By Caullen Hudson & David A Moran
4.9
3636 ratings
The podcast currently has 120 episodes available.
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.
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:
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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.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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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.
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.
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Writings by Lesley:
Writings by Brant:
Mentioned Topics & More Info:
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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.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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BrownTown is honored to be joined by an OG in the game -- activist, organizer, and professor Bill Ayers. The gang discusses the similarities, differences, and peculiarities of Chicago hosting the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and in 2024. Bill bears witness to the socio-political context leading up to the 1968 Convention while they analyzes the role of grassroots movement-building (or the "fire from below") on electoral politics, anti-war/genocide activism, and building towards revolution. Originally recorded August 12, 2024, a week before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
"Two things that are never on the ballot are war and capitalism." --Bill Ayers
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:
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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.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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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.
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.
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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!
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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.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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BrownTown takes on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022) with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the first for Whiskey & Watching installment of 2024! BrownTown and the return guests breakdown the film and its predecessor’s social impact and commentary on imperialism, geo-politics, science and spirituality, diasporic traditions, Black and Brown solidarity, and so much more. Originally recorded May 30, 2024.
Mentioned in episode:
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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 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.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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BrownTown on BrownTown. Once again, our comrades build on previous discussions from 2019 (Ep. 39) and 2020 (Ep. 59) on the interrelationship between working within and outside of the movement media landscape while balancing a healthy personal life, financial well-being, and everything in between. The duo situate what recent growth means for SoapBox as an entity while also attempting to navigate the inherent contradictions of trying to dismantle capitalism while working within it. In this moment colored by genocide in Gaza, mass migration due to decades of neoliberal policy, and revanchist regressive public policy across the US, we are reminded of the necessity of liberation work as well as the toll it takes on our everyday. How do organizers, activists, creators, and freelancers at large sustain the self in order to sustain the work? How do we do fight the power while avoiding burnout and paying the rent? Here's BrownTown's take. Originally recorded April 17, 2024.
Other topics mentioned:
CREDITS: Intro sound bite from The Boondocks. Outro song Thank you, Goodbye by GENTA. Audio engineering all by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Glitter Guts.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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BrownTown talks memes, mass mobilization, and more with Camila Cuevas (AKA @ComradeCami), Chilena expat living in Florida, USA. She uplifts liberation struggles and provides social movement resources through memes and social media via what she calls "thirst-trapping the masses into class consciousness." The team dissects our current moment in the social media landscape, the influence of TikTok on Palestine and other issues, how to push radical politics in a policed tech-world controlled by billionaires, and breakdown their favorite political memes. Originally recorded April 17, 2024.
"Dude. They have all the money in the world to make propaganda…AND WE GOT MEMES!" Follow Camila on Instagram @comradecami (backup @issacommiemami), Twitter, and listen to the 805 Uncensored Podcast.
Mentioned in episode:
Political meme/video accounts to follow:
CREDITS: Intro soundbite from @seansvv on TikTok. Outro music Harlem Shake by Baauer. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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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.
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.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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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.
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:
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.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
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SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
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BrownTown on BrownTown. BnB audio engineer Kiera Battles is back with her behind-the-scenes insights on the podcast as the team discusses the episodes of 2023. Last year brought the continuation of the Whiskey and Watching series, a host of episodes surrounding the 2023 Chicago Municipal Elections, a resurgent discussion of #NoCopAcademy in the midst of the #StopCopCity struggle in Atlanta, and plenty of reflective conversations on the podcast, SoapBox at large, and the direction of the movement media ecosystem. For better or worse, here's to 2024!
With 17 total full episodes, 2023 brought 15 guest episodes (6 repeat guests; 8 with 2+ guests), only 1 with no guests, only 2 virtual recordings, 6 series-type episodes, and 2 bonus episodes. In addition to the breakdown, BrownTown chops it up about recording in different locations before settling into the new SoapBox office, their favorite episodes, and their hopes for 2024. Originally recorded December 19, 2023.
GUEST: Kiera Battles is the BnB audio engineer and a music industry hopeful. Starting on the stage with choir and orchestra and later transitioning to life behind the scenes, music has always been with her. She began her audio journey during her junior year of high school as part of a vocational program to later get her BA from Columbia College Chicago in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing on Audio Arts with a concentration in live sound as well as Music Business. She continues to work in the audio and business side of the industry while earning her MA in Music Business at Berklee College of Music to later gain the tools and knowledge to start her own company.
CREDITS: Audio engineered by Kiera Battles. Episode photo by Aidan Kranz. Listen to all the episodes on your chosen podcast application! For more information on the podcast, check out Bourbon 'n BrownTown on the SoapBox website.
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Bourbon ’n BrownTown
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Patreon
SoapBox Productions and Organizing, 501(c)3
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Site | Linktree | Support
The podcast currently has 120 episodes available.