August 2017 Episode of Solidarity Is This

Deepa Iyer:

Hello friends. This is Deeepa Iyer, and you're listening to the August episode of Solidarity Is This. So I don't know about you, but I'm feeling the weight of this very long, hot summer. I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago filling her in on this podcast and she asked, "How do you find content?" And I said, "Well, there's no shortage when it comes to racial injustice, especially in this moment." And this month has been no different. Plus, we've got two eclipses to boot and Mercury's in retrograde. So there's a lot to talk about.

Deepa Iyer:

In August, we are going to be talking with Greisa Martinez and Patrice Lawrence about how we can practice solidarity around two immigration programs that may be on the chopping block. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals also known as DACA, and Temporary Protected Status, also known as TPS. And later, I'll be talking about Charlottesville with an Indian American student who's a sophomore at the University of Virginia. So first, I'm so excited to welcome Greisa and Patrice to Solidarity Is This. If you are not following these two amazing advocates, you should remedy that immediately. Greisa Martinez is the advocacy director at United We Dream. And Patrice Lawrence is the policy and advocacy coordinator for the UndocuBlack Network. Sisters, welcome to Solidarity Is This.

Greisa Martinez:

So good to be on.

Patrice Lawrence:

Thanks for having us.

Deepa Iyer:

So I want to start by asking both of you to share a little bit about yourselves, what your story is, and why you are doing the movement work that you're doing. I wanted to start with you Greisa because I saw you just a few days ago in Washington, DC, leading the charge at a defend DACA, defend TPS rally. Here's a clip of what you said about yourself there.

Audio:

I am undocumented, unafraid, and unapologetic. [foreign language]

Deepa Iyer:

That was really powerful, Greisa. Can you share a little bit more about why you talk about your personal story and how you got into the work that you do?

Greisa Martinez:

I share my story because for so many years I bottled it up for myself and I was ashamed. And now that I feel like I've been able to come out of the shadows and out of my shame, I feel like I just have to say it everywhere I go. And so at United We Dream we believe in the power of transformation of sharing that someone like me crossed the border when I was seven years old with my mom and my dad and my little sister and that we made the choice to come into this country because we had dreams and aspirations and we wanted to ensure that we did it in a place where we can be safe and we could be together.

Deepa Iyer:

Greisa, I've heard you share your personal story a number of times now since the time I've met you and it's always powerful. I think the way that you mention your parents and you talk about that walk across the border, I know that others are moved by it just as I am. So your courage is really a testament and I can see other people being moved when you share it so thank you for sharing it again on our podcast. Patrice, you're with the UndocuBlack Network. Can you tell us a little bit about what motivated you to become part of this movement?

Patrice Lawrence:

Yeah, definitely. Thank you, Deepa. Really happy to be here. Hi Greisa.

Greisa Martinez:

Hey.

Patrice Lawrence:

Hey boo. My name is Patrice, I'm with the on UndocuBlack Network also known as Just a Pat if people follow me on Twitter, that's my name. UndocuBlack has a very special place in my heart. It was one of the first places that I could go and really feel welcome and open and as if I was actually bearing my authentic true self, not some cliche, but that's exactly what it was. My story is of a young woman who came here, completed a bachelor's degree, her family spending whatever they could. That type of a story and then losing status flaws in the system along the way. And there's just so many persons of color. So many black people with stories like that and UndocuBlack for me and doing this work for me is really important because we get to lift those stories up and we get to let persons know that we are here to stay, that we are here and that we are valuable and that this whole immigration thing is more complex than it's made to seem.

Deepa Iyer:

Patrice, you said that the immigration system is a lot more complex than it seems. Can you talk a little bit about what you mean by that?

Patrice Lawrence:

Often when people talk about it or politicians and they are like, we hear that people should get in line and get in the right way and it's just painted with a broad stroke. One, it takes away our human. Two, it takes away our rights to migrate. And three, it really robs us of dignity because it becomes the reason we should let this person see is because they contribute economically, it's because they benefit us somehow. And it's more than that as well as the fact that there's more than one way that someone becomes undocumented. For a lot of us it's because of visas, it's because of relationships that you had with the person who was supposed to "file for you", go through that actual process which can be very, very long, very, very tedious.

