BrownTown chops it up with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the inaugural recording within the Harambe Studios at the SoapBox office. Chicago City Council is now the most Black and Latine, the most queer, the most politically left, and with the most female leaders in the city's history (and in some cases, currently in the country). With that, the gang discusses Mayor Johnson first 100 days, progressive city policy, the relationship between representation and the co-struggle for liberation, Twitter trolls, and everything in between.
BrownTown chops it up with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the inaugural recording within the Harambe Studios at the SoapBox office. Chicago City Council is now the most Black and Latine, the most queer, the most politically left, and with the most female leaders in the city's history (and in some cases, currently in the country). With that, the gang discusses Mayor Johnson first 100 days, progressive city policy, the relationship between representation and the co-struggle for liberation, Twitter trolls, and everything in between.
GUESTS
Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez (33rd), now in her second term, is the Chair of the Committee on Health and Human Relations for the Chicago City Council. Rossana was born and raised in Puerto Rico and started organizing at six years old when her community had to fight for access to running water. Organizing soon became a fundamental part of her life and remains her main tool within her work in government. Rossana came to Chicago after austerity and budget cuts forced her to leave her job as a drama teacher in Puerto Rico. She originally moved to Albany Park to work as a theatre director with a youth theatre company 14 years ago and chose to stay and organize around housing, education, immigrant rights, and mental health. She is the chief sponsor for the Treatment Not Trauma legislation and continues to organize with grassroots organizations to transform Chicago. Follow Rossana on Facebook, Instagram, (personal, political) and Twitter (personal, ward). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 33rd ward services at Rossanafor33.org.
Alderperson Jessie Fuentes (26th) is a queer Latina grassroots organizer, educator, and public policy advocate with over a decade of experience in education, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, community development and sustainability. A lifelong Chicagoan and resident of the Northwest side, Jessie spent most of her formative years growing up and working in Humboldt Park. Through personal resilience, community support and restorative justice, Jessie turned her most traumatic life experiences into tools to uplift others facing similar circumstances. In her previous roles as an educator and Dean of Students at Roberto Clemente Community Academy and as an organizer around issues of violence prevention, housing affordability, and re-entry for returning citizens, she convened and connected community stakeholders to create community-driven solutions to the biggest problems facing Humboldt Park. Jessie recently served as the Director of Policy and Youth Advocacy at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. She Co-chaired the Violence Prevention program of the Illinois Latino Agenda and is also a Founding Member of the Illinois Latino Agenda 2.0, focusing on community development and Latine equity. Follow Jessie on Facebook (personal, political), Instagram (personal, political), and Twitter (personal, political). Stay up to date with her City Council work and 26th ward at Jessiefor26thward.com.
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Mentioned in episode:
Opinions on this episode only reflect David, Caullen, Rossana, and Jessie as individuals, not their organizations or places of work.
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CREDITS: Intro soundbite of Rossana Rodriguez at the 2020 Freedom Square action. Outro song Contra Todo by iLe. Audio engineered by Kiera Battles.
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BrownTown chops it up with Alderhomies Rossana Rodriguez (33rd) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) in the inaugural recording within the Harambe Studios at the SoapBox office. Chicago City Council is now the most Black and Latine, the most queer, the most politically left, and with the most female leaders in the city's history (and in some cases, currently in the country). With that, the gang discusses Mayor Johnson first 100 days, progressive city policy, the relationship between representation and the co-struggle for liberation, Twitter trolls, and everything in between.
INTRO
[00:00:53.150] - Rossana
I think that we need to continue organizing. We need to continue making sure that this movement grows because our lives depend on it. And I do know that the ultimate goal is dismantling this white supremacist system. In the meantime, we get ourselves a little bit of institutional power, and we push and we make cracks and we make sure that things happen at the institutional level. And we use the institutional resources to organize in our communities, and we use those resources to make sure that we're building mutual aid. So I'm here for that. I'm here for you. And there's other people in city council that are with us as well. We are going to be here. We are going to win. Thank you. *crowd cheering*.
BODY OF EPISODE
[00:01:42.570] - David
I'd like to welcome everyone to another installment of Bourbon 'n BrownTown. It's your boy, David, coming to you live from the Harambe studios. Out here in Soapbox offices. You ain't know yet, now you know, son! Get that out of the way. Man. Caullen, how you- and always with my boy, as always, how you doing today, man?
[00:01:59.110] - Caullen
I want to watch a first listener of B'nB hear that 10 seconds of audio, and just like, who are these motherfuckers? Why are they yelling at me? I'm doing really good. It's been a long week. Long day already. Somehow that's always the case. But I'm also excited, too, to be in the Harambe studios. And if I'm listening like, what the hell are you talking about? What are the Harambe Studios? You want to give them a little tea?
[00:02:24.380] - David
Yeah. So, as I mentioned, we're here in our Soapbox office. If you've listened to any of our more recent episodes, specifically the H.O.M.E episode, which we just recently released, we're talking about finding a home, what that looks like for organizations, what that looks like for people. And so we've finally been blessed to put this shit together with all of our team stepping in. And so it's really exciting. And so here we are, our first official episode from the studios. And so you'll be hearing and seeing all the things. So if you're not, make sure you're following Bourbon 'n BrownTown on Instagram and all the other socials to keep up.
[00:02:58.900] - David
And with that, I'm feeling hella emotional. It was already an emotional morning, and I'm like, oh, healing, you can heal like this? You can deal through issues so quickly? And like, ma, where the fuck you at? She's listening, always, all love. But it was a really emotional morning. And so coming into this space and continuing that vibe of like, we just set up these walls, we're having people who we've hung out with, so y'all ain't strangers, which is nice. So feeling- definitely feeling all over the place, but incredibly blessed. And here we are bringing you an episode with two amazing guests who you've seen in the Soapbox world, regardless. But we'll allow each of them to introduce themselves to get things going.
[00:03:39.570] - Rossana
Hello, everybody. So happy to be here. I'm Rossana Rodriguez. I am the alderwoman of the 33rd ward, and I am now also the chair of the committee on Health and Human Relations in Chicago City Council. I am originally from Puerto Rico. I lived there for the first 30 years of my life, basically, and then I moved here to do youth theater. I have been a community organizer. I'm the daughter of a community organizer. And I have been a leftist forever. And I came to Chicago where I found a home here in movement. And I'm very happy that I have been able to carry that into electoral politics now, and doing the work of the people.
[00:04:26.530] - David
Love it.
[00:04:27.620] - Jessie
Cool. What up, world? Jessie Fuentes, alderperson of the 26th ward. A Chicago kid born and raised in Humboldt Park. I am an organizer and educator. I spent ten years as a school administrator, spent another four doing policy work in the Humboldt Park community and on the northwest side for housing, public safety, and re-entry work. I ran because when you can't get legislators to move, you just become a legislator yourself. Just a Chicago kid trying to make Chicago a better place for everyone.
[00:04:58.600] - David
Heyyy.
[00:04:59.480] - Caullen
Gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang. That's my main ad lib for this episode. I am honored to have y'all. 1) because we have known y'all for a little bit. Rossana's been a homie for a minute. Jessie's a more recent homie, was on previous episode with Byron. Then also, when you talk about challenging folks or institutions or people to not only include, but include uplift and amplify our struggles and everything, you all got in our dms told us y'all want to be on an episode. And I was like, oookay. I was all like, oh, we want you on it. You know what I'm saying? I almost- you knew where I was going, didn't you. He was like, yeah, he's going to make some profound statement. I'm not. I just loved how you all were like, hey, this is a good thing for us to be on this episode. Progressive Latinas in Chicago City Council with the context of what's happened this past administration, right?
[00:05:57.070] - Caullen
We talked in previous episodes this season, I guess, about the historical election of Mayor Brandon Johnson, the decades of neoliberal and austerity policies of the Daley administration, Rahm, Lightfoot, we've given that context in a lot of ways. I hope folks who have listened to previous episodes understand a little bit more, especially if you're not from Chicago. But also Chicago City Council is the gayest, queerest city council in the land. And in history, right? The most Black and Brown city council, the most female led city council, and also the most lefty-Latina city council that has ever been.
