Bourbon 'n BrownTown

BrownTown links up with organizer, activist, facilitator, and Fitness Against Fascism alum Timmy Châu to discuss how to work towards an abolitionist future within and outside of the criminal legal system. In this second installment, the fam reflects on legal cases from the summer uprisings and their impact, the current political terrain, and shaping difficult conversations with loved ones. Buildin...

BrownTown chops it up with Jasson Perez, activist, researcher, and sports enthusiast, to talk all things sports post-COVID and post-George Floyd uprisings. In this part two, the team speaks candidly on sports organization's co-opt of Black Lives Matter, the relationship between players and owners, polarization as a strategy, and competing theories of social change. Originally recorded November 202...

Building on the first and second installment of the Electoral & Radical Politics series with activists and alderpeople, BrownTown talks electoral politics, grassroots organizing, and everything in between with Stephanie Skora, creator of the popular "Girl, I Guess" Progressive Voter Guide . With everything that is 2020 as the backdrop, the team breaks down the Cook County General Election ballot,...

Building off of the first installment, episode 39 , BrownTown again takes a second to reflect on their own lives in regards to work and struggle under capitalism. In part two, enter COVID-19 and the international uprisings against white supremacy and state violence: As mass consciousness has shifted in understanding how interrelated structures have always failed us, BrownTown and Genta unpack how...

Following up from the first installment with Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger of AirGo , BrownTown listens, learns, and again converses about movement media. This time leaning into more traditional journalistic structures and academic institutions set to the backdrop of the 2020 uprisings against police brutality and white supremacy. Grace shares some of her background before the gang digs int...

BrownTown shares virtual space with friend of SoapBox and socialist organizer Taylor Maness as they dissect the origins of Labor Day and May Day, talk labor movement history and the fight for workers' rights, as well as the importance of class and racial solidarity in the fight against racial capitalism then and now. BrownTown starts by reflecting on some August 2020 events in Chicago -- jail supp...

BrownTown talks with Morgan Malone, all-around civic leader, strategist, and dedicated resident of the Southside of Chicago, about her project Resisting in Place . The team discusses the meaning of resistance with regard to the movement for Black lives, anti-racist work, and collective and intentional engagement at the intersections of everyday life and societal design. With Morgan's ambitious, nu...

BrownTown and guests discuss the effects of the future Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on Chicago's South Side, the organizing for a CBA to ensure affordable housing for area residents, as well as its relationship with healthcare, education, and police violence. Ashli and Ebonée share how they came to the Obama CBA coalition via BYP100 and breakdown what exactly a community benefits agreement is a...

BrownTown reflects on the first half of 2020 with Veronica Rodriguez and Asha Edwards. The gang shares their experiences since the global uprising against police brutality and white supremacy following the police killing of George Floyd. As the broader movement for Black Lives is re-ignited and police defunding and abolition moves into the mainstream discourse, this conversation serves as a refere...

BrownTown finally tackles a much discussed topic on this podcast as well as in recent weeks, police abolition. Ariel Atkins, Lead Organizer of Black Lives Matter Chicago shares her thoughts and experiences since the global uprising against police brutality and white supremacy following the police killing of George Floyd. The gang discusses how we got to this moment, the broader movement for Black...

BrownTown shares virtual space with Abbie Brasch and Dakota Sillyman, multi-talented friends of SoapBox and mental health advocates who create resources and media for learning and navigating mental health on all levels. Abbie discusses the impetus of her journal, how it helped her and is now helping others while Dakota discusses how Cope is positioned as a digestible entry-way to various aspects o...

BrownTown shares space with Tanvi Kapatral as the team talks anti-militarism organizing, narrative-building, and working towards a world where we actually fund live-giving services, not endless wars. Tanvi explains Dissenters organizing strategy of mobilizing on college campuses and other institutions while critiquing and resisting the military-industrial complex in all its forms. By finding commo...