Patrice Lawrence:

It's very expensive. We're looking at nowhere less than $500 just to file one piece of paperwork. And if you're looking to adjust status, you're looking at paying thousands of dollars and it's taking several years depending on the route that you're taking to get it done and then we had things like the 1996 laws under the Clinton Administration that made things even harder for folks. So if you had any small mistake, any blemish in a record at all, then they could deny you the right to stay in this country whether or not you were here for two years, five years, or 15. That is not okay.

Deepa Iyer:

That's right.

Patrice Lawrence:

And that needs to be fixed, and those things need to be addressed, and those things need to be lifted off. Especially since in the interim, a lot of people have to do jobs that benefit everyone, one. Two, don't necessarily allow them to live their fullest lives, to be their truest self, whether domestic workers or home health aid, people taking care of their food. If people really sat back and thought it through, you know one of us, you've seen one of us, you've loved one of us, you've respected one of us. So then to make the conversation just basic and [inaudible] is really unfortunate.

Deepa Iyer:

Thanks so much, Patrice. I think that you summarized so many of the complications, so many of the negative messages that people have and say about undocumented folks in that short amount of time. And you talked about the quote reform laws, right? I use that in quotes, there are quotes. Immigration welfare in 1996, there have been many other types of enforcement policies, the detention deportation system, national security infrastructure after 9/11 and the like that really got to a point during the Obama years where undocumented immigrants especially youth began to push back. And Greisa, to hear from you about this because we played a clip about the defend DACA, defend TPS march that happened in DC on August 15th which was the five year anniversary of DACA.

Audio:

Fighting for justice. Fighting for justice. DACA, TPS. DACA, TPS.

Deepa Iyer:

And just to be clear for folks, DACA is a program that was put in place in 2012 by president Obama after tremendous grassroots pressure. Really was the movement of folks who are undocumented, undocumented youth, undocumented workers, communities coming together to place that pressure on president Obama and DACA protects eligible immigrant youth from deportation and provides a work permit for two years after which it needs to be renewed. So tell us Greisa, why on August 15th did United We Dream and many organizations around the country do a defend DACA, defend TPS march. Why is DACA under threat?

Greisa Martinez:

So there's this awful guy named Ken Paxton and he is the attorney general of the state of Texas which, I love the state of Texas because that's my home. But this guy that has said publicly that if Donald Trump does not in this program that protects me and 800,000 other young people from deportation that he will do it himself and attack it legally. And that's a problem. And it's also a problem that there are people with temporary protective status that are black and brown people that are being threatened by this administration and said that their protections, their ability to live without fear of deportations and work will also be stripped systematically in the months to come.

Greisa Martinez:

And so I think for United We Dream there is a clear connection here with what happened in Charlottesville and the chance that white [inaudible] KKK members were chanting around immigrants. David would not be to replace. That is speaking directly to the heart of the people in the community that Patrice and I represent and I think that for United We Dream is important to be clear about our resistance to that message and also to reclaim the joy of our community, to reclaim the fact that we can come together and dance and have drumming and chant to our heart to contend. It was such a blessing to have folks from UndocuBlack, Jonathan representing an UndocuBlack sort of chanting together....

Deepa Iyer:

Jonathan Jayes-Green?

Greisa Martinez:

Yeah. He was amazing. He was fire. But I think knowing that the third to DACA and TPS is the tip of the iceberg of Trump and Republicans, like white nationalist agenda. And we must [inaudible] with joy, with song, and with action.

Deepa Iyer:

And this particular march on August 15th was replicated in different parts of the country as well?

Greisa Martinez:

Yeah, that was the most cool thing because you saw there were 53 actions across 40 cities at the same time and our members in Austin, Texas, sort of took over the office of this awful guy Ken Paxton. And they did not leave there until... Their messages was, "We'll not leave until you stop your attack on DACA and young people." And unfortunately they were arrested and there was no response from Ken Paxton. But I think that the thing that was clear is that people like myself, people like Patrice, like my mom, we're not alone and there's like millions of people out there willing to take action, willing to speak out and put their bodies on the line too, to be able to preserve this vision of what we all have of what America should be and what we're striving for it to be.

Deepa Iyer:

Early September is the timeline that we're looking at when it comes to a potential decision on DACA by the Trump Administration but it's not the only program that this administration might eliminate. Also at stake is Temporary Protected Status or TPS as it's called, which refers to the designation a country receives from the department of home line security. If that country has certain conditions like a civil war or an environmental disaster that prevented from handling the return of its nationals. So this includes nationals from countries like El Salvador, Yemen, Haiti, and Somalia, but the administration is signaling that it is reviewing these designations of TPS as well as the program generally. So Patrice, I want to turn to you to tell us a little bit about what the real life impact would be on people if TPS status is removed and how many people do you all think could be affected if TPS is eliminated?