[00:06:35.320] - Caullen
And so when I think about these conversations, as far as folks look like us in this room, out in the world, holding real power- whether that's inside movement or outside our institutions or whatever- I've said in the past, representation doesn't matter. I don't fully mean that, fully believe that. However, I think we know the folks that look like us, come from our communities, who signal all the things that people who do horrible, harmful things- like, Clarence Thomas exists. So we know all skin folk ain't kinfolk. And so for me, and I think for y'all, and I'm curious to hear your opinions on this, I think it's very important that the ideology, the politic, how lived experience works in the power that you have to actually make change for the many, not the few. I think that's important. And so where does our politics and ideology inform our experience and vice versa, and how we show up in the world?
[00:07:28.570] - Caullen
Also, contextually, previous episodes that I'm kind of talking about, too, we had Electoral Radical Politics 4.0 with Byron Sigcho-Lopez and alderperson Jessie Fuentes, before she got inaugurated. So it was like, what's going to happen?
[00:07:42.700] - David
There was that fire, that energy, that youth. Byron was like, yeah, get it, Jessie, get it!
[00:07:47.160] - Caullen
He was like, I'm tired! I don't know why Byron turned into like, a Black uncle, but somehow he is.
[00:07:53.901] - David
He's got triplets he's dealing with too.
[00:07:55.510] - Caullen
"I need you to take the mantle". Byron's listening like, I'm still in city council. So all I have to say, I'd love to hear how you all are coming into this conversation, in general. And what the impetus was of even wanting to have this kind of space, with us, to kind of chop it up about this almost 100 days in office for Brand Johnson. For you, Jessie; and your second term, Rossana.
[00:08:18.170] - Rossana
Ooof, that was a lot. *laughing*
[00:08:20.410] - Caullen
Welcome to Bourbon 'n BrownTown!
[00:08:22.510] - David
Cheers!
[00:08:24.910] - Rossana
Can I just pick? The in? Can I just come in?
[00:08:28.520] - Caullen
It has to be in chronological order.
[00:08:32.350] - Rossana
I want to comment on something that you said about identity politics and the work. Because I think that one thing that we have been very intentional about in the last few years is to make sure that we are also building systems of accountability for the people that we are bringing into office. That we are selecting candidates that we want to run collectively. That it is more about: we are behind this person because we know what this person has done in movement, because they have shown us already who they are. Not just because they're Brown or not just because they're Black. And that is really important.
[00:09:15.650] - Rossana
So one part of this, I think, is the system and the network of IPOS: Independent Political Organizations that we have been able to establish around the city and that it has been contagious. Like, they just keep popping up everywhere. And that gives you a sense of community, of accountability. That's... It's important. You take those people with you. And not only the IPOs, but all the rest of the ecosystem of movement in Chicago, that is not only the IPOs, but so many other organizations, grassroots organizations and campaigns that are out there fighting for so many things. So I do think that we have shifted that a little bit, at least on the left. But there's a lot of work to do still for us to make sure that we are bringing in people that are going to be accountable to movement.
[00:10:06.250] - David
So, Jessie, how has been the first hundred days for you?
[00:10:09.220] - Jessie
Well, it's been wild. I mean, I'm still having a lot of fun. It's busy, right. But I think that we're in a current political moment in which city council just doesn't look like the city of Chicago. It is the city of Chicago. We have elected officials that are coming from all parts of the cities that have lived experiences that are rooted in white supremacy oppression, marginalization. That have been close to the problem that we are seeking to resolve for, who also have solutions that they're bringing to bare and they're bringing to the table. And so it's great to be in elected office, but to still feel like you're in movement. I think one of the questions that I got often on the campaign trail is, how are you going to switch up? You're an organizer, you're a mover, you're a shaker, how is an elected seat going to change you? And what I kept saying was, I got to be held accountable. So how do we create these spaces of folks that can hold us accountable?
[00:11:10.680] - Jessie
But I think that the beauty that we're seeing in city council right now- and by the way, we're 19 members in the progressive caucus- is that there is a coalition of folks that are elected officials that hold each other accountable. That we can have these conversations as elected officials on how we move together collectively, collaboratively, but also how do we engage in a conversation of criticism and self criticism? And that's important. And to be able to also have those relationships with the fifth floor is even more profound. And so I think that- I'm coming into this conversation energized, where we haven't even hit 100 days yet, but also super hopeful for what our next four years look like and the things that we are seeking to accomplish. Not just in the first 100 days, but as we go into budget conversations; in terms of how do we put forward a budget that really speaks to our ethics and our morals? It's going to be telling. It's going to be different. And I'm mad excited about it.
[00:12:12.710] - Caullen
That's something I keep thinking about when folks are like, oh, Brandon did this, Brandon did that... whether it's good or bad or nuanced, and I'm like, 1) I'll have my take on said thing, then 2) in the 100 days conversation, obviously, we're pinning this conversation with that, so I understand the paradoxical nature of what I'm about to say. But it's like, it's just a random fucking three months and some change, it doesn't mean anything. But they use it for presidents, they use it for mayors, they use it as a marker. But I do understand something as far as when they get settled in, there needs to be some kind of early report card, some temperature check type thing. So I get the check in. But 100 day marker, it's like, it's just, this is kind of arbitrary. This is like a news thing. But we're playing with it, so whatever.
[00:12:51.490] - Caullen
I appreciate you talking through all that. I'm thinking about two things and one of them when we're still kind of talking about the identity, not identity politics, but in the caucuses and things. And thank you for kind of mentioning, Jessie, about identity politics, like white people have that, too. We only talk about it when it gets someone Black, Brown, queer, trans, whatever. But it's like, we've had identity politics since this country's inception. It was just old white men that owned property. And we should talk about their experiences and what they've been through and what they've... who they have enslaved. They have experience, too, and it's not great, so let's talk about it and break it down. But this idea, when we talk about anything like that, that it only has to do with folks who are marginalized. It's like, no. Then you're invisibilizing white supremacists. Thank you for bringing that in the conversation. But if I am- for the uninitiated, what is a committee? And what do they do in this legislative body of the third largest city in the United States? And what's the caucus? What are these things you speak of?
[00:13:46.720] - Rossana
So a committee is a body inside of city council. We are divided by committees, and these committees are made out of members of the city council. And we discuss different issues. So, for example, we have a committee on Health and Human Relations, that's the one that I am chairing. And over there, we discuss anything that has to do with public health. It has jurisdiction over the Department of Health, the Department of Family and Support Services, and the Commission on Human Relations.
[00:14:16.210] - Rossana
You have Housing. For example, in Housing you're going to discuss any matters that have to do with housing and real estate. Same with zoning, pedestrian traffic safety. So committees are groups of alders that are organized to discuss policy related to specific matters. And then every committee has a chair and a vice chair. Historically, committees in the city council haven't really done much, except for the committees that have to do things that are administrative. Like zoning changes, you need to see zoning changes every month. You need to do- pedestrian traffic safety, for example, that's a committee that discusses traffic measures. So stop signs, for example. Anything like that, you're going to have to get that out of committee every month. You need to be doing that constantly.
[00:15:11.490] - Rossana
And then there are other committees that don't meet as much. Because they don't see stuff like that that is administrative all the time. So, for example, the Committee on Education- the Department of Education in the city of Chicago is a sister agency. So we don't have jurisdiction over the Department of Education. But we can call hearings on different things. So, historically, the committees that are not administrative like that, didn't used to meet at all. Legislation wouldn't actually be heard or seen if the mayor didn't want that to happen. And one of the differences that we're seeing now under the Brandon administration is that things that we have been pushing for that was impossible to get hearings before, now we are being able to do that. Like Treatment Not Trauma, like Bring Chicago Home, for example. Those are huge issues. Like the situation with migrants that we're having in Chicago right now, that was not being touched, publicly, under Lightfoot. And now we are seeing that we're having way more conversations about it.
