Bourbon 'n BrownTown

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 t...

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 seri...

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...

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 unpack...

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 betwe...

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...

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 soi...

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 al...

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 centerin...

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...

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, interg...

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 limi...

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 deb...

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...

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-le...

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 e...

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 regi...

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 organizi...

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 overl...

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 as...

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...

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. I...

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...

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 a...

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 chronologica...