Patrice Lawrence:

For the numbers, we're looking at about 305,000 people from 10 different countries. And we see a big push against it under the Trump Administration. I'm not sure they really understand the program and if they do [inaudible] as if they don't care to keep it, it really does the kind of sentiment that we heard over the weekend of just folks deliberately being against anybody who is not white for no reason at all, other than he. So in terms of what this will do for folks, this will take away their work permit, it will take away their legal status to remain in the country, and it will force them to make a difficult decision. Either they pack their bags and go back to a country which they haven't seen in years. Some of them have actually never seen the country because of the way this is set up. You can be a national at a place and you've never lived there. Coming back to whole complicated immigration really is. Or staying here and becoming undocumented and then we know the struggles that comes with that.

Deepa Iyer:

Those aren't really choices at all.

Patrice Lawrence:

They're not. It's like a rock in a hard place. What do you do? Especially if you're in a mixed status family or there's different people that you support, that you take care of, that take care of you. And this various ages and these are people who are in school, these are people who are working, these are people who are parents, these are people who are living their lives. And it's possible that they're just going to end the program all together. That's the type of power that the DHS secretary has and that really is then power of life or death. Not fair at all.

Deepa Iyer:

It's important I think that listeners understand that many of the TPS nationals we're talking about are black, right? They're black immigrants and there are class and race elements here that I think are important to unpack. I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit Patrice about how UndocuBlack is lifting up these issues.

Patrice Lawrence:

So it's 10 different countries, then half of them are black or black majority countries. What we've really been trying to do is to make sure that the people who are actually from these countries are lifting up their own stories so that it's not lost exactly where they're coming from and the need to extend these programs. So we did that with Haiti and we're looking to do that with Sudan and South Sudan and Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Haiti. And then of course we've got the central American countries like Nicaragua and Honduras which of course have aqua Latinos. These people exist and so we really feel connected to this work and we really feel it necessary to lift up TPS because it's just a cross section of individuals and that's who we are.

Deepa Iyer:

So Greisa, often times I think when we think about the immigrant rights movement it is portrayed even though it is not true at all as Patrice just reminded us that it's a Latinx movement primarily, right. But we know and I know that you have in your organization, individuals who are Asian-American, South Asian, South East Asian, Muslim, Arab, from all different countries who are coming together, right. And so, given that this is a podcast about solidarity practice, I wanted to ask both of you and starting with you Greisa, this sense of defend DACA, defend TPS, it seems like a very strategic decision, right. To bring this message together and bring the communities together. Can you share a little bit about what you've learned in this process of doing that but also some of the challenges, like some real talk around some of the challenges that come up when we do solidarity practice bringing brown and black communities together in particular.

Greisa Martinez:

At United We Dream we have a commitment and a vision to ensure that the country understands that the issue of immigration is an issue of race and class. Our futures are tied to one another. When we win, we win together, when we lose, we lose together. So in this moment of uncertainty with Donald Trump sort of at the head of the administration and politicians wanting to spice and dice us as a community, I think it's been so important for us to be able to brand ourselves in love. And that love is not just being able to retweet each other and/or having someone on our graphics that is not Latino also. Rolling up our sleeves and doing the difficult work ensuring that the voice of people or that our resources are uplifting stories that are not the traditional stories.

Greisa Martinez:

And then knowing full well that we're in it for the long haul and that our work needs to be able to reflect that. It's been really fun. A lot of really cool conversations and it won't ever be over. It always will be an iterative process and so I find joy in it and I know that United We Dream is committed to doing that and ensuring that young people in general have spaces where they be the strategist, that they could be the masters of their own destiny on behalf of themselves and their family. So always really happy to be. But to talk about that and struggle through that together.

Deepa Iyer:

Yeah. I think struggle is the key word, right? It's not... Solidarity sounds great but it is actually a struggle and it's a very deliberate process of, like you said, who are we lifting up? Who are we tokenizing? Who are we actually building with? And Patrice, I wanted you to weigh in on that too. What are some of the challenges that you see? What are some of the success stories that you see in bridging and doing the solidarity work on immigration in particular?