[00:16:17.460] - Rossana
And caucuses are identitarian. So the caucuses in city council is the way in which alder people organize themselves according to identity. So we have an LGBTQIA+ caucus. We have a Black caucus. We have a Latinae caucus. We have a women's caucus. And interestingly, our progressive caucus...
[00:16:41.870] - Caullen
Let's talk about the progressive caucus! Can we?!
[00:16:42.850] - Rossana
The progressive caucus, as Jessie says, has 19 members. There's only one white member.
[00:16:49.530] - Jessie
One white member!
[00:16:50.788] - Caullen
Daniel! Shoutout!
[00:16:52.030] - Rossana
We have one white person in the progressive caucus, which tells you where the politics of city council are.
[00:16:57.510] - Caullen
So when the police pull y'all over. Like, Daniel, you gonna talk to them? You got this?
[00:17:01.750] - David
Make sure they're driving.
[00:17:03.890] - Jessie
Daniel be riding a bike. *laughing*
[00:17:07.590] - David
Shout out to our boy, Daniel.
[00:17:09.830] - Rossana
Yeah. So the progressive caucus is comprised of alders that have progressive politics. We sort of have agreed on a standard that we have for those.
[00:17:23.200] - Caullen
What is the litmus test? You walk in like, hey, what lives matter? See how they respond.
[00:17:28.570] - Rossana
Yeah, there's a lot of that. There is, where is your stance on abortion? For example, We have had members of the progressive caucus in the past that were anti-abortion because it's a label that doesn't have to mean anything. You can be pro-LGBTQIA and then be racist.
[00:17:51.990] - Caullen
Hear that Boystown? North Halstead, I'm sorry, North Halstead.
[00:17:54.450] - Rossana
People that identified as progressive in one issue will just ignore the rest of the issues and decide that they were going to present themselves as progressive. But now we have a way more progressive, like, really progressive caucus, and I'm very hopeful about what we can accomplish. You want to say anything about that?
[00:18:14.160] - Jessie
No. I think that we have a progressive caucus that is truly authentic. Made up of individuals that have been organizers, movers and shakers, people from the movement that truly care about our communities and how we build communities collectively. But also how we seek to eradicate racism, colonialism, and white supremacy. Like, you can't call yourself a progressive and not want to be on the front lines of confronting some of the very systemic issues that marginalize us in the first place. And so the litmus test is like, where's your moral compass at, homie? Tell us a little bit about that. So I'm excited to have 19 members that are just really down with the cause, have been doing the work for a really long time, and are going to go into the next four years- I don't want to use violent phrases like, we're going to go out swinging- but we're going to go out and we're going to make sure that we get the job done. I think that we have shown power in numbers, by being able to elect 19 progressive caucus members across the city of Chicago in the last municipal election. And we're going to continue to grow those numbers because what we do is organize.
[00:19:24.350] - Rossana
You don't have to go out swinging, but you try at the beginning, and you're super nice and you try to figure stuff out, but then at some point you do have to swing. And we had to do that last term for the full four years, fighting nonstop.
[00:19:39.470] - Jessie
I was just trying to find nonviolent metaphors to utilize.
[00:19:42.270] - Rossana
Yeah, thank you for that.
[00:19:43.700] - Jessie
Treatment not trauma.
[00:19:46.310] - David
And I do have one question, though, in terms of, so I'm hearing that these caucuses are built by the people themselves. But for committees, how are those folks chosen? Or is it like, I care about x, can I join, type shit? Or how does someone be a part of those things?
[00:20:04.700] - Rossana
So historically, particularly, the chairs are appointed by the mayor. This time around, before the term was over, the alders sort of... we have to do a whole episode on that part of Chicago council.
[00:20:21.470] - David
Stay tuned. 2024.
[00:20:23.090] - Rossana
But people tried to organize themselves. Brandon came in as mayor, and then there were negotiations around it. And I think at the end, we all vote. There is a proposal presented for leadership and for membership. In this particular term people were asked, everybody was asked what their priorities were. Like, where they would like to be. So everybody had a chance to say what they were interested in. And based on the choices of people, ranked and seniority, that's how the membership of the committees was established.
[00:21:00.890] - David
Copy. Okay, too much bureaucracy. I was like, I hurt my head.
[00:21:10.430] - Caullen
One thing I thought about, I'm just being silly, but this litmus test for the progressive caucus and other things, is there a litmus test for the identity caucuses? Like Black caucus, you're like, what temperature do you fry catfish?
[00:21:24.930] - David
That's a light-skinned answer, bro. *laughing* Or for the Latinae, you got to speak Spanish? They're like, no, no?
[00:21:33.730] - Jessie
I think those, if you identify as Black, you could belong to the Black Caucus. You identify as Latinae.
[00:21:38.890] - Caullen
I'm just being dumb. It was a complete waste of time.
[00:21:42.310] - Rossana
But actually, for the Latinae caucus, we had a provision that if you had over a certain percent of Latinos in your ward, and that historically weren't like that, you could actually be a member of the latino caucus because you represented a big part of-
[00:22:00.250] - David
I mean, on the census, we were with the white people, you know what saying? So, like, it makes sense.
[00:22:04.000] - Rossana
So Sue Garza was a member of the Latino caucus for a very long time, despite not being Latina.
[00:22:07.820] - Jessie
Daniel La Spata.
[00:22:08.890] - Rossana
Her husband is Latino, but she's a white woman.
[00:22:13.890] - Caullen
She "I have a Black friend"ed this shit? What is this?!
[00:22:16.690] - David
No, she has a bunch of Black friends. I live with them. I live with them!
[00:22:19.140] - Caullen
Kool & The Gang at my house all the time!
[00:22:22.210] - Rossana
So she was a member of the Latino caucus because she had a big population, a big Latino population in her ward. And so was Daniel.
[00:22:30.390] - Caullen
This episode is much sillier than I thought it was going to be.
[00:22:32.630] - David
Well, you know, that's what happens when you're in Harambe Studios.
[00:22:36.550] - Caullen
I do remember, kind of I was thinking about before- I'm not sure what you said, Rossana, that made me think about it- but part of the conversations that I've been having in the past couple of months, as far as the new administration and the city council doing stuff. And if Brandon does something that people don't like, myself included sometimes, and talking through it, I'm thinking about this idea of leaders that collaborate, leaders that are trying to make- democratize institutions and history we've had in Chicago politics. And I think about- an example, I guess, of this is Brandon not really pushing schools to get rid of police. Kind of leaving it to LLCs. I think on the campaign trail he was really very vocal about that. Curious y'all's opinion. But the way I see that, and a couple other things, too, as far as... We've never had democracy in this country at all, but we've never had, on paper, in actuality, a mayor moving and shaking a way that is truly collaborative to not only the masses, but even city council itself. We've had machine mayors. We've had wannabe machine mayors for so many years.
[00:23:45.650] - Caullen
And so I think regardless of how we align with Brandon's politics or his administration, in actuality, it's interesting to think about where is the line between him or someone going back on what they said or doing something differently than what they said? And where's the line between that and making something inherently more democratic? And that means including voices and opinions that we may not agree with, but it is including more people. It is coalition building in a way. It is collaborating in a way that, again, I say it as a broad "we" as a left or whatever or movement, may not like. But it is more democratic. Giving LLCs more power, I think, is it good? But also I don't want cops in schools. So where is that line and some of those things? And thinking about that, too, when we think about how we're working with, like, you all are critiquing the outside or working inside of a new administration that is, on its face, and doing good things, but can always do more. Where is that structural change in actuality they may not like?
