Bourbon 'n BrownTown

128 - Palestinian Liberation: Artistic Expression through Film, Music, & Identity ft. Dina Amin

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 20:23:40 +0000

BrownTown shares virtual space with Dina Amin (AKA Dinamiin), Palestinian filmmaker and singer-songwriter to talk all things art, storytelling, and resistance. Dina shares her journey exploring identity and home through her genre-fluid music and deeply personal yet relatable film work. As the bombardment of war and genocide still cloud the headlines, we refocus our energy on what builds us up in our hearts and our on-the-ground political reality via organizing, political education, artistic influences, and the connections that elevate our souls. Art and media serve as not only framing tools but portals into living out our full humanity in a world that wishes to quash it. Originally recorded March 4, 2026.

GUESTS
Dina (AKA Dinamiin) is a Palestinian filmmaker and singer-songwriter currently based in Los Angeles, pursuing her MFA in Film at CalArts. In 2020, Dina co-founded Space Collective, (site, Instagram), an art house based in the West Bank. Her work explores identity, displacement, memory, and collective liberation through a hybrid of experimental, fiction and documentary. Raised in Palestine, her films often center voices from her community, using cinema as both an archive and a form of expression. Dina co-directed and co-produced her debut short documentary, Rise Up, which was screened at five international film festivals. Over the past ten years, she worked on a range of fiction and nonfiction projects, honing her skills in writing, directing, and producing. Follow her on Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, and her website.

Mentioned Topics & More Info:

"I Always Return to My Roots": 40 Minutes with Dina Amin x
PATOIS Film Festival
Sam Cooke, Muhammad Ali, & Malcolm X were homies (1, 2)
Malcolm X film car scene
Arabic Maqam or Arabic scales
Ep. 46 - Exploring Blackness & Cultural Media ft. Courtney Phillips & Matthew Manning of Gumbo Media
Seguimos Aquí - SoapBox film
Deon Cole, “Fuck ICE” at NAACP Image Awards
A Time That Remains - full film
Elia Suleiman, Palestinian film director
The Taarab Classics
Related episodes:

CREDITS: Intro song from Jowa El-Kon by Dinamiin; outro song A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.

Ep. 127 - New Years 2026: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles, Kassandra Borah, & Jamie Price

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

BrownTown on BrownTown. The podcast's audio engineers Kiera Battles and Kassandra Borah, and for the first time Jamie Price, assistant producer, step to the mics to talk all things BnB 2025! Last year we dropped our first show trailer; had our first live event since 2018; started our new "Wrap Up" series discussing/promoting SoapBox films; continued our Palestinian Liberation and Whiskey & Watching series; talked public transit, housing protections for working people, and how ICE ain't shit; and throughout the year analyzed Trump's billionaire, tech bro, Christian Nationalist fascist takeover and how we fight back. For better or worse, here's to 2026!

With 12 total full episodes, 2025 brought 10 guest episodes (4 repeat, 7 new; 8 with 2+ guests) and 8 series-type episodes. In addition to the yearly breakdown, the full team discusses shared leadership, reflects heavily on the in-person BnB Live event the previous night, the making of the BnB trailer, and how SoapBox's 2025 trajectory and overall political moment compares to 2017-2019. Originally recorded December 9, 2025.

Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application or right here!

GUESTS

Kiera Battles ecently received her MA in music business from Berklee College of Music. There, she created When The Show Is Over, a non-profit 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 she continues to develop the organization, 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 2025 graduate of Columbia College Chicago. With her bachelor’s degree in Sound Design, she tackles a wide variety of projects. From podcasts to films to advertisements, Kassandra makes cool sounds—sounds that elevate and uplift. Her skill set also includes writing, producing, music composition, and vocal performance. A lifelong artist, she is committed to community and creation.

Jamie Price is a visual artist and data conversion specialist. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and obtained her BFA in Photography at Northern Illinois University. Her work focuses on documentation and reflections of queer life and finding meaning in critical thought and analysis.

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from the current SoapBox reel; outro music Haters by Slim Thug x Paul Wall x BigXthaPlug. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz.

Ep. 126 - LIVE AT CH DISTILLERY Reproductive Justice & Abortion Care In This Moment ft. Alicia Hurtado & Qudsiyyah Shariyf of Chicago Abortion Fund

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 02:00:44 +0000

BrownTown heads over to CH Distillery | Jōtō Sushi in Chicago's West Loop for their second-ever live recording with Alicia Hurtado and Qudsiyyah Shariyf of Chicago Abortion Fund. In a moment of further descent into fascism on the federal level, built on decades of policy maneuvers and reactive cultural propaganda through a now resurgent Christian Nationalist and far-right forces, we seek to amplify and uplift the four decades-long work of Chicago Abortion Fund and the movement for reproductive justice, gender equity, and ultimately collective liberation. Not only have we also been working in this movement and others to support from a grassroots level but also to codify life-affirming practices and funding at the policy and institutional level. With our sights on 2026 and far beyond, let’s broaden our tent while strengthening our ties in order to -- not just hold the line on reproductive rights -- but expand and fight back against a re-energized threat on all fronts!

LIVE AT CH DISTILLERY | JŌTŌ SUSHI
CH is Chicago's leading artisan spirits producer with an extensive portfolio. Hosted inside their former distillery is Jōtō Sushi, where guests can experience both à la carte sushi and signature omakase dining, each reflecting their dedication to culinary excellence and attention to detail. Tell them BrownTown sent ya!

GUESTS
Alicia Hurtado (ah-LEE-see-ah her-TAH-do; they/she) has been building power as staff at the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) since 2020, where they currently serve as Director of Advocacy and Communications. Alicia leads CAF’s political advocacy, communications, and grassroots organizing strategy to create a culture shift that destigmatizes abortion and moves towards a world in which all people can access abortion care no matter who they are or where they are from.

Qudsiyyah Shariyf (could-SEE-yuh sher-REEF; she/they) is an organizer, birthworker, and reproductive justice advocate currently serving as Deputy Director of the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF). Her strategic vision has been instrumental in expanding CAF’s capacity to provide logistical, financial, and emotional support to people seeking abortion care in Chicago, Illinois, and beyond.

Chicago Abortion Fund's mission is to advance reproductive autonomy and justice for everyone by providing financial, logistical, and emotional support to people seeking abortion services and by building collective power and fostering partnerships for political and cultural change. They envision a world where everyone has the freedom and autonomy to create lives, families, and communities that are healthy, safe, and thriving and where the full range of reproductive choices, including abortion, are accessible and affirmed. Follow CAF on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Mentioned in or related to episode:

Birth Equity Act (HB 5142)
DidBidenSayAbortionYet.org
Megan Jeyifo (CAF Executive Director) on the 2025 Dobbs anniversary (WBEZ)
Guttmacher comprehensive report on family planning and reproductive health (2025)
Abortion: A History by Mary Fissel, referenced by one of the Q&A participants
CAF -- How We Can Help
CAF -- Pre-Abortion
CAF -- Post-Abortion
Say abortion toolkit: bit.ly/sayabortion
M+A Hotline
Ep. 28 - Fighting for Women's Rights through Faith, Policy, & #MeToo ft. Zoe Goodman

CREDITS: Intro soundbite of Qudsiyyah in 2021 giving remarks at a protest after SB8 was passed in Texas rally. Outro song Die of Shame by Tilt. Audio engineered by Kassandra Borah. Episode photo by Hannah Linsky.

Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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Ep. 125 - Funding Public Transit ft. Sadie Soto

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 4 Dec 2025 22:00:00 +0000

BrownTown shares space with Sadie Soto, consultant, organizer, policy savant, lifelong Chicagoan, and devoted CTA rider. The gang chats about the fall 2025 CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) and RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) budget crisis and the role and responsibility of mass public transit in our lives. As the recent funding crisis put public transit in Chicagoland in the spotlight, the team uses it as a catalyst to unpack the nuts and bolts of what funding public services actually looks like on a municipal, county, and state level; the perceptions and realities of public transit; and the the limited political will and actual possibility of what a fully funded and equitable transportation system could actually look like. Originally recorded October 24, 2025. Updates on the state vote and current state of CTA/RTA below in episodes notes.

GUEST

Sadie Soto is a lifelong Chicagoan and devoted CTA rider. A former congressional intern, she is deeply familiar with policy at the national level and has also been active locally as an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union. Over the years, she has volunteered for multiple aldermanic campaigns and remains an engaged resident of Jefferson Park, frequently attending her neighborhood chamber of commerce and community meetings. She currently works as an environmental consultant, where she supports community-centered initiatives through outreach coordination, public meeting facilitation, and communications that translate complex policy into accessible stories.

Mentioned in the episode:

Update: Illinois lawmakers pass public transit funding bill to address RTA budget gap (ABC Chicago)
Pre-vote: Budget shortfall could end CTA's 24-hour public service in Chicago (ABC Chicago)
Mayor Johnson's “Safe And Smoke-Free Public Transit” Executive Order
Violent crime on the CTA remains above pre-pandemic levels (Transit Talent)
Red Ahead Program
Why Chicago still hasn't fixed the Loop (The Flying Moose, YouTube)
Why Doesn't the US have better public transportation? (Sustainable America)
Illinois lawmakers propose merging CTA, Metra, Pace (1, 2)

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Climate and Transit video. Outro music End Of Beginning by Djo. Audio engineered by Kassandra Borah. Production assistance by Jamie Price.

Ep. 124 - The Wrap Up: "No Cop Academy: The Documentary" (2023) ft. Debbie Southorn & Destiny Harris

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 22:51:32 +0000

BrownTown debriefs No Cop Academy: The Documentary (2023) with campaign organizers, interviewees, and producer/curator of the film, Debbie Southorn and Destiny Harris. The team reunites to discuss the creation, process, and impact of the one-hour SoapBox-produced film and the #NoCopAcademy campaign more broadly. The adult-supported, youth directed coalition and campaign from 2017-2019 was a grassroots effort demanding the city of Chicago stop the construction of a then-$95 million dollar cop academy in West Garfield Park and fund youth and communities instead. The city ultimately decided to move forward with the project, however, the lessons learned and strategies seeded would prove fruitful for future campaigns in Chicago and movements across the country. The gang unpacks how Chicago youth changed the organizing landscape and movement media supported in naming, framing, and resisting power, both forging a path to the city's current political moment. BrownTown and guests compare and contrast the struggles of the late 2010's to what our movements are up against in this new fascist reality. Originally recorded October 2025.

“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. Let’s get meta!

Screen No Cop Academy: The Documentary here. Stay tuned for the film available on streaming in 2026!

GUESTS
Debbie Southorn was a lead adult organizer in the #NoCopAcademy campaign and producer of the film. She co-founded the Chicago chapter of Black & Pink in 2012, has been involved in and supported numerous efforts through her work at American Friends Service Committee, and is currently serving as the Director of Organizational Development at Dissenters. Follow Debbie on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Destiny Harris is a Black, queer educator, writer, poet, abolitionist and anti-imperialist organizer from the West Side of Chicago. She is an Alumna of Howard University who believes in the power of art and grassroots organizing as a vehicle to achieving liberation throughout the diaspora. She is currently the Chicago Peacebuilding Program Associate at American Friends Service Committee. Destiny also was an interviewee in the film and created corresponding educational material. Follow Destiny on Instagram and Facebook.

Learn all about the campaign at NoCopAcademy,.com, the film at SoapBoxPO.com/NoCopAcademy, and peep the Linktree for any film updates. Follow the campaign/film on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Mentioned in episode:

Related #NoCopAcademy episodes
#NoCopTOBER
#CopsOutCPS
BIG shoutout to by Sarah-Ji of Love and Struggle Photos who documented much of the campaign!
Tom Callahan, filmmaker/creator of Sensitive Visuals

CREDITS: Intro soundbites from news and campaign audio curated by Kassandra Borah; outro music King’s Dead Remix. Poster by Citlali Perez. Audio engineered by Kassandra Borah. Production assistance by Jamie Price.

Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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Ep. 123 - America: The Good, The Bad, and The Fascist

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 1 Nov 2025 00:18:33 +0000

BrownTown sits down for a follow-up conversation to earlier this year, analyzing the shock and awe strategy of the Trump-Musk aligned agenda and how we got there. Fast-forward to fall 2025, BrownTown speaks candidly on Trump's war on Chicago. While the lies and terror of ICE kidnappings, killings, and military-style raids on family housing projects color Operation Midway Blitz, Chicago fights back. More and more, the brutality and incompetence of the alphabet boys is on wide display as everyone from seasoned organizers to everyday community members hold the line and get involved in the most historically effective and creative ways. Now, with the imperial boomerang in full effect and Christian Nationalism more explicitly codified into policy after the murder of Charlie Kirk, BrownTown takes inventory of our current cultural and political moment with a sober analysis and hope for the future. Originally recorded October 6, 2025.

Mentioned in or related to episode:

Ep. 116 - America: The Last Dance?
Feds Continue To Tear Gas Neighbors (Block Club Chi)
Feds Won’t Pause Immigration Blitz During Halloween, Día De Los Muertos (Block Club Chi)
Project 2025 Tracker
Gov. Pritzker calls out DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's bullshit
Mayor Brandon Johnson Bans Use Of City Property For Immigration Enforcement (Block Club Chi)
Presidential Memorandum on "cOuNtEriNg DoMeStiC tErRoRiSm AnD oRgAniZeD pOLiTiCaL viOLeNce"
Inside real estate fight that led to South Shore immigration raid (Real Deal)
The 13th Largest Army in World Is Unleashing Violence in Chicago (In These Times)

CREDITS: Intro clip from Vic Mensa for the New York Times; outro music SMOKIN' ON THAT CK PACK by Bonald J. Pump. Audio recorded and engineered by Kassandra Borah. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz.

Ep. 122 - Organizing against Displacement with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement 2.0 ft. Kiara Hardin & Infiniti Gant

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 20:19:06 +0000

BrownTown chops it up with Kiara Hardin and Infiniti Gant, multifaceted organizers with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) coalition. Ten years since the announcement of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on Chicago's South Side and five years since the passing of the Woodlawn Ordinance that ensured housing protections for some residents, the coalition has continued to organize to ensure affordable housing for more area residents, including and specifically South Shore. The gang compares and contrasts the political moment and opportunities from summer 2020, in the midst of the uprisings, to fall 2025 under a Brandon Johnson Mayoral Administration with a backdrop of a fascist takeover on the federal level. They end with a discussion on the interpersonal nature of community organizing at its root in relation to de-pedestalizing politicians in order to circumvent power to the people because when we fight, we win! Originally recorded September 10, 2025.

GUESTS
Kiara Hardin is a dynamic project manager and organizational strategist with a passion for creative, collaborative solutions that center the needs and priorities of the Black community. With a strong focus on capacity-building, Kiara partners with Black-led and Black-focused organizations to create anti-authoritarian systems that fortify organizational infrastructure and promote sustainable growth. Her work, driven by a commitment to social equity, particularly addresses the social determinants of health. A dedicated community organizer, Kiara played a key role in the organizing efforts behind the South Shore Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) ordinance, working alongside local residents to fight for equitable development and protect long-standing Black communities from displacement. Through this campaign, she is helping build grassroots power, elevate community voice, and ensure that public policy reflects the lived experiences and demands of South Shore residents. Follow Kiara on Instagram and Linkedin.

Infiniti is an incredibly motivated, astute, and empathetic community organizer with the willingness to push beyond previous experiences to contribute innovative ideas and creations. A skilled public speaker, researcher, organizer, independent worker, and team player, she's all about freedom and committed to using those skills for building people power for her community.

Follow the Obama CBA on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Southside Together on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube!

Other topics mentioned:

Correction: The shirt Caullen describes, the Panthers were at the County Courthouse, not City Hall
Original Obama Center announcement
2020 Uprisings Coverage & SoapBox Media
South Korean Hyundai factory workers detained (PBS)
Chicago Ward/Neighborhood/Community Area Info (1, 2, 3)
Average Median Income (AMI) per City of Chicago
No New Prisons Campaign and Gov. Pritzker

CREDITS: Intro and outro soundbites from SoapBox's Obama CBA micro-doc. Audio engineering by Kassandra Borah. Episode photo provided by Infiniti Gant.

Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

TRAILER - Welcome to Bourbon 'n BrownTown!

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 1 Sep 2025 23:16:01 +0000

Welcome to Bourbon 'n BrownTown! Since 2017, BrownTown has fostered radically imaginative dialogues on media, culture, politics, and our various social movements through a liberatory lens. With a Chicago focus, filmmakers and movement workers Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran unpack complex social issues and topics while building relationships with artists, activists, community organizers, educators, social entrepreneurs, and others working towards a better world. Together, BrownTown holds space to listen, learn, and liberate, all while sippin’ on sumpin’ good. Y'betta LISTEN!

CREDITS: Trailer produced, engineered, and edited by Kassandra Borah. Podcast audio engineers include Kiera Battles, Kassandra Borah, and Genta Tamashiro (up to episode 76); production assistance by Jamie Price; co-hosted and produced by Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran. Past guests featured include Charles Preston, Tia Haywood, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, and Heavy Crownz.

Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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Ep. 121 - Chinga La Migra: Understanding Your Rights under a MAGA Regime ft. Khiabett Osuna

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 01:44:11 +0000

BrownTown talks all things immigration under Trump 2.0, June protests in Los Angeles, and how ICE ain't shit with immigration attorney and new homie Khiabett Osuna. As Trump tests the waters of his draconian federal policies, financially backed by the Big [Fucking Ugly] Bill, and using ICE as his Gestapo-like muscle, we turn our focus to community resistance in all its forms. Khiabett leans into her work in and outside of the legal field as one piece of this larger puzzle to ensure that no human is illegal on stolen land. From protestors, organizers, and healers on the front lines in Los Angeles to mutual aid and rapid-response networks in Chicago, BrownTown and Khiabett unpack our neoliberal past, technofascist present, and what will be a desperate future unless we fight back. Originally recorded July 18, 2025.

GUEST

Khiabett Osuna is an attorney with Kriezelman Burton & Associates, LLC. While at DePaul College of Law, Khiabett worked at a local immigration firm and was involved in the Asylum Immigration Clinic. She volunteered with the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project in Dilley, Texas, helping screen women and children at the South Texas Family Detention Center who had recently arrived in the United States. After law school, Khiabett was hired through the Department of Justice Honors Program as a Judicial Law Clerk, where she clerked for Immigration Judges in El Paso and Fort Worth, Texas. She then worked at immigration firms in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, assisting clients primarily in removal proceedings. In Chicago, Khiabett works at a full service immigration law firm, continuing to represent clients in removal proceedings, as well as individuals seeking family based and humanitarian relief. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the AILA Chicago Chapter Advocacy Committee, and the Federal Bar Association. Khiabett also volunteers at her local church providing consults to community members.

Mentioned in the episode:

Correction: WWII ended under U.S. President Harry S. Truman, not FDR
Socialism Conference 2025 session on community defense
LA Tenants Union
Birthright U.S. Citizenship
ICE and Homeland Security budgets over time
Third Act documentary film by Tadashi Nakamura
BnB Episode 116 - America: The Last Dance?
Kelly Osbourne...incorrectly calling out Trump
Migrant dies in ICE raid (1, 2)
ICE Mass Arrests Spark Chaos In South Loop (Block Club Chi)
Resources
- ICIRR Support #: 855.435.7693
- Midwest Immigration Bond Fund
- Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD)
- Pilsen Neighborhood Watch Coalition
- New fees for asylum seekers (1, 2)
SoapBox's 2020 Census project
Palestinian boy dancing with drone above (Aljazeera)
Defectors by Paola Ramos
Immigrants in tree outlast ICE (Reddit)
LA Anti-ICE protest Instagram highlights

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Alderperson Byron Sigcho-Lopez at a STOP ICE rally on June 8, 2025 in Chicago. Outro music FUCK ICE 2 by MANNY SÁNCHEZ. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Production assistance by Jamie Price. Episode photo by unknown.

Ep. 120 - Black Researchers Collective ft. Dr. Glenance Green & Shari Runner

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 01:24:53 +0000

BrownTown decolonizes the ivory tower approach to research with Dr. Glenance Green & Shari Runner, Co-Founders of the Black Researchers Collective (BRC). The Chicago-based capacity-building collective takes research to the streets, designing, activating, and mobilizing communities to use research and data to create and sustain change across Chicago communities and beyond. Dr. G and Shari discuss their journeys as researchers, organizers, and leaders from before the 2020 uprisings to now, comparing the two political moments while doubling down on their work in the face of both anti-Black and anti-science rhetoric and policies from the Trump Administration. As the team unpacks the relationship between research and the grassroots, it becomes clear that participatory and solution-based approaches to self-determination hold constant in all avenues of liberation work. After all, "we do this 'til we free us" (Mariame Kaba). Originally recorded June 11, 2025, days after the large scale anti-ICE demonstrations began in Los Angeles.

GUESTS

Dr. Glenance Green (affectionately known as Dr. G) is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Black Researchers Collective. Recognized by WVON and Ariel Investments in 2024 as one of Chicago’s 40 Gamechangers Under 40, Dr. G is a dynamic scholar, author, and community organizer dedicated to racial equity, Black liberation, and policy reform. A multi-talented leader, she holds a Ph.D. in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, with research focusing on Black women-led organizations leading resistance efforts against oppression through community-driven educational models, which not only advance their organizations' missions but also have potential implications for shaping state and local education policy. Follow her on Instagram and her creative work on her Linktree!

Shari Runner is Co-Founder and Director of the Black Researchers Collective. A native Chicagoan whose national reputation has been cemented due to her outspoken voice on inclusion, race, and equity. With more than 40 years of experience in public and private operations and financial management and after a career as an international banker in foreign exchange, Runner used her knowledge of finance and business operations as an entrepreneur.

The Black Researchers Collective (BRC) aims to advance racial equity by training and equipping communities with research tools to be more civically engaged and policy-informed through four key pillars: Community Education & Action; Research Evaluation, & Technical Assistance; Grassroots Strategies for Policy Engagement & Advocacy; and Black Researchers Pipeline. Follow BRC on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Mentioned in the episode:

CREDITS: Intro and outro song Hella Black by Tobe Nwigwe. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Production assistance by Jamie Price.

Ep. 119 - Palestinian Liberation: Chicago Palestine Film Festival ft. Nina Shoman-Dajani, Justin Mashouf, & Hamzah Furqani

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 01:05:24 +0000

BrownTown shares space with Chicago Palestinian Film Festival (CPFF) 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.

Founded in 2001, the CPFF is an annual cultural event that serves as a vibrant platform for showcasing the rich and diverse narratives of Palestinian cinema. The festival provides a unique space for filmmakers, artists, and audience members to engage with compelling stories that explore the multifaceted aspects of Palestinian life. Through a carefully curated selection of feature films, documentaries, and shorts, the festival seeks to foster a deeper understanding of the Palestinian experience. Follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

GUESTS
Nina 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. Follow Nina on Instagram!