Patrice Lawrence:

It's been a really good process. It's been an interesting process. It's been a sleepless process but it's been a very necessary process. The more people think that they are removed from this, I think more and more people are realizing that they're not. It comes even when we start to share stories with each other. So we've got stories of folks who are undocumented or have been and now have these protections of TPS or DACA. And when they tell you what it has allowed them to achieve, what it has allowed them to do, it has allowed them to study something that they've always wanted to.

Patrice Lawrence:

It has allowed them to work somewhere that they really feel wanted and they really feel appreciated. It has allowed them to share their voice and to help someone else. It's the same thing. And it's the same thing if you came from Mexico or if you came from Haiti. It is the same story just different bodies. And I think it's really important to share that and then of course there are other persons who don't have status and then when you talk to them they will tell you the dreams that they have, the hopes that they have for themselves, the hardships that they've been through, it's all similar, it's all the same. And that's why for me doing this type of work and being in solidarity with each other is really important because it gives you an experiential thing of understanding how close we are to each other.

Deepa Iyer:

So I want to turn a little bit into kind of what can folks do, right? Both of you have identified the month of September and the lead up to the month of September as very, very important and something that everyone should be paying attention to. Patrice, you talked about an action that's coming up on August 26th. I'm wondering if both of you can share two to three action steps that you want people who are listening to this podcast to be taking, whether it is online, whether it's in person. So Greisa, do you want to start and tell us kind of what your wishlist is for a couple of action steps that people should be taking right now after they listen to this?

Greisa Martinez:

I have a belief that this woman is made for a freedom fighter. People that know that what's happening in this country is wrong and that there is a better way to be able to move forward. And so if you are one of those people who you believe that immigrants should be together and the family should be together, then you should do three things. One, text here to stay to 877877, and join the United We Dream community of people fighting back.

Greisa Martinez:

The second thing I would say is go to [inaudible] daca.com where you'll find some of our targets that we're demanding, that they keep the DACA program in place, but give them a call. And then the third thing is like, we're going to be in action as Patrice [inaudible] for the next month or so. We're going to have a mass mobilization here in Washington, DC, in September, [inaudible] of September so you should join us. And I mean, the other thing is just follow the leadership of UndocuBlack, follow the leadership of black women of color or women of color. Those would be the things that if you want to be a good freedom fighter you should do.

Deepa Iyer:

And Patrice, do you have a few other things to add for all the freedom fighters out there that are listening?

Patrice Lawrence:

I love that. Thanks Greisa. So yeah, this why we get along. So August 26th [crosstalk]... I love it.

Deepa Iyer:

I can feel that love through the airwaves. It's real.

Greisa Martinez:

It's real. August 26th is a big day for us. From 6:00 we'll be at Morrow park. That is actually the destination that NACA [inaudible] and all those who are part of these vigils. They have blessings every morning I believe at 9:00 AM, vigils every evening at 6:00 PM from now until September 5th. This is in Washington, DC, right outside the white house. They'll be at Morrow park. You'll find it. Just go towards the white house if you there and we want folks to go out there and to tweet hashtag save TPS, hashtag defend DACA, hashtag TPS for Haiti, hashtag TPS for Sudan, hashtag TPS for South Sudan. All those hashtags, but if you remember nothing else, remember save TPS, remember defend DACA and go take pictures, go take videos, go speak to people, go hold that sign for an hour or two, and go retweet that, go post it on Facebook, Instagram, wherever. Let's flock social media with this love. Let's flock social media with this fight so people can know more about it.

Deepa Iyer:

That's great. And we're going to be incorporating because you said a mouthful. So we're going to be incorporating a lot of what you said, what you both said into the solidarity syllabus for this month's Solidarity Is This podcast and you can find that syllabus with information on DACA and TPS and the actions that are going to be taking place in Washington and around the country and the actions that folks can take on their own online, on the phone, in person. We'll have all of that available in the solidarity syllabus which you can access at www.solidarityis.org. That's www.solidarityis.org. So with that, I want to thank you both Greisa and Patrice for taking time to be on the podcast with me. I'm always as you know, inspired and odd by the work that you both do for your communities, for all of our communities, our movements. And I know that folks who are listening will be similarly inspired. So thank you so much.

Greisa Martinez:

Thank you, Deepa. Thanks for your leadership and your work.

Patrice Lawrence:

Thank you, Deepa. Really appreciate this.

