Track: Seeding a World Beyond Militarism by Practicing Trust, Reciprocity, and Abundance
Speakers:
- Rose Cahn, Program Officer, Human Rights, Heising-Simons Foundation
- Chhaya Chhoum, Executive Director, Southeast Asian Freedom Network
- Eric Martinez, Executive & Policy Director, Mano Amiga
Moderator:
- Lorraine Ramirez, Executive Director, Funders for Justice
Session Description:
In recent years, ring-wing state governments across the country have passed some of the harshest anti-immigrant policies in modern history. In Texas for example, over $11 billion in public dollars has been reallocated toward enforcement and militarization of the border as a product of recent controversial policies like Operation Lone Star and SB4¹. Using fear-invoking, “law and order”, anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric, leaders are leveraging political power to harm Black and Brown communities. While there is a focus at the national level on the threats posed by Project 2025 – and a potentially harsher federal enforcement landscape regardless of the Presidential election outcome – Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, including immigrants and refugees, are already facing heightened criminalization.
Join this session to hear from a panel of speakers working to end the criminalization of Black and Brown communities while building a liberatory future for all.