War Of The Flea Podcast

In this episode the dysfunctional crew talks to Jennifer Allen Aroz, League of Conservation Voter's (LCV) senior vice president of community engagement who founded Chispa in 2014. Chispa is the community organizing/engagment arm of LCV that is staffed by Xicana/o/x and Latina/o/x organizers in barrios and cities across the country creating community based committees that are addressing environmental justices issues.    Here is a link to learn more about Chispa and the work they are doing across the country. https://www.lcv.org/chispa/

In this second part the Dysfunctionals finish their conversation with Michigan State University professor Dr. Yomaira Figueroa. This converstation got so interesting it went long and we had to break it into two parts. Listen to the first part here. Below is a link to Dr. Figueroa's website.  And as always mad respect to The Fugees. http://www.yomairafigueroa.com/ Guantanamera by The Fugees

This week the Dysfunctionals talk with Michigan State University professor Dr. Yomaira Figueroa. This converstation got so interesting it went long and we had to break it into two parts. Listen to the first part here. Below is a link to Dr. Figueroa's website.  And as always mad respect to The Fugees.   http://www.yomairafigueroa.com/ Guantanamera by The Fugees

In this episode of The Reality Dysfunction, the dysfunctionals talk with Pete Vargas the Resturant Organizing Center Michigan director who is raising money and moblizing Black and Brown organizers to help defeat Donald Trump in the fall. 

This week on The Reality Dysfunction the dysfunctionals are talking with Dr. Carlos Aleman the deputy director of Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama a non-profit organization, created in 1999, which aims to improve the quality of life for Latinos living in Alabama. In addition to these duties Dr. Aleman recently ran for Homewood, Al., city council and won with a resounding 58% of the vote. It is important to note that Homewood is 80 percent white. A truly impressive win. 

The week the Dysfunctionals take on the Republican National Convention and it ain't pretty. 

This week the dysfunctionals take on the Democratic National Convention and it's underwhelming Xicano/Latino presence. It's a free ranging conversation but important as we come to grips with our political presence in this country. 

In this episode of The Reality Dysfunction, our dysfunctional gang talks with three term state of Michigan House representative Vanessa Guerra. Representative Guerra, (D-95th district) won the August 4, primary against four time incumbent Saginaw County Clerk Michael Hanley. Guerra won by a landslide 6000 votes in largely rural county in which Mexicans make up eight percent of the population. The gang has many questions for Guerra and she has lots of advice for young people (and old) about running for office and how and when to get involved. In addition to Rep. Guerra our usual dysfunctional crew of Alexandra Lozada (NY), Juan Carlos Vega (Washington DC), Rainer Delgado (MI), Daniel Soza (MI), Francisco Lopez, (CA), Carlos Hernandez (TX) and Ernesto Mireles (AZ). Also joining us for the podcast are Maria Zavala Paredes, Carolina Sanchez and Cecilia Olvera.

Greetings Dysfunctionals in the second part of our conversation on sports mascots the crew is speaking with Karen Schaumann-Beltran, Maria Zavala Paredes, and Monica Washington Padula the leader of a successful 6-year campaign in Paw Paw, Michigan, to rid the local high school of their racist Redskin’s mascot. Their stories are gripping and will give all of us real insight into how a successful anti mascot campaign is conducted and the personal price the people organizing the campaign pay.   The cast of dysfunctional regulars appears, Alexandra Lozada, Daniel Soza, Francisco Lopez, Rainer Delgado, Juan Carlos Vega and myself Ernesto Todd Mireles.   This is the link to the article referenced several times in the podcast. Hispanic activist want Chicano Studies classes censored

In this episode of The Reality Dysfunction the crew takes on the issue of sports mascots and the deeply ingrained anti-indigenous nature of so called "respect" in the naming of sports teams.   

This episode of The Reality Dysfunction is a special presentation of Mexicanos 2070. The description for the talk is below.    Mexicanos2070 will host Elena Herrada, a Detroit activist to talk about the issue of the repatriation of Mexicans after the Great Depression.   The U.S. used the Mexican community as a convenient scapegoat from the economic devastation of the Depression. No other immigrant groups were being targeted for repatriation. By enacting laws depriving Mexicans of employment, mandating restrictive immigration policies and supporting deportation at the federal, state and local level, Americans became reassured in their endeavors of a more open job market. Due to these conditions in the U.S.   The reason that this topic holds importance among the other aspects of Latino history is that it is something that the U.S. has chosen to forget. The vitality of this topic also poses the idea that something like this could happen again regarding the future of Mexican immigrants in the United States.

