Ella's Voice

The Ella Baker Center believes in organizing at every level of our team, and fundraising is no different. The Stamps Campaign is an exciting project started by the Ella Baker Center that unites folks inside and outside prisons to support our communities through a single stamp. In this episode, two Ella Baker Center members, outside resource organizer Arnie Fischman and inside resource organizer Glen Johnson share how they got involved in the campaign and what it has meant for them. Finally, Glen's son shares the impact of seeing his father organizing while incarcerated.

Night Out for Safety and Liberation was created by the Ella Baker Center as an alternative to the police-centric National Night Out. Each year since 2013, more communities are coming together to reimagine what safety means beyond prisons, police and punishment.

Ella Baker Center Deputy Director Marlene Sanchez and Freedom To Thrive Co-Director Melonie Griffiths host a discussion with organizers from across the country who held NOSL events this year:

Denise Ruben, Lead Community Organizer, Women on the Rise (Atlanta)

Diana Williams, Houston Organizing Manager, Texas Advocates for Justice (Houston)

Nicole LaPorte, Equity and Transformation (Chicago)

Yvonne Yen Liu, Research Director, Solidarity Research Center (Los Angeles)

Oaklanders continue to struggle with food, housing and supplies as the pandemic continues, but Mayor Libby Schaaf is pushing for much-needed federal funding to go to police. To bring real safety and resources to the community, the Ella Baker Center, Restore Oakland and Causa Justa/Just Cause are holding mutual aid events in the parking lot of our headquarters in Oakland's Fruitvale District.

The paperback edition of EBC Executive Director Zach Norris' book DEFUND FEAR dropped earlier this year. This episode features a panel discussion with Zach, Rinku Sen from the Narrative Initiative, Devone Boggan from Advance Peace, and Jeannette Bocanegra from Justice For Families. Then Zach talks with Danielle Sered, restorative justice leader and author of Until We Reckon.

Ella Baker Center Organizer and Advocate Monifa Akosua hosts this special episode on Ella Josephine Baker's birthday (December 13) as we look at the life and legacy of the activist, mentor and revolutionary the Ella Baker Center is named for.

EBC Executive Director Zach Norris talks to Dr. Barabara Ransby, author of "Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement" about Ella Baker's history and vision.

Also, legendary activists who organized with Miss Baker share their stories:

- Phoenix Mangrum, former Field Secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

- Phil Hutchings, former Chairman of SNCC

- Alredo Lopez, one of the leaders of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and current Co-Director of May First Movement Technology.

*2020 ELECTION EPISODE* Monifa Akosua (EBC Organizer and Advocate) hosts a discussion on the California ballot measures that seek to impact racial and economic justice. Jose Bernal (EBC Organizing Manager), Emily Harris (EBC Policy Director), Rahsaan Thomas (Ear Hustle/Initiate Justice), John Windham (Initiate Justice), Zakiya Prince (Initiate Justice) and Elliot Hosman (EBC Advocate) break down the props we are saying yeah or nay to. Plus, EBC Executive Director Zachary Norris on how we can prepare for a coup.

Emily Harris (EBC Policy Director), Jose Bernal (EBC Organizing Manager) and James King (EBC State Campaigner) are joined by Fanon Figgers (Choose One), John Yayha Johnson (Coalition to Repeal CA 3-Strikes Law), Isa Borgeson (Stop San Quentin Outbreak Coalition) to break down the impact that COVID-19 is having on the people inside Santa Rita Jail and San Quentin Prison. Shawanda Scott (Mama Bear), whose son is inside San Quentin and Steven Wolverton, who was recently released from Santa Rita call in to share their experiences.

Note: this episode contains strong language. Housing segregation, displacement and the criminalization of the homeless was already a crisis in Oakland before the COVID-19 pandemic. Angelo Sandoval (Ella Baker Center Sr. Organizer and Advocate) and Anita De Asis Miralle aka Needa Bee (co-founder of Feed The People & The Village, owner of Oakland’s Original Lumia Lady & The Lumpia Shack) break down the challenges faced by Oakland's unsheltered residents, and the recent violent attack on The Village in Oakland outreach workers by Oakland Police Department officers.

Note: this episode contains strong language. Protests across the country and in the Bay Area continue to grow after the racist murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. In Alameda County, Sheriff Greg Ahern tried to crack down on huge Bay Area protests by issuing a county-wide curfew, but Oakland community members turned out in force to rally and say "F*** Your Curfew."

This episode also features an interview with Ella Baker Center Executive Director Zach Norris and a speech by the one and only Ms. Baker.

Note: this episode contains strong language. As a growing number of staff and incarcerated people have tested positive for COVID-19 inside Santa RIta Jail in Alameda County, Jose Bernal (Ella Baker Center Organizing Manager) and Amber Akemi Piatt (Health Instead of Punishment Program Director, Human Impact Partners) discuss decarceration, abolition, public health during COVID-19, and the need to hold Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern - the Bay Area version of the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio - accountable.