[00:24:43.890] - Rossana
I mean, I think that the main difference with this administration right now is that the doors are open for movement. And the first thing that Brandon and his administration started doing is just actually sitting down with people. Meeting with movement and asking people to come help figure it out with us. We have come to run a city that has been a neoliberal mess for decades at this point. It's not like you're going to come with your leftist politics and everything is going to be solved from one day to another. Now, there's a lot that we're going to have to change and there's a lot that we're going to have to imagine together. There's a lot that we're going to have to experiment with, but people are coming in to help think about these things. And the administration is super open to having people do that versus what we have had before, which is the mayor does everything, the mayor knows everything. You go and beg to the mayor for whatever it is that you want and you might get a tiny fraction- if you behave.
[00:25:55.660] - Caullen
"Please Brandon, I want some more."
[00:25:58.170] - David
I think you meant Lori, or Rahm.
[00:26:00.410] - Caullen
I know, I'm just being dumb.
[00:26:02.310] - Rossana
But that is how it was with Rahm. That's what Lori did as well. And that's how it was with Daley. I mean, it was kings and queens. So I think that is a very different dynamic. And I'm definitely not saying that there is not going to be conflict, but this is the first time that we're in conversation with an administration in a position of power. Because they respect movement, because they were elected by movement and they know that movement can get them out of there, too. So there is a very genuine conversation happening. I think that Brandon's heart is in movement. I think that Brandon has been with us, so it is not hard for him to do this. But again, we are inheriting a city that has been so mistreated and so
[00:26:51.480] - David
Abused.
[00:26:52.740] - Rossana
Abused. So we have a lot of work ahead of us. But we are very excited to be doing it with movement.
[00:27:03.470] - Jessie
I would also add that this is a relationship that's reciprocal. And I think that it's new in that we've never seen a reciprocal relationship between the fifth floor and city council the way we see it today. But there's also this reality that there are systems that are currently being deconstructed to construct new systems that actually serve people, right? And that takes time. I think that the entire city, in fact, probably the entire country, is looking at the city of Chicago waiting for us to fail. Waiting to prove that progressive politics doesn't work. But in order to truly make sure that we're doing it right, and that we can have a profound impact, and that everything that we stand for, in fact, is the way the world should operate, is to prove that we can have reciprocal relationships. That while we're deconstructing systems of oppression and constructing systems that actually serve people, we have to be able to do that with love and care and with a sense of gentleness, right. So that we're not further marginalizing folks that have been ostracized for so long. And then there's this piece about, like, how do we continue to empower movement while being in government? How do we respect organizers, parents, students, institutions that also need the ability to claim the things that they want?
[00:28:28.080] - Jessie
So when we think about this piece around the local school councils and allowing local school councils to determine where they're at with police. So me, I'm someone who advocates to remove police officers from our schools. We did it with Clemente High School in partnership with their administrator. But there was a movement that formed around our community in partnership with that local school council, with the administrator. Really being able to send the message that in this community, we take care of ourselves. We have to continue to empower those organizers, those parents, those elected local school council members. And so I think that there is some strategic thinking behind what Brandon is doing right now. And I think we need to allow him space to deconstruct some of the systems of oppression while he's building systems that actually work for us. I know that there's been criticism there, but I think that he's on the right path.
[00:29:21.470] - David
And that's where I was going to go. And I think some of the conversations that I've been hearing with folks were like, oh, well, the guy you voted for, he doesn't like cops. And I was like, well, first of all, he didn't go out like... I've never heard Brandon say, fuck twelve. I was like, that's like... Oh, but he said he's going to defund. And, you didn't see the violence happening in the city. It's so interesting because it's like-
[00:29:44.210] - Caullen
Who are these people who you talk to?
[00:29:45.560] - David
Just like, motherfuckers..
[00:29:47.330] - Caullen
I'm like, who are these people?
[00:29:49.330] - David
I'm the type of motherfucker- [crosstalk 00:29:48]
[00:29:51.570] - Rossana
There's so many of them, Caullen.
[00:29:54.210] - David
And I was curious to hear that. That's kinda where I was gonna go.
[00:29:56.120] - Caullen
You were hanging out with them.
[00:29:58.550] - David
Naw, not hanging out, but like- I think sometimes it's like, you also create relationship with folks and they're like, they know you as this type of a person, right? So I'm in a space they feel like they can talk to me about what have you. But sometimes- what I was curious to name or to hear from y'all is like- not that I pay attention to the news, but for some reason- no, dead ass, I try not to.
[00:30:16.600] - Caullen
I know what you mean, it just sounded funny.
[00:30:18.810] - David
But I've been seeing so much like, "violence and rampage and stealing," and I'm just like, I know that's always been the case, I don't want to say, but it's like, now it's folks tag me on shit. Or they'll dm me shit like, yo, you seen this? This is why you want less cops? And it's interesting because, 1) it's like, who we're going to give our time to, and how we're going to go about it? Depending on who it is, I might talk to them a few words, be like, was this your car? Something you want to talk about? But in other situations, it's like, man, the mayor is not the one walking up and down the street, my guy. It's like, who was the one doing that? I was like, right now police get x amount of dollars, yada, yada. So, like, cool, now we know.
[00:30:59.710] - David
What I'm curious to hear is, from y'all's perspective, what are some of the challenges in your 100 days in the second run of doing things that you all have been hearing from the naysayers? From the "19 ain't enough" blah, blah, blah, blah. What are some of those challenges and how have you all challenged them and or overcame them? If there's any particular examples, but curious for your answer.
[00:31:19.810] - Jessie
Yeah, so I've been receiving a lot of Twitter slamming.
[00:31:24.840] - David
Twitter. Yeah.
[00:31:25.750] - Jessie
Twitter is the worst. Rossana could talk more about getting slammed on Twitter in a little bit. But I think- so look, a part of it is understanding that this is a strategy of the right. Let's not be confused, this is not by accident. This is not by coincidence. They are using the fact that we have many journalists in an industry that refuse to be critical in their journalism.
[00:31:50.400] - David
Or get paid not to be.
[00:31:51.760] - Jessie
Or get paid not to be! That's also the reality. And we continue to create narratives of Black and Brown communities that will continue to instill fear in people. And they're also very fearful of our ability to actually prove a point. And to make an impact. So, you know, Fox News- and we have our colleague Ray Lopez, who, you know, him and Fox News, they go on all the time.
[00:32:19.940] - Ray Lopez
The reason Brandon Johnson won, despite being a police defunder, an avowed police defunder, was because he never acknowledged that and only showed pictures of family and people smiling. And the public was allowed to embrace that as who he was as opposed to being taken to task for the extreme left policies that he was espousing throughout the campaign.
[00:32:41.370] - Jessie
And they continue to create these false narratives and really perpetuate these stereotypes of our people. And talking about young Black kids carjacking and making a ruckus downtown, but how have we invested in young Black men in the city of Chicago in a real way? How have we invested in communities of color across the city? And truly created programming that allow our young people to be productive and thrive? Our people are going to places because they have nothing else to do.
[00:33:12.240] - David
Or no jobs.
[00:33:13.070] - Jessie
They have no jobs.
[00:33:14.350] - David
They don't want to hire them.
[00:33:15.270] - Jessie
Because they're Black and they're Brown.
[00:33:16.560] - David
Or they got papers, or like..
[00:33:20.790] - Jessie
The gambit is long, wide, and diverse. There are so many reasons why we have young people who are engaging in these risky behaviors. There is also a reason why we need Treatment Not Trauma, because of the historical and generational trauma that our young people are facing that have not received the resources to heal and move forward from many of those instances. So, folks could be on Fox News or Twitter all day, telling me how young Black kids are carjacking and we should be fearful and we need more cops. But at the end of the day, our prison system is filled with Black and Brown people, and that has not changed a goddamn thing. And so that is not the answer. It never has been. In fact, I would argue that incarcerating Black and Brown people is the reason why we're here. It is the carceral state, the hard on crime system, that has caused the issues that we see here today.
