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

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).


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SOAPBOX MULTIMEDIA


Watch the Census micro-doc here.

Read the Census article by BnB co-host David.



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.


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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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