence of these two formations of cultural and political resistance during relatively the same time period. It examines how authenticity, community, and other important values to the subjects are impacted and promoted via technology, social media, and a rejection of traditional means of movement politics and corporate structures. As told by activists and drill rappers alike, the project situates the the subjects’ experiences and actions into a broader theoretical and empirical history of systemic inequality and resistance in Chicago. Follow the ongoing project at Chi-DNA.com for more. -- Follow Tweak on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Listen to her on Soundcloud and YouTube. -- CREDITS: Intro song #RealTalk by Tweak'G. Outro song 16 Shots by Vic Mensa. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. -- Chicago Drill and Activism Site | Twitter | Micro-Docs | Support Bourbon ’n BrownTown Site | Become a Patron on Patreon! SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3 Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

This is the third Chicago Drill and Activism (AKA "Chi DNA") installment of Bourbon ’n BrownTown. Chi DNA is an ongoing documentary and multimedia project, which also features interviews, micro-documentaries, and editorial pieces on drill rap and the activist resurgence in Chicago. GUEST Kofi Ademola is a leader in Black Lives Matter - Chicago who has dedicated his life to the struggle for Black liberation, and against systematically and intentionally targeted discrimination. At age 18, Kofi started his life long career in social services, working in homeless shelters, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, conducting gang intervention and conflict resolutions. He orients his work towards combating racism and ending state violence and criminalization of Black communities, reimagining new egalitarian systems that center the most marginalized. Most recently, Kofi claims he's mainly playing the role of "cheerleader" in the movement, amplifying others' campaigns, most notably youth in #NoCopAcademy, women, transpeople, and other marginalized groups doing great work. Additionally, he recently organized the #GoodKidsMadCity campaign that aligns youth in Chicago and Baltimore who fight to end violence in all its forms and call for more resources to underserved communities. OVERVIEW The self-proclaimed "Chicago Forrest Gump," Kofi has been in and out of activist, electoral politics, and hip-hop circles in the city throughout the years, experiences that render him a perfect candidate for a discussion on historical resistance in Chicago. With the conclusion of Black History Month 2018, BrownTown and Kofi dissect what the month really means, how it is co-opted by the white mainstream, and how crucial it is to understand, formulate, and amplify the narrative of yourself and your elders. CHI DNA The Chicago Drill and Activism project explores the creation, meaning, perspectives, and connections between drill rap and the resurgence of grassroots activism since the early 2010s through the eyes of the people involved. It focuses on contemporary Chicago as an intentional place for the resurgence of these two formations of cultural and political resistance during relatively the same time period. It examines how authenticity, community, and other important values to the subjects are impacted and promoted via technology, social media, and a rejection of traditional means of movement politics and corporate structures. As told by activists and drill rappers alike, the project situates the the subjects’ experiences and actions into a broader theoretical and empirical history of systemic inequality and resistance in Chicago. Follow the ongoing project at Chi-DNA.com for more. -- CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh and soundbite from Fred Hampton's "You can't jail a revolution" speech. Outro Chi City by Common. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. -- Chicago Drill and Activism Site | Twitter | Micro-Docs | Support Bourbon ’n BrownTown Site | Become a Patron on Patreon! SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3 Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Today we’re joined by three activists from the #NoCopAcademy campaign: Makeda Austin of Assata’s Daughters/BYP 100, and Maria Hernandez and Adrienne Davis of Black Lives Matter Chicago.