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. Follow Justin on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and IMDB!

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.

Mentioned Topics & More Info:

Original GoFundMe from $17.74
Related episodes:
Professor Refaat Alareer (video, 1, 2)
Jackson Market, Palestinian-owned cultural market
Inner-City Muslim Action Network
Tom Callahan's Remembering Water
Kneecap pro-Palestine projections at Cochella
Epistemicide according to BnB Alum Ricardo Gamboa
2025 CPFF on Block Club Chi, Chicago Reader, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reporter
Nina on WBEZ Chicago Podcast about 2024 CPFF

CREDITS: Intro song from Leve Palestina (Hijazi Remix ) 2023 | تحيا فلسطين ; outro soundbite from Refaat Alareer. Audio engineered by Kassandra Borah.

Ep. 118 - The Wrap Up: "One Million Experiments" (2023) ft. Damon Williams & Daniel Kisslinger of Respair Production & Media

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 23:39:47 +0000

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.

Watch One Million Experiments on Apple TV, YouTube Movies & TV, and Google Play!

GUESTS

Damon 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 AirGo
Submit your experiment!
Tom Callahan's film Remembering Water
Malik Alim & The Breathing Room (1, 2, 3)
Freedom Square
#NoCopAcademy campaign and film
Remembering RonnieMan
People’s Grab ‘n’ Go (1, 2, 3) which is now Market Box

Follow 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 BrownTown
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Patreon

SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Ep. 117 - Whiskey & Watching: "La Plataforma 2" (2024) ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sun, 6 Apr 2025 00:57:46 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUESTS
Alderwoman 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.

Ep. 116 - America: The Last Dance?

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 02:47:52 +0000

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.

FULL TRANSCRIPTIONS HERE!

Mentioned in or related to episode:

Previous BnB episodes on Trump 1.0's first 100 days & Decoding Trumpism
Governor Pritzker's State of the State address
Caullen's Trumpism: A Brief History 2016 article
Voting 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.

Ep. 115 - New Years 2025: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles & Kassandra Borah

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 1 Mar 2025 03:12:00 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions here!

Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application or right here!

GUESTS

Kiera 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.

Ep. 114 - Distilling Dialectics at CH Distillery ft. Tyrus Yamagiwa

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 06:38:00 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

GUEST

Tyrus 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.

Ep. 113 - Palestinian Liberation: Divestment, Encampments, & Institutions ft. Amoona

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 23:13:00 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUESTS
Amoona 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:
The Hoodoisie
Boycott, 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.

Ep. 112 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 2 ft. Nesreen Hasan & Nadiah Alyafai

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 9 Oct 2024 02:13:46 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUESTS

Nesreen 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 Williams
Ep. 110 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 1 ft. Bill Ayers
Ep. 102: Palestinian Liberation: In this Moment ft. Muhammad Sankri
March on the DNC 2024
F*** the GNC Convention from the Dissenters
Ahead of the DNC, City Hall spent $814,000 on a fence to lock out homeless people, (Chicago Sun-Times)
Ana Navarro being not great (1, 2)
Active vs. Passive voice breakdown from @sunnmcheaux
Correction: Atlanta Olympics were in 1996, not 1994
Chicago’s Pro-Palestine movement marks a year of sustained resistance and advocacy (TRiiBE)
Democrats remove anti-death penalty from platform (The Intercept)
Uncommitted Delegates
Second Intifada (Aljazeera)

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.

Ep. 111 - Palestinian Liberation: Anti-Zionism & Jewish Solidarity ft. Rabbi Brant Rosen & Lesley Williams

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 20:07:42 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUESTS
Brant 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:

Writings by Brant:

Mentioned Topics & More Info:

Ep. 102 - Palestinian Liberation: In This Moment ft. Muhammad Sankari
Hoda Katebi on holding your institutions accountable
Drop The ADL Campaign
International Jewish Collective for Justice in Palestine - Webinar featuring Lesley and Brant
Palestine Book Awards
Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color
The Message by Ta -Nehesi Coates
AIPAC be AIPAC’n (Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar)
Gazans say "thank you" to American university encampments
Ceasefire Resolution in Evanston
Journalists Ghassan Kanafani and Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada
We 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.

Ep. 110 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 1 ft. Bill Ayers

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 15:20:49 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

"Two things that are never on the ballot are war and capitalism." --Bill Ayers

GUEST

Bill 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 2024
F*** 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.

Ep. 109 - Existential Quandaries on Hope, Relationships, & Resistance to American Hegemony ft. CA Davis

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Tue, 6 Aug 2024 02:09:08 +0000

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 persist and yet so do we.” Originally recorded July 2, 2024.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUEST

CA 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.

Ep. 108 - Whiskey & Watching: "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (2022) ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 1 Jul 2024 23:14:45 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

Mentioned in episode:

BnB Alum Ricardo Gamboa on Chicago’s Gaza Ceasefire resolution
#TreatmentNotTrauma campaign and plan
US-Indian Boarding School History
2020 Cicero & Cermak: Black & Brown Tensions (1, 2, 3)

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 and Kassandra Borah.

Ep. 107 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within Capitalism 3.0

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 20 May 2024 23:28:24 +0000

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.

Ep. 106 - Independent Media Creation in the Age of Spin (& Memes) 2.0 ft. Camila Cuevas

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 3 May 2024 22:03:50 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

"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:

Political meme/video accounts to follow:

@this_is_memecore
James Rehwald
@blackleftiss
@buddyhead_
@peachteacommunist
@cocktailsandcapitalism
@abnormalize.being
@anfemwaves
@wlotspod
@thisamericanleft
@seedingsovereignty
Caitlin Johnstone (IG, Twitter, YouTube)

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from @seansvv on TikTok. Outro music Harlem Shake by Baauer. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.

Ep. 105 - Bring Chicago Home ft. Dixon Romeo

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 22:47:51 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions here!

GUESTS
Dixon 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. Watch the SoapBox Micro-doc on Bring Chicago Home!

Mentioned in episode and more information:

Opinions 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.

Ep. 104 - Voter Guides, Electoralism, & the 2024 Cook County Primaries ft. Stephanie Skora & Raeghn Draper

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 18:54:08 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUESTS
Stephanie 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 Skora
Kim Foxx's trajectory (1, 2, 3, 4)
Rossana Rodriguez: Passing the Chicago Ceasefire vote & 2019 election win
How the U.S. Drove Venezuelans North (In These Times)
New endorsement standards regarding Palestine
Bring Chicago Home & its Golden Shrug!
Injustice Watch's 2024 Cook County Judicial Primary Election Guide

Opinions 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.

Ep. 103 - New Years 2024: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 20 Jan 2024 02:19:20 +0000

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.

Transcription available here!

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: Intro music from Clocks by Jahzzar; outro music from the hip-hop instrumental work of Bulasound. 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.

Ep. 102 - Palestinian Liberation: In This Moment ft. Muhammad Sankari

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 06:00:00 +0000

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.

Transcriptions available here!

GUEST
Muhammad 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 Toolkit
Black and Palestinian Organizing Toolkit
Epistemicide according to BnB Alum Ricardo Gamboa
White 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 accountable
Pro-Palestinian Protesters take Chicago's Lakeshore Drive
Chicago Elected Staffers demand Ceasefire Resolution (1, 2)
"Israeli Diaper Forces"
George Khoury of USPCN
Firkat EL Funoun Al Shabiyyeh

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.

Ep. 101 - Hood Empathy & The Chicago Creative Wave ft. Isiah "ThoughtPoet" Veney

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 06:00:00 +0000

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.

Transcriptions Available Here!

GUEST
Isiah “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 - Home
Chicago Drill 'n' Activism
Black 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" post
One 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.

Ep. 100 - It's a BnB Celebration! ft. Samantha Grund-Wickramasekera & Camille Williams

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 8 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

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!

Transcriptions available here!

GUESTS
Samantha 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:

Opinions on this episode only reflect Samantha, Camille, David, and Caullen as individuals, not their organizations or places of work.

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. Testimonials in order: Genta Tamashiro, Dakota Sillyman, Emma Terrazas, and Ernest Hudson. Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application and SoapBoxPO.com/Podcast for more information.

Ep. 99 - Whiskey & Watching: "I Like It Like That" (1994) ft. Ricardo Gamboa & Mia Carbajal

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 8 Nov 2023 23:00:18 +0000

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.

Transcriptions available here!

GUESTS

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 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.

BONUS - #NoCopTOBER ft. Freedom X

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 7 Oct 2023 00:31:10 +0000

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

GUEST

Freedom 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 10/6
- 10/7: International Social Change Film Festival (Chicago)
- 10/10: Announcement for November screenings and more
- 10/15: 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.

Ep. 98 - Coalition-building & Water Solidarity ft. Avalon Betts-Gatson & Tommy Hagan

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 6 Oct 2023 22:36:02 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

GUESTS
Avalon 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 & #NoCopAcademy
The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave
Ruth 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 campaign
Water access struggles (US): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Water 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.

BONUS - Help This Garden Grow, Episode 1

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:20:58 +0000

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.

Ep. 97 - Progressive Latinas in the New Chicago City Council ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 22:54:24 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

GUESTS
Alderwoman 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.

Mentioned in episode:

Ep. 90 - Electoral & Radical Politics 4.0 ft. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez & Alderperson-elect Jessie Fuentes
Ep. 91 - Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements 2.0 ft. Morgan Elise Johnson
Ep. 94 - Police Abolition 2.0 ft. District Councilors David Orlikoff & Ashley Vargas
Sh*t Talks: Studio Sessions - People Power & Electoralism
Chicago’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 referendum
Bring Chicago Home and One Fair Wage
Contentious 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.

Ep. 96 - Advertising in the Activist Resurgence (& So-called "Wokeism") 3.0 ft. Justin Stillmaker

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 20:50:05 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUEST
Justin 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 - Home
Chicago Drill 'n' Activism
Paul Ryan likes RATM?
SNL sketch on Kendall Jenner's Pepsi Ad
Dave 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.

Ep. 95 - Home

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 23:54:54 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

Topics Mentioned:

Ep. 64 - Non-Profit Industrial Complex ft. Lizette Garza
Hot Ones event with Digs With Dignity
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Corporate 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 BrownTown
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Patreon

SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Ep. 94 - Police Abolition 2.0 ft. District Councilors David Orlikoff & Ashley Vargas

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 01:06:23 +0000

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.

Full Transcripts Here!

GUESTS
David 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 Glossary

The 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 description
Terms
- OPS = Office of Professional Standards which turned into IPRA = Independent Police Review Authority which turned into the present-day COPA = Civilian Office of Police Accountability
- CAARPR = Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
- CPAC = Civilian Police Accountability Council
- GAPA = Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability
- ECPS = Empower Communities for Public Safety (which turned into...)
- CCPSA = Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability
- BIA = Bureau of Interval Affairs
- SAFE-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 BrownTown
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Patreon

SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Support

Ep. 93 - Coalition-building, Growing Solidarity, & #StopCopCity ft. Chelle Sanders & Jasmine Burnett

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 27 May 2023 03:21:32 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUESTS

Chelle 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 Collective
Get involved with Stop Cop City For Our Futures Campaign
No Cop City Anywhere by Benji’s Hart (In These Times)
#NoCopAcademy Site, Toolkit, and Report
Ep. 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.

Ep. 92 - Whiskey & Watching: "Everything Everywhere All At Once" (2022) ft. Ricardo Gamboa, Charles Preston, & Mia Carbajal

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 20 May 2023 01:21:09 +0000

BrownTown shares space with the Hoodoisie 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."

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUESTS

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.

Ep. 91 - Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements 2.0 ft. Morgan Elise Johnson

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 10 May 2023 23:43:39 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUEST

Morgan (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 Zapata
Are 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 podcast
Obama 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.

Ep. 90 - Electoral & Radical Politics 4.0 ft. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez & Alderperson-elect Jessie Fuentes

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 04:19:07 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

GUESTS
Alderman 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 WTTW
Eve Ewing’s Instagram post on electoralism and movement
Benji Hart's Twitter post -- election highlights and reflective thoughts

Episode 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.

Ep. 89 - The Politics of Dress, Pt. 2 ft. Hannah Linsky

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 01:19:01 +0000

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!

Full Transcription Here!

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, Website
- on 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 Chicago
NWA, Los Angeles Raiders, and the Straight Outta LA documentary (1, 2, 3)
SoapBox's What's Beef? documentary on neoliberalism, gangsta rap, and NWA
Mexican Rebozo
Punk 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.

Ep. 88 - New Years 2023: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 05:28:34 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUEST: Kiera 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.

Ep. 87 - Democratizing Philosophy through Identity, Environment, & Ethical Food Pathways ft. Shanti Chu

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 06:00:00 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

GUEST: Shanti Chu 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:

"Democratizing philosophy" was coined by Daniel Lazar, educator, podcaster, and musician. Listen to his "For a Living" podcast!
Grading for Equity
John 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 Quick
Ep. 37 - Public Health 2.0 ft. Le Greta Hudson
Factory Farming Awareness Coalition
Philosophers for Sustainability
Plant Chicago: Closed Loop, Open Source - Sustainable food production
Sistah 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.

Ep. 86 - W.O.R.K. in the Age of Spin

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 17 Dec 2022 04:04:31 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

“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:

Mentioned in Episode or Related Information:

Katie Porter PROVES How Corporate Greed Led to Inflation, The Young Turks
CEO 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)
History of the Industry - Oil and Gas Research Guide (Library of Congress)
TV Commercials Production Department Unionizes with IATSE (Hollywood Reporter)
SoapBox Editorial: Interview with Caullen and Ellen Long of Kartemquin
Shit in a bucket vs. toilets meme by Olivia Love
Accounts 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.

Ep. 85 - The Politics of Dress, Pt. 1 ft. Hannah Linsky

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 06:00:00 +0000

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. Listen to Episode 89, Part 2!

Full Transcription Here!

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 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 Chicago
Shein controversy (1, 2, 3)
SoapBox and Demand Justice clothing collaborations

Hannah's recs on accounts and people to follow:

Hoda Katebi -- fashion, politics, abolition, Chicago/East Bay
Alokvmenon -- Degendering fashion, queering fashion
Aja Barber -- Intersectional sustainability and politics
Dressing Dykes -- Lesbian fashion history
The Slow Factory -- Intersectional sustainability and politics
The Zay Initiative -- The Art of Arab Dress
Clothes 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.

Ep. 84 - Whiskey & Watching: "Passing" (2021) ft. Sophie Elizabeth James & Pearl Quick

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 16:27:01 +0000

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".

Full Transcription Here!

GUESTS
Sophie 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.

Ep. 83 - “We Are More” Pt. 3: Re-entry, Combating the "Law & Order" Narrative, & the SAFE-T Act ft. Melvin Farley

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 05:00:00 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

GUEST
Melvin 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 newspaper
Episode 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.

Ep. 82 - “We Are More” Pt. 2: Transforming Systems & Community Organizing after Incarceration ft. Dyanna Winchester

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 01:21:56 +0000

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.

Full Transcription Here!

GUEST
Dyanna 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.

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.

Ep. 81 - “We Are More” Pt. 1: Redefining False Narratives & Disrupting Trajectories of Women in Prison ft. Sandra Brown

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 23:41:09 +0000

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.

Full transcription here!

GUEST
Sandra 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.

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

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.

TRAILER - The "We Are More" Series

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 2 Jul 2022 02:33:45 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions here!

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.

Ep. 80 - Remapping, Electoralism, & Challenging the Border Myth ft. Stephanie Skora

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 04:47:58 +0000

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.

Full transcription here!

GUEST
Stephanie 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 project
Nicole 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.

Ep. 79 - Whiskey & Watching: "The Batman" (2022) ft. Sophie Elizabeth James & Pearl Quick

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 27 May 2022 16:50:25 +0000

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.

Full transcription here!

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.

Ep. 78 - Black Farming & Finding Your Food Story ft. Pearl Quick

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 7 May 2022 02:18:47 +0000

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.

Full transcription here!

GUEST
Hailing 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-Doc
Soul Fire Farm (New York) and Chicago City Farm
Caullen's Climate Change Meme
Lucia 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.

Ep. 77 - Independent Media Creation in the Age of Spin (& Capital) ft. Sophie Elizabeth James

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 22:15:32 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

GUEST
Sophie 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:

CREDITS: Intro/outro music XXX by Kendrick Lamar. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Victoria Price.

Ep. 76 - Surveillance Capitalism & Abolitionist Tech, Pt. 2 ft. Alyxandra Goodwin

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 01:40:37 +0000

BrownTown spills even more the tea on in part two of the surveillance capitalism and abolitionist tech conversation with Alyx Goodwin, 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.

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. Listen to Part One!

NOTE: Content warning for gunshot sounds and spoiler alert for aforementioned films

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.

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 activism
Obama CBA Coalition and SoapBox project
Predictive 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 Project
Tech is Not Neutral

Follow Alyxandra on Instagram and Twitter! Read her and others' work at LEFTOUTmag.com and follow LEFT OUT on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Sign the #StopShotSpotter petition and take action with the toolkit! Watch SoapBox's Stop ShotSpotter PSA here!

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 graphic from the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Three Interactive Tools for Understanding Police Surveillance article.

Ep. 76 - Surveillance Capitalism & Abolitionist Tech, Pt. 1 ft. Alyxandra Goodwin

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 05:00:00 +0000

BrownTown 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 and 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. Listen to Part Two!

GUEST

Alyx 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.

Mentioned in episode and other information:

Shoshana Zuboff's work
- The 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 counterinsurgency
Operation Legend is Bringing Surveillance Tech to Cities (Schwenk)
Raptivist Bella BAHHS on the history of Chicago gangs and machine politics (TRiiBE)
Chicago Drill 'n' Activism cross-platform documentary and multimedia project on drill rap and activism
BnB Ep. 21 - Welcome to the Gun Show (on US vs. UK drill rap)
Texas police surveillance: HALO cameras, BnB Episode 73
Stingray technology for phone tracking
Erase 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)
EndPoliceSurveillance.com
ChicagoPoliceSurvelliance.com
Electronic Frontier Foundation

Sign the #StopShotSpotter petition and take action with the toolkit! 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 graphic by Ellen Hao from South Side Weekly's Shot Heard Round the City article.

Ep. 75 - Youth Radio: Inside & Out ft. Simone St. Pierre Nelson & Stories by Youth Incarcerated in Seattle

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 22:03:00 +0000

BrownTown 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.

GUEST

Simone 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.

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 youth stories!

BONUS - The Collective Freedom Project: Debrief

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 01:54:19 +0000

In the first recording since the Collective Freedom Project (CFP) 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.

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECT
The 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.

Mentioned in episode:

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 Project
Site | Multimedia | Campaigns | Resources

Ep. 74 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 4: California & #Budget2SaveLives ft. Sandy Valenciano

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 9 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0000

BrownTown 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 agenda.

GUEST
Sandy (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.

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECT
This 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.

Mentioned in the episode:

Chicago Votes
Oakland 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 Project
Site | Multimedia | Campaigns | Resources

Ep. 73 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 3: Texas & #ShutDownHutto ft. Rebecca Sanchez & David Johnson

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 8 Jul 2021 18:12:12 +0000

BrownTown 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.

GUESTS
Rebecca 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).

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECT
This 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.

Mentioned in the episode:

Moving Texas Forward
Michael Ramos (1, 2, 3)
Austin City-Community Reimagining Public Safety Task Force
#NoNewYouthJail in Seattle, Washington
Austin's Big Secret: How Big Tech and Surveillance Are Increasing Policing
Strategic Decision Support Centers in Chicago
Shot Spotter in Chicago (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Dave Chappelle, "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 Project
Site | Multimedia | Campaigns | Resources

Ep. 72 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 2: Atlanta & #CloseTheJailATL ft. Denise Ruben

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 7 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0000

BrownTown chops it up with Denise Ruben as they discuss the #CloseTheJailATL campaign and coalition. The Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC) was built in preparation for the 1996 Summer Olympics as the "extra jail" in Atlanta and previously was divided into two sides — the "city side" and the ICE side. The campaign won legislation in May 2019 to close and repurpose the jail through a community-led taskforce but is still fighting to repurpose the facility into a Center for Wellness & Freedom, reallocate $32.5 million back into the community, and decriminalize the "broken windows" offenses that populated the jail.

Denise shares her experience being system-impacted and starting her work with Women on the Rise. Her and BrownTown discuss coalition-building across identities and the importance of investing in communities on the front-end of social issues versus on the back-end with incarceration, punishment, and criminalization. Now summer 2021, Denise updates BrownTown on the current struggles with the campaign as Mayor Lance Bottoms of Atlanta who initially championed #CloseTheJailATL is not running for re-election this fall and the County makes plans to utilize the jail as an overflow facility.

GUEST
Denise Ruben is a lead organizer with Women on the Rise - Georgia. Women on the Rise is a grassroots organization led by women of color who are targeted and/or impacted by the legal system. Women on the Rise works to educate, heal, and empower themselves, one another and our communities to demand justice, dignity, and liberation for all.

Follow the Collective Freedom Project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Follow Women on the Rise on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Support the #CloseTheJailATL effort at CloseTheJailATL.org.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Genta Tamashiro with excerpts from the Atlanta CFP video; outro song Better by ALAZ. 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 Project
Site | Multimedia | Campaigns | Resources

Ep. 71 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 1: Chicago & #EraseTheDatabase ft. Xanat Sobrevilla

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Tue, 6 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0000

BrownTown 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.

GUEST
Xanat 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.

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECT
This 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.

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 2
SoapBox's #EraseTheDatabase micro-doc

Follow 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 Project
Site | Multimedia | Campaigns | Resources

TRAILER - The Collective Freedom Project: A Four-Part Series

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Caullen and David of BrownTown and organizers across the U.S. discuss fighting for a world away from police and ICE violence and towards a world with life-affirming institutions, respect for our natural environments, collective freedom and liberation. The nuanced conversations in the series allow for a more complex, dynamic, and frank digestion of the varied political terrain in which we wage region-specific efforts as well as introspective dives into the broader lessons we can learn from each other and from this moment, summer 2021, a year after the George Floyd uprisings.

THE COLLECTIVE FREEDOM PROJECT
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.

Follow the Collective Freedom Project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Genta Tamashiro; outro sound bite from Jalen Kobayashi in the Chicago #EraseTheDatabase CFP video (1, 2). 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 Project
Site | Multimedia | Campaigns | Resources

Ep. 70 - Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements ft. Mateo Zapata

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 14 May 2021 23:50:45 +0000

BrownTown reflects on the turbulent events of March and April 2021 in Chicago within the context of the community-based media, truth in journalism, and participating in and documenting social movements with Mateo Zapata.