In this episode of The Reality Dysfunction we talk about national politics and how we can get past our own egos, drop the fingerwagging (name shaming), identity boxes and what it will take to build a politcal persona in the Xicano/Latino community across the country. 

In this episode of The Reality Dysfunction your panel discusses immigration, someof the recent successes and the importance of getting involved and a little bit on why we cant get this amnesty done.

Dr. Ernesto Todd Mireles (host of The Reality Dysfunction) discusses his recently published book Insurgent Aztlan: The liberating power of cultural resistance. Dr. Mireles currently works at Prescott College as faculty in the Social Justice Community Organizing Master’s program. He is closing in on three decades as an organizer.   As Xicanos navigate the first two decades of the 21st century, the Xicano Movement has arrived at a critical crossroads in terms of national identification. The process of indigenization that began in the 1990s is reaching a critical moment in the political development of the Xicanada. As a national community we are faced with grim political, economic and cultural decisions founded in the assertion the Xicano Movement is dead. Nationally, Xicanos must reflect on whether that description is accurate and means an actual political and cultural end or the evolution of the movement to an elevated level of resistance that could encompasses larger sections of Mexican Americans than ever be

In this freewheeling episode of The Reality Dysfunction, the dysfunctionals discuss the subject of Brown on Black prejudice.

Abolish the police has been the battle cry across the country for the past couple of weeks. This abolitionist movement is not new and has been working for decades to achieve this goal. This week, our gang of dysfunctionals talks about their own hopes around abolishing the police.  We are joined again by Dr. Cirien Saadeh of Minneapolis who is talking about some of the push back by the non profit sector to stop the total disbanding of the police. 

Today we are talking about the recent rebellions taking place across this country as reactions to the deaths of Geroge Floyd, Breona Taylor and Auhmad Arbery. Black men and women visciously murdered by the police all within the past month.  Our dysfunctional crew of experts takes on the topic and how it applies to the Xicano/Latino community and what we need to be doing in our own communities to support and validate Black lives while preparing politically to end the mass incarceration of children on the border, men and women in prison, and the disregard the colonial system has for Black and Brown lives. This episode was recorded on June 3, 2020. In this episode we mention a few different links. You can find them below.  Sign the petition to reinstate the Raza Unida Party Facebook page. https://www.change.org/REINSTATERAZAUNIDA Also, if you get a chance check out my latest blog post You Say You Want a Revolution? 

This episode of The Reality Dysfunction has us talking to Dr. Cirien Saadeh and Cruz Rodriguez, both of them are organizer/activists in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This conversation was recorded on Friday May 28, the day after the Minneapolis Third Police Precinct building was torched by protesters demanding justice on behalf of the murdered George Floyd.  Floyd was choked to death by Derek Chauvin a Minneapolis police officer with a history of violent behavior toward people of color. In the last few days spontaneous uprisings have occurred in cities across the United States all demanding justice and an end to the murder of black and brown people by the police.  Below you will find links to a number of organizations that are doing important work on the ground in Minneapolis. Donate if you can.    *note* do not include “BLM” in your payment note, some are getting blocked. Also many orgs listed below are in immediate need as well, please check out that section. Immediate Need (updated 5/30 6:00pm) : WFPC Direct Act

This special episode of The Reality Dysfunction was recorded April 23, 2020, in a Zoom/Facebook live webinar hosted by Mexicanos 2070 an organization I have been working with for close to a year now.  In this presentation the moderator is myself Dr. Ernesto and the panelists are all current members of the Raza Unida Party located in the Pacoima/San Fernando area. Our speakers are Ernesto Ayala, Jenaro Ayala, Estela Ayala, and Amado Guzman. This is a dynamic conversation about the current state of Xicano/a politics and the necessity of building organization in our communities.

In the episode of The Reality Dysfunction: X/L Edition our panel of dysfunctional experts on the Xicano Lation community take on the issues of gentrification. As the children of white flighters find their way back into the inner city Xicanos/Latinos find themselves faced once again with physical, emotional and economic displacement from neighborhoods that have generational significance.  Perhaps a part of the solution to gentrification can be found in the development of political, economic and educational strucutures that push the Xicano/Latino community beyond our colonized relationship with the United States. Find us on Facebook Find us on Twitter: @ernestomireles @alexandralozada