Audio:

[inaudible]

Deepa Iyer:

We're taping this just a few days since white supremacists marched through the streets of Charlottesville and the university of Virginia. And as people all around the world know Heather Heyer was killed by a man who had ties to white supremacist groups. He drove a car into a crowd of protestors. What has happened since then has been mind blowing. People of color are feeling embattled and are rising in resistance around the country. We know that cities like Baltimore and Richmond have been taking down symbols of white supremacy in the form of statues and markers that pay homage to the Confederacy and 45 has dangerously and falsely equated white supremacists and those who are on the side of justice.

Deepa Iyer:

We're still seeing how this plays out, right? But what we do know now is that we're in a time and a moment where a lot of people are looking to discuss what happened, looking to teach, looking to resist in the wake of Charlottesville. And it is also not lost on me that when we started this podcast in June, we were actually talking about the attack that happened on a train in Portland, Oregon. And we had a conversation about white supremacy then, and two months later we're talking about Charlottesville. It's also important for folks to know that the visible rise in white supremacy organizations will continue. There are marches that are planned around the country in coming weekends including anti-Sharia marches that are planned in September.

Deepa Iyer:

And so this is a time when we all have to be vigilant and safe but at the same time understand how we can use this moment to teach and resist and discuss. And over at www.solidarityis.org. We put together a list of resources that might be useful for folks who are looking for information and resources in the wake of the horrific incidents in Charlottesville. I am joined now by [inaudible] who is a sophomore at the university of Virginia and Velas was on campus actually when these horrific incidents occurred. He's also an officer with the Indian Students Association on campus. Velas thanks so much for joining the podcast.

Velas:

Hey Deepa, thanks so much for having me.

Deepa Iyer:

So you were on campus when the white supremacy's marched through the city of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia where you go to school. Can you tell me a little bit about what you observed and what you experienced?

Velas:

So everyone expected the white nationalist, Alt-Right, Neo-Nazi whatever you want to call it, rally to on Saturday. There was talk of the permits that they had gathered, the number of people that were going to come, but nobody really expected them to have come to our grounds the night before on Fridays 11th. They came in swarms, carrying torches and marched from a field that was five minutes away from where I lived to the lawn at my school. And I just happened to be outside with a friend driving in a car when we saw the swarm of white nationalists making their way towards the rotunda.

Deepa Iyer:

Yeah. It must have been such a shocking image, right? I mean, for you to even see this happening.

Velas:

Yeah, exactly. There was a KKK rally that happened a few weeks prior and there were 30 of them that showed up and I was completely taken aback to see the sheer number of people who were at this rally who just happened to come for no other reason but to intimidate students at UVA, because what else would they have been trying to promote? It was nothing more than a show of intimidation and the desire to invite violence

Deepa Iyer:

And to also send this message right around. The chance that they were giving blood and soil and Jews weren't replaces. I mean, really kind of reflecting this very anti-immigrant. And we were talking to Grace Martinez and Patrice Lawrence before we chatted with you who are immigrant rights activist and they also kind of eluded to how some of the chance that and beliefs that the white supremacist had and showed really reflect this very xenophobic anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti people of color sentiment. And it sounds like you heard that kind of firsthand and saw it.

Velas:

It's important to remember at the same time that, like you mentioned earlier, that white supremacy and this concept of white nationalism I suppose isn't something that's new. It's caused the life of people like [inaudible] and other people have died as a product of this. Charlottesville's just on a bigger scale. And I hope that these people don't forget that these are national trends that are involved in by the president that won't just subside because we take down the monuments at some point that we do, but that's not all we have to do. And it worries me that as Charlottesville fades away in people's memories so will all the pain that the city has endured and also that people understand that there need to be structural changes that made in order for real progress to happen.

Deepa Iyer:

That is a very astute comment Velas, and you're absolutely right. I mean, I think that it's important to realize that this particular administration has in a way emboldened, like you said, white supremacists movements and groups to be more visible than they've been but they have always existed. They have always done harm particularly to black people in this country. And you mentioned and referred to [inaudible]. And for those who might not know who were listening, he was an Indian American engineer who was killed in Kansas in late February as he was sitting down to dinner with a friend by a man who had... He expressed his anti-immigrant views and asked a lot of questions about what the immigration status of the two people that he then shot Serene Vas was murdered and his friend was severely injured.

Deepa Iyer:

And so yes, this is part of a continuum and you are an officer with the Indian students association, right? And so I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about as an Indian American student at UVA, as someone who's on the executive board of the Indian students association, how do you think that Indian American students and South Asian students will be processing? I know folks have not all come back on campus yet but as they do you, how do you think that your organization and others will really create a space to process what happened in Charlottesville and also address white supremacy?