Mateo shares his introduction into organizing for immigrants' rights in resistance to the Sensenbrenner bill in 2006 (1, 2). He and BrownTown harp on the importance of organizing and grassroots action regardless of policy promises and often in direct opposition to legislation from the state (i.e. hunger strike during Daley Jr. Administration - 1, 2, 3). BrownTown places Mateo's op-ed for the Chicago Tribune on the police killing of Adam Toledo in March as a site of introspection for nuanced, complex, and humanizing journalism that also directly and unapologetically calls out police violence. The guys apply a similar focus on community-based media and independent journalism when analyzing the myth of objectivity, the importance of language ("police-involved shooting" vs. "fatally shot" vs. "police killing"), as well as the role of social media in all of it. BrownTown and Mateo go back-and-forth sifting through seemingly unrelated topics -- from comparing tech CEOs to street organizations, to Alderman Ed Burke being absolute trash, to the normalization of political lobbying and violence of the American empire -- before speaking on the police killing of Anthony Alvarez, noteworthy events/actions of the 2020 uprisings, the past, present, and future of Black and Brown solidarity, and the Justice for Adam Toledo Logan Square rally (1, 2, 3).

How do we as independent media outlets/documentarians/journalists use our mediums to challenge often false yet dominant narratives in media and uplift the voices within our communities that are most impacted by them? Here's their take. Originally recorded April 30, 2021.

GUEST

Mateo Zapata is a South Side-raised creative of Colombian/Chilean descent working at the intersection of photojournalism, the arts, hip-hop and community advocacy. Follow Mateo on his site, Instagram, and Twitter!

Articles and events mentioned:

We are Adam: For many youth across Chicago’s South and West sides, Adam Toledo’s life trajectory is too familiar by Mateo Zapata (Chicago Tribune)
Let's wait before turning slain 13-year-old Adam Toledo into a martyr by Eric Zorn (Chicago Tribune)
Lori Lightfoot is wrong. 'We' didn't fail Adam Toledo. by (BnB alum) Jasson Perez (Washington Post)
"Why Are You Shooting Me?" CPD fatally shot Anthony Alvarez on March 31. With the release of official video, his family may finally get some answers. by Madison Muller, Jamie Kalven, and the Invisible Institute
In Little Village, Adam Toledo’s death spurs reflection on police, gangs, and race by Carlos Ballesteros (Injustice Watch)
Trevor Noah interviewing Katherine Maher of Wikipedia

CREDITS: Intro song We The People by A Tribe Called Quest and outro song Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P by Chicago's own Ric Wilson. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro and Kiera Battles.

Ep. 69 - Restorative Justice ft. Mashaun Ali Hendricks

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 01:50:26 +0000

BrownTown shares a virtual circle with Mashaun Ali Hendricks. Together, they listen, learn, share, and unpack restorative justice from its ancestral beginnings to its modern direct opposition the prison-industrial complex and everything in between.

Restorative Justice (RJ) has gained in popularity over the decades. We know it to be not only a philosophy and strategy, but a way of life. In an overly punitive country and world, RJ allows a roadmap to healing, communication, relationship-building, and ultimately transformation. As wide critiques of American mass racialized incarceration gained popularity in the 2010s and abolition of police and prisons is no longer a fringe idea post-George Floyd, RJ has renewed attention as an essential tool and mindset on how we build a better world.

Mashaun, an RJ practitioner for over a decade, patiently shares his journey with BrownTown. From finding inner peace to sharing it with others through circles, programming, art, and streetwear, BrownTown and Mashaun center how everyday relationship-building is foundational to not only understanding each other and reducing harm but essential to building systems of care and love. Originally recorded April 12, 2021.

GUEST

Mashaun Ali Hendricks is a Chicago born-and-raised Organizer, restorative justice practitioner, community architect, conceptual artist and owner of the restorative justice based street-wear brand & boutique TRAP House Chicago, which houses the Feed 79th initiative, peace circles, art installations, and much more. Follow Mashaun on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Follow TRAP House Chicago on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Toss the bag on their site or pull up in person at Concept Store 002 at 744 E. 79th St Chicago, IL 60619 and/or Concept Store 003 at 1418 W Division St Chicago, IL 60642!

CREDITS: Intro song Circles and outro song The Metaphor from TRAP House's conceptual artist and MC The Honorable Hakim Dough off of his Thankful, for the Chi album. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro and Kiera Battles.

Ep. 68 - Identity, Power, & the Invention of Race ft. CA Davis

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 3 Apr 2021 01:18:23 +0000

BrownTown listens, learns, and breaks down the myths and histories of racial identity with CA Davis, filmmaker, digital storyteller, and creator of a LATTO Thought -- an immersive audio documentary that dismantles post-racial myths about mixed race identities.

CA begins this special conversation outlining how he came to create a LATTO Thought and centering many of the misconceptions we commonly associate to race -- both more known biological myths as well as social myths in the way we construct our views on race and in our very language. BrownTown and CA share their experiences growing up creating, presenting, and experiencing their racial identity in the world and how it plays out as adults.

As CA notes, "depending on the time, place, space, and economics of where you are in the world, race is never the same." People aren't mixed. History is. Through imperialism, war, mass movements, geography, relationships with the land, and countless other historical praxis, race is a complex, nuanced, ever-evolving phenomenon. BrownTown and CA sift in and out of related (and seemingly unrelated topics) from the Census, respectability politics and code-switching, intersectionality, the American government as an empire (see: the Death Star), and recent events like the Atlanta spa shootings, Megan Markle and the Royal Family, and the January 6th Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

At the end of the day, we know race to be a creation and effective tool for white supremacy. The better we understand that, the better we can dismantle it. Let's get to work. Originally recorded March 25, 2021.

GUEST

CA is the creator and host of a LATTO Thought — an immersive audio documentary series that dismantles post-racial myths about mixed race identities. By day, he is a digital storyteller at Northwestern University where he turns academic research into films, podcasts, and media elements integral to larger digital humanities projects. Outside of NU, he is a filmmaker, editor, and, more recently, audio documentarian focused on racial consciousness and social justice.

Follow CA on his site CADavis.me, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter!

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!

Mentioned in the episode:

NPR’s Code Switched “Racial Imposter Syndrome”
The work of Native American scholars Kim TallBear and Jodi A. Byrd
The work of Guy Emerson Mount
Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 (1, 2, 3)
Nathaniel Butler, Black slave trader

CREDITS: Intro audio from a LATTO Thought Podcast, "takin' it back" episode. Outro song The Dreamer by Anderson .Paak (ft. Talib Kweli & Timan Family Choir). Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro with assistance from Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Joe Martinez.

Ep. 67 - #DefundCPD, Responsive Institutions, & Turning Moments into Movements ft. Bettina Johnson

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 00:44:34 +0000

BrownTown invites Bettina Johnson to talk all things #DefundCPD campaign, nuances and strategies for abolitionist organizing, non-hierarchal structures, building responsive institutions, and training the newly politicized.

The gang compares and contrasts their work and thoughts on abolition and broader "defund police" campaigns pre- and post-George Floyd uprisings before digging into the momentum theory of organizing--turning the energy and politicization of highly visible moments into sustainable movements.

As Bettina notes, "we need as many people and as many entry points to start that [politicization] process that feels good for people." BrownTown and Bettina discuss various entry points into grassroots work and the non-hierarchal structures and autonomous actions that folks are encouraged to take within more current and common decentralized movements. They eventually delve in the weeds about #DefundCPD in Chicago and similar campaigns nation-wide naming the specific campaign goals as abolitionist steps and not a reformist reforms. However, they center nuanced inter-movement discussions about the role of "refunding" and what responsive institutions should and could like that that do not re-ify the harm of the prison-industrial complex under a different name.

#DefundCPD educated, organized, and mobilized thousands of Chicagoans around the abolitionist demand to defund the Chicago Police Department on the heels of a global uprisings against state violence and white supremacy and for Black lives. Now, a campaign coming out of hibernation in April 2021, what lessons have we learned from 2020? Why is hibernation necessary for movement work? Building upon years, decades, centuries of work, what types of organizing strategies and tactics need we build on or alter in terms of autonomous coalition-building, trust in camaraderie, and exhausting all of our skills in our work towards liberation? Here's their take.

GUEST

Bettina Johnson is a Chicago born and raised abolitionist organizer, Co-founder and current Steering Committee member of Liberation Library and on the Steering Committee for the AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). She is also on the Steering Committee of Chicago DSA’s #DefundCPD Campaign, and Co-lead for the Training Committee of the Black Abolitionist Network-steered #DefundCPD Campaign

Follow Bettina on Twitter!

Follow Liberation Library on their site, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Chicago's AfroSocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus via Linktree, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow the #DefundCPD campaign via Linktree, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Watch SoapBox's coverage of the 2020 uprisings in Chicago here!

CREDITS: Intro/outro song Fuck Tha Police by NWA. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro with assistance from Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Love and Struggle Photos.

Ep. 66 - Advertising in the Activist Resurgence (& Post-George Floyd) 2.0

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 6 Mar 2021 03:08:50 +0000

BrownTown reflects on advertising and internet-based media post-COVID lockdown, post-George Floyd uprisings, and post-2020 elections. Building on the first May 2019 installment, BrownTown updates their analysis on the ways in which corporate and independent media co-opt movements and historical events to help their bottom line, improve their public image, and sometimes challenge the status quo.

If advertising is the jester of capitalism and we're all forced to watch the show, then let's engage with a critical lens and build the tools to burn down the stage and create anew if it doesn't serve our material needs. Originally recorded February 18, 2021.

Ad Campaigns and Videos Discussed:

Ocean Spray viral TikTok video (1) / @420doggface208
Southside Magnolias / DoorDash
The Four Way / Google
The Middle / Jeep
"Cry More, Wall Street" / The Daily Show
Twisted Tea Smack video

Mentioned or Related Memes and Articles:

How the "center" becomes the right diagram / @soapboxstand
Insurrection is necessary by Bella BAHHS in TRiiBE
Takes on the January 6th Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
GameStop and Wall Street (1, 2)
"May the Creator Grant You..." Meme

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from “Sell & Spin: A History of Advertising”. Outro music Dreams by Fleetwood Mac (from the Doggface Ocean Spray viral video). Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro with assistance from Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Sean Kelly.

Ep. 65 - Sex & Body Positivity ft. Christina Wilborn

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 01:52:48 +0000

BrownTown shares virtual space with Christina to discuss sex and body positivity. She opens up to BrownTown as they unpack power, social norms, and patriarchy regarding we construct, present, and navigate sex and our own bodies.

Christina (AKA "C-Dub") centers her lived experience as well as her work co-creating Womxnvibe into the conversation as a site of her own learning. She explains what power meant to her in the past and how she empowers womxn now through dance, in her work as an electrolysis, and her everyday life. BrownTown harps on the importance of empowerment and community-building in different spaces, likening that to living out an abolitionist framework of trust and accountability.

As Christina tells her story, the gang unpacks gender roles and binaries in and outside of the bedroom, communication in relationships, body positivity (or lack thereof) in the fitness/wellness industry, capitalism and the diet industrial complex, and normalizing womxn's pleasure.

Sex and body positivity empowers us and rejects cis/het patriarchy, encouraging us to feel, explore, and be in community with one another. We live this out (and struggle through it) in our personal lives, our work, our art, our relationships, and even (slowly) our institutions.

GUEST

Christina Wilborn is the Co-Founder and Co-Creator of Womxnvibe. Reminding womxn that it is OK to own their confidence in their sexual identity, and that taking up space is necessary to develop the stronghold in our individual powers. She is a hope dealer who encourages and empowers womxn to live in their authentic sexual identities through movement and affirming mediation. Other titles she currently wears are wife, mom of three, dancer, creator, spiritual thug, and entrepreneur. Follow Christina on Instagram; and Womxnvibe on their site and Instagram.

CREDITS: Outro song Good as Hell by Lizzo. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles with assistance from Genta Tamashiro.

Ep. 64 - Non-Profit Industrial Complex ft. Lizette Garza

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 02:32:59 +0000

BrownTown talks non-profit industrial complex, financial surveillance, drill rap, and everything in between with Lizette Garza, Program Manager at Crossroads Fund. The gang dissects the philanthropic world's inherent root in inequity as well as its changes and challenges from the grassroots over the years.

Lizette brings her lived experience as well as work with Crossroads into the conversation around the role of non-profits, funding "radical" initiatives, and the impact coronavirus and the George Floyd uprisings had on them. As summer 2020 brought a racial justice reckoning, everyday people began to distrust institutions, better understand how whiteness and anti-Blackness permeates in even (and especially) the most trusted charitable giving, and how we can build better networks for funding, support, and trust outside of established institutions. BrownTown and Lizette analyze unpack these topics while reflecting on their own roles in movement work and as funders/fundees. As media creators and lovers of hip hop, they center the power of media, art, and imagination in pushing back against oppressive ways of thinking and accepting and living out abolitionist politics.

Considering it all, BrownTown and Lizette distill these larger dialogues wrestling with how to work within and simultaneously resist a system built on the same hierarchies and oppression it is supposed to challenge. Ultimately, we're all just trying to figure out where the money reside. Originally recorded December 3, 2020.

#TwerkForLiberation

GUEST

Lizette Garza is the Program Manager at Crossroads Fund, a public foundation that supports community organizations working on issues of racial, social and economic justice in the Chicago area. Lizette supports community-based grant making, and movement building programs like The Giving Project and Cultivate: A Women of Color Leadership program. Previously, Lizette has a background in youth development and music industry serving as a Program Specialist at After School Matters and Teaching Artist at ElevArte Community Studio. She is a longtime Pilsen-resident with a love for hip hop, yoga, and cooking. Outside of trust-based philanthropy, she is a Music Curator for ReverbNation. Follow Lizette on Instagram and Twitter; and Crossroads Fund on their site, Instagram, and Twitter.

Mentioned media, topics, and information:

San Francisco billionaire gives $30M to study homelessness, AP
- ** Episode Correction: Marc Benioff gave $30 million, not billions **
"Donor Advised Funds" segment of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj
Shit's Totally FUCKED! What Can We Do?: A Mutual Aid Explainer, Narration by Dean Spade
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - Instagram Cooking + Q&A (December 10, 2020)
Abolitionist challenge the FORD Foundation's support of replacing Rikers Jail
Racism by the Numbers: How the Internal Revenue Service Targets Poor Black Taxpayers, The Root
Hyperlocal Giving to Black-Led Nonprofits Cannot Simply Be a Trend, SSIR
NonProfitAF.com

Description of the book, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-profit Industrial Complex by INCITE!

A trillion-dollar industry, the US non-profit sector is one of the world's largest economies. From art museums and university hospitals to think tanks and church charities, over 1.5 million organizations of staggering diversity share the tax-exempt 501(c)(3) designation, if little else. Many social justice organizations have joined this world, often blunting political goals to satisfy government and foundation mandates. But even as funding shrinks, many activists often find it difficult to imagine movement-building outside the non-profit model. The Revolution Will Not Be Funded gathers essays by radical activists, educators, and non-profit staff from around the globe who critically rethink the long-term consequences of what they call the "non-profit industrial complex." Drawing on their own experiences, the contributors track the history of non-profits and provide strategies to transform and work outside them. Urgent and visionary, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded presents a biting critique of the quietly devastating role the non-profit industrial complex plays in managing dissent.

CREDITS: Intro soundbite Kofi Ademola from the Chi DNA interview with audio track by Genta Tamashiro. Outro song Where the Money Reside (Remix) w/ IMarkkeyz by Seude the Remix God. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro with assistance from Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

Ep. 63 - New Years 2021: A Retrospective ft. Genta Tamashiro

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 1 Jan 2021 21:52:43 +0000

BrownTown on BrownTown. The gang reflects on 2020, unpacking the episodes that helped us get through a truly unprecedented year. From coronavirus to George Floyd uprisings to national elections to our everyday mental health, BrownTown and audio engineer Genta Tamashiro discuss creating the podcast against the backdrop of a tragic yet powerful year.

BrownTown and Genta methodically and chronologically detail the year's episodes with regard to COVID-19, quarantine, and transitioning from in-person to virtual recording. As the behind-the-scenes production changed, so did the episodes themselves, each leaning into how the pandemic and/or uprisings implicated the episode's topic. Even before COVID/quarantine in the early months of 2020, the episodes were packed with deeply relevant topics such as the Chicago city budget, the prison-industrial complex, and Black-centered, Black-owned media that were all heavily revisited in mass in the latter part of the year.

With 19 total episodes, the most in one year since Bourbon 'n BrownTown's inception, 2020 also brought 7 sequel episodes (1 third installment), only 1 with no guests, and 5 episodes with two guests at the same time. In addition to breaking down each episode, the team chops it out about SoapBox projects Chi DNA, Census 2020, and Obama CBA; the 8-week Instagram Lives during quarantine; and much more. For better or worse, here's to 2021!

Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application or right here! For more information on the podcast, check out Bourbon 'n BrownTown on the SoapBox website.

GUEST

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Genta Tamashiro is a creative devotee of the artistic community. He attended the specialized magnet school Denver School of the Arts for middle and high school, which gave him a solid foundation in musical performance and theory as well as an introduction into audio engineering. After spending some time at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Genta moved to Chicago to pursue a career in audio engineering where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Audio Design and Production from Columbia College in 2015. Through his freelance audio work, he has traveled around the country and the world with notable artists such as the Becca Kaufman Orchestra, The Way Down Wanderers, and Masego. When he is not running the sound for a band somewhere, you can find him producing his own music or editing podcasts for SoapBox and other creative organizations. Listen to more about this life, work, and perspectives on hip-hop in Episode 5 - Hip-Hop in the Age of Spin (2017) and all of Bourbon 'n BrownTown's previous New Years episodes.

CREDITS: Intro/outro song Karen by Yvie Oddly. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.with assistance from Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Sean Kelly.

Ep. 62 - Law for Liberation 2.0 ft. Timmy Châu

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 22:33:45 +0000

BrownTown links up with organizer, activist, facilitator, and Fitness Against Fascism alum Timmy Châu to discuss how to work towards an abolitionist future within and outside of the criminal legal system. In this second installment, the fam reflects on legal cases from the summer uprisings and their impact, the current political terrain, and shaping difficult conversations with loved ones. Building upon the first installment, episode 32 with Tia Haywood and Jesús Vargas, BrownTown and Timmy discuss how to work towards an abolitionist future within and outside of the criminal legal system. Originally recorded December 3, 2020.

Timmy shares his experience coming into movement work in Chicago (shoutout We Charge Genocide) and learning how the the legal field can support grassroots movements, noting the work of the People's Law Office. After reflecting on legal cases in recent years and from the summer uprisings (see "Protestors for Black Lives v. City of Chicago" , No Cop Academy FOIA Lawsuit, Paris uprising over film the police law: 1, 2), BrownTown and Timmy talk about the nuances of working within institutions with problematic origins or practices. As the conversation turns to a more sharpened critique of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) (see The Boondocks), the gang discusses the "progressive prosecutor" phenomenon, Obama's comments on #DefundPolice, reactionary responses to colonial violence (both in drill rap and Vietnam), and more. Considering it all, BrownTown and Timmy filter these larger dialogues into personal relationships, grappling with how to appropriately build upon the support and work of their ancestors while simultaneously challenge them. Originally recorded December 3, 2020.

“If we’re explicit about white supremacy and capitalism and authoritarianism then that means we have to be clear about what the law is in relationship to those systems [...] really the laws are the set of regulations — the formalization of these systems that are really to control and regulate social, political, and economic life.” --Timmy Châu

GUEST
Timmy Châu is an organizer, lawyer, and facilitator based in Chicago. He’s a co-founder of Dissenters, a new youth-led anti-war organization and a Co-director of the Prison and Neighborhood Arts and Education project (PNAP), an inside/outside arts and organizing effort operating in and out of Stateville prison. Above all, he believes in fighting for a world without prisons and police.

Follow Timmy on Instagram; Dissenters at wearedissenters.org and @wearedissenters on all social media; and PNAP on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

CREDITS: Intro audio from "Protestors for Black Lives v. City of Chicago" video by Sensitive Visuals; outro song OLD WAYS by Black Rainbow Ray ft. Davion. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Mercedes Zapata.

Ep. 61 - The Real Color in Sports 2.0 ft. Jasson Perez

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 23:11:52 +0000

BrownTown chops it up with Jasson Perez, activist, researcher, and sports enthusiast, to talk all things sports post-COVID and post-George Floyd uprisings. In this part two, the team speaks candidly on sports organization's co-opt of Black Lives Matter, the relationship between players and owners, polarization as a strategy, and competing theories of social change. Originally recorded November 2020. Following up on BrownTown's first installment from 2017 focusing on the aftermath of Colin Kaepernick's kneeling to protest police brutality, Jasson joins to talk all things sports in the later half of 2020--post-COVID and post-George Floyd uprisings. With multiple, interrelated crises at the fore, the team speaks candidly on sports organizations' co-optation of Black Lives Matter, the relationship between players and owners, polarization as a strategy, and competing theories of social change. Originally recorded November 2020.

GUEST

Jasson Perez is a Senior Research Analyst at ACRE who studies the connections between police violence, mass incarceration, and economic injustice. Through his research, he works to create campaigns to end mass incarceration and police violence and demonstrate that the fight for democratic socialism must embrace the politics of decarceration and abolition. Previously, at the Cook Center on Social Equity, Jasson did research on the racial wealth gap created by housing discrimination against Black homebuyers. Before becoming a researcher Jasson was a lead organizer for SEIU Local 73 and BYP100. When Jasson isn’t selling his labor for sustenance, you can find him subpar rapping with the rap group BBU, organizing with the Afro-Socialists & Socialists of Color Caucus of DSA and learning how to write about politics and economics in a manner that won’t bore you.

Topics mentioned include:

Naomi Osaka wears mask in memory of Breonna Taylor at US Open
Maya Moore left WNBA to work on criminal justice
Barack Obama and The Role of the Black Bourgeoisie in Coopting Our Movements
Brian Urlacher reacts to Jacob Blake and NBA strike, Bears denounce
WNBA have been doing the work (1, 2, 3)

Follow Jasson on Twitter and Instagram; and Chicago's AfroSocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus via Linktree, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

CREDITS: Intro/outro soundbites from CNN and Milwaukee Bucks set to music by Genta Tamashiro. Outro song I Can't Breathe by Montana of 300. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Jasson Perez.

Ep. 60 - Electoral & Radical Politics 3.0 ft. Stephanie Skora

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 22:15:09 +0000

Building on the first and second installment of the Electoral & Radical Politics series with activists and alderpeople, BrownTown talks electoral politics, grassroots organizing, and everything in between with Stephanie Skora, creator of the popular "Girl, I Guess" Progressive Voter Guide. With everything that is 2020 as the backdrop, the team breaks down the Cook County General Election ballot, Chicago politics, and the role of and opinions on voting within movement circles. In this third installment, BrownTown leans hard into into the much-loved voter guide, using it as a site to discuss topics ranging from progressive shifts in popular opinion, factions within the two-party system (Tea Party in 2010, democratic socialists in 2018), inaccessible language, literal fascism, and vote shaming in 2020). Originally recorded October 1, 2020.

