We’re back off hiatus! For our 18th episode, we kept the conversation in-house for what we are calling People’s City Corner. You’ll hear from People’s City Council organizers Jason Reedy, Albert Corado and Ricci Sergienko as we recap what they witnessed at the USC, UCLA and CSULA encampments. We also get into why you should shut the fuck up when it comes to the pigs and what might be on the horizon for the student intifada.

episode credits:

hosted by Jason Reedy, Albert Corado, and Ricci Sergienko.

follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil

follow our hosts Jason Reedy @AxumSelassie + Albert Corado @digitalurn

PCP theme song: Adam Smith @AdamOfTheSmiths

recorded at the Robinson S.P.A.C.E @RobinsonSpaceLA

For our 17th episode, it’s an ALL Blackity Black pod. We chop it up with Maraky Alemseged from Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and speak on a wide variety of topics centered on Blackness.

This pod covers some of BAJI's groundbreaking reports on CBP’s policing of the George Floyd uprising and the Darien Gap. We also speak on the difference between a sanctuary city and a freedom city, the relationship between abolition and mushrooms, and why Black people should care about Palestine (and beyond)

Maraky Alemseged is a queer nonbinary Black woman (yes, both) and BAJI’s Los Angeles Organizer. They are a first generation Ethiopian-American abolitionist & Pan-Africanist organizer passionate about approaching social justice from an intersectional lens. BAJI fights for the rights of Black migrants and African Americans through organizing, legal advocacy, research, policy, and narrative building to improve the conditions of Black communities by advancing racial justice and migrant rights.

episode credits:

hosted by Jason Reedy

follow BAJI @BAJItweet and @InstaBAJI on IG

follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil

follow our host Jason Reedy @AxumSelassie

PCP theme song: Adam Smith @AdamOfTheSmiths

recorded at the Robinson S.P.A.C.E @RobinsonSpaceLA

editing by Jason Reedy

sound mixing by Phillip Kim

mentions of mushrooms: clusters and troops!

For our 16th episode, we conversed with the powerful duo of Zen Sekizawa and Mario Correa, organizers and artists with the collective, J-Town Action and Solidarity.

We cover the genesis of J-Town Action and Solidarity, their efforts to fight back against gentrification in Little Tokyo, and the role art can play within the movement. Our candid conversation delves into the Atomic Cafe, Zen’s famed family restaurant, how art undergirds Zen and Mario's organizing and what it’s like being in a relationship in movement space!

Zen Sekizawa has been working as a photographer, director and artist in her hometown of Los Angeles. She is a second generation Angeleno and fourth generation Japanese Amerikan. Since earning her BFA in Photography from the Art Center College of Design in 1999, Zen’s practice has grown into exploring, critiquing and acting on the intersection of art, politics and community care.

Mario Correa is an artist based in Los Angeles. In 2001, he received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Mario maintains a practice that encompasses drawing, painting, printmaking and woodworking. Enlisting a wide variety of techniques and materials, he moves through genres of abstraction, still life, and portraiture with an emphasis on mark making and its relationship to the body.

In 2020, Mario and Zen helped establish J-Town Action and Solidarity, a grassroots collective dedicated to revolutionary organizing and building collective power in Little Tokyo. JAS has a weekly mutual event every Saturday afternoon in Little Tokyo with We the Unhoused as well as facilitating political education study groups, organizing direct actions, sweep defense support, self defense and art workshops

episode credits:

hosted by Jason Reedy

follow our guests Zen and Mario @JTOWNACTION

follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil

follow our host Jason Reedy @AxumSelassie

PCP theme song: Adam Smith @AdamOfTheSmiths

recorded at the Robinson S.P.A.C.E @RobinsonSpaceLA

editing by Jason Reedy & sound mixing by Phillip Kim

mentions of Jason Bourne: too many!

For our 15th episode, we chopped it up with Rob Quan to breakdown every Los Angeles City Council race for this Tuesday's primary.

Paul Krekorian is termed out, so who’s in the running to replace him? Will Nithya Raman withstand a well funded challenger in Ethan Weaver? Does Heather Hutt actually have what it takes to win an election? Will Staffer B aka John Lee survive a late challenger in Serena Oberstein? Will racist Kevin de Leon make it past the primary or will CD14 decide it’s time for him to move on? We answer all these questions and more during this special City Council primary episode!