Velas:

When you think about the way in which you're going to respond, it's important that one remembers that an effective response takes into consideration the diversity of this student body here, as well as the importance of collaboration with other organizations. So one of the ideas that we're we're throwing around and hopefully comes into place is that we start an open dialogue with the rest of the school. Not just about the events that happened in Charlottesville, but what it really means to be a minority student in America. What it means to watch on the news that white nationalists are coming to your town and telling you that you're not an American and that this is not your country. Hopefully by illuminating other people and explaining what it feels like to see that not just in that context but on an everyday scale. Because what frustrates me a lot about the situation is people are incredibly surprised that this sort of bigotry and racism and hatred exists. It's something that a lot of us have to deal with on a systematic and regular basis. And I hope that creating this dialogue and we're thinking about actually doing it in the form of a podcast. Kind of inspired by what you're doing with Solidarity is This to really encourage other students to listen to the experiences of their peers and how white supremacy and this really horrible narrative is affecting them.

Deepa Iyer:

And I'm curious Velas, I know that as an Indian-American, right, and I think that many Indian Americans are people who have some amount of racial privilege in this country. Whether it is in terms of their economic status or the way that they're perceived by others, educational status, color, cast, other issues. I'm wondering if you have thoughts about how Indian American students in particular can make sure that they're not bystanders, right? That they are really standing up to white supremacy both in terms of what is happening from the outside but also in terms of beliefs that people in our own communities might hold anti-black beliefs or other forms of racism that people might hold within our own communities. Can you share a little bit about your thoughts on that?

Velas:

Speaking to the sentiments found within the Indian community itself. That I think is a lot more challenging question because you have to force a lot of people to recognize that they may be holding sentiments that they do not find to be wrong but are indeed problematic. I think one of the forces that causes this is a lack of interaction, I suppose. Lots of in-group out-group mentality where it's just amongst a group of [inaudible] people you say the N word because it's in a song where it gets acceptable. Just changing that narrative requires dialogue with other groups as well as the desire to engage with difference. Simultaneously understanding that you may be offending someone or be making a mistake in the way you treat other people, but all the while recognizing that some mistakes exists in the first place. You have to recognize that there's a problem to solve it. And we have to tackle both of those issues within the Indian community.

Deepa Iyer:

I agree completely. I think standing up for racial justice, standing up for black lives matter, standing up against white supremacy also involves confronting our own internal community racism, right? And it sounds like you all have that analysis and are ready to do that. I wanted to tell our listeners that you might be interested in an online viral campaign hashtag UVA love letters, groups like 18 million rising are really taking this on and making sure that folks are sending their love and support to the students at the university of Virginia. 40 of UVA student body according to 18 million rising are actually students of color like Velas and the organization that he belongs to. So this is our way from our podcast to send you Velas and the folks that you work with at the Indian students association our love and support. And I want to thank you for being on the podcast. Stay strong and stay safe and looking forward to continuing this conversation with you.

Velas:

Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Deepa Iyer:

So as we're closing out our August podcast, I want to thank Grace Martinez from United We dream, Patrice Lawrence from the UndocuBlack network, and Velas [inaudible] who's a sophomore at the University of Virginia and an officer with the Indian students association. All three I think really helped us flesh out what we need to be paying attention to right now. Whether it is around preserving DACA, preserving Temporary Protected Status, and also paying attention to the impact and fallout of what happened in Charlottesville. And those of you who want more information, want to dig into some of the action items that were mentioned, please take a look at the syllabus that we've put together that accompanies this podcast. You will find that at solidarityis.org. That's www.solidarityis.org. And I hope that folks will continue to subscribe to this podcast. You can do that on iTunes or other platforms and please share the podcast with your friends and family and your networks as well.

Deepa Iyer:

And if you have ideas for topics that are really connected to solidarity practice, please reach out to me and let me know online what you'd like to hear about as well. You can find me on Twitter at DV Iyer. So as we close I want to read a quote. This is from bell hooks and this is a quote on solidarity which reads, "Solidarity is not the same as support. To experience solidarity we must have a community of interests, shared beliefs, and goals around which to unite to build sisterhood. Support can be occasional. It can be given and just as easily withdrawn, but solidarity requires sustained ongoing commitment." Thank you again for joining us on our podcast and I will speak to you all in September.