Stephanie shares her background creating the guide (originally with her friend Ellen Mayer) and the differences between Chicago municipal, Democratic primary, and general elections. The team breaks down ballot items such as the Fair Tax Amendment and the importance of judges (peep #TrappedByToomin, Judges Matter, Injustice Watch) set to the backdrop of coronavirus, summer uprisings, and an already high voter engagement. Each give their opinion on vote shaming amongst the normally politically inactive, vote-dodging amongst the highly politically active, and how to understand voting as simply a tool and by no means the path to liberation. Once again, they wrap by exploring the current state of next year's Chicago city budget and a re-energized call to defund the Chicago Police Department, noting the 87% of Chicagoans who are calling for it, despite an unwilling Mayor Lightfoot.

With everything that is 2020 as the backdrop, how do we work towards actual liberation while participating (begrudgingly) in the current violent settler colonial system? Or do we? Here's their take. Originally recorded October 1, 2020.

GUEST
Stephanie Skora is a Chicago-based unapologetic femme, a statistically middle-aged genderqueer trans woman, a lesbian reclamationist, and an anti-racist, anti-Zionist white Jew practicing her spiritual tradition through the Religious Anarchist Jewish practice. Born with some pretty bad paperwork errors, raised in a deeply conservative suburb of Chicago, Illinois, and brought up in a sheltering, faux-liberal, and Zionist family with an abusive parent, Stephanie had the making of an activist from an early age. Stephanie is a renowned educator, organizer, researcher, and non-profiteer whose work is recognized and sought after across the United States, and in the Midwest in particular. Her activist work centers radical queer and trans justice, liberation for Palestine, and the dismantling of antisemitism, while employing black liberation and decolonial praxes, and works towards building and teaching survival in a society and culture hostile to all forms of queerness, transness, and racial resistance and life. She is currently the Associate Executive Director of Brave Space Alliance, and serves as Board President for the Midwest Institute for Sexuality and Gender Diversity.

Follow Stephanie on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Stay up to date with her work at StephanieSkora.com.

Opinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, and Stephanie as individuals, not their organizations or places of work.

Episode Correction: The electoral college is part of the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 3.

CREDITS: Intro song "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" by Heaven 17. Outro song You About to Lose Yo Job (Remix) by iMarkkeyz and DJ Suede using original video with Johniqua Charles. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

Ep. 59 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within Capitalism (& COVID) 2.0 ft. Genta Tamashiro

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 01:56:40 +0000

Building off of the first installment, episode 39, BrownTown again takes a second to reflect on their own lives in regards to work and struggle under capitalism. In part two, enter COVID-19 and the international uprisings against white supremacy and state violence: As mass consciousness has shifted in understanding how interrelated structures have always failed us, BrownTown and Genta unpack how they’ve personally adapted livelihoods, resistance, and relationships as well as navigated the changes in virtually every industry.

The gang details the events of February and March 2020 as COVID-19 and the quarantine that followed in the United States made a larger impact in all of our lives. SoapBox and grassroots organizing aside, David speaks on the food service industry and gig economy, Genta speaks on the live music industry, and Caullen speaks on the fitness industry while all three discuss the government and corporate response to the crisis. 2020 revealed that the "security" that was always promised with more formal, "traditional" jobs is all but secure. As a broader society, we now have a better understanding of what jobs are actually essential for our livelihood (hint: it's not the CEOs). The discussion weaves through various topics including thoughts on #BnBLive: Corona Conversations (BrownTown's 8-week Instagram live series during quarantine), the CARES Act, mutual aid (shoutout Dean Spade), survival techniques for creatives, as well as police killings during quarantine. With the global uprisings after the murder of George Floyd, David centers the importance of living with an abolitionist framework in not just our work but our everyday. How do the interrelated major events of 2020 shape societal comprehension of inherently oppressive structures? How do we work within, struggle against, and build our own systems outside said structures while living with the uncertainty of how the world will look on the other side of COVID-19? Here's BrownTown's take. Originally recorded October 1, 2020.

GUEST

Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Genta is a creative devotee of the artistic community. He attended the specialized magnet school Denver School of the Arts for middle and high school, which gave him a solid foundation in musical performance and theory as well as an introduction into audio engineering. After spending some time at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Genta moved to Chicago to pursue a career in audio engineering where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Audio Design and Production from Columbia College in 2015. Through his freelance audio work, he has traveled around the country and the world with notable artists such as the Becca Kaufman Orchestra, The Way Down Wanderers, and Masego. When he is not running the sound for a band somewhere, you can find him producing his own music or editing podcasts for SoapBox and other creative organizations. Listen to more about this life, work, and perspectives on hip-hop in Episode 5 - Hip-Hop in the Age of Spin (2017) and all of Bourbon 'n BrownTown's previous New Years episodes.

Follow Genta on Instagram, Facebook, and his music on Spotify!

Ep. 58 - Movement Media 2.0 ft. Grace Del Vecchio

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 19 Sep 2020 01:55:16 +0000

Following up from the first installment with Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger of AirGo, BrownTown listens, learns, and again converses about movement media. This time leaning into more traditional journalistic structures and academic institutions set to the backdrop of the 2020 uprisings against police brutality and white supremacy.

Grace shares some of her background before the gang digs into their definitions of "movement media" and how to be responsible with your platform, using your voice appropriately yet sparingly while amplifying others. Grace talks journalism from an activist, academic, and professional perspective noting that, "the objective narrative is a tool of white supremacy. It seeks to kill voices that need to be heard." The team sifts through related topics including journalists' responsibility in an election year, Chicago independent media (shoutout CIMA), voyeurism/sensationalism in media, internet trolls, why Trump considers Biden and other moderates the "radical left", and even why Caullen watches corporate news.

As the media landscape generally becomes more diverse and decentralized, creative activists use traditional and new mediums to push for, in real-time, a more equitable world through entertainment, dialogue, and education. How do we continue this with independent journalism while more often than not, still operating much in hierarchical systems of the old guard? While centering the use of editorial-based journalism and the advent of social media, how do we create, change, and sustain movement media for the more equitable and creative? Especially while co-opting traditionally corporate tools for liberation? Here's their take. Originally recorded September 9, 2020.

GUESTS
Grace Del Vecchio is a freelance reporter and undergrad student at DePaul University. When she first moved to Chicago from Philadelphia in 2018, she worked as an organizer for multiple Chicago grassroots and electoral campaigns before transitioning to journalism. While her work covers a wide range of topics, she focuses on social movements and highlights youth activism.

Follow Grace on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and her curated work on Muckrack. Additionally, Grace has bylines in Billy Penn (Philly publication), Chicago Reader, Block Club Chicago, WTTW, The Daily Beast, and Belt Magazine.

Ep. 57 - Labor Day: Workers' Rights & Class Solidarity ft. Taylor Maness

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 4 Sep 2020 11:29:44 +0000

BrownTown shares virtual space with friend of SoapBox and socialist organizer Taylor Maness as they dissect the origins of Labor Day and May Day, talk labor movement history and the fight for workers' rights, as well as the importance of class and racial solidarity in the fight against racial capitalism then and now.

BrownTown starts by reflecting on some August 2020 events in Chicago -- jail support training, recent actions, and give reminders on how to stay safe at protests, especially with heavy police presence. Caullen and Taylor provide background on growing up together and being radicalized during the Iraq War and fallout of Hurricane Katrina. The gang then unpack the differences between Labor Day, the hand-picked, pacified holiday, and May Day, a homage to the Haymarket riots in Chicago and struggle for workers' rights. From there, Taylor and BrownTown sift through related topics including the very meaning of “work”, class solidarity during the neoliberal shift, grassroots work versus armchair intellectualism, movement atrophy, the expansion of inequality during COVID-19/quarantine (1, 2, @hasbezosdecided), nationalizing private corporations for the public good (1, 2), and more. How do we actualize liberatory struggles against oppressive apparatuses and reclaim our everyday lives to build a better society? Here's their take. Originally recorded August 19, 2020.

GUEST
Taylor Maness is a socialist organizer who has spent years building power with labor unions and community organizations. He spends his downtime suffering in cold Minnesota winters and studying mathematics, science fiction, and history.

CREDITS: Intro clip of Fred Hampton layered onto a track by Fiendsh. Outro song Which Side Are You On? by Tom Morello. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown (masked) logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 56 - Resisting in Place ft. Morgan Malone

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:05:54 +0000

BrownTown talks with Morgan Malone, all-around civic leader, strategist, and dedicated resident of the Southside of Chicago, about her project Resisting in Place. The team discusses the meaning of resistance with regard to the movement for Black lives, anti-racist work, and collective and intentional engagement at the intersections of everyday life and societal design. With Morgan's ambitious, nuanced, and powerful project as a site, she and BrownTown discuss what it means to "resist" and what that looks like for different professions, people, industries, etc. (mentioned article: "When Black Women go From Office Pet to Office Threat"). Morgan's project centers Black experiences, Black life, and Black thought, sparked partially from this season of massive civil unrest during a pandemic. With that, the gang brings in their theoretical and grounded practical thoughts on police/prison abolition and how we make steps to imagining and creating the world we want to see. In Morgan's words, "people just have to see it's possible." Resistance in Place as well as the awesome grassroots work that BrownTown and Morgan shoutout (GoodKids MadCity, Black Lives Matter Chicago, #LetUsBreatheCollective, Gumbo Media, Imagine Englewood if, Think Outside the Block, etc.) incorporate human-centered design, holding space to ask questions, hold each other accountable, and neutralize harm.

GUEST
Morgan Malone is a public servant, expert in human-centered design and collective impact, and dedicated resident of the Southside of Chicago. Morgan has worked across the civic landscape in a variety of roles that have informed her holistic lens and approach to finding solutions and fixing systems. Known for her aptitude in building and restructuring systems and initiatives, Morgan is an experienced civic leader, skilled strategist, and consistent figure in Chicago’s neighborhood and economic development sphere.

From Resistance in Place:

"The act of resistance demands both collective engagement and intentional interdisciplinary action. While many are on the frontlines sacrificing their bodies, time, and resources for a greater future where Black experience is integral to life understanding and societal design, many are left wondering what their role in resistance can be. And there are also many others who have taken matters into their own realms and are focused on resisting in place."

Follow Morgan on Instagram , Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin; and Resisting in Place on the site and Instagram. Read more about Morgan and the project in the recent Forbes article, "The Work Of Anti-Racism Is Happening In Every Industry, Meet The Millennial Working To Showcase It"!

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by David W. Johnston.

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Ep. 55 - Organizing against Displacement with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement ft. Ashli Giles-Perkins & Ebonée Green

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 21:25:17 +0000

BrownTown and guests discuss the effects of the future Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on Chicago's South Side, the organizing for a CBA to ensure affordable housing for area residents, as well as its relationship with healthcare, education, and police violence. Ashli and Ebonée share how they came to the Obama CBA coalition via BYP100 and breakdown what exactly a community benefits agreement is as well as its importance to the Woodlawn neighborhood, the South Side, and Chicago as a whole. Ebonée details Chicago's public housing history before David explains why his parents' journeyed from Mexico to Chicago. As the gang digs deeper into Chicago politics and organizing, they go from Obama's legacy amongst everyday Chicagoans to Mayor Lightfoot's handling of the George Floyd uprising to the re-ignited fight to divest from police and invest in Black communities.

After nearly five years since the announcement about the Center's plan to "revitalize" the South Side, the CBA coalition stands strong with growing support from across the city and the nation. "We cannot separate the COVID-19 pandemic, protections for essential workers, and defunding and abolition of police from the right that we have to stay in our neighborhoods. As the current uprisings have made clear: we must fight for investments in our communities and our futures because it will not be given to us. Housing matters. Black Lives Matter" (Obama CBA). Originally recorded July 2, 2020.

GUESTS
Ashli Giles-Perkins is a 2020 graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and an Organizing Member of the Chicago chapter of Black Youth Project 100. Ashli attended the University of New Haven, and is originally from Connecticut, where she got her organizing start. Ashli is a founding member of Bridgeport Generation Now, Connecticut Organized for Racial Equity (CT-CORE), and served as a Bernie delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Ashli’s work centers on education equity, policy, and social justice. She has been a member of BYP100 since January 2019. She enjoys traveling, poetry, Jamaican food, trap music, dismantling systemic inequalities through organizing, and she is a fierce mixologist who owns a mobile bartending LLC.

Ebonée Green is a resident of South Shore in Chicago. She is an artist, advocate, and urban educator. Ebonée holds a BA in English from Boston College and MSEd in Education, Social Policy from Northwestern University, and was recently accepted into Harvard Graduate School's Doctor of Education Leadership program. Ebonée is Florida born but rides hard for Chicago. She is an organizing member of the Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Coalition with BYP100.

This episode is part of a multimedia, cross-platform collaboration with the Chicago Reader. Visit SoapBoxPO.com/Obama-CBA for more!

SOAPBOX MULTIMEDIA

Other topics mentioned:

Follow Ashli on Instagram (personal, business) and Twitter; and Ebonée on Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition on their website and on Twitter! Shoutout to all the coalition members!

CREDITS: Intro music and engineering by Genta Tamashiro with audio snippets of Ashli, recorded by Dakota Sillyman at the June 11, 2020 Tent City action. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Maxwell Evans, Block Club Chicago.

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Ep. 54 - (Re)Birth of an Uprising: Adultism, Cops Out of Schools, & Organizing a New Mass Consciousness ft. Veronica Rodriguez & Asha Edwards

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 11:19:56 +0000

BrownTown reflects on the first half of 2020 with Veronica Rodriguez and Asha Edwards. The gang shares their experiences since the global uprising against police brutality and white supremacy following the police killing of George Floyd. As the broader movement for Black Lives is re-ignited and police defunding and abolition moves into the mainstream discourse, this conversation serves as a referendum on adultism, the push to get cops out of schools, and how to organize a new mass consciousness amongst the previously apathetic.

The team begins by diving into how V and Asha began their movement journey while in high school. V community defines adultism and its interconnectedness to other system of oppression. With that, the Black and Brown hosts and guests lean into the importance of solidarity in the struggle against anti-Blackness in American and globally. Everyone shares their experiences in late May, early June from dealing with police violence firsthand to having uncomfortable conversations with loved ones. V, Asha, and BrownTown compare and contrast this moment in activism versus pre-coronavirus presenting multiple ways to learn, fight and show up for Black lives and life-giving institutions. They zoom out to discuss the language of the media, how resistance is nothing new, and what other municipalities are doing with their police departments (1, 2) before digging into the national and specifically the Chicago push to get cops out of schools (1, 2, 3). Originally recorded July 1, 2020.

As we optimistically yet cautiously continue to fight for liberation, we remember the beautiful words of Assata Shakur, "it is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains."

GUESTS
Veronica Rodriguez (AKA "V" or "Vero") started organizing in high school at age 16, by founding a club called Student Voice Committee. In this club, students organized and pressured their administration, school culture and focused on creating a space for students to voice their concerns and make calls to action. Later, these skills and conversations carried over outside of school for them and they became actively involved in the fight for #NoCopAcademy, education & racial equity, anti-militarism, gentrification, abolition, and so much more. Fun fact: V is now banned from their high school because of the pressure and organizing that took place when they were a student.

Asha Edwards is an organizer, artist & in-progress abolitionist with Assata’s Daughters and Dissenters. She was also involved heavily in the #NoCopAcademy campaign.

Follow Veronica on Instagram and Twitter; and Asha on Instagram (personal, art) and Twitter.

BIG shoutout to the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC), Black Abolitionist Network (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, News), Students Strike Back (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), Chicago Freedom School, and the #CopsOutCPS campaign!

CREDITS: Intro/outro song The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Sarah-Ji.

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Ep. 53 - Police Abolition ft. Ariel Atkins

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 14:43:30 +0000

BrownTown finally tackles a much discussed topic on this podcast as well as in recent weeks, police abolition. Ariel Atkins, Lead Organizer of Black Lives Matter Chicago shares her thoughts and experiences since the global uprising against police brutality and white supremacy following the police killing of George Floyd. The gang discusses how we got to this moment, the broader movement for Black lives, coronavirus implications, reforming vs. defunding vs. abolishing police, and much more. 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, and Venezuela).

Full episode transcription here!

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.

GUEST
Ariel 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.

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 Mentioned

Abolition 101 Guide (article) - MPD150
Yes, We Literally Mean Abolish the Police (article) - Mariame Kaba
Is Prison Necessary? (article) - Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Making Meaning in this Moment (video town hall) - Rising Majority
A Community Compilation on Police Abolition (zine) - Sarah-Ji and Monica Trinidad of For the People Artists Collective
Confessions of a Bastard Cop (article) - Anonymous
Are Prisons Obsolete? (book) - Angela Y. Davis
Carceral Capitalism (book) - Jackie Wang
The End of Policing (book) - Alex Vitale
Who do you Serve, Who do you Protect? (book) - Maya Schenwar
Fumbling Towards Repair (workbook) - Mariame Kaba and Shira Hassan
White Supremacist Infiltration of US Polices Forces (article) - Danielle Schulkin
Compiled Read, Watch, Listen Spreadsheet
Transformharm.org
8toAbolition.com
CriticalResistance.org
SurvivedandPunished.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. Episode photo by Jim Vondruska.

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Ep. 52 - Mental Health ft. Abbie Brasch & Dakota Sillyman

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 30 May 2020 02:35:48 +0000

BrownTown shares virtual space with Abbie Brasch and Dakota Sillyman, multi-talented friends of SoapBox and mental health advocates who create resources and media for learning and navigating mental health on all levels. Abbie discusses the impetus of her journal, how it helped her and is now helping others while Dakota discusses how Cope is positioned as a digestible entry-way to various aspects of mental health. The group takes a step back to examine common resources for mental health and issues with how it is often discussed in mainstream circles. With this, Abbie breaks down her recent article on an episode of Community that dealt with mental health medication as David question the role of big pharma. On media, BrownTown and company take on how mental health shows up and the responsibility of creators/audiences in films such as It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), The Ringer (2005), Waterboy (1998), A Star is Born (2018), and Joker (2019).

Enter institutions, capitalism, social media, and community care: Dakota delivers a brief history of mental health institutional funding and policy (peep Community Mental Health Act of 1963) and progressive/grassroots struggles in Chicago (peep STOP Chicago, Healing Village). Lastly, the group elaborates on the intersections of it all and how we value (or devalue) mental health from a societal, individual, and interpersonal standpoint, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic.

GUESTS
Abbie Brasch is a mental health advocate and soon-to-be clinical massage therapist who created the 365 day Mental Health Daily Journal.

Dakota Sillyman is a filmmaker and the creator of the mental health podcast, Cope.

Follow Abbie's work on Instagram (personal, Soul Speaks Books), Medium, and her Soul Speak Books website where you can purchase a journal!

Follow Dakota on Twitter, Instagram, and his website DakotaSillyman.com. Listen to Cope at CopeRadio.com or wherever you find your podcasts!

CREDITS: Intro/outro music collaboration from Genta Tamashiro and Fiendsh. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 51 - War! What is it good for? ft. Tanvi Kapatral

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 18:20:16 +0000

BrownTown shares space with Tanvi Kapatral as the team talks anti-militarism organizing, narrative-building, and working towards a world where we actually fund live-giving services, not endless wars. Tanvi explains Dissenters organizing strategy of mobilizing on college campuses and other institutions while critiquing and resisting the military-industrial complex in all its forms. By finding commonalities between other clubs that also are oppressed from war (i.e. environmental club learning the US military is the world's largest institutional green houses gas emitter), they can broaden their coalition.

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Now that that's understood, how do we resist, reclaim, restore, and love? Here's their take. Originally recorded March 2, 2020.

GUEST
Tanvi Kapatral was born and raised in Chicago. She began organizing at 15, as a member of Chicago Desi Youth Rising. She is currently on a break from college and utilizing this gap year to get further involved in Chicago organizing, particularly on issues surrounding the oppression of minorities in India and the rise of Hindu Nationalism. She is a member of Dissenters, a national youth-led anti-war movement that is working to put pressure on college campuses and other institutions to divest from endless wars and reinvest in life and healing. Her other interests include classical South Asian dance and music, and studying the usage of psychedelic therapy on addiction, anxiety, and trauma. She hopes to eventually pursue her PhD in Psychology.

Follow Tanvi on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and Dissenters on their site, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

CREDITS: Intro song War (What is it good for) by Edwin Starr. Outro song Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 50 - Chi DNA: Participatory Filmmaking & Gender Performance within Hip-Hop ft. Tweak’G

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 3 Apr 2020 08:09:47 +0000

BrownTown chills out with Tweak'G, Chicago rapper, activist, and Chi DNA feature documentary subject. In Tweak's two-year anniversary in BrownTown (see episode 15), the fam discusses ethics and relationship-building in documentary filmmaking and deconstructs gender roles and sexuality within contemporary hip-hop as well as their everyday lives. Tweak talks about new developments in her personal and professional life as BrownTown details their "on set" and behind-the-scenes experiences getting to know Tweak through creating the Chi DNA feature and beyond. Tweak deconstructs stereotypes about masculine-presenting Lesbians in hip-hop as well as the everyday, while critiquing heteronormative hierarchies within the Lesbian and queer community. Her and BrownTown continue to chop it up about everything from learned behavior in children playground games to the military-industrial complex.

Full Transcriptions Here!

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. 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. Most recently, she is working on her newest music compilation Vulnerability, is a founding member of Dissenters, a youth-led anti-militarism grassroots organization, and is the primary subject in SoapBox's upcoming Chi DNA feature documentary.

CHI DNA
This is the eighth 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.

Follow Tweak'G on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Listen to her on Soundcloud and YouTube.

CREDITS: Intro/outro song Gold by Tweak'G. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Sean Kelly.

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Ep. 49 - 2020 Census ft. Fernanda Castellanos & Brandon Lee

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 05:36:48 +0000

BrownTown invites Fernanda Castellanos of Organized Communities against Deportations (OCAD) and Brandon Lee of Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) to discuss why you should be counted in the 2020 Census, deportations and sanctuary cities, the importance of trust and showing up for one another within grassroots organizing, and the peculiarity of Illinois politics.