This is the second Chicago Drill and Activism (AKA "Chi DNA") installment of Bourbon ’n BrownTown. Chi DNA is an ongoing documentary and multimedia project, which also features interviews, micro-documentaries, and editorial pieces on drill rap and the activist resurgence in Chicago. GUEST Ruby Pinto, is an artist and activist based in Chicago. She’s a member of For the People Artist Collective (FTP), a group that integrates art and activism to amplify struggles and uplift marginalized voices. She also makes jewelry out of copper and other scrap metal, inspired by the cityscape and human ingenuity. Ruby is a prison and police abolitionist, and is committed to building alternatives to the current system to keep us safe so that we no longer need to rely on the violent, exploitative police state. FTP’s organizing work and art was pivotal in the #ByeAnita campaign to unseat then-Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in 2016. OVERVIEW Fast forward two years after Alvarez's ousting, #NoCopAcademy, a new youth-led coalition, has formed to fight back against the City of Chicago’s plan to build a $95 million cop academy in West Garfield Park. Apart from specific activist campaigns, Ruby and BrownTown take a step back to analyze intersectionality within organizing circles, online and offline “call out culture” and everything in between. The gang discusses how systems of oppression—racism, capitalism, sexism—intertsect to further a legacy of white supremacy and ultimately make a Trump presidency possible, rather than vice versa. Furthermore, Ruby and BrownTown unpack the resistance to such systems in the #MeToo movement, organizing for state funding of social services, and challenging everyday white privilege. How do newly radicalized people get involved in social movements without being ostracized for their previous ignorance? How do we “call in” those who cause us and our allies harm while remaining vulnerable to the blind spots in our analyses? Here’s BrownTown's take. CHI DNA The Chicago Drill and Activism project explores the creation, meaning, perspectives, and connections between drill rap and the resurgence of grassroots activism since the early 2010s through the eyes of the people involved. It focuses on contemporary Chicago as an intentional place for the resurgence of these two formations of cultural and political resistance during relatively the same time period. It examines how authenticity, community, and other important values to the subjects are impacted and promoted via technology, social media, and a rejection of traditional means of movement politics and corporate structures. As told by activists and drill rappers alike, the project situates the the subjects’ experiences and actions into a broader theoretical and empirical history of systemic inequality and resistance in Chicago. Follow the ongoing project at Chi-DNA.com for more. -- Find Ruby’s jewelry on her Instagram, Facebook, or Etsy pages. Follow her on Twitter and For the People Artist Collective on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. -- CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Intro soundbite from Ruby Pinto's speech at a December 2014 #DecarcerateCHI protest outside of the then-Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez's office. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. -- Chicago Drill and Activism Site | Twitter | Micro-Docs | Support Bourbon ’n BrownTown Site | Become a Patron on Patreon! SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3 Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Your weekly show exploring live art, music, entertainment and culture with hosts Ben Moroney​ and Rahim Salaam​! On this weeks episode we talk with Brittany Meyer and Molly Kearney about what drew them to Chicago, Comedy, and the inspiration behind their monthly show "Strip Joker". We also discover Secret Cinema, learn how we got from Bye Anita to No Cop Academy, see the movie three years in the making at the Clamor and Claw [EP + FILM Release] || Scott William || Peggy Tenderass show, and share our art at AFMF presents: Juice Open Mic. Find out more about Strip Joker at stripjokercomedy.com. Listen to the podcast, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, support the show with a donation at www.patreon.com/whataboutchicago, like our page at www.facebook.com/whataboutchicago and check out our podcast partners Machine Culture Collective​ at www.machineculture.com. Music from this week's episode: Jazmyne Fountain - nonsense Vagabond Maurice - Nanukazuki - Titan Twilight Clamor & Claw - Clamor and Claw Theme (reprise) Blunt Corner - ifxckedup Chore Boy - Silver & Gold (prod. Josh Yeiden) The Roalde Dahls - Shark Blaine - fall Dale - Pea Soup Jimmy Spintuck - become gum Funereal - Ode To Stevin (progressica)[jessica] Sen Morimoto - Do To Me

Rewire managing editors Regina Mahone and Kat Jercich explore this week’s important underreported stories: Congress creating a rural health crisis, #NoCopAcademy protests breaking out in Chicago, and the closing of "Tent City" in Arizona. Plus, Regina interviews Vilissa Thompson about parents with intellectual disabilities fighting discrimination in New York City, and Kat's parents are in town.