[00:34:16.310] - Jessie
There's a lot of folks who are critical around the SAFE-T Act calling for restorative justice measures, saying that that's the reason why we have crime. Fools! We have not even implemented any of the policies that you are criticizing us for. What we are seeing is a product and a consequence of hard on crime! We have not had an opportunity to solve for the problems that we see here today. And I think that, for me, it's all about continuously educating folks. At the end of the day, you're going to have people who close their ears to you and that's fine. Cool. Then you continue to believe what you want to believe. There are other people that I believe that we truly can engage.
[00:34:50.140] - David
Or are curious. Or genuinely curious. Because when they ask me, they're literally like, they were the motherfuckers- I'm thinking of two motherfuckers- they don't vote. They don't vote. They don't vote.
[00:35:00.276] - Caullen
Name names!
[00:35:00.870] - David
Naww. They don't vote. You feel what I'm saying? And so I'm like, bro, if you ain't doing nothing, we can't be talking about shit. Well, I don't do shit because they don't do nothing. So I'm thinking about these two specific folks. But they're genuinely curious. They're like, yo, what is it about this situation? Or how can I? And I'm like, well, you know. We provide solutions.
[00:35:19.240] - Jessie
Yeah, no, they are. And so for me, it's been about engaging those folks and having those longer, difficult conversations. They do take up time. They do consume energy. But my perspective and my lens is always like, if we grow in numbers, then we're doing the right work. And people who don't want to be a part of our work or don't see the impact of our movement, then they get to stay where they were to begin with.
[00:35:46.710] - Rossana
But I think that a lot of-
[00:35:48.180] - Caullen
Greenwood.
[00:35:49.450] - Rossana
A lot of the people who have that rhetoric, and I'm not saying that that rhetoric doesn't exist, of course it does. And it is very prevalent, and it is very prevalent because it is the line of the system. But more and more people are realizing that police is not a solution for most things. And this week, I was actually looking at an article about messaging, nationally, around crisis response. And it seems like people in general, like public opinion, is moving more and more towards the idea that you don't need to use police for everything. So the top two messaging lines to defend these kind of models are "police can't do it alone" and "treatment, not trauma." Those are the two highest polling messaging because people are understanding that police is not a solution for most of the problems that we have in our communities.
[00:36:49.950] - Rossana
The other part is, that we all also know, that it is not sustainable. Even if you wanted, or if it worked, you are not being able to hire enough police. Attrition is crazy. Police is retiring. You cannot fill those vacancies at the speed that people are leaving the job because of retirement. So it's not even a possibility to have that amount of police. Now you end up with $126 million given to overtime. Plus, you have a bunch of vacancies that you budget for every year and that you don't fill. So not only- and the lawsuits as well. Which there was just an article talking about how in the last few years we have spent like $240 million or some number like that, just in police misconduct lawsuits.
[00:37:46.560] - Rossana
So we're just bleeding money in an institution that is not helping us solve the real things that we need to be able to address. And I think that a lot of people are catching up to that idea. And we have a responsibility to continue talking about it because otherwise we are not going to have the means to actually build the structures that are going to get us out of the place that we're in. So the referendum for Treatment Not Trauma, for example, that was done in the 33rd, the 20th, and the 6th. I mean, the average was 97% positive for Treatment Not Trauma when you ask people, "should we be sending behavioral health experts instead of cops whenever you have this kind of emergency?" And people agree with that.
[00:38:33.770] - Rossana
So I do think that there is a narrative that is permeating all of the media. I think that the process leading up to Brandon's election was packed with those examples. I think that that was Paul Vallas's line. And to the point of John Catanzara saying that there would be a bloodbath on the streets if Brandon won, because there would be an exodus of police officers that were going to leave. And it was going to be anarchy. Because it got to that point. So I do think that people are way more open to the vision of less police in order to be able to take care of ourselves with different systems.
[00:39:30.480] - Jessie
And then the last thing I'll add, because I know that there are some other questions that you want to ask. And the reason these conversations are important is that folks function off of the false pretense that it's just right wing white folks that want cops. It's not accurate. There's a lot of Black folks, a lot of Latino folks.
[00:39:48.620] - David
I mean, it's a job.
[00:39:49.860] - Jessie
Right. Here's my argument, is that we will always have folks that say that cops is what we need, because they are operating from a place of survival. Our people have not been able to see liberation as a possibility. And so when we think about safety, when we think about thriving communities, our people are just trying to survive. And for so long, they have had to. And so the first thing- the more west I go in my community, a lot of the folks there tell me I need more police. "You need to send more police here." And when I try to explain why police is not the answer, what I'm hearing from them is, "I just want to survive." We haven't been in a mental place to think about freedom and liberation and how we fight for that. And that's why these conversations are so important. To continue to have them, to continue to build that consciousness is extremely important because we have a moral obligation to also move our people to a place where they can see freedom and liberation as a possibility for themselves and their people.
[00:40:55.900] - Rossana
And in order to do that, you have to help people envision what systems are possible. And that's why Treatment Not Trauma has been so successful, because you can actually paint it for people. This is what we're thinking, we're thinking that we're going to send people to do this when we have mental health emergencies, to prevent mental health emergencies. And you can paint it because it's already being done in other cities.
[00:41:16.820] - Caullen
I was going to say, you base that legislation on something else like in Eugene, Oregon.
[00:41:18.990] - Rossana
And you can talk about the success.
[00:41:23.170] - David
I just want to take the moment to give y'all your flowers for that work. And it's interesting, because I know Caullen on Bourbon 'n BrownTown has said plenty of times that he doesn't deal. He's like, no patience.
[00:41:33.730]
[crosstalk 00:41:33]
[00:41:40.790] - Caullen
That's not true. But less patience than probably everyone in this room.
[00:41:44.400] - David
But giving flowers, particularly in understanding what it takes and what it's going to continue taking. And half of it is conversations. Half of it is allowing yourself the peace of mind to have the conversation. There's so many layers that are going when we talk about just communicating with our neighbors. Talking to our community members.
[00:42:04.370] - David
Motherfuckers think like, you gotta bond with everybody. No, that's not it. You know what I'm saying? What is our alignment? And what I'm hearing from you, Jessie, is it's heartbreaking, but unfortunately, we know that that is not new. You know what I'm saying? With our community members. I can speak predominantly for our undocumented community members. Who to the point, like, they already have a level of mistrust of institutions, and then you add the police bagging on them. I knew I couldn't count on them, who do I count on? Type of situation. So to me, just giving out the flowers for creating and putting ourselves in the spaces.
[00:42:40.290] - David
I think, Rossana, we didn't mention it just yet, but my first experience was you talking with young folks on the Shit Talks Chicago Votes series. And you were someone who 1) folks wanted to talk to, but that's because you had made yourself accessible to them to be able to talk with high school students about shit that they really care about. I think, once again, that just goes to and speaks to the amount that y'all are in the streets just talking to motherfuckers and being like, yo, this is what it is. I hear you, but let's go a little deeper. So shout out to that.
[00:43:11.440] - Rossana
Jessie and I actually worked together in Humboldt Park at a high school. And we were coworkers there.
[00:43:18.550] - Jessie
That's how we know each other.
[00:43:19.430] - David
Okay, bring it back! There you go!
[00:43:21.270] - Rossana
So I was an Integrated Arts teacher at Pedro Albizu Campos High School. And Jessie was the Dean of Students. And Jessie's office was next to my classroom.
[00:43:34.330] - Jessie
We were roommates.
[00:43:35.120] - Rossana
Together all the time. So it has been a wonderful thing to be able to now serve with her in city council and support her through what was her campaign and her election. Because I know who she is very well because we did the work together there.
[00:43:57.810] - Caullen
One would say you're bringing Chicago home. *laughing* I was kind of like, you guys on the same place... Home. I don't know. It was a reach.
[00:44:08.340] - Jessie
That was great.