The team dives into this year's U.S. Census and all the reasons everyone (yes, everyone) should do it. Fernanda and Brandon inform about their work with OCAD and ICIRR as well as what census outreach looks like for immigrant, undocumented, and non-English speaking communities. They continue to explain why trust and relationship-building is crucial to grassroots organizing, especially in direct-service work. What if Trump's citizenship question was not struck down by the Supreme Court? Fernanda and Brandon explain the ramifications of this scary alternate reality as well as the differences (and similarities) between his administration and Obama's regarding deportations and immigrant's rights. With a state-wide and local scope, BrownTown and guests also talk funding and logistics within census outreach, the Chicago gang database, "sanctuary cities" and their loopholes, the paradoxical nature of Illinois politics, and personal experiences with all of the above.

GUESTS
Fernanda Castellanos is a community organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD). She started organizing when her mom Genoveva got stopped by police and then transferred to ICE. Her passion is to work with the undocumented folks and communities of color to fight deportations and criminalization. She leads the Community Asambleas for OCAD.

Brandon Lee is leading communications with the 2020 Census team at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). He’s a lifelong Uptown resident who previously worked with Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago. His first job out of college was doing community outreach for the Census in 2010.

This episode is part of a cross-platform, multimedia project commissioned by Chicago Reader's Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA).

SOAPBOX MULTIMEDIA

Follow Fernanda on Instagram and OCAD on their site, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook; follow Brandon on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook; and ICIRR on their site, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

GET COUNTED FOR THE CENSUS AT my2020census.gov.

CREDITS: Intro song Contejo by Don Omar. Outro song Mijente by Bad Bunny. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro. Recording session photos and episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 48 - Democratic Primary Elections 2020

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 23:28:46 +0000

BrownTown finally dives head first into the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary election season. With a 24/7 news cycle, social media frenzy, infighting within established parties, and liberatory movements and rhetoric being reflected in mainstream discourse, how do we makes sense of a flawed state process while fighting for a new world? Originally recorded March 2, 2020...the day before Super Tuesday.

The fellas discuss the current state of the presidential race with the (at the time) remaining candidates as well as the original historically large field. As Caullen and David get news of Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropping out of the race and MSNBC host Chris Matthews abruptly resigning right before recording, they try to make sense of what this means on a larger scale within the politics of politics. As BrownTown tries to keep the conversation macro as new votes and global emergencies have changed certain realities since recording, they analyze gendered coverage of candidates, the fallacy of electability and the "safe" candidate, the contextual meaning (or lack there of) "progressive," representation versus liberation, and irksome corporate news punditry.

EPISODE CORRECTION: Now Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was the Secretary of State, therefore in charge of elections, during the 2018 Midterm Elections, where he defeated Stacey Abrams, which many argue was due in part to voter suppression.

CREDITS: Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 47 - Electoral & Radical Politics 2.0 ft. Alderwoman Maria Hadden

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 17:18:56 +0000

BrownTown listens, learns, and again converses about electoral and radical politics with sitting 49th Ward Alderwoman Maria Hadden of Chicago. With a changing political landscape on the local, national, and global level, Maria and BrownTown discuss how and why Left and/or "progressive" policies are gaining more mainstream appeal, how movements are shaping platforms, and how to push elected officials to embrace a radical imagination for a more equitable future.

Following up from the first installment with activist Camille Williams, BrownTown listens, learns, and again converses about electoral and radical politics with sitting 49th Ward Alderwoman Maria Hadden of Chicago. With a changing political landscape on the local, national, and global level, Maria and BrownTown discuss how and why Left and/or "progressive" policies are gaining more mainstream appeal, how movements are shaping platforms, and how to push elected officials to embrace a radical imagination for a more equitable future.

GUEST
Maria Hadden is the Alderwoman of the 49th Ward of Chicago. Maria is one of the first Black Aldermen on the North Side of the city as well as the first openly gay women of color on Chicago's City Council. In addition to the Progressive Caucus, Ald. Hadden sits on the Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus, the Women's Caucus, and the LGBT Caucus.

Previously, Maria was the Executive Director of Our City Our Voice, a nonprofit organization supporting civic engagement processes for transformative social justice. Maria is a founding board member of the Participatory Budgeting Project and, from 2010-2018, led their technical assistance work in the Midwest and Southern United States.

She earned her B.A. in International Peace and Conflict Studies from The Ohio State University before moving to Illinois to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA. Maria's interests in community voice and the role of civil society were the focus on her graduate studies at DePaul University, where she earned an M.S. in International Public Service Management. Maria serves on the board of directors for Voqal, and she lives with her partner and their two dogs in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.

Follow Maria on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Stay up to date with the ongoing of her office at 49thward.org and sign up for their newsletter! Campaign site here.

CREDITS: Intro news clip sound bites layered onto song God Won't by Fiendsh. Outro song Juicy by Notorious B.I.G. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Recording session photos by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 46 - Exploring Blackness & Cultural Media ft. Courtney Phillips & Matthew Manning of Gumbo Media

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 01:47:54 +0000

BrownTown shares space with Courtney Phillips and Matthew Manning of Gumbo Media, a versatile entity that curates content, community, and services that expand the narrative of Black life. The fam investigates the importance, struggles, successes, and nuances of making culturally-specific and -relevant media while centering their experiences as Black and Brown creators and full human beings.

Courtney and Matthew begin by explaining how they came to create Gumbo: An idea they had thought about and discussed for some time hit a crescendo in July 2016, summer of police killings of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile as well as the Republican National Convention honoring then-nominee Donald Trump. The group discusses making space for and within their communities and what it means for your identity to inform the work and explore within it. Matthew affirms that "Blackness is infinite" before the group dissects depictions of what Blackness is presented and interpreted as by all peoples. How do Black people and intentionally Black entities unequivocally make space to be unapologetically Black while navigating traditionally white spaces and/or inequitable structures? Here the gang speaks on valuing ourselves by our own standards, the white gaze, the importance of the global diaspora, and, as Courtney states, "prioritizing Black authenticity above everything else." With that, they call on allies (of all identities and issues) to do the work versus strictly relying on the oppressed for education. Other topics include the gentrification of silk scares, macro-analysis of a scene from Moonlight, and comrade Hoda Katebi's brilliant response to deeply problematic questioning on WGN-TV.

At the end of the day, all media is cultural media no matter how much it's coded otherwise. As we constantly move within an ever-expanding digital ecosystem while simultaneously coming into new consciousness, we must curate media as the medium of which our audiences, our communities, and most of all, ourselves, learn, grow, and reflect.

GUESTS
Courtney Phillips is the Co-founder of Gumbo Media and leader of GumboFit. She is a curator, project manager, and entrepreneur with a passion for social equity and empathy.

Matthew Manning is the Co-Founder of Gumbo Media. He is a storyteller, brand consultant, and social entrepreneur with a creative propensity and passion for inclusion and equity. He earned his BA in Art and Architectural History and his MA in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University. He is energized by collaboration with the world’s most audacious ideators, innovators, and entrepreneurs to tackle pressing global issues with creativity, intention, and impact.

Courtney and Matthew currently live together in Hyde Park, Chicago. Gumbo Media curates content, community, and services that expand the narrative of Black life.

Follow Courtney on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn; and Matthew on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Follow Gumbo Media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn! Check out their communities GumboFit, GumboLit, and order your Gumbo Magazine: Issue 001, Black now!

CREDITS: Intro/outro song Gumbo by Jay Rock. Audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art from Gumbo Media.

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Ep. 45 - Prison-Industrial Complex & Fitness Against Fascism 2.0 ft. Coss Marte

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 00:54:21 +0000

BrownTown talks abolition, branding, and burpees with Coss Marte, founder of CONBODY, a "prison-style" fully bodyweight fitness studio that hires formerly incarcerated individuals. Using Coss' experiences and SoapBox's Fitness Against Fascism series as models, the team unpacks the connections between healthy communities and the prison-industrial complex.

In this follow-up to Ep. 30 - Holistic Health & Fitness Against Fascism ft. Mel Phillips, Coss joins BrownTown from NYC to discuss his journey creating CONBODY, collaborating on SoapBox's Fitness Against Fascism 3 (FAF3) event, and the effect of the prison-industrial complex (PIC) on healthy communities. Similar to the SoapBox event, the gang unpacks now-mainstream views on criminal "justice" reform, the pros/cons of the current narrative-shift, and the physical/mental health effects that mass racialized incarceration has at the individual, familial, and community level, all through an abolitionist framework (watch Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project "The Long Term" video here). The gang sifts through related topics including the cultural impact of Ava DuVernay's 13th documentary, intentions in branding socially-minded enterprises, Coss' CONBODY book, and even SoapBox catching smoke on Twitter (1, 2).

Coss and BrownTown take an unusual turn and focus on New York City: They touch on the escalation of NYPD's subway crackdown and protesters (1, 2, 3) the movement to close Rikers Island Jail (and what do do next), as well as Coss' brother Chris Marte's run for City Council in District 1.

GUEST
The founder of CONBODY, Coss Marte developed his bodyweight training style when he was incarcerated for four years at Rikers Island Jail on drug charges. Coss lost 70 pounds in 6 months and found his calling, ready for a new path. He founded CONBODY fitness studio in New York City, where he hires other formerly incarcerated folks who have turned their lives around through fitness. Listen to more of Coss’ story on aSweatLife’s podcast #WeGotGoals Episode 94! He has also been featured in The New York Times, Buzz Feed, Elle, Vice,The Startup podcast, and more. (Bio sources: aSweatLife and CONBODY)

CREDITS: Intro/outro song Love & Prejudice by Young Toussaint. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 44 - New Years 2020: A Retrospective ft. Genta Tamashiro

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 21:42:34 +0000

BrownTown on BrownTown. The gang reflects on the events, guests, related SoapBox projects, and topics of 2019. With the help of audio engineer and dearest friend Genta Tamashiro, BrownTown raises a glass with all of you as they look back at some of the realest moments with some of the dopest people around.

The fellas discuss leveling up professionally as Genta shares his recent career moves before they talk through the past year's episodes and their general growth (or lack thereof). In addition to sharing thoughts the diverse array of 2019 episodes, Genta and BrownTown chop it out about the ongoing Chi DNA project, garnering a larger community on Patreon, the 2020 Democratic Primary race, internet trolls, and engaging with folks who disagree with you. Originally recorded November 2019.

GUEST

Listen to all the referenced episodes on your chosen podcast application or right here! For more information on the podcast, check out the SoapBox website.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Intro soundbite from Malcolm X, used in the SoapBox 2019 reel. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 43 - Vulnerable Authenticity within Music Creation & Consumption ft. Rio Mutasim

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 22:34:37 +0000

BrownTown chops it up with musician and overall creative Rio Mutasim about emotionally-informed music-making, consuming art responsibly, and the vulnerabilities that come with it all.

How do we respond to, create, and consume music and other creative art forms? As consumers, we experience and feel only so much of the process and intention. As creators, we can only do so much to see our full vision come to life while battling obstacles of time, money, creative control, compromise in collaboration, trauma, personal life, etc. Rio and BrownTown unpack the emotional responsibility and toll of putting yourself into your work and what that means in terms of our broader socio-political environment. Rio and BrownTown speak to the idea of emotion-informed creativity and how they consume art. Rio tells his journey and process of putting his experiences and raw feelings into his music as a therapeutic method and how that has resonated with others. As past endeavors required Rio and other musicians to “play the game” of adhering to the politics and strategies of a more corporate model, the gang deciphers the limitations artists have while trying to grow professionally and even the very definition of “professionalism” (shoutout Ep. 29 - Code Switching). Where the line is between the artist as the world sees them and the artist as the everyday human, especially when money and survival is involved. The conversation evolves from micro to macro deliberating on Kendrick’s authenticity, Kanye’s music and politics, R. Kelly’s systematic abuse, Rick Ross as a parole officer, Jared Leto playing a transwoman, and more. At the end of the day, Rio and BrownTown settle on the importance of meeting people where they’re at when confronting them about the issues of our day and how to push each other to be better with love, understanding, and education.

GUEST
Rio Mutasim is a writer, filmmaker, musician and overall creative who was apart of the original Chi DNA academic project. Born and raised in Chicago, the 24-year-old creative is now working in his second studio album Butterfly Gemini. Find Rio's music on Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Rio Mutasim. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Jena Snelling.

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Ep. 42 - Thanksgiving: Colonization to Liberation

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 20:12:54 +0000

Thanksgiving is a colonized holiday based on genocide, white supremacy, and cultural domination in multiple forms. Still, with competing narratives and histories even in 2019, it’s the second biggest holiday in America and the start of the so-called “holiday season.” With that, BrownTown reflects on what they were taught in school, considers how they have celebrated in their own homes, and unpacks the holiday on a macro-level.

BrownTown discusses Thanksgiving in conjunction with Columbus’ Day, now recognized by some states/institutions and (more importantly) many people as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. They quickly make the broader argument that traditional settler colonization, though very much alive and well, is even more insidious--manifesting in culture, language, art, etc. With Chicago at the center, BrownTown discusses the Laquan McDonald action on the Magnificent Mile in conjunction with the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Day Parade as an interrelated anecdote to break down the intersection of capitalism, white supremacy, and the organized resistance to abolish it. Zooming back in to the holiday itself, they self-analyze how to engage (or not) in ceremonial practices with loved ones while acknowledging and supporting the lasting contributions of indigenous peoples. The duo covers various surrounding topics including Standing Rock, Chicago Teachers’ Union and SEIU strike, social media engagement around said holidays, and strategies (and lack there of) on having difficult conversations (shoutout to the LARA (Listen, Affirm, Respond, and Ask Questions method).

As these centuries old ago events still plague our present, the fellas discuss how to confront, engage, and support organized resistance for future liberation. This may be as nuanced as talking to your racist uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner table to standing with native climate activists in your community. By any measure, our struggles are interconnected, intersectional. Originally recorded October 2019.

Support Indigenous Women Rising, Chi-Nations Youth Council, Lakota Law Project, and/or one of the MANY Native American organizations involved in the struggles for sovereignty, climate justice, and various others.

CREDITS: Intro song My People Come From the Land by Frank Waln. Outro song Stand Up / Stand N Rock by Taboo. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 41 - Human Trafficking & the Black Body ft. Sophie Elizabeth James

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 1 Nov 2019 22:12:51 +0000

BrownTown invites Sophie Elizabeth James to drop knowledge on the state of human trafficking in the real world, in academia, and in popular culture. The team breaks down dominant narrative tropes and misconceptions, trauma care, carceral feminism, and the human-trafficking research-funding-institutional model that further upholds white supremacy at the stake of the Black, often female, body.

Sophie shares how she came to formally study HT and the journey that got her to the "raging Black feminist" point she is now. With that, the gang takes to academia and the issues within both the unrepresentative, non-contextual, and just plain old statistics around HT (see Polaris Project) as well as the privileged players who are conducting much of the research. As BrownTown learns more about the world of HT in all its complexities, nuances, and problems (from that fact that exists to the institutions that are supposed to abolish it), the gang contextualizes how all the -isms compound the trauma for those already marginalized and how the Black body is, once again, disregarded (see Cheryl Nelson-Butler's "The Racial Roots of Human Trafficking" and 1910 "White Slavery Act"). From problematic language in HT discourse to high-profile cases to even labor trafficking and US visa policy, we see a disproportionate relationship between victims that are more visible and the bodies most affected.

Sophie and BrownTown eventually followed the money and discuss the connections between the non-profit industrial complex, funding anti-human trafficking work, and the dominant narrative, frequently co-opting #MeToo for the gain of carceral feminists. Sophie makes it clear that authenticity, true allyship, and leaning into the discomfort that we all experience is necessary for us to change these systems we so often antagonize. The team take on a serious topic in stride while enjoying each others' company for the first time ending on the very important conclusions that Netflix is cheaper than therapy (for now) and David's grandma is the realest.

GUEST
Sophie James is a Master of Arts candidate in the department of Sociology at the University of South Florida. In her academic research, she examines trends in human trafficking and critically analyzes how systems create and combat sexual exploitation, specifically the onus that is placed on survivors to navigate aid and resources. Her other research interests include gendered violence, immigration, human rights discourse, and critical race theory.

She is a research assistant on several evaluative projects based in south Florida that monitor how well commercially sexually exploited youth’s needs are met by anti-trafficking service providers and the child welfare system. Her classical training in academia and lived experiences as a trauma survivor guides her commitment to advocate for equity so there are no barriers in a survivor’s journey to healing. Follow Sophie on Instagram!

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro featuring Justin G Zullo. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 40 - Self Love & Self Care 2.0

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 22:12:47 +0000

BrownTown on BrownTown. Once again, David and Caullen take a step back to discuss the importance of self love, self care, and self understanding. This time, with a broader focus on the commodified and co-opted “self care” phenomenon, BrownTown talks access, trauma, dominant narratives, overcompensating, and the issues with a one-size-fits-all approach. As capitalism preys on our every waking desire, we must find our own pathways to prioritize health and happiness.

In the second installment, the fellas bring the scope more macro and examine what has become a self care phenomenon of philosophies, strategies, and even products and hashtags. David opens by reminding listeners of the loosely related episodes leading up to this and the overlap of SoapBox's recent event Fitness Against Fascism: Prison-industrial Complex and Health Communities, noting how mental and physical health, self care, trauma support, and the way they are raced, classed, and gendered all fall under the same interconnected systems of oppression. BrownTown again centers themselves in what self care looks like for them as well as critiques the commodified and co-opted buzzword that often obscures access to resources/time and trauma all while imploring a one-size-fits-all approach. David and Caullen talk dominant narratives, social media, "self care tests," and the instances in which responsibilities are pushed aside in the name of "self care." As BrownTown attempts to carefully talk through some of the more nuanced points around how to accurately perform true "self care" without buying into capitalist logic, they learn that there is no one answer for everyone nor is everyone's journey the same. Therefore, it's more important than ever to find your tribe, get to know yourself, prioritize your happiness, and sometimes...TREAT YO'SELF!

CREDITS: Intro song Where is my Mind by Pixies. Outro song Red Dot Music by Mac Miller ft. Action Bronson. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro featuring Justin G. Zullo.

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Ep. 39 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within Capitalism

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 23:08:35 +0000

BrownTown on BrownTown. The fellas take an introspective look at their own lives, analyzing the strategies (for better or worse) for managing time, money, and relationships while running SoapBox, building power with activists, and working in creative fields and other industries under capitalism.

BrownTown goes macro before micro, discussing how the Bourbon 'n BrownTown podcast functions within SoapBox's larger multimedia framework as well as the outside perspectives of SoapBox's work itself. Caullen quickly explains the importance of language in how we talk about and value work (what is "work?" Is it a "weekend" if you're still working?), noting 9-5p salaried job normalization versus creative fields and freelance work. Both David and Caullen talk about their life outside of SoapBox as David brings up the struggle between financial security and following creative passions. BrownTown goes on to cover filmmaking/movement-buildling as collaborative work; being new to the non-profit funding world; and their personal strategies on how they (attempt to) balance their lives between work, time with loved ones, hobbies, and even (and especially) sleep. The duo lands on a notion which should be at the forefront of our lives: happiness is a priority. But under capitalism, which prioritizes profit over people, profit over the planet, and constantly commodifies and brainwashes our desires, how do independent creatives get paid without their work being co-opted by elites/corporate powers? How do activists avoid burnout while working towards a liberatory future? How do we simultaneously fight the power while operating within the power to dismantle the power? Here's BrownTown's take.

Mentioned in episode: Ben Bernstein for inspiring the topic, Chicago actor Isis Mollinedo, Chi DNA alum Rio Mutasim, audio engineer Genta Tamashiro and his work with Masego, and Andrew Merz for taking photos during the session.

CREDITS: Intro/outro song Success by Heavy Crownz ft. Joel Q. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

--
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Ep. 38 - Drugs 2.0! (Legal) Reefer Madness ft. Xenon Zeigler

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 04:53:34 +0000

BrownTown chills out with Xenon Zeigler, filmmaker, traveler, and creator, as the gang once again tackles drug policy, this time centering the conversation around the history and current mainstream attitude on marijuana within the context of the racialized "War on Drugs," late capitalism, and the underground economy (listen to part one!).

In 2018, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions made comments about allowing federal prosecutors to try marijuana cases in states where it was already legal; in 2019 year Illinois Governor JB Pritzker solidified Illinois as the 11th State to legalize recreational marijuana. With marijuana usage—both the traditional plant as well as CBD and many other products—becoming more socially acceptable and even legal in many states, where does that leave the decades of racialized policies and punitive justifications that have ruined so many Black and Brown lives? As the dominant narrative on certain drugs may change for the better, those in power are still benefiting in similar ways that they always have.

Following up from the crack epidemic versus opioid crisis conversation from part one, Xenon helps BrownTown unpack new marijuana legislation in the United States, how it has been policed throughout history, and what it really means for the underground economy. The gang points out, however good, some of the issues with moves to legalization that highlight the inherent inequities in the corporatization of goods and gentrification of services pioneered by the most marginalized. Xenon and BrownTown sift through multiple related topics including the root causes of why folks use (recreationally and abuse) drugs in the first place, the racial divide amongst the poor and working class (noting of course the Saturday Night Live skit of Tom Hanks on Black Jeopardy), communal practices of smoking, and even the trajectory of the word “dope.”

GUEST
Xenon Zeigler is a Chicago native filmmaker, creator, and student of life as well as a member of 119 Productions. Follow Xenon on Facebook, Instagram and his work at 119 Productions and xenon.myportfolio.com.

CREDITS: Intro/outro song No Static by Nappy Rot and Greg Nice. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Recording session photos and episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 37 - Public Health 2.0 ft. Le Greta Hudson

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 19:51:15 +0000

BrownTown listens, learns, and again converses about public health, this time in the education field, with Le Greta Hudson, registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, and professor in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the University of Missouri. The team discusses the nuances, the disconnects, and aspiring symbiotic relationship between academia and the real world in building healthy communities, thus navigating poverty, food policy, access, transportation, and everything in between.

Following up from the more geography-based conversation from Public Health 1.0 with Jessica Puri, BrownTown and Le Greta (yes, Caullen’s mom) move into the realm of education with the guiding question, how does one educate on individual-health while working within an equitable framework that places public policy at the cornerstone of a learning model for real life application? Like everything in our socialized world, health is not apolitical and we must demystify this notion as well as decolonize the larger field and industry in order to work towards a more liberatory and anti-oppressive future. As Black, brown, and female bodies are constantly under attack via rhetoric and policy and low-income individuals continue to struggle to make enough to support themselves and their families, we must be radical in our reimagining and re-implementing a fair and accessible public health system.

Le Greta outlines how she came to this work from high school until now. The gang discusses the relationship between academia, community education, and health in addition to the role optics, culture, and systems of oppression play. As David explains his turn to health(ier) eating (shoutout oat milk and quinoa), Le Greta explains the difference between a registered dietitian and a “nutritionist,” adding how the field is requiring practitioners to be more credentialed. The team then dives deep into the poverty simulator, a physical experiential learning tool that sensitizes participants to the challenges of low-income individuals while identifying areas of change on a micro-, mezo-, and macro-level that directly impact the effects of poverty on individuals, families, and communities (download the brochure). Le Greta wraps up by stressing the importance of her field, her work, and the necessity for more people of color and low-income folks to not only be in certain roles, but cater towards disenfranchised groups. This extends to health and science public education in secondary and even grade school in effort to set every young person up for success.

