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

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.


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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.


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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).


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