Rob Quan is a recovering cynic. He got started in politics working his way onto the Obama campaign in 2008 and after working on a few more campaigns found it was hard to find candidates worth electing, even harder to get them elected, and then once in office they'd be stuck in a corrupted system. He's been organizing Unrig LA since 2018, which serves as a local watchdog advocating for a better LA City Hall that represents the many, and not just the moneyed.

episode credits:

hosted by Jason Reedy and Ricci Sergienko

follow our guest Rob Quan @unrigla

follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil

follow our host Jason Reedy @AxumSelassie

PCP theme song: Adam Smith @AdamOfTheSmiths

recorded at the Robinson S.P.A.C.E @RobinsonSpaceLA

number of Lakers fans on this pod: 2

For our 14th episode, we talked with writer and organizer Kris Rehl about the upcoming March 5th primary. We dive into the 3 Board of Supervisors races, the District Attorney’s race, and why you should VOTE NO ON PROP 1 with recommendations from Kris’ outstanding and thorough voter guide that covers every race and measure for LA voters with an emphasis on local issues. 

Kris Rehl is a writer and organizer. as a Writers Guild captain during last year’s strike, they worked to amplify political education. during lockdown, Kris began organizing with unhoused neighbors and has since co-founded LA Street Care, an abolitionist mutual aid collective that works to meet survival needs, monitor sweeps, and hold city officials accountable.

Link to Kris's voter guide: tinyurl.com/laballotguide

Check back next week for a pod on the Los Angeles City Council races!

episode credits:

hosted by Jason Reedy, Albert Corado, and Ricci Sergienko. 

follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil 

follow our hosts Jason Reedy @AxumSelassie + Albert Corado @digitalurn 

follow our guest Kris Rehl: @krisrehl

PCP theme song: Adam Smith @AdamOfTheSmiths

recorded at the Robinson S.P.A.C.E @RobinsonSpaceLA

how many times drake is mentioned: 1

For our 13th episode, we conclude our candid conversation with veteran organizer and movement elder Baba Akili. We speak about his time as National Organizer for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign, the lessons learned as field coordinator for Harvey Gantt’s Senate campaign and his time working in Carol Moseley Braun Senatorial Campaign who would become the first Black women ever elected to US Senate. 

We also explore his time as a Special Assistant to California Assembly Speakers, his organizing with SEIU and the NAACP, and how he came to join Black Lives Matter. We cap the conversation by hearing why is running for the 57th Assembly District in the State of California. Be sure to listen to the first part of this pod if you missed it: (INSERT LINK)

This episode was hosted by Jason Reedy, Albert Corado, and Ricci Sergienko. Follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil. Follow our hosts Jason Reedy @AxumSelassie and Albert Corado @digitalurn and follow our guest Baba Akili @akili4thepeople

Did you like our theme song? That's the homie Adam Smith. We are so thankful for this gift. Please support Adam on all them social networks. You can find him at @AdamOfTheSmiths

APPLE LINK FOR PT 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/52-years-of-organizing-w-baba-akili-pt-1/id1692029697?i=1000634586018

SPOTIFY LINK FOR PT 1: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5c263rHVVvxaWQpYRT5YVP?si=JHqjO8JwQyG0wytBrSo6Cw

For our 12th episode, we sat down with veteran organizer and movement elder Baba Akili to discuss his 52 YEARS of organizing. We cover the first organization he ever joined - NIA and his time organizing with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. He would later co-found the United Domestic Workers Union, one of the few unions started by people of color. We also examined his time with Neighbor to Neighbor and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee during the 1980s.

Tune back in for the final part of this podcast this Friday where we’ll dive into Akili’s time as a National Organizer for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign, his time on other notable senate campaigns, his organizing with SEIU, Black Lives Matter, and more. We cap the conversation by hearing why he’s running for the 57th Assembly District in the State of California.

This episode was hosted by Jason Reedy, Albert Corado, and Ricci Sergienko. Follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil. Follow our hosts Jason Reedy @AxumSelassie and Albert Corado @digitalurn and follow our guest Baba Akili @akili4thepeople

Did you like our theme song? That's the homie Adam Smith. We are so thankful for this gift. Please support Adam on all them social networks. You can find him at @AdamOfTheSmiths

For our 11th episode, Albert sits down with the founder of Polo's Pantry, Melissa Acedera, to talk about both of them losing a parent at a young age and then losing a sibling later in life. They also get into grief, loss, and how it effects and inspires the work they do in movement spaces.

Follow us on twitter @pplscityprop and @pplscitycouncil.

Follow Albert on twitter: @digitalurn

Follow Melissa and Polo's Pantry: @mellemusic and @polospantry

Did you like our theme song? That's the homie Adam Smith. We are so thankful for this gift. Please support Adam on all them social networks. You can find him at @AdamOfTheSmiths