GUEST
Le Greta Hudson, MS, RDN, LD, CDE is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator/clinical instructor, and professor in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the University of Missouri. She has previously been a clinical dietitian and community educator working on-on-one with communities and individuals as well as consulted with diabetes management companies. Most recently, she is now a Commissioner for the Commission for Dietetic Registration (CDR), the credentialing agency for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and looking into becoming a holistic cannabis practitioner. Follow LeGreta on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the University of Missouri website.

CREDITS: Intro song Fried Chicken by Nas ft. Busta Rhymes and outro song Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst by Kendrick Lamar. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 36 - LGBTQ+ Liberation vs. Representation ft. Benji Hart

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 9 Aug 2019 21:55:42 +0000

BrownTown shares space with Benji Hart, author, artist, and educator to discuss language, movement-building, and artistry created by and for queer, trans, and gender non-binary folks. The gang analyzes the relationships between Pride celebrations and police, media and political representations of LGBTQ+ folks, and the nuanced, complicated ways in which we subvert and reimagine oppressive systems while simultaneously navigating, operating, and living within them. Originally recorded June 2019.

As representation for LGBTQ+ folks (especially queer, trans, and non-binary) slowly expands in mainstream media, policy, and other facets of socialized life, BrownTown and Benji chop it up about what this means in terms of grassroots activism, emerging frameworks, and media making on the path to liberation and equity. Benji discusses his work in educational and activist spaces with queer, Black, and trans folks at the forefront of movements (Benji: “queer people run shit.”). The gang dive deep into the history and colonization of our very language in discussing ourselves and the world around us as well as its parallel to Chi DNA and drill rap as a (at times problematic yet) misunderstood form of communication. We get an update in Chicago and national politics regarding the effect of identity politics on actual policy and march towards equity (see: Benji’s article on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot). Recorded in June, BrownTown brings up the role of Pride month, particularly with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and the renewed conversation of police presence in celebrations of trans and non-binary lives (see: NYPD’s says, “my bad” for Stonewall). This begs the question, who is Pride for now? The team pivots to media representation from 1990’s Paris is Burning documentary to FX’s current TV show Pose (which has the largest cast of transgender actors to be starring as series regulars in a scripted show), both about ball culture in New York City. How does a traditionally colonized industry successfully employ, consult, and bring real identities to a mainstream light without cheapening the story? What power dynamics lie in documentary and fictional filmmaking behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera? As in ballroom categories and in everyday life, how do we send up, alter, and abolish violent systems politically and culturally while using their tools and internalizing navigating within them in complex ways to survive and thrive on the way to liberation? Here’s BrownTown’s take.

GUEST
Benji Hart is an author, artist, and educator from Amherst, Massachusetts, living in Chicago. The writer behind the blog Radical Faggot, their essays have been anthologized in Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief (2017) and Taking Sides: Radical Solidarity and the Poverty of Liberalism (2015), both from AK Press. Their commentary has been published at Teen Vogue, The Advocate, The Chicago Reader, and others. They have led political education workshops on subjects ranging from prison abolition to trans liberation for organizations across the Midwest, and been a guest lecturer in classrooms at the University of Chicago and Kalamazoo College. They have facilitated retreats, focused on organizational development and community building, for grassroots collectives such as Love & Protect and For the People Artists Collective.  Follow Benji on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Peep their work on their website BenjiHart.com.

READ MORE on SoapBox Editorial's article "At the Intersection of Media and Movement, 2020 Pride Mirrors its Roots" by Christian Ianniello.

CREDITS: Intro/outro song Rose in Harlem by Teyana Taylor. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Mark Poucher.

EPISODE CORRECTION: The 2019 US military budget was around $700 billion while the 2020 budget is proposed at $720 billion, likely to exceed to $750 billion by most estimates, not $600 billion as was stated. All numbers are still a fraction of the overall defense spending, not including individual war budgets, homeland security, etc.

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Ep. 35 - Chi DNA: Youth Trauma-informed Education & Organizing against Gun Violence ft. Tree

hello@soapboxpo.com (SoapBoxPO) — Fri, 2 Aug 2019 07:01:47 +0000

BrownTown links up with Tree, an activist, artist, and program facilitator with GoodKids MadCity working to end violence in all its forms. The team discusses educating young folks and the intersections of violence in music, policy, and the streets as well as the role white supremacy, capitalism, and toxic masculinity has in it all.

BrownTown originally met Tree at the Chicago Urban League’s live podcast recording event Ep. 8 Convening on Youth Violence and at SoapBox’s February 2019 event Chi DNA: Movement, Media, & Municipal Elections. Tree begins by talking about his philosophy of life and coming into organizing through the Maverick Men Against Violence Research program. After meeting Kofi Ademola (Bourbon ’n BrownTown alum), he linked up with GoodKids MadCity, an organization of Black and brown young people united in fighting to end violence in in underserved communities by calling for more resources and creating safe space for healing, changing behaviors, advocating for progressive legislation that contributes to community vitalization and giving support to communities suffering from gun violence. There he started engaging in youth education and program facilitating work with a restorative justice framework. The conversation takes a turn when we backtrack and discuss what spawned Tree’s journey, the incident that left him paralyzed. BrownTown and Tree breakdown reasons behind seemingly cyclical street violence that is often attributed to certain parts of Chicago, and put the macro-level systems of oppression the create such inequities that make it possible on trial. Tree explains what trauma-informed work looks like with youth across Chicago while making space for creative, restorative practices through various outlets.

GUEST
Tree is a 25-year-old community activist, artist, GoodKids MadCity rep, program facilitator, peace circle keeper, and student of life who was planted here to spread love and add balance. An unfortunate run-in with gun violence when he was a teenager left him paralyzed forcing him to rethink his purpose and being a journey of healing himself and everyone around him. Follow Tree on Facebook (Paris Brown / Tree Brown), Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and GoodKids MadCity on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

CHI DNA
This is the seventh 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.

CREDITS: Intro song Klan Killer and outro song Overkill by Tree. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 34 - Movement Media ft. Damon Williams & Daniel Kisslinger of AirGo

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Fri, 7 Jun 2019 06:28:59 +0000

BrownTown chops it up with Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger of AirGo Podcast about all things independent media-making, humanizing through subject-to-subject dialogue, and making equitable space in Chicago’s creative communities and social movements. Let’s get meta. Originally recorded April 22, 2019.

The two duos cover the impetus of both podcasts as well as some emerging strategies and experiences of growth. AirGo elaborates on their humble beginnings, physical/digital platforms they’ve traversed, and their fake-to-real beef with the FCC while BrownTown breaks down episode 8.3 and their working relationships. The gang unpacks the power dynamics inherent in our current media landscape (a reflection of existing systems of oppression) including liberatory spaces, and how we can better use our dialogue, our actions, and our skills to decolonize and decentralize traditional power sources to better amplify visions of a more just world. AirGo discusses the methods and theory behind diving deeper into nuanced and complex ideas by finding common ground with guests and collaborators using entry points and accounting for power within public-facing conversations, our cultural artifacts. BrownTown builds on this by pushing back on the notion “illusions of littleness,” or falsely obscuring the power media-makers possess in order to inauthentically give others space while they are the ones crafting the messages. As per usual, the gang talks #NoCopAcademy (See SoapBox's article and Mariame Kaba’s open letter), Chicago corruption, and toxic masculinity. With that, BrownTown and AirGo place vulnerability in the center while challenging common myths about modern journalism’s “objectivity."

As we constantly move within an ever-expanding digital ecosystem while simultaneously coming into new consciousness, we must treat media as the medium of which our audiences, our communities, and most of all, ourselves, learn, grow, and reflect. As they say, “do the work.”

GUESTS
Damon Williams is an organizer, writer, rapper, poet, comedian, and educator from the south side of Chicago, and the Co-Host and Co-Executive Producer of AirGo. He is the cofounder of the #LetUsBreathe Collective, a grassroots alliance of artists, journalists, and activists harnessing creative capital and cultural production to deconstruct injustice in America and worldwide. The Collective operates the Breathing Room, a Black-led liberation space for arts, organizing, and healing on Chicago's South Side. Follow Damon on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Daniel Kisslinger is a Chicago-based host and producer working in the worlds of radio, live events, digital, and community building, and the Co-host and Co-Executive Producer of AirGo. He is also the Executive Producer of VS, a Poetry Foundation podcast hosted by poets Danez Smith and Franny Choi, and is the Booking Producer and Contributing Panelist for The Hoodoisie, a biweekly block-optic news talk show hosted by Ricardo Gamboa. He is a member of the #LetUsBreathe Collective. Daniel on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

AirGo is a weekly podcast and cultural media hub in Chicago, showcasing the artists, rappers, poets, musicians, organizers, and change-makers reshaping the culture of the city and country for the more equitable and creative. Through long-form conversations, AirGo puts Chicago's reimaginers in conversation, documenting Chicago's radical renaissance and creating a living archive of humanizing dialogue telling the stories of our creative communities and social movements. AirGo is a sponsored project of Allied Media Projects, a Detroit-based organization that cultivates media for liberation. Follow AirGo on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and listen to them on their site, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts!

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Malcolm X’s “Racist in Reverse” speech. Intro/outro music and audio engineering by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 33 - Advertising in the Activist Resurgence

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sat, 25 May 2019 00:29:11 +0000

BrownTown reflects on the recent turn in the advertising industry to co-opting social movement optics, messages, and dialogues. As this industry has always run monetized media and the digital age has made media literacy ever-more important, BrownTown unpacks recent attempts of companies using progressive narrative shifts for their bottom-line. Originally recorded April 2019.

Advertising is a pillar of consumerism serving as a jester for a larger capitalist economic structure. However, the last two years have brought a unique wave of commercials using the now-mainstream appeal of social movements to sell their products. BrownTown takes a dive into the relationship of transformational advertising and “activist chic” in addition to the critiques from all sides. The conversation begins broadly about the role of film and media when BrownTown takes a brief look at SoapBox’s placement in the current landscape. The guys then go down the line of recent ad campaigns (listed below), for better or worse, and give personal insight as filmmakers/writers/consumers as well as broader macro-analyses into how these companies and people live up to their promoted messages. From Nike and Kaepernick (see Know Your Rights Camp) to Gillette calling out toxic masculinity (but that pink tax doe?) to Wells Fargo’s apology tour (still, #NoDAPL) to, of course, the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad, we are only beginning this new age of mass advertising. Thus, consumers and audiences must revamp their media literacy toolkit to better recognize the coded messaging and curtailing of real struggle, power-building, and systemic change before we become completely pacified consumers.

How do we resist, reimagine, and rebuild while simultaneously creating and consuming? If the revolution will in fact be televised, Pepsi will not be the one to broadcast it.

Ad Campaigns Discussed:

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Intro soundbite from “Sell & Spin: A History of Advertising”. Episode photo by Sean Kelly.

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Ep. 32 - Law for Liberation ft. Tia Haywood & Jesús Vargas

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 02:09:23 +0000

BrownTown kicks back with Tia Haywood and Jesús Vargas of the Haywood Monte Law Offices to discuss the role of the legal system, public opinion, and grassroots activism in holding the criminal justice system accountable while working within its very framework. The gang examines recent Chicago cases and breaks down how narratives and precedents can shape the path for future equity, for better or for worse. Originally recorded February 18, 2019.

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. The Coalition to Dump Matt Coghlan campaign successfully unseated the problematic Cook County judge in November 2018. 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, explaining 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 alludes that these forces don’t affect you…until they affect 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).

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.

Mentioned:

Read related SoapBox article "Chicago at a Crossroads"
Kwame Raoul’s review of the sentencing
Chicago Police Department's code of silence case
#NoCopAcademy

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.

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. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 31 - Black & Brown Representation in Media 2.0 ft. Beezy

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 14:00:00 +0000

The full BrownTown diaspora unites to take on Black and Brown representation in media in the follow-up to the podcast’s inaugural episode. “Beezy” of BrownTown joins us to incorporate a Pakistani perspective and experience into the discussion on Black Panther, Coco, and Hasan Minaj to name a few. Where shallow “diversity” efforts fall short, BrownTown unpacks the nuances of the more representative media landscape and how to hold creators and audiences accountable. Originally recorded January 4, 2019.

Since the first ever Bourbon ’n BrownTown recording on the same topic in April 2017, we have witnessed new works in TV, film, music, literature, and other art forms that present an unapologetic, nuanced, multidimensional look at Black and brown life in America and abroad. BrownTown understands a conversation of this sort can go many ways, incorporating many worldviews. For this episode, they primarily use their personal experiences as Black, Mexican, and Pakistani men to analyze the content and impact of more mainstream projects and media events over the past year. As buzzwords “diversity”, “representation,” and “inclusion” are employed more than ever in media, business, and politics (no exception here), BrownTown dissects where these themes operate, when they can be problematic, and, most importantly, how they can be liberatory in implementation to not only better represent our current social world but work toward towards a more equitable future.

BrownTown starts by welcoming and getting audiences acquainted with the little-known third member Beezy. Right off the bat, they get into comparing sending petty work emails to communicating with internet trolls and the difference between racism and racial prejudice amongst marginalized peoples. As Beezy opens up about his upbringing, it helps us understand his perspective regarding pop culture and interactions with diverse groups of people as a young adult. Piggybacking off of a conversation on Black Panther in the Hip Hop 2.0 episode, the gang dives into the takeaways of the film, both within the story itself and the broader cultural impact. From here, Caullen pivots to the Black actors’ struggles to obtain certain “color-blind” roles only after a years of work and validation by mainstream white audiences. David champions the authenticity and underlying message of the animated film Coco as well as the importance of accessible language in film, TV, and comedy. When Beezy positions himself as “anti-woke,” him and Caullen explain how Hasan Minaj’s comedy can be both entertaining to broad audiences, educational with a poignant agenda, as well as culturally relevant to Indian/Pakistani peoples in a way other comedians are not (Do you know what a lota is? Watch this.).

Finally, the team zooms out and positions pop culture as a microcosm for our global society. With the resurgent backlash to R. Kelly’s lengthy history of sexual abuse, autocratic rule of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Chicago’s Black alderpeople shutting out and ignoring young Black activists, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s commendable work in congress, we can understand that representation is by no means the end all be all. SoapBox believes that art can be a the passport to radical change, but one must still take the journey and challenge the forces that made it so difficult to travel there in the first place.

GUEST
“Beezy” is a first-generation Pakistani who grew up on the North side of Chicago near Foster and Damen. He currently works in financial services at an asset management firm, essentially “playing in excel all day.” He once lived with both Caullen and David at an apartment then-newly formed as “BrownTown.” The rest is history…

CREDITS: Intro song The Story of OJ by Jay-Z. Outro music Stay Down by Big Sean. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 30 - Holistic Health & Fitness Against Fascism ft. Mel Phillips

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 05:10:00 +0000

BrownTown invites trauma-informed yoga teacher Mel Phillips to the discussion around holistic health, access to wellness care, and the ways in which we challenge systems of oppression in seemingly apolitical industries. What does equity and liberation look like in the allied health continuum? Together, using SoapBox's Fitness Against Fascism series as model, we extrapolate the connections between social justice and holistic health at various levels.

Mel, a collaborator with SoapBox’s ongoing Fitness Against Fascism series, brings her trauma-informed yoga experience to the discussion around holistic health, access to wellness care, and the ways in which we challenge systems of oppression in seemingly apolitical industries. What does equity and liberation look like in the allied health continuum? Together, using Fitness Against Fascism as model, we extrapolate the connections between social justice and holistic health at various levels. Mel first speaks on the lack of women of color she noticed in mainstream yoga spaces and the article that changed that perception (see Black Girl in Om) as well as teaching yoga to women in pre-trail detention in Cook County Corrections. With that in mind, BrownTown discusses the different levels and roles people can take in addressing systemic inequality in fitness spaces—both meeting people where they are at and challenging more established institutions (see Trap Yoga Bae and the SoapBox article on her). The gang breaks down Chicago heat maps and critique the un-coincidental lack of access to traditional fitness spaces in the same areas that lack many social determinants of health (see Episode 7 with Jessica Puri).

Mel parallels this with the popularization of “self-care” and the power and privilege aligned with the necessary yet commodified phenomenon. She and BrownTown take a step back to investigate the function capitalism has in this regarding worker productivity, paid leave, and owners valuing employees for their humanity versus their ability to sell their labor for longer, both in the US and abroad. The conversation rests on the notion that it's crucial to understand that health and wellness, like everything else in our socialized world, is not apolitical. Our destinies are connected to each other and it's imperative, now more than ever, to be vulnerable and take initiative in and outside of these spaces. Health must be radical in its analysis and holistic in its approach if we are to truly obtain equity in wellness.

Mentioned in episode or relevant: aSweatLife, Healthy Hood, the Chicago Community Bond Fund, and Caullen on aSweatLife’s podcast #WeGotGoals Episode 68 and Episode 87.

GUEST
Mel Phillips was born and raised in the Carolinas and is a newly certified part-time yoga instructor and full-time devotee to the restaurant industry. She graduated from East Carolina University in 2014 with a Bachelors in Communication and a Bachelors in Merchandising. Mel escaped the South after graduation and moved to Chicago. She spends the majority of her “free” time teaching yoga for special communities and organizations like I Grow Chicago in Englewood and Yoga for Recovery, an organization that brings the practice of yoga and mindfulness to women in Cook County Corrections. Mel has specialty training in trauma-informed yoga and actively pursues bringing mind and body practice to those with limited access. When she isn’t running reservation systems for restaurants or teaching seven-year olds crow pose, she is sitting at home cuddling her hairless cat @sophiathesphynx. 

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh. Outro song Fitness by Lizzo. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Ella Börner.

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Ep. 29 - Code Switching ft. Heavy Crownz

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Fri, 1 Feb 2019 06:00:00 +0000

BrownTown again welcomes Heavy Crownz, rapper and educator, to the conversation around the nuances, personal experiences, and real life implications of code switching.

Near the end of episode 25, the podcast’s first live recording at DePaul University, Heavy and Caullen began discussing the nuances of code switching. In this episode, BrownTown welcomes Heavy back to continue that conversation. The gang breaks down their personal experiences with code switching and how it interplays with respectability politics, social mobility, and survival. Code switching is a linguistic phenomenon often described as switching between dialects, or changing the way in which one speaks, in order to more easily acquiesce to a particular environment or be understood/validated by a particular person(s). These alterations can include changes to rhetoric, language itself (slang/vocabulary), tone, syntax, diction, body language, overall demeanor and can be both conscious and unconscious. Though everyone plays this game to some degree, in America it’s often discussed and practiced amongst Black folks and other people of color (see Insider’s take).

BrownTown begins by inquiring about Heavy’s experience traversing the worlds of hip-hop and educational institutions. All three dive into personal experiences at places of work and growing up fluctuating between their “native” speech and code switching to better assimilate into situations. David brings in a bilingual perspective, adding more depth to the discussion. In relation to friends and family as well as society at-large, BrownTown and Heavy make parallels to broader issues, recognizing their and others’ privilege regarding language, access, and discourse. They analyze how the need to and refusal to code switch can create unconscious value judgements and indications of one’s relationship to the dominant social and cultural order. The group spends much of the episode broadening the linguistic definition of code switching to social situations in white spaces and the internal monologue of Black and Brown folks to resist playing up stereotypes for sake of onlookers (see SoapBox editorial piece). This is intermixed with discussions of Boots’ Riley’s film Sorry to Bother You and the Saturday Night Live Prison Job skit.

In short, the gang subverts the idea of “appropriate” and “proper” language and demeanor, sending up these notions as inherently problematic, othering, and ultimately harmful. However, they recognize the real consequences this brings: Heavy articulates how, while in college, Martin Luther King Jr. felt immense pressure to code switch and dismantle every stereotype about Black men in order to avoid any additional discrimination and hindrance to his education. Caullen references Fred Hampton’s powerful oratory and ability to capture attention to organize all kinds of people with his rhetoric. All three push back against the idea that one need code switch to be ”respectable” yet understand its real life implications.

GUEST
Heavy Crownz is an MC and high school educator hailing from Chicago's Englewood community. With a degree in History from Tuskegee University, Crownz aims to create personal music from the soul in a style of flow he calls AfroTrap. His strongest motivations to go on have been the need for people to have good music with substance and purpose. Find Heavy’s music on Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh with soundbite from Dave Chappelle on Inside the Actor's Studio. Outro song Dangerous by Heavy Crownz. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Rohan Ayinde.

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Ep. 28 - Fighting for Women's Rights through Faith, Policy, & #MeToo ft. Zoe Goodman

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 18:35:00 +0000

BrownTown listens, learns, and sheds light on the ongoing fight for women's rights with Zoe Goodman, social justice advocate, abortion clinic escort, and certified confidential victim advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Through personal experiences in faith, changing public policy, and #MeToo, the friends discuss the nuance and robust process of intersectional movement building for gender equity.

Zoe details her experiences as a abortion clinic escort and working with survivors of sexual assault. As Zoe explains, her interfaith upbringing and finding institutional Judaism as a young adult is a large part of why she considers her advocacy work a duty, not a choice. As she elaborates on important facts surrounding the normalcy of abortion and the prevalence and costliness of intimate partner violence, the gang breaks down the narrative-changing importance of movements like Shout Your Abortion and the real origins of #MeToo, giving a nod to organization’s founder Tarana Burke. Furthermore, the gang also discusses healthcare policy, alleviating poverty to uplift everyone, and the role of cultural rhetoric and discourse in systems change. However, these avenues and narratives consistently meet pushback or co-option from powerful institutions and people every step of the way. With that, how can we better understand our complex history, polarizing present, and cautiously optimistic future? How do we remain unapologetic in our work, in our rhetoric, and still manage to bring more into the fold? Here’s BrownTown's take.

GUEST
Zoe is a racial and gender justice advocate who has five years of nonprofit experience, including time as a teacher in a Title I Charter school. She has lived in Colorado, Tennessee, New Jersey, Illinois, and has been really happily living in Brooklyn for the last three years. Volunteerism has been an important part of her life as far back as she can remember. However, really thoughtful advocacy and social justice involvement started when she moved to Evanston, Illinois in high school. Zoe is a Jewish woman proudly from an interfaith family, raised in the Lutheran Church. She is a certified confidential victim advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence and a long-time abortion clinic escort. Follow Zoe on Facebook and Instagram and research further on her referenced data sources: Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood, National Organization of Women, Urban Resource Institute, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and TESSA.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Intro sound bite from Shout Your Abortion Stories - Volume 22. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 27 - New Years 2019: A Retrospective ft. Genta Tamashiro

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 1 Jan 2019 06:00:00 +0000

BrownTown on BrownTown. The gang reflects on 2018 as well as the very inception the podcast to remember the good, the bad, and the ugly. With the help of audio engineer and dearest friend Genta Tamashiro, BrownTown raises a glass with all of you as they look back at some of the realest moments with some of the dopest people around.