BrownTown chills out with Tweak'G, Chicago rapper, activist, and Chi DNA feature documentary subject. In Tweak's two-year anniversary in BrownTown (see episode 15 ), the fam discusses ethics and relationship-building in documentary filmmaking and deconstructs gender roles and sexuality within contemporary hip-hop as well as their everyday lives. Tweak talks about new developments in her personal a...

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...

BrownTown finally dives head first into the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary election season. With a 24/7 news cycle, social media frenzy, infighting within established parties, and liberatory movements and rhetoric being reflected in mainstream discourse, how do we makes sense of a flawed state process while fighting for a new world? Originally recorded March 2, 2020...the day before Super Tu...

BrownTown listens, learns, and again converses about electoral and radical politics with sitting 49th Ward Alderwoman Maria Hadden of Chicago. With a changing political landscape on the local, national, and global level, Maria and BrownTown discuss how and why Left and/or "progressive" policies are gaining more mainstream appeal, how movements are shaping platforms, and how to push elected officia...

BrownTown shares space with Courtney Phillips and Matthew Manning of Gumbo Media, a versatile entity that curates content, community, and services that expand the narrative of Black life. The fam investigates the importance, struggles, successes, and nuances of making culturally-specific and -relevant media while centering their experiences as Black and Brown creators and full human beings. Courtn...

BrownTown talks abolition, branding, and burpees with Coss Marte , founder of CONBODY , a "prison-style" fully bodyweight fitness studio that hires formerly incarcerated individuals. Using Coss' experiences and SoapBox's Fitness Against Fascism series as models, the team unpacks the connections between healthy communities and the prison-industrial complex. In this follow-up to Ep. 30 - Holistic He...

BrownTown on BrownTown. The gang reflects on the events, guests, related SoapBox projects, and topics of 2019. With the help of audio engineer and dearest friend Genta Tamashiro, BrownTown raises a glass with all of you as they look back at some of the realest moments with some of the dopest people around. The fellas discuss leveling up professionally as Genta shares his recent career moves before...

BrownTown chops it up with musician and overall creative Rio Mutasim about emotionally-informed music-making, consuming art responsibly, and the vulnerabilities that come with it all.    How do we respond to, create, and consume music and other creative art forms? As consumers, we experience and feel only so much of the process and intention. As creators, we can only do so much to see our full vis...

Thanksgiving is a colonized holiday based on genocide, white supremacy, and cultural domination in multiple forms. Still, with competing narratives and histories even in 2019, it’s the second biggest holiday in America and the start of the so-called “holiday season.” With that, BrownTown reflects on what they were taught in school, considers how they have celebrated in their own homes, and unpacks...

BrownTown invites Sophie Elizabeth James to drop knowledge on the state of human trafficking in the real world, in academia, and in popular culture. The team breaks down dominant narrative tropes and misconceptions, trauma care, carceral feminism, and the human-trafficking research-funding-institutional model that further upholds white supremacy at the stake of the Black, often female, body. Sophi...

BrownTown on BrownTown. Once again, David and Caullen take a step back to discuss the importance of self love, self care, and self understanding. This time, with a broader focus on the commodified and co-opted “self care” phenomenon, BrownTown talks access, trauma, dominant narratives, overcompensating, and the issues with a one-size-fits-all approach. As capitalism preys on our every waking desir...

BrownTown on BrownTown. The fellas take an introspective look at their own lives, analyzing the strategies (for better or worse) for managing time, money, and relationships while running SoapBox, building power with activists, and working in creative fields and other industries under capitalism. BrownTown goes macro before micro, discussing how the Bourbon 'n BrownTown podcast functions within Soa...

BrownTown chills out with Xenon Zeigler, filmmaker, traveler, and creator, as the gang once again tackles drug policy, this time centering the conversation around the history and current mainstream attitude on marijuana within the context of the racialized "War on Drugs," late capitalism, and the underground economy (listen to part one !). In 2018, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions made commen...