[00:44:09.450] - Caullen
That was lovely hearing from all y'all. As far as all that. What comes to mind, David, when you mentioned about y'all two being in the streets and talking to folks and- not necessarily educating people, but explaining the nuances of things and what people need. I hear of the reciprocal nature of everything, which you already named. It's like, you're saying how this is more complicated and nuanced; police don't do this, they do that, and whatever whatever. And I hope they're receiving that. But you're hearing, too, like, oh, you need to survive. You need those things. And I can imagine folks who are saying like, I've heard these good things before, and nothing's happened. What you're probably also hearing is like, oh, you need material conditions to change. Which, you know, is tough with the bureaucracy that is government. But I'm hearing and hoping that is changing.
[00:44:57.670] - Caullen
We have seen that as an organization in the nonprofit world in a weird way. Like, thanks to COVID, thanks to the uprisings, funders and other folks paying more mind to what we do and what people and organizations in our community do. Funders like funding more Black-led and or radical groups or smaller groups and stuff. Not having as many hoops to go through as far as getting funds. And so I'm hoping that- maybe not with those events, but with this administration, that is the red tape that hinders people feeling and seeing experiencing those effects and that difference. And life being more livable, that's definitely more possible. And we'll continue to do so.
[00:45:41.570] - David
And then you all did name, right. So some of the big things that y'all taking Treatment Not Trauma, y'all mentioned the budget. And so for folks who don't understand Chicago, how are you all planning for that? And how is that executed? Or what are the moves?
[00:45:57.530] - Caullen
How important are budgets in cities in general?
[00:45:58.910] - David
Yeah, like, I'm hearing you give too much money for cops, but who gave it to them in the first place? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...
[00:46:05.690] - Rossana
So the budget, historically...
[00:46:09.220] - David
I love it. Take us back and then bring us in.
[00:46:11.920] - Rossana
No, I think that it is important to put all of this into context because we're operating a little bit different than all of the people that came before us. And the thing with the budget is that the mayor's office is the office that has all of the resources to put a budget together. The city council doesn't have the infrastructure, the budget analysts, the- we don't have that. That exists in the mayor's office. So the only way for us to be able to participate in the budget is if we insert ourselves. But we have to be let in by the administration. And that is not something that has happened historically. What happens historically is that the mayor comes up with a budget, then proposes it to the city council, and then they make sure that they have the votes. And historically, what would happen is that if there are people that are opposed to the budget in any way, the mayor would tell you, what do you want? You want a playground in your community? Okay, here it is. Here's your playground. Give me your vote. That's it. Right? So it becomes transactional. And there is actually not a lot of thinking about how the budget promotes the well being of our communities, except for what you can get for your community so that you can get reelected. That is how Chicago politics have historically worked when it comes to the budget.
[00:47:40.250] - Rossana
What we have been trying to do now is make sure that we are organizing ourselves early and making sure that we're telling the administration early what we want. And that hasn't been a hard process because Brandon ran on a lot of the things that we want. So one of the first things that happened was the administration called and said, let's start talking about Treatment Not Trauma. Let's start bringing people in and making sure that we have a good proposal that we can start working in early. That was July. We vote for the budget in November. So we're talking about these things early to figure out how we are going to go about it so that we can move in the direction of actually accomplishing these things.
[00:48:19.580] - Jessie
Yeah, no, I think that for me, it's really about being in conversation. It's the same conversations that we're having with the fifth floor around One Fair Wage, paid sick leave. It's really about having these conversations early so that we could talk about the well being of the entire city. And that this is not a transactional relationship, but one that's really rooted in vision and mission and how we all move forward to make it happen.
[00:48:43.950] - David
I just be like, the whole transactional part to me. Just like, I mean-
[00:48:47.340] - Caullen
"I want some new shoes, man."
[00:48:48.580] - David
Not even that. Like, okay, fix my fucking streets. Fuck that park- I mean, not fuck the park, right? Not fuck the kids. But I'm just talking about like, there's bridges- it depends where you live. And the thing is- so I used to make the trek from the west side Austin to Evanston, two or three times a week. From Austin, west side, 290 all the way. And it was one of the most depressing drives because you're driving down and you just literally block to block can see how some of this shit changes. So the fact that I'm hearing that, historically speaking, motherfuckers used to run like that? Say what?! One would always ask. My dad would be the one to be like, well, someone voted him in. I was like, yeah, but who? Because probably 10% of these motherfuckers are voting. You think that motherfucker's been voting? He's probably not! So I don't know. Just hearing that, processing with you. But so glad and so hopeful to be hearing some of these real meaningful changes from the get. Because once again, we're still not there. And so the budget starts happening. Conversations are like, end of the year?
[00:49:46.600] - Jessie
Conversations are already happening with folks in city council and the mayor's office. But there'll be a budget address sometime in October.
[00:49:54.220] - Rossana
So what happens is- I didn't tell you about this part. So what happens is they start- right now, they are in conversations with all of us about the priorities that we have and that movement has that align with Brandon's vision that he came in with and that he ran on. Then we start having hearings where that proposal that is going to be created is presented to us. Every commissioner of every department will come and talk about the plan that they have with the amount that is being proposed, and they talk about what they need. That's about two weeks of every day we are inside of city hall.
[00:50:34.950] - David
That's a lot of adderall.
[00:50:36.690] - Jessie
About to buy me an air mattress to sleep there.
[00:50:40.050] - Rossana
Listening to every department and asking them questions. It is actually kind of funny sometimes to watch budget hearings because alders don't really ask questions about the budget, they go like, how about that tree that you haven't trimmed in my community?
[00:50:55.681] - Caullen
Damn!
[00:50:56.230] - Rossana
And you're like, so they use the space that is supposed to be to ask questions about the budget, they just come and they just argue to the commission. And that part is funny. It's like, do you have a question about the budget? But usually a lot of alders don't really come in and make comments about the budget. And then after we're done with the hearings, then we vote on the budget. That's how it works. And you asked before who gave the police the money in the first place?
[00:51:27.110] - David
I mean, I was just being coy, but yes. I think... We don't need to name them.
[00:51:32.290] - Caullen
Name names! Name names!
[00:51:34.370] - Rossana
That has been a process. Over time.
[00:51:37.830] - Caullen
I'm just curious- less curious, more of just a table setting measure. If folks aren't familiar with Bring Chicago Home, Treatment Not Trauma, you mentioned the One Fair Wage. Could you give a one liner, two liner, or a six liner on what those legislations are?
[00:51:54.890] - David
What people can look forward to in them at least?
[00:51:56.830] - Caullen
Yeah.
[00:51:57.260] - David
Because I think we've talked about Treatment Not Trauma a few times.
[00:51:59.730] - Caullen
Yeah, a little bit.
[00:52:00.800] - Rossana
They got sick of it. *laughing*
[00:52:00.980]
[crosstalk 00:52:00]
[00:52:06.350] - Rossana
No, I can talk about it, but I wanted Jessie to talk about her legislation.
[00:52:11.130] - Jessie
Yeah. So I filed One Fair Wage in our last city council session. It's an ordinance that seeks to eliminate the sub minimum wage for tip workers, particularly those that work in the restaurant hospitality industry.
[00:52:24.730] - David
So many years ago, bro!
[00:52:27.190] - Jessie
So we know that it is a symptom of what it was to have slave labor in the city of Chicago. The Pullman industry did it. The hospitality industry did it. They took freed slaves and began employing them at a sub minimum wage. And so what we're seeking to do is to eliminate the sub minimum wage, bring those workers to the minimum wage of city of Chicago. It will follow the same minimum wage requirements that was passed by city council the last time. So if you're a small business with 50 employees or less, that's $15 an hour. If you're a larger business, that's at $15.48, and it's going to scale up in the same way. With tips on top. And let me tell you why that's important. We have Black, Latina, women who are the majority in the hospitality and restaurant industry.
[00:53:19.920] - David
I did not know that.