Throughout the conversation, the group discusses our amazing guests, Chi DNA (a SoapBox film and multimedia project) branded episodes, past live recording events, the inner-workings of creating the podcast from scratch as well as David, Caullen, and Genta's thoughts on particular episodes. Listen and rejoice as we look to bigger and better things come 2019!

Listen to all the referenced episodes on your chosen podcast application or right here!. For more information on the podcast, check out the SoapBox website.

GUEST
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Genta is a creative devotee of the artistic community. He attended the specialized magnet school Denver School of the Arts for middle and high school, which gave him a solid foundation in musical performance and theory as well as an introduction into audio engineering. After spending some time at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Genta moved to Chicago to pursue a career in audio engineering where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Audio Design and Production from Columbia College in 2015. Through his freelance audio work, he has traveled around the country and the world with notable artists such as the Becca Kaufman Orchestra, The Way Down Wanderers, and Masego. When he is not running the sound for a band somewhere, you can find him producing his own music or editing podcasts for SoapBox and other creative organizations. Listen to more about this life, work, and perspectives on hip-hop in Episode 5 - Hip-Hop in the Age of Spin.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Intro soundbite from Malcolm X, used in the SoapBox 2019 reel. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 26 - Coalition-building & #NoCopAcademy ft. Monica Trinidad & Debbie Southorn

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Thu, 13 Dec 2018 01:50:00 +0000

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. Episode photo by David of BrownTown.

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Ep. 25 - LIVE AT DEPAUL Chi DNA: Exile, Refuge, & Displacement ft. Jessica Puri & Heavy Crownz

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 4 Dec 2018 06:00:00 +0000

This is the sixth 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.

LIVE AT DEPAUL
The DePaul University Honors Program hosted Bourbon ’n BrownTown in this live podcast event as part of their ongoing Speaker Series. In conjunction with the Chi DNA Speaker Series, this event tackled the Honors Program’s themes of the year, exile and refuge, as well as local/global displacement as a whole. After introducing SoapBox, the Chi DNA project, and the Bourbon ’n BrownTown format, BrownTown, their guests, and the university audience watched the Chi DNA Micro-Doc Episode 3 as a springboard for their discussion and following Q&A. Watch before you listen!

GUESTS
Jessica Puri is a Nigerian-born Public Health professional with 5+ years of experience in scientific writing, health research and public health communication on the Bachelor and Masters level. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Integrated Health Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Northwestern University. She sits on the alumni advisory board for the Center for Community Health Equity and the Board of Directors for SoapBox.

Heavy Crownz is an MC and high school educator hailing from Chicago's Englewood community. With a degree in History from Tuskegee University, Crownz aims to create personal music from the soul in a style of flow he calls AfroTrap. His strongest motivations to go on have been the need for people to have good music with substance and purpose.

OVERVIEW
The group starts by defining displacement: a forced movement of people from their homes, neighborhoods, and/or occupational activities from natural or man-made causes. From there, they discuss the connections between international crises, intracommunal violence, and disenfranchisement in Chicago as well as the cultural representations they manifest. Recorded four days before Columbus Day, the discussion touches on intentional segregation and destabilization of Black and Brown geo-specific areas both in Chicago and the Middle East. BrownTown and company draw parallels between highly criticized and complex international crises, gang violence in Chicago, and the broader implications of white supremacy that help create and exacerbate them on a policy and narrative level. Jessica brings in her first-hand international experiences while breaking down the rhetoric around refugees in America. She subverts the often problematic language to explain the importance of refugees and providing a safe haven and resources for those experiencing trauma—home and abroad. As the team weaves drill rap and activism in and out of the conversation, Jessica analyzes Caullen and Heavy’s anecdotes using an ecological model to helps us better grasp the decision-making processes of folks’ suffering from intergenerational and contemporary trauma (mentioned: Rico Reckless interview). Heavy explains what his moniker, the “63rd Representer,” tells us about growing up in a hypersegregated Chicago and the current state of gentrification (enter: Obama Community-Benefits Agreement). The group later draws out the importance of art as a coping mechanism, in its many forms. Near the end of the conversation, the group touches on notions of Black masculinity in and outside of drill, code-switching (see episode 29), and what being “appropriate” really means. How do displaced people deal with trauma, particularly when resources to do so are scarce? How can we un-do known oppressive policy of yesteryear to better shape an equitable future? Where does drill rap and activism play into all of this and why is it important? 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 Heavy’s music on Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Follow Jessica on LinkedIn and Instagram.

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh. Outro song Absolutely by Heavy Crownz. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 24 - International Privilege & Resisting with Comedy ft. Quinn Wilson

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 6 Nov 2018 15:41:00 +0000

GUEST
Quinn Wilson is a Chicago-based award-winning filmmaker/comedian with a focus on comedy and social justice-related work. He is the founder of What Matters Productions, where he takes his gift of filmmaking and passion for global equity to focus on telling stories that MATTER. Wilson is formerly the Creative Director for the iO Comedy Network (Improv Olympics), of the famous iO Improv Theater where he lead a team pitching TV pilots, creating comedy web videos, teaching video production classes, and doing branded work all along-side the legendary comedic talent produced by the iO Theater. Commercially, he is rep’d as a comedy director with Big Spoon Industries. Wilson has a strong interest in global non-profit volunteer work, and is using this medium transformatively to change the world, as is evident in his work with Echo 100 Plus, and All Chicago. He has spent years mentoring LGBT youth surviving homelessness, volunteering at refugee camps in Greece, and helping drill water wells in Burkina Faso, West Africa. He enjoys building community and friendship with people all over the world from all walks of life.

OVERVIEW
Quinn begins with his background in comedy, from stand-up in high school to his work with iO. With this, he breaks down the current comedy environment telling how younger, more consciously intentional writers’ rooms and comedians vie to “punch up” systems of oppression rather than play to stereotypes and problematic notions of the old guard. The conversation consistently circles back to the role of social justice-geared film, movement media, and the intersections of popular culture in resisting problematic institutions in America and abroad. The gang examines different forms of privilege—American, whiteness, gender, class, etc.—as well as historical and geographic examples of local and global issues with the help of Quinn’s international experiences. From anti-white flight public policy in Oak Park, Illinois to the Western world destabilizing the Middle East for control and economic profiteering, Quinn and BrownTown relay why media-makers, social entrepreneurs, and (many) non-profits are important cultural influencers in resisting in traditional and non-traditional ways.

Quinn shares his personal journey of politization through authentic, close relationships with passionate activists and folks surviving extreme circumstances. Through those experiences and his passion for film, he explains the origins of What Matters Productions with the inaugural project Calvin’s Story and later Americans United Against Destructive Driving (AUADD) (SoapBox collaborations). As the second white, straight, cis male on Bourbon ’n BrownTown, Quinn implores folks who have been “dealt a good hand” to use their easier access to spaces and resources to amplify voices and challenge the very systems which they benefit for the betterment of our global community.

Find more on Quinn and What Matters Productions at QuinnWilsonFilm.com and WhatMattersProductions.com.

Follow him on Facebook and What Matters Productions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Intro soundbite from Quinn's comedy routine from 2013. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 23 - Hip-Hop 2.0 ft. Fiendsh

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Mon, 1 Oct 2018 00:31:00 +0000

GUEST
In the second take on the world of hip-hop, BrownTown goes international by inviting the podcast’s first featured music artist Fiendish AKA Junior AKA Kaiphobthawiphong to chop it up all the way from Bangkok, Thailand. Originally a DJ in high school, Fiendsh transitioned to creating his own content while at Columbia College Chicago. With similar stylings to J. Dilla, Madlib, Kanye West, and Mf Doom, Fiendsh has since released two EPs, Al Capone and Gold Pope.

OVERVIEW
Fiendsh and BrownTown discuss current mainstream releases, the cultural and media pieces they impact, and the broader socio-political context in which they are created. Over a year since part one, “Hip-Hop in the Age of Spin,” Fiendsh shares the origins of his name, his introduction into DJing, moving to Chicago for college, and the influence hip-hop has had in his life, his work, and his home country at-large. The gang sifts through the musical stylings, business acumen, and overall critique of album releases from GOOD Music, Drake, J. Cole , and Nas. As authenticity in hip-hop is and always has been an important and heavily contested theme, they unpack the cultural and critical relevance of Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther Soundtrack as well as Cardi B’s rise to popularity. The latter includes a nod to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning New York Democratic house primary victory, noting a parallel between different yet unapologetic, strong Latina figures in different areas of public life. From appropriate and intentional track sampling to a viral video of the young woman aggressively rapping “Bodak Yellow” to her boyfriend, passion, purpose, and persistence illustrates that hip-hop is here to stay and reimagines what it can be.

Find Fiendsh's music on his site as well as his Soundcloud and Bandcamp pages. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh. Outro song Everything by NAS ft. Kanye West and The-Dream. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 22 - Anti-oppressive Librarianship & Access to Information ft. Kristyn Caragher

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:36:00 +0000

GUEST
Kristyn Caragher is a public librarian and a two-time graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Information Sciences. She is the creator of Infollectuals, a discussion series that focuses on pressing societal issues and their relationship to libraries and social justice.

OVERVIEW
BrownTown and Kristyn discuss the role public libraries, other institutions, and the people that populate them play in providing community access to information and resources. Enter Infollectuals: Kristyn’s discussion series and graduate/professional work that started it furthers this dialogue by challenging her field through programming and workshops, asking (and answering) the question, what does white anti-racist librarianship look like? How can those with privilege who also serve as gatekeepers to publicly funded resources use them more responsibly and intentionally under an anti-oppressive, liberatory framework? Kristyn also brings up the tension in the current “free speech” debate particularly between libraries and hate groups in regard to physical space for programming. The group also shifts the site from institutions to the digital sphere noting Safiya Umoja Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism.

You can learn more about Kristyn's work at KristynCaragher.com. Follow Kristyn and Infollectuals on Twitter!
Read her contributions in Topographies of Whiteness: Mapping Whiteness in Library and Information Science.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 21 - Welcome to the Gun Show

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Wed, 4 Jul 2018 17:00:00 +0000

In light of all-too-frequent mass shootings across the country, another political gun control debate, and the broad swath of youth activism surrounding these issues, BrownTown turns a previous organic conversation into an episode. As gun violence in America is sadly nothing new, the youth mobilization after the Parkland, Florida school shooting sparked a lasting conversation around gun violence, the NRA, and public policy. However, as the March For Our Lives movement picks up steam and funding, the mainstream narrative often forgets or obscures the work of primarily Black and Brown individuals and organizations (insert: Good Kids Mad City; the 4 Front Project, Tiffany Loftin of NAACP) who have been working against the intersections of violence in and outside of their communities through nuanced, complex analyses that connect the “gun problem” to larger systems of oppression that sustain inequality and death in less salient ways.

Full Transcription Here!

BrownTown takes this approach to examine the culture of violence as a uniquely American phenomenon, which finds itself at the intersection of capitalism, militarism, white supremacy, and toxic masculinity. With SoapBox’s Chicago Drill and Activism project as a site of investigation, we explore drill rap from the UK and Chicago—two places with starkly different gun policy, yet similar problems for some of its most marginalized population. This leads them to compare and contrast gun policy on a global scale in an attempt to understand the story behind stats. How has America reconciled with its violent past? Why do some places with looser gun laws or violent histories have far less homicides and suicides? The second amendment is often propped up as a unquestionable staple in these conversations while obscuring the contextual milieu in which it was created as well as the reasoning behind some state’s stricter gun legislation (insert: Reagan and the Black Panther Party in the 1960s).

Lastly, BrownTown takes a reflexive look at even how our everyday language promotes a standard of domination and violence in seemingly “apolitical” ways. Through the examples, historical and contemporary, personal and hypothetical, BrownTown walks away from the conversation noting that our efforts to curve violence in America must be holistic, incremental, and radical in its approach if we are to truly get free. Originally recorded May 8, 2018.

CREDITS: Intro song This is America by Childish Gambino. Outro song PROM / KING by Saba. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 20 - Juneteenth

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Juneteenth (June 19th) is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of American enslavement dating back to 1865. However, though the Emancipation Proclamation may have been the law of the land when signed, it took two years for news to reach the entire country. This is just one example of public policy or government apologies failing to be fulfilled by the state. As we unpack Juneteenth and its importance in recognizing the trials and tribulations of African ancestors and elders we celebrate (even noting the TV show Atlanta's Juneteenth episode), we cannot ignore the generations after enslavement that sustained new ways of systematically and institutionally oppressing Black people—sharecropping, black codes, Red Summer, Jim Crow, mass racialized incarceration, police violence, etc.

With this paradox in mind, BrownTown examines other examples of the United States government formally apologizing or granting reparations to other wronged marginalized groups. What happened to Black folks’ 40 acres and a mule? How was 2008’s House Resolution 194 that apologized for slavery not public knowledge complete with reparations and a sincere conversation confronting America’s past? How does one recognize and commemorate Juneteenth, yet hold our institutions accountable for a job not done? Here’s BrownTown's take.

Mentioned in the episode: Trap House - Chicago uses streetwear, art, and radical restorative justice to transform individuals, communities, and society. T.R.A.P. = Truth Reaching All People.

EPISODE CORRECTION: HR194 was technically passed under President Bush in July 2008, not Obama who took office the following January 2009.

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh with soundbite from Chappelle's Show "Time Haters" skit. Outro song Villuminati by J. Cole. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 19 - Happy Father's Day ft. Larone Ellison

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 18:58:00 +0000

GUEST
Larone Ellison is a scholar, researcher, and father with a background in women’s and gender studies. He is a recent graduate of DePaul University’s sociology masters program where he researched cyber-harassment of Black women.

OVERALL
Larone discusses his experiences co-parenting and raising his daughter while in graduate school and beyond with (childless) BrownTown. He leads the conversation on the involved, hands-on role of fathers versus strictly the financial provider, as is often recognized and championed in heteropatriachy. We unravel this problematic model of fatherhood and explain the ramifications of how toxic masculinity and white supremacy scaffold a mythical standard version of fatherhood and family. The group touches on their personal experiences with their parents and fathers as men of color, relating back to infamous Chris Rock bits as well as unnecessary praise given to male mediocrity.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there! BrownTown loves and appreciates you for all that you do. And you gender non-conforming parents, too!

As Larone mentions in the episode: Watch, interact, and get more information on Zarniah's series Sex is a God Thing: When two queer women of color connect as long lost sisters, they must lament the recent loss of their father, repair their broken relationships, and reconcile their childhood religiosity as they begin to own their identities as Black lesbians.

Find Larone on Twitter and check out his new venture, Elevated Podcast, on Apple Podcasts or your chosen platform.

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh. Outro song Papa was a Rolling Stone by The Temptations with soundbite from Chris Rock. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 18 - Mental Health, Criminal Justice, & I-Positivity ft. Miles Fountain

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Thu, 31 May 2018 17:29:00 +0000

GUEST
Miles Fountain works as an educator at Positive Mental Health (PMH) which emerged out of a pursuit to inspire people with disabilities to be more, do more, an achieve greater goals. Today, they design programs, projects, and activities that nurture positive mental health by training participants for employment as workers and entrepreneurs. PMH promotes mental, physical, emotional, and economic health in the Oak Park Chicago suburb and the broader area. Miles' work focuses on improving self above all else and getting clients sustainable work opportunities. PMH conducts this work on an interpersonal level within the broader mission to destroy "the oppressor's paradigm." Under this framework, they understand and work against the macro-level issues that create many of the individual situations they encounter.

OVERVIEW
Miles and BrownTown investigate the overlap of mental health services in jails and prisons, particularly in Chicago, which holds the nation's largest mental health facility...Cook County Jail. The gang touch on the Ban the Box movement, critique of the prison-industrial complex, and even (and especially) Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Learn more about Positive Mental Health at ipositive.org.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 17 - Happy Mother's Day ft. Jamie Nesbitt

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sun, 13 May 2018 15:00:00 +0000

GUEST
Jamie Nesbitt is a wife, mother, and freelance journalist hailing from Chicago's Southside. Her work can be found in Ebony, XO Jane, RedEye Chicago, DNA Info Chicago (RIP), Chicagoist, Salon, her own blog Hood Feminism, and other publications.

OVERVIEW
Jamie gives BrownTown insight on her relationship with her mother growing up, her own entrance to motherhood, and raising her eight-year-old son. Using her experience as a springboard, the group delves into issues in the healthcare system's treatment of Black women, the benefits of prenatal yoga, as well as the community aspect of child rearing.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! BrownTown loves and appreciates you for all that you do. And you gender non-conforming parents, too!

Find Jamie on Twitter , Instagram, and check out her new venture, Elevated Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your chosen platform.

CREDITS: Intro song Dear Mama by Tupac. Outro Hey Mama by Kanye West. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 16 - Environmental Justice & Faith-based Organizing against White Supremacy ft. Rev. Brian Sauder

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sat, 21 Apr 2018 16:03:00 +0000

GUEST
As the Faith in Place President and Executive Director, Rev. Sauder’s passion is empowering faith communities across Illinois to take measurable steps to connect the dots between faith, environmental justice, poverty, mass incarceration, race, violence, class, and health. He grew up in Illinois in rural Tazewell County and received his B.S. from the University of Illinois in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, M.A. in Religion from Urbana Theological Seminary, and M.B.A. from the University of Illinois. Rev. Sauder is ordained by the Mennonite Church U.S.A. and worships with Chicago Community Mennonite Church in East Garfield Park. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at McCormick Theological Seminary, co-teaching an environmental certification course for future clergy.

OVERVIEW
Brian and BrownTown discuss the bottom-up, decentralized organizing model of Faith in Place, the pros and cons of preaching with privilege, and politicizing audiences pre- and post-Trump. After BrownTown learns more about Brian’s journey as an organizer through his faith, the group analyzes how capitalism, consumerism, and militarism inform white supremacy. How does this create and sustain harmful environmental injustices? What we can do to combat it? Here's BrownTown's take.

Learn more about Faith in Place's work on their site, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as their affiliate Action Fund on their site, Facebook, and Twitter.

For more Faith in Place news and upcoming actions, visit FaithinPlace.org/News.

CREDITS: Intro song Forbidden Knowledge by Raury ft. Big K.R.I.T. Outro song God's Plan by Drake. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 15 - Chi DNA: #RealTalk with a Veteran Raptivist ft. Tweak'G

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Wed, 4 Apr 2018 17:50:00 +0000

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.

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.

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Ep. 14 - Chi DNA: Electoral & Radical Politics ft. Camille Williams

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 20:12:00 +0000

This is the fourth 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
Camille Williams is a Chicago activist who believes in grassroots organizing to bridge the gap between cultures and communities, and utilizing restorative justice practices. She has organized with both local and national campaigns as well as advocated for legislation and policy. When she’s not organizing, she practices radical self care and love by utilizing the tools of mindfulness, yoga, and urban gardening. Camille lives by the mantra “know the truth, speak the truth, be the truth” as a way to acknowledge the divine within all people. With her experiences organizing for Black liberation with BYP100 (Black Youth Project) and working to create a more inclusive electoral democracy by putting power in the hands of new young leaders across the city with Chicago Votes, she offers a nuanced and multifaceted perspective on what's been deemed "radical" politics within electoral processes and state voting infrastructure.

CREDITS: Intro song F.U.B.U. by Solange ft. The-Dream and BJ the Chicago Kid. Outro song Django Jane by Janelle Monáe. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 13 - Chi DNA: Black History & Resistance in Chicago ft. Kofi Ademola

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:03:00 +0000

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.

Full Transcriptions Here!

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.

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.

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Ep. 12 - Self Love & Self Care

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 19:16:00 +0000

In a complex and turbulent world, everyday folks, BrownTown included, find it increasingly difficult to take a step back and find time for themselves. BrownTown discusses techniques, introspective questions, and personal experiences dealing with self care and self love. In order to put quality work and positive energy out into the world, we must find ways to put these into practice in our daily lives. As always, they tie broader models for understanding and caring for oneself to macro-level systems of oppression and privilege. While acknowledging that self care and mental health are now in the mainstream conversation, BrownTown points out the problematic intersections with toxic masculinity and marginalization of Black and Brown voices. Lastly, they shoutout some Chicago-based groups that are fostering communities that encourage self love, self understanding, and self expression. So remember, love yourself, take care of yourself, understand yourself, and, most importantly, TREAT YO'SELF!

CREDITS: Intro song i by Kendrick Lamar. Outro song Happiness by The Foreign Exchange. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 11 - Chi DNA: Intersectionality, #NoCopAcademy, Activist Art, & Organizing the Newly Radicalized ft. Ruby Pinto

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 06:34:00 +0000

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.

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.

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Ep. 10 - Drugs! Treatment, Criminalization, & Racial Framing in the Opioid & Crack Epidemics

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sat, 3 Feb 2018 04:54:00 +0000

BrownTown takes a look at the current opioid crisis and the “War on Drugs”, particularly its exacerbation with crack cocaine in the 1980s. Black and Brown communities and bodies have been criminalized for decades under drug laws and mass racialized incarceration for their trauma, addiction, and underground economy. However, when a similar problem affects a largely white population, the narratives flips to treatment, medicalization, understanding, and humanity. The larger history regarding the criminalization of drugs has always incorporated a systemically racist tie to policy and a hegemonic control of framing problematic narratives. From opium to marijuana, the crack “epidemic” was yet another escapegoat mechanism to racially divide low-income and poor people to keep from organizing against class inequity. When unraveling the layers, we see that “big pharma” (large, monied pharmaceutical industry) operates under a white capitalist and, most importantly, legal institution, which allows the practices that led to the opioid crisis with little to no retribution. BrownTown goes on to discuss personal frustrations in a changing world that is, fortunately, becoming more aware of these histories which has led to some change in laws and public attitudes yet obscures the research that has been available for decades. Is this too little too late? How does a person, a society, a government reconcile the ills of the past while planning for a more just future? Here’s BrownTown's take.

CREDITS: Intro song Reagan by Killer Mike. Outro song Crack Music by Kanye West. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 9 - Chi DNA: Art in Activism ft. Charles Preston

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Mon, 8 Jan 2018 19:53:00 +0000

This is the first 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
Charles Preston is a Southside Chicago activist, journalist, and creator of Church on the 9, a glorified corner cypher series for Chicago artists and the Chatham community. Charles played a pivotal role as an organizer during the #SaveCSU campaign, and has worked with BYP100, BLM Chicago, and is a member of TEMBO.

