Lilian Jimenez is an attorney who advocates for greater justice and equity in public policy.  She has extensive experience in direct services, community organizing, and policy advocacy, with a special focus on promoting the rights of immigrant populations and communities of color.  Lili works to ensure that government, as well as non-profit programs, are aligned with the needs of the communities that they are supposed to serve.  She has dedicated herself to the issues of immigration, health justice, workers’ rights, and criminal justice reform.

Lili has held leadership positions with:  Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); the Fair Labor Standards Division of the Illinois Department of Labor; the Illinois Office of Immigrant & Refugee Services; the State of Illinois Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); she was also a Civil Rights Investigator in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Lilian Jimenez is also currently running as a candidate to represent the State of Illinois’ 4th District in the State House of Representatives.

We also want to apologize in advance for some mild background noise in the audio during the latter part of the interview.

Host:  Nicholas De Genova
Producer & Editor:  Magdalena Rodriguez

In this episode of Metropolis Rising, our guest is Victoria Cervantes.  Vicki is a lifelong activist who first became politicized in high school in the mid-to-late-1960s during the social upheaval of the Vietnam era's civil rights and anti-war movements.  Vicki has been a community and labor activist for decades in Chicago's Mexican community, where she has raised her family.  After the military coup in Honduras in June 2009, Vicki helped to found the Honduras Solidarity Network and serves as the network's North American coordinator.  She has traveled regularly to Honduras, where she spends time in the campesino and indigenous communities and the broader resistance movement, and works as a human rights observer. 

Host  Nicholas De Genova
Producer & Editor  Magdalena Rodriguez

In Episode 2 of Metropolis Rising, our guest is Latinx artist Martin Sorrondeguy (also known as Martin Crudo).  Martin is best known as the founder, lead singer, and lyricist of the Latinx hardcore punk bank, Los Crudos, who quickly came to have an impact around the world.  The lyrics of the band’s songs spoke politically to the Latinx experience in the United States but also responded to popular struggles across Latin America.  The band originated in the 1990s in the Pilsen neighborhood, the center of the political and cultural life of Chicago’s Mexican community, where Martin grew up.  Later, Sorrondeguy moved on to other musical projects, including the queercore punk band, Limp Wrist, and most recently a solo electronic dance music project called NRRRV.  Martin is also an accomplished photographer.   

Host  Nicholas De Genova
Producer & Editor Magdalena Rodriguez