[00:53:21.290] - Jessie
And we have 57,000 of the hospitality industry being from the ages of 16 to 24. And let me tell you why this is important. Latina and Black women suffer the most from sexual harassment and discrimination in the hospitality industry. I mean, they have to succumb to so much just to earn a tip to bring them to that minimum wage. There are larger industries across the city of Chicago that do not have those problems. There are some workers who are making 90-100 thousand dollars in the hospitality industry, but they're not our Black and Brown women. And we have so many families that are making difficult decisions between paying rent, paying their utility bills, or doing groceries because they can't count on the income that they are going to bring home. There could be a Tuesday evening that's great, you made several hundreds of dollars, maybe a couple of thousand dollars in tips. And then you could have two weeks of absolutely nothing. And so how do you feed your family? When we're talking about building a safer and a better city for all of our families, we also have to make sure that they have livable wages, that they could feed their children, that they could buy them clothes, that they could put a roof over their head.
[00:54:32.590] - Jessie
We're watching inflation go up. We're watching the cost of living go up. I mean, the average rent for a one bedroom in my ward is $1,700. $1,700. When you want to talk about displacement, the inability to afford to live in a city that you grew up in, it's real. And the hospitality- I mean, we are the center of culinary in the midwest.
[00:54:54.790] - Caullen
In the world. Fuck that, in the world!
[00:54:55.250] - Jessie
Everyone thinks about the city of Chicago when we're thinking about food and entertainment district, having a nightlife. We think about engaging in the community of hospitality, Chicago ranks top three, at least. How are we not paying our workers a livable wage in a city that's becoming extremely expensive? And so that ordinance seeks to make our individuals whole. But also, when we're thinking about youth employment. If we're thinking about building a better and a safer Chicago for everyone, then we also got to make sure that we're employing young people to be financial contributors to their household. You don't want a young person on the streets engaging in risky behavior? Give them a job. Give them a job that can help feed their family. And that's how we build a safer city.
[00:55:44.870] - Jessie
And so I'm super excited about One Fair Wage, it's obviously a priority for the mayor, he said so. He was serving for an hour, One Fair Wage. We served folks together. And floor leader Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is co-chief sponsor. And so we're really excited about being able to get this done and finally getting it right. Because we should not have any sub minimum wage in the city of Chicago. We should not be paying folks slave labor wages. It's just not right. We have an opportunity to make it right and we're going to get it done.
[00:56:15.920] - Caullen
Love the confidence!
[00:56:18.750] - David
I could talk about. So my whole life was hospitality, but I worked in the Gold Coast.
[00:56:21.940] - Caullen
"Whole life."
[00:56:22.500] - David
So I got $5.25. But the whole excuse is like, you're making hundreds of dollars every night, bro, why do you care about that? And so really, in my experience, we would use what we got in salary or hourly for our taxes. You don't even count that in your weekly budget because you're like, no, I'm going to just budget- I'm making 300 every night. I'm working on Saturday, that's 500. Blah, blah, blah, blah. But just hearing that is so exciting. Fortunately, I'm not in that shit no more. We got out. But for the future, I think you're naming things because, to your point, it's like, I started it because I was an undergrad and there was this shiny restaurant next door and they're like, the servers were tuxedos. And my boy's like, yo, bro, we can get right here. We get $6.25 and we get tips. And I was like, bro, did you say tips? And they get us drunk? Like, say less, let's go! So that was it.
[00:57:12.260] - David
But I think to a level, as a young person, sometimes I think we romanticize some of those things. You'll take the grime, you take the shit, you take the stupid hours, you take the whatever. Because you know at the end of the day, you're going to be all right or someone's going to get you something. So I just think, so awesome to know that. And I didn't know that. I didn't know that that was a thing happening. So it's just exciting. I'm so excited. I know all your ops probably for that then, you got the Rosebuds, you got a bunch of big corporations like, naw, fuck paying people.
[00:57:38.970] - Jessie
But what I will say. So Alderman Beale kicked-
[00:57:42.630] - David
For real, though!
[00:57:43.693] - Caullen
Name names!
[00:57:44.170] - Jessie
Alderman Beale kicked my ordinance to rules. But we're going to get it out of rules. It ain't purgatory no more. All right, we're going to get the ordinance out of rules. We'll send it to workforce. We're going to have subject matter hearings. And that's also another important place for committees. Is subject matter hearings allow us-
[00:58:03.362] - David
Can you explain that?
[00:58:03.470] - Jessie
Yeah. What happens in committees is that we bring experts, right? We made history this past week having Bring Chicago Home and Treatment Not Trauma subject matter hearings where we're bringing experts to testify on why this ordinance is important and the impact that it can make. So people look at an ordinance and you're going to hear all of the negative things and why it's not going to work. But there's never an opportunity to prove where it has worked in the past, the difference that it has made, and why it's backed by data so that we can utilize that information to really educate our community. And so the subject matter hearing on One Fair Wage is extremely important because it's been done in other cities. It's been done in Minnesota, one of our neighbors here in the midwest. It's been done in San Francisco, and restaurants are thriving, workers are living well. This is not going to destroy our hospitality industry the way some people will like to claim. And the subject matter hearing allows us the opportunity to prove that.
[00:58:58.610] - Jessie
The way we prove Treatment Not Trauma has been impactful and has worked in other cities across the country. And so when you have a good committee chair who actually meets, Chairman Vasquez has convened the immigration committee more times than the last immigration committee in the first hundred days than he did in a whole term! So when you have good committee chairs, there is so much information that, not only we can bring to our colleagues to move them on the issue, but that we can utilize that information to take back to our communities. Information is powerful. And the fact that we deny people the ability to get that information is criminal. And so I'm super excited that we have committee chairs that are actually hosting committees and bringing subject matter hearings and testimonies to city council.
[00:59:48.920] - Rossana
So in the subject matter hearing, we don't take a vote. Ever. Subject matter hearings are exclusively to share information, as Jessie said, with our colleagues. Primarily because they get to ask questions about whatever issue it is for the community because these are live streamed. But also the media gets to be there and report on what we're talking about. So then you're going to have a narrative that corresponds to the line that the subject matter experts are bringing. Which means that the message gets to more people because they're going to read it on the press, they're going to see it on tv. So that part is important. I also want to say that I'm so proud of my colleague and sister and friend for coming in swinging.
[01:00:36.870] - David
Heyyyyy.
[01:00:39.010] - Rossana
Sorry, we don't want to violence.
[01:00:43.510] - Jessie
No, it's okay, it's alright. We got to find new ways. We'll figure it out later.
[01:00:46.090] - David
They know what we mean. They know what we mean.
[01:00:48.420] - Jessie
Swing with love hands.
[01:00:49.497] - David
Shiiiit.
[01:00:49.560] - Rossana
No, it requires courage to come in and be the face and the chief sponsor for such an important ordinance that is going to find a position in the industry. There is a lot of others that are not going to come take that risk, that are not going to come say, okay, you know what, I'm going to go in and I'm just going to fight a powerful lobby.
[01:01:15.910] - David
Entity.
[01:01:17.070] - Rossana
I'm just going to go do that. In order to do that, you have to be committed to the people. And I want you to hear how proud I am and how excited I am to see you being the face of it and the voice of it in the city council. And I also wanted to say that sexual harassment is a very real thing. I mean, it's very painful when you can't defend yourself. And Jessie was talking about it. But I do want to make it very graphic because the idea that somebody is sexually harassing you while you're serving them, and you cannot defend yourself because you have to feed your children and you cannot tell anybody because you need to get that tip, you cannot talk back. And that happens every day in this city. And we need to be able to take a stance and say, we are going to protect these people. They deserve protection and they deserve to be able to feed their families and they deserve safe work environments. And giving them a minimum wage is going to be able to provide for that. And this is an ordinance that we should have passed last term when we passed 15 minimum wage. There was not the political will to do that. We tried, didn't go anywhere. So I am very happy that it's coming back and that Jessie is carrying it and is defending it because it's so necessary.