OVERVIEW
Charles and BrownTown discuss the role art has always had in social movements and continues to have today. Now in the digital age, Chicago activists use various artistic mediums to push the resurgence forward. From traditional studio art to informative and beautiful zines to community corner spoken word, creative narratives are employed to educate, express, and cope. Art has been a tool of movements' past and continues to serve as a versatile component of contemporary movements. With authenticity and expression at the center, this episode also unpacks drill as a type of misunderstood art in-and-of-itself. What would not conventionally be considered movement art, the subgenre unpacks the ills of disenfranchised Black communities in a totally different way, often times coping with larger structural problems with interpersonal and intercommunal affects.

CREDITS: Intro song Arrogant by King Louie. Outro song Fuck Your Institution by Ric Wilson. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art by Sarah-Ji.

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Ep. 8.3 - Sexism in Mixed Company

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 19:57:00 +0000

For part 3, BrownTown grows in size as we dissect the issues of previous episodes firsthand with all Episode 8 guests--Jamie Nesbitt, Madison Zielinski, Joanna Preston, and Larone Ellison. Due to the chaotic nature of the original recording, we chose not to release the raw episode in its entirety. Instead, Caullen and David look back at their unexpected interruption and highlight key points of that night in an effort to find the larger themes at play. What results is an attempt to take as much away from a real life experience as possible. Originally recorded in August 2017.

CREDITS: Intro music Complexion (A Zulu Love) by Kendrick Lamar ft. Rapsody. Outro music Sharp Shooters by Dead Prez. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 8.2 - Everyday Feminism & Fighting the Patriarchy ft. Jamie Nesbitt, Madison Zielinksi, & Joanna Preston

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 20:16:00 +0000

BrownTown invites Jamie Nesbitt, Madison Zielinski, and Joanna Preston to continue the conversation had on 8.1 and break down the role toxic masculinity has played in their lives. By sharing personal experiences and insights, each gives their findings on navigating womanhood, feminism, and surviving in a world dominated by men... as well as a few other things. Originally recorded August 2017.

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh and soundbite from Angel Davis' discussing "the revolutionary." Outro song Doves in the Wind ft. Kenrick Lamar. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 8.1 - Toxic Masculinity & Resisting with Privilege ft. Larone Ellison

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 26 Dec 2017 22:11:00 +0000

Larone Ellison joins BrownTown to discuss the ramifications of toxic masculinity and how men are implicated in systemic patriarchy. Mr. Ellison has a background in women’s and gender studies and is a recent masters graduate of DePaul University researching cyber-harassment of Black women. But really, he’s just a guy who is sick of watching assholes pretend to represent masculinity (see Lil' Duval on the Breakfast Club and your everyday life). With his new found fame (active twitter account, 313 followers), he's working with great people like Man Up Man Down to offer a new insight for male youth in Chicago. Originally recorded August 2017.

Follow Larone Ellison on Twitter and Instagram.

CREDITS: Intro music by Fiendsh and soundbite from "This is What Donald Trump Thinks of Women" mashup. Outro song Bad Bitch by Lupe Fiasco. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 7 - Public Health & The Death Gap ft. Jessica Puri

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 18:53:00 +0000

GUEST

Jessica Puri is a Nigerian-born Public Health professional with years of experience in scientific writing, health research and public health communication on the Bachelor’s and Master’s level. She currently works with Executives at MATTER, an incubator that bridges the communication gap between innovators in every aspect of healthcare.

OVERVIEW

BrownTown talks #ChiHealth, the social determinants of health, and how policy affects an individual's environment. Jessica leads the conversation by sharing experiences both on the job at MATTER, in her education, and as a fellow Chicagoan using the tools she's acquired as a professional to help explain what health disparities are and how we can improve our communities. Lessons from Dr. Camara Jones Gardner's Tale parable and David Ansell's book The Death Gap help guide the discussion.

Check out more of Jessica Puri at on SoapBox Editorial. Follow her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

CREDITS: Intro music Fried Chicken by Nas ft. Busta Rhymes. Outro music Keep Ya Head Up by Tupac. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 6 - The Real Color in Sports

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Tue, 5 Sep 2017 21:32:00 +0000

BrownTown takes a moment to talk about Colin Kaepernick, the meaning behind his movement and the underlining dangers that have always existed for athletes who decide to use their platform to speak out about injustice. Using history as a guide, we examine how patriotism often time goes hand-in-hand with racism and capitalism. For example, NFL players didn’t have to stand for the national anthem until 2009 when the Department of Defense paid 5.4 million dollars to make the NFL players seem more patriotic. In identifying this co-opt of language (freedom, democracy, etc.), BrownTown looks deeper into politics within the realm of sport and realize how jaded it truly is. Originally recorded July 2017.

Read related article on the SoapBox Editorial!

CREDITS: Intro/outro music Kneelin' on Needles by Lupe Fiasco. Intro soundbite from Colin Kaepernick from KTVU Bay Area News. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art by Khalid Albaih.

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Ep. 5 - Hip-Hop in the Age of Spin ft. Genta Tamashiro

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 20:19:00 +0000

GUEST
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Genta is a creative devotee of the artistic community. He attended the specialized magnet school Denver School of the Arts for middle and high school, which gave him a solid foundation in musical performance and theory as well as an introduction into audio engineering. After spending some time at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Genta moved to Chicago to pursue a career in audio engineering where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Audio Design and Production from Columbia College in 2015. Through his freelance audio work, he has traveled around the country and the world with notable artists such as the Becca Kaufman Orchestra, The Way Down Wanderers, and Masego. When he is not running the sound for a band somewhere, you can find him producing his own music or editing podcasts for SoapBox (more on Episode 27) and other creative organizations.

OVERVIEW
Genta Tamashiro and the gang grab a drink and dive into the Netflix original The Get Down as a cultural tool in understanding the roots of hip-hop and its social placement from a historical context. From here, they critique misinterpretations of hip-hop, noting that the genre's humble origins to now oversaturated landscape with the growth of technology.

Dave Chappelle exposes that even at “the hallmark of [our] generation" we live in "the most difficult time in human history. This is the age of spin. The age where nobody knows what the fuck they’re even looking at.” Just as comedians like Chappelle help ground us back into reality, true hip-hop is ever-growing. Mainstream artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole’s have managed to keep the spotlight on the genre with recent albums like DAMN and For Your Eyes Only in which the rappers examine their lives, their peers’, and their respective ecosystem. Within their discography BrownTown tries to discover if their music is simply “conscious rap” or calling to action as Charles Preston promotes in his article, “Trump is here: Will Mainstream Rappers Punch Nazis?” By the end we understand that, whether calling to action or simply reacting to their environment, both artists seek to empower themselves and their audience through their music by staying true to hip-hop elements, continuously experimenting, collaborating, and, of course, spitting fire bars.

Follow Genta on Facebook, Instagram and listen to his music on Spotify.

CREDITS: Intro music - J. Cole on Kendrick Lamar's instrumental for Alright; outro music - Kendrick Lamar on J. Cole's A Tale of Two Citiez off of the Black Friday releases. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.

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Ep. 4 - Decoding Trumpism

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sun, 25 Jun 2017 21:32:00 +0000

The 2016 political campaign and popularity of Donald Trump as the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States has aligned the idea of “Trumpism” with the construction of “whiteness”. Similar to the current socio-political climate, the notion of whiteness was propagated by the 1980's Republican Party as a mechanism to re-establish white racial solidarity across economic lines. This obscures neoliberalism’s effects on the working-class and serves to rally behind nationalist, populist, xenophobic, protectionist and anti-establishment sentiments. The popularity of his rhetoric, message, and general path to the presidency indicates the growing (and/or previously more silent) beliefs of the electorate. The Trumpism ideology is not new. As most things that the Donald champions, Trump slapped his name on it, made it unecessarily flashy, and called it his own. Dominic Tierney (2016) of The Atlantic points out that Trump “rode a wave that has been building across America and the West for decades. Trump embraced and shaped the mood so profoundly that it’s possible to brand the movement with his name.” Trumpist sentiments have been seen overseas in Britain (particularly around Brexit) as well as Finland and elsewhere.

What is new about this collective ideology is that they are branded around one highly animated, highly outspoken celebrity funneled into a racialized white nationalist context. The coalescing of Trump’s narcissistic demagoguery and (more so than other Trumpist tenets) the racialized anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim, and overall “othering” he promotes via obscene comments and proposed legislation has validated frustrations amongst the so-called “silent majority”, working-class white voters, in addition to previously shunned bigoted attitudes from the Ku Klux Klan and the newly branded “alt-right”. Groups and demographics whom once believed themselves to be unheard and/or too radical (read: racist, hateful) to have a voice in the mainstream electoral process now feel their beliefs are being propagated through a candidate and now president.

See and read more of the Trumpism: A Brief History article at SoapBox Editorial.

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from BBC's Newsnight special layered on Auditorium (instrumental) by Mos Def ft. Slick Rick. Outro from Alright by Kendrick Lamar. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 3 - Happy Birthday, Malcolm X

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Fri, 19 May 2017 21:27:00 +0000

Malcolm X is commonly propped up as the more aggressive leader in the civil rights movement as compared to Martin Luther King, Jr. His well-known quote, “by any means necessary” is misconstrued and co-opted to advocate violence, which bastardizes the perception of him. After reading his autobiography and understanding his perspective through his eyes rather than a public school textbook, it is clear that his main objective is that everyone should have basic human rights and those rights should be fought for by any means necessary. To be perfectly clear: there is nothing inherently violent or aggressive about demanding basic human rights for all people. This is not a “radical” thought. Though, similar to today with the broader Black Lives Matter movement, we see actionable approaches of achieving this ideology critiqued by those in power.

In BrownTown’s third installment, we reflect on this and touch on The Boondocks’ "Return of the King" episode (which features a post-9/11 MLK) and imagine his critiques on modern black entertainment, lifestyle, and politics. Like the Boondocks, BrownTown imagines what Malcolm would say about our society today. We also unpack why Malcolm and MLK are remembered, celebrated, and written in such dichotomic ways when they fought the same fight and, ultimately, were both necessary for the awakening of minds and forward progress of policy and action. In this analysis, we note that the intersectionality and decentralization of the current movement adds to their legacy in this new wave of activism and fight for human rights, respect and dignity for all people. Instead of waiting for the next Malcolm X or the next MLK, we take pride in the shift to an intersectional, decentralized movement and encourage all to participate in the resistance against all systems of oppression.

CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Malcolm X speech "I'm a Field Negro"; outro soundbite Malcolm X "By Any Means Necessary" on top of Glory by John Legend ft. Common. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro.

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Ep. 2 - Trump's First 100 Days

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 21:09:00 +0000

On January 20th, Donald Trump was sworn into office with the message of carnage, destruction, and fear-mongering for the American people who found themselves officially in a new era of politics and discourse. From day one, he proclaimed to be the hero but on day two protests erupted all over the nation and different parts of the world in opposition to the sexist, white supremacist, xenophobic rhetoric used by the newest leader of the free world. BrownTown pours a drink and toasts to the resurgence of activism that has culminated since his election recalling their time in Washington for both the inauguration as well as the Women's March and their time since. But it's been 100 days and we're curious about what Trump has been up to (other than golfing at his own resort).

Since January, he has signed 90 Executive Actions, attempted to implement an immigration ban (which has failed twice), and has put together one of the worst cabinets in history. While Trump claimed in many of his campaign speeches to “drain the swamp,” meaning that he would help the little guy get rid of all of the rich, corrupt politicians, he proceeded to fill his cabinet with people who are the antithesis of the ideal person for each role. Michael Flynn, the National Security Advisor appointed by Trump, resigned 24 days after taking office amid the Russia investigation. Our newest EPA director Scott Pruitt does not believe in climate change and John F. Kelly, now in charge of the Department of Homeland Security, is against women and transpeople in the military. The outspoken response to Trump has been overwhelming from media and politicians to artists and athletes. The Trump Administration's absurdity provides a never-ending supply of laughable and ridiculous content while simultaneously making it impossible to take lightly without critical analysis and opposition. In conclusion, call your state representatives, get in the streets, block some traffic, have conversations with people, and, most importantly, don’t normalize Trump, our new #TweeterInChief.

Read, watch, and interact with the SoapBox in Trumpland multimedia project.

CREDITS: Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Ep. 1 - Black & Brown Representation in Media

hello@soapboxpo.com (Caullen Hudson & David A Moran) — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 17:53:00 +0000

PODCAST OVERVIEW

SoapBox Productions and Organizing's affiliate podcast pairs critical analyses of media, culture, politics, and everyday happenings with the tastiest of spirits. With a Chicago focus, BrownTown (friends and colleagues Caullen Hudson and David A. Moran) unpacks current events, social issues, and gives personal insight into various topics with the occasional help of the most talented and creative activists, artists, filmmakers, academics, and social entrepreneurs. Find more at SoapBoxPO.com/Podcast. Follow @BourbonnBrownTown on Facebook/Instagram, @BourbonnBrwnTwn on Twitter; and @SoapBoxPO on all social media.

EPISODE OVERVIEW

In the inaugural episode of BrownTown's first ever podcast, we begin with the opening song to the pilot episode of Atlanta, Donald Glover's (AKA Childish Gambino) new series on FX. Caullen and David of BrownTown deliver a critical analysis on the comedy-drama that succeeds in exploring everything from mass incarceration, mental health, Black identity, to the sexual landscape all within the first two episodes without really even trying. The nuanced, character-driven nearly all-Black show, which premiered in fall 2016 sets the tone for the explosion of breakout Black films Moonlight and Get Out that followed in 2017. The recent Star Wars films are also a topic of discussion as their diverse cast among ethnic and gender lines has made actual white supremacists upset (...tear). With Moonlight, BrownTown briefly touches on the complexities of toxic masculinity amongst men of color (noting, of course, The Boondocks). Furthermore, we take our sights to critique the credit given by the white mainstream from instances like the Oscars Best Picture fiasco to a VOX video on late night comedian's satirical coverage of the Trump Administration, which somehow ignores Trevor Noah, Black South African host of the 21-year running Daily Show on Comedy Central. Four months into 2017, we continue to see the media landscape as an ever-evolving social ecology of paradoxical relationship between the problematic systems of the past and the progressive ideals of the future.

CREDITS: Intro/outro music - "No Hook" by OJ Da Juiceman from FX's Atlanta season one. Audio engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode art and Bourbon 'n BrownTown logo by Desirae Gladden.

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Bourbon 'n BrownTown

128 - Palestinian Liberation: Artistic Expression through Film, Music, & Identity ft. Dina Amin

Ep. 127 - New Years 2026: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles, Kassandra Borah, & Jamie Price

Ep. 126 - *LIVE AT CH DISTILLERY* Reproductive Justice & Abortion Care In This Moment ft. Alicia Hurtado & Qudsiyyah Shariyf of Chicago Abortion Fund

Ep. 125 - Funding Public Transit ft. Sadie Soto

Ep. 124 - The Wrap Up: "No Cop Academy: The Documentary" (2023) ft. Debbie Southorn & Destiny Harris

Ep. 123 - America: The Good, The Bad, and The Fascist

Ep. 122 - Organizing against Displacement with the Obama Community Benefits Agreement 2.0 ft. Kiara Hardin & Infiniti Gant

TRAILER - Welcome to Bourbon 'n BrownTown!

Ep. 121 - Chinga La Migra: Understanding Your Rights under a MAGA Regime ft. Khiabett Osuna

Ep. 120 - Black Researchers Collective ft. Dr. Glenance Green & Shari Runner

Ep. 119 - Palestinian Liberation: Chicago Palestine Film Festival ft. Nina Shoman-Dajani, Justin Mashouf, & Hamzah Furqani

Ep. 118 - The Wrap Up: "One Million Experiments" (2023) ft. Damon Williams & Daniel Kisslinger of Respair Production & Media

Ep. 117 - Whiskey & Watching: "La Plataforma 2" (2024) ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes

Ep. 116 - America: The Last Dance?

Ep. 115 - New Years 2025: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles & Kassandra Borah

Ep. 114 - Distilling Dialectics at CH Distillery ft. Tyrus Yamagiwa

Ep. 113 - Palestinian Liberation: Divestment, Encampments, & Institutions ft. Amoona

Ep. 112 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 2 ft. Nesreen Hasan & Nadiah Alyafai

Ep. 111 - Palestinian Liberation: Anti-Zionism & Jewish Solidarity ft. Rabbi Brant Rosen & Lesley Williams

Ep. 110 - Democratic National Convention: From 1968 to 2024, Pt. 1 ft. Bill Ayers

Ep. 109 - Existential Quandaries on Hope, Relationships, & Resistance to American Hegemony ft. CA Davis

Ep. 108 - Whiskey & Watching: "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" (2022) ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes

Ep. 107 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within Capitalism 3.0

Ep. 106 - Independent Media Creation in the Age of Spin (& Memes) 2.0 ft. Camila Cuevas

Ep. 105 - Bring Chicago Home ft. Dixon Romeo

Ep. 104 - Voter Guides, Electoralism, & the 2024 Cook County Primaries ft. Stephanie Skora & Raeghn Draper

Ep. 103 - New Years 2024: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles

Ep. 102 - Palestinian Liberation: In This Moment ft. Muhammad Sankari

Ep. 101 - Hood Empathy & The Chicago Creative Wave ft. Isiah "ThoughtPoet" Veney

Ep. 100 - It's a BnB Celebration! ft. Samantha Grund-Wickramasekera & Camille Williams

Ep. 99 - Whiskey & Watching: "I Like It Like That" (1994) ft. Ricardo Gamboa & Mia Carbajal

BONUS - #NoCopTOBER ft. Freedom X

Ep. 98 - Coalition-building & Water Solidarity ft. Avalon Betts-Gatson & Tommy Hagan

BONUS - Help This Garden Grow, Episode 1

Ep. 97 - Progressive Latinas in the New Chicago City Council ft. Alderpersons Rossana Rodriguez & Jessie Fuentes

Ep. 96 - Advertising in the Activist Resurgence (& So-called "Wokeism") 3.0 ft. Justin Stillmaker

Ep. 95 - Home

Ep. 94 - Police Abolition 2.0 ft. District Councilors David Orlikoff & Ashley Vargas

Ep. 93 - Coalition-building, Growing Solidarity, & #StopCopCity ft. Chelle Sanders & Jasmine Burnett

Ep. 92 - Whiskey & Watching: "Everything Everywhere All At Once" (2022) ft. Ricardo Gamboa, Charles Preston, & Mia Carbajal

Ep. 91 - Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements 2.0 ft. Morgan Elise Johnson

Ep. 90 - Electoral & Radical Politics 4.0 ft. Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez & Alderperson-elect Jessie Fuentes

Ep. 89 - The Politics of Dress, Pt. 2 ft. Hannah Linsky

Ep. 88 - New Years 2023: A Retrospective ft. Kiera Battles

Ep. 87 - Democratizing Philosophy through Identity, Environment, & Ethical Food Pathways ft. Shanti Chu

Ep. 86 - W.O.R.K. in the Age of Spin

Ep. 85 - The Politics of Dress, Pt. 1 ft. Hannah Linsky

Ep. 84 - Whiskey & Watching: "Passing" (2021) ft. Sophie Elizabeth James & Pearl Quick

Ep. 83 - “We Are More” Pt. 3: Re-entry, Combating the "Law & Order" Narrative, & the SAFE-T Act ft. Melvin Farley

Ep. 82 - “We Are More” Pt. 2: Transforming Systems & Community Organizing after Incarceration ft. Dyanna Winchester

Ep. 81 - “We Are More” Pt. 1: Redefining False Narratives & Disrupting Trajectories of Women in Prison ft. Sandra Brown

TRAILER - The "We Are More" Series

Ep. 80 - Remapping, Electoralism, & Challenging the Border Myth ft. Stephanie Skora

Ep. 79 - Whiskey & Watching: "The Batman" (2022) ft. Sophie Elizabeth James & Pearl Quick

Ep. 78 - Black Farming & Finding Your Food Story ft. Pearl Quick

Ep. 77 - Independent Media Creation in the Age of Spin (& Capital) ft. Sophie Elizabeth James

Ep. 76 - Surveillance Capitalism & Abolitionist Tech, Pt. 2 ft. Alyxandra Goodwin

Ep. 76 - Surveillance Capitalism & Abolitionist Tech, Pt. 1 ft. Alyxandra Goodwin

Ep. 75 - Youth Radio: Inside & Out ft. Simone St. Pierre Nelson & Stories by Youth Incarcerated in Seattle

BONUS - The Collective Freedom Project: Debrief

Ep. 74 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 4: California & #Budget2SaveLives ft. Sandy Valenciano

Ep. 73 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 3: Texas & #ShutDownHutto ft. Rebecca Sanchez & David Johnson

Ep. 72 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 2: Atlanta & #CloseTheJailATL ft. Denise Ruben

Ep. 71 - The Collective Freedom Project, Pt. 1: Chicago & #EraseTheDatabase ft. Xanat Sobrevilla

TRAILER - The Collective Freedom Project: A Four-Part Series

Ep. 70 - Narratives in Media & Documenting Movements ft. Mateo Zapata

Ep. 69 - Restorative Justice ft. Mashaun Ali Hendricks

Ep. 68 - Identity, Power, & the Invention of Race ft. CA Davis

Ep. 67 - #DefundCPD, Responsive Institutions, & Turning Moments into Movements ft. Bettina Johnson

Ep. 66 - Advertising in the Activist Resurgence (& Post-George Floyd) 2.0

Ep. 65 - Sex & Body Positivity ft. Christina Wilborn

Ep. 64 - Non-Profit Industrial Complex ft. Lizette Garza

Ep. 63 - New Years 2021: A Retrospective ft. Genta Tamashiro

Ep. 62 - Law for Liberation 2.0 ft. Timmy Châu

Ep. 61 - The Real Color in Sports 2.0 ft. Jasson Perez

Ep. 60 - Electoral & Radical Politics 3.0 ft. Stephanie Skora

Ep. 59 - Creative Jobs, Life Balance, & Working towards a Liberatory Future within Capitalism (& COVID) 2.0 ft. Genta Tamashiro

Ep. 58 - Movement Media 2.0 ft. Grace Del Vecchio

Ep. 57 - Labor Day: Workers' Rights & Class Solidarity ft. Taylor Maness

Ep. 126 - LIVE AT CH DISTILLERY Reproductive Justice & Abortion Care In This Moment ft. Alicia Hurtado & Qudsiyyah Shariyf of Chicago Abortion Fund

Ep. 25 - LIVE AT DEPAUL Chi DNA: Exile, Refuge, & Displacement ft. Jessica Puri & Heavy Crownz

Ep. 14 - Chi DNA: Electoral & Radical Politics ft. Camille Williams