[01:02:47.950] - Rossana
So Treatment Not Trauma, I've been fighting for this for the last four years. We came in and we really wanted to collaborate with the administration. It was impossible to do that. [crosstalk 01:02:58] I promise everybody, I'm a really nice and friendly person *laughing*. And I tried! And I just couldn't. But the model that we have been advocating for is very simple, not rocket science idea that we should have non-police mental health crisis response in the city of Chicago. That mental health emergencies should not be responded to with armed police officers. That public health should not include weapons. Which is- I think it's a very simple concept.
[01:03:40.640] - David
Pretty basic. It's like, what are you worried about? Because they shoot with them, what do you mean?
[01:03:45.340] - Rossana
Public health should not include guns. I think that that should be a really basic understanding of public health. So we want to create a mobile crisis response that is going to come out whenever there are mental health emergencies. This is already happening in multiple cities in the United States with an incredible success rate. But we also want to be able to prevent crisis from happening. So we want to make sure that we are doing the outreach that is necessary to tend to the people who are most likely to go into crisis: either because they're homeless, either because there's substance use, either because there's PTSD, because of trauma. We want to make sure that we are addressing that by building connections and trust with those people wherever they're at. And we know where those people are in our communities. I can tell you where they're in my community. Jessica can tell you where they are in her community. We would be able to save a lot of harm in the city if we were tending proactively to people.
[01:04:54.870] - Rossana
The other part of this is creating 24 hours walk-in crisis centers in the city of Chicago. We need to have a place to transport. You cannot just send a behavioral health expert out and then not have the possibility of transporting this person so that you can de-escalate and so that you can meet the basic needs, do an evaluation. Those things are incredibly important. And here in Chicago, unfortunately, we don't have that. So if you're a responder, you're going to go out, you're going to see the person, and they're going to stay in place, or they're going to go to the ER, or they're going to go to a police station. Neither of those places are going to be able to meet those needs. What we want is an integrated mental health model that uses the community mental health centers, publicly run community mental health centers in Chicago. We know that we used to have 19 of those, we are down to five. So the proposal includes reopening the 14 closed mental health centers, creating mental health crisis response units, and creating a community care core, where we're going to have a lot of people just tending to the needs of people at risk of being in crisis in communities.
[01:06:12.350] - Jessie
And just, quickly, Bring Chicago Home seeks to increase the real estate tax transfer, which is a one time tax on individuals that are purchasing a home for $1 million or more by 1.9%. Which will create a permanent revenue to be able to build public housing, affordable housing, shelters for our unhoused neighbors, so that housing becomes a right in the city of Chicago and not a privilege. We live in one of the richest cities in the country, and we have over 67,000 folks that are experiencing homelessness. This bill will seek to create that revenue source that we really need to be able to meet the housing stock that is required to house all of these individuals, in addition, to make sure that we are providing the wraparound services that these individuals need. Because we know providing housing is just not enough. Putting a roof over someone's head is not enough. They need the wraparound support to really be able to overcome the circumstances that got them there in the first place so that housing truly becomes a reality and we allow for true sustainability across the city of Chicago.
[01:07:18.270] - Rossana
And for Bring Chicago Home what we're trying to do is put that item on a ballot so that people can vote for it, which means that it would be something that we build, that we go talk to people and we make sure that people are educated on what this is going to be and why we need it. So it would be something that people vote for.
[01:07:34.860] - Jessie
Yeah. And so what we're trying to do right now is just get the question on the ballot.
[01:07:40.730] - David
Y'all do this.
[01:07:43.130] - Caullen
I just going to sit back.
[01:07:44.890] - David
And Jessie, I'm saying it's just been so awesome to see y'all pull all of it. And thank you for naming that, because we did talk about that on our Home episode, the 95th. And so thank you for providing a little more context. And for folks who are uninitiated, they're gonna see it on their ballot. And so that's something incredibly exciting. I feel like there's a lot more tea we have.
[01:08:10.770] - Caullen
Name names!
[01:08:11.950] - David
However, it does seem like we must come to a wrap. I did want to thank you all one more time. I did want to end it! And Caullen prefaced this, because this is one of those first episodes in Bourbon 'n BrownTown where they were like, yo, we need to do this, and it came from outside Bourbon 'n BrownTown. So I did want to propose that bag. It's like, what made y'all inspired enough to be like, yo, we need to do this? And why this space?
[01:08:36.890] - Caullen
With this podcast? Fuck everybody else.
[01:08:38.730] - David
No, I mean, well, I mean.
[01:08:39.900] - Caullen
I'm just kidding. Everybody else cool, too, depending on who you are.
[01:08:42.450] - Rossana
What inspires to what?
[01:08:44.100] - Jessie
To want to do this interview?
[01:08:45.480] - David
To do this specific one.
[01:08:46.513] - Caullen
Why are we so cool?
[01:08:47.710] - David
Caullen responded to me, and he was like, yo, Rossana hit me up, thinking about doing all the teen caucus. I was like, cool, 100 days. Like, well, when? And so just thinking about how that's inspired. That it's one of the first episodes that that's how that builds. And so I'm just curious on how that came about? And if y'all succeeded in what y'all wanted here today?
[01:09:07.990] - Rossana
On my end, I really wanted to have an opportunity to be here. Well, I like you both very much, and I love talking to you both. But the idea that you have two Latina queer women from movement who are changing the landscape of what the politics of the city of Chicago look like, electoral politics, I think it's something that just needs to be said, and people need to know it. So I think this was the best place for us to come talk about it.
[01:09:42.610] - Jessie
Yeah. I think- you know, there have been several articles that have come out about the LGBTQ caucus being larger, the progressive caucus being larger, but a lot of the publications lack nuance, lack personality, lack the ability to tell a counter narrative. And I think that Bourbon 'n BrownTown really provides that space. I mean, you guys are phenomenal hosts. Y'all understand the assignment. And it allows us to tell a narrative that I think in many other media outlets is very difficult to capture. The time is limited. The questions are targeted. It doesn't allow for the free space of conversation to truly allow for vision to be centered. But to also allow for the nuances to be captured. And so this space has been a safe space for me. In my last episode. I think it continues to be a safe space for folks like us. And, yeah, so I'm mad excited about this episode, but also future episodes that we get to engage in.
[01:10:42.930] - David
Yo.
[01:10:43.590] - Caullen
That's so heartwarming. I was being so silly answering those questions. Now I'm like, ohhh!
[01:10:47.800] - Rossana
But that's part of it! I think the fun is a part of it. We actually want to be able to talk about these things with joy, and we don't get to do that too often.
[01:10:55.930] - Jessie
Right. Can't tell you how many interviews we go into, and we're super serious, we have to be defensive of what we're doing because that's how the interviews are set up. And here it's really just about being joyful and happy, charismatic about what we're doing. I think that it also serves as a space to remind us of why we're doing it in the first place.
[01:11:16.210] - David
That's a fact.
[01:11:17.100] - Caullen
Charles Preston said the movement needs more whimsicalness. We can be serious, do all the things and save lives, but also be whimsical and fun and find joy at the same time.
[01:11:26.720] - Jessie
That's right.
[01:11:27.400] - David
Yeah. And so exciting that this is our first home for the podcast. But the fact that we've been able to do that and cultivate that, I think is very heartwarming and speaks true because that's what we want to do. The last thing I want to do is- I mean, we'll flame each other if we need to. I've been flamed on Bourbon 'n BrownTown multiple times. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure that we get to the gritty because that's also what our listeners love and that's what they appreciate. So thank you guys so much for joining us today. It's been absolutely fantastic. Feel free to follow all the details on our episode notes. As always, soapboxpo.com/podcast. Peep all the things and stay on the lookout with our team out here in Chicago. If you out here, if not, then-
[01:12:08.670] - Jessie
Move here!
[01:12:10.750] - David
Say less. From Bourbon and BrownTown, as always, stay Black, stay Brown, stay queer.
[01:12:14.790] - Caullen
Stay tuned. Stay turnt.
[01:12:16.110] - David
See you for the next one. Deuces!
OUTRO
(Music: Contra Todo, by iLe)