Local educators and human rights organizers have united to open the Center for People Power/ Centro del Poder Popular (CPP), a space dedicated to advancing grassroots activism in the North Bay. The CPP is located at 18346 Sonoma Highway in Boyes Hot Springs. The public opening of the space will be on Saturday, March 25th, between 1 PM and 5 PM. Media producers and journalists are invited to cover this historic event.
The CPP is being launched and run by a BIPOC-led collective of activists committed to struggling against all forms of oppression and exploitation in the heart of unincorporated Sonoma Valley. This struggle encompasses dismantling white supremacy and achieving reparations to people of African descent and the return of ancestral lands to the traditional Indigenous Onasatis Nation violently displaced by settler colonialism.
The CPP will offer the following services to the larger community:
Judith Talaugon, one of CPP founders and a veteran of the American Indian Movement, describes the CPP in this way:
“We speak the truth to power and bring power to truth utilizing community dialogue and education, translating narratives told by us, about us, and for us, into tools for leaders, advocates, and community members– creating a more equitable Sonoma Valley.”
According to D’mitra Smith, Human Rights and Equity Consultant and also one of the CPP founders:
“Honesty is a prerequisite for justice. The CPP will provide a home for transparency and multicultural community engagement as we center BIPOC history, leadership and powerful vision for a just future.”
As Chantavy Tornado, another CPP founder and founder of Love and Light Sonoma County, puts it:
“We work in a cultural circle of interdependence, acknowledgement of our generational trauma, to our generational wealth of fight and wisdom, our cultural Indigenous roots will empower collective holistic healing and the ownership of our individual radical love and light.”
In the words of Ka’lane Raposa, CPP founder, musician, and human rights activist:
“The CPP is a place where I can stand in my truth and know that I will be safe and supported by a family that shares the same or similar truths…”
Mario Castillo, a long-term community organizer for justice in the Springs, envisions the CPP as a step towards shifting the county’s power dynamics:
“We can’t keep waiting for our turn. We need to be at the table now.”
For more information, contact [email protected].
The CPP is being launched and run by a BIPOC-led collective of activists committed to struggling against all forms of oppression and exploitation in the heart of unincorporated Sonoma Valley. This struggle encompasses dismantling white supremacy and achieving reparations to people of African descent and the return of ancestral lands to the traditional Indigenous Onasatis Nation violently displaced by settler colonialism.
The CPP will offer the following services to the larger community:
- A free space for community meetings and action planning on pressing issues.
- A space for community events, poetry readings, musical performances, film screenings, presentations, and small art/ photography exhibits.
- A community library featuring rare books and magazines on liberation movements and revolutions within and beyond the United States.
- A recording studio to create local radio programs and podcasts.
- A production space to create print media in both English and Spanish.
- An educational space for workshops and classes by artists, musicians, activists, and more.
Judith Talaugon, one of CPP founders and a veteran of the American Indian Movement, describes the CPP in this way:
“We speak the truth to power and bring power to truth utilizing community dialogue and education, translating narratives told by us, about us, and for us, into tools for leaders, advocates, and community members– creating a more equitable Sonoma Valley.”
According to D’mitra Smith, Human Rights and Equity Consultant and also one of the CPP founders:
“Honesty is a prerequisite for justice. The CPP will provide a home for transparency and multicultural community engagement as we center BIPOC history, leadership and powerful vision for a just future.”
As Chantavy Tornado, another CPP founder and founder of Love and Light Sonoma County, puts it:
“We work in a cultural circle of interdependence, acknowledgement of our generational trauma, to our generational wealth of fight and wisdom, our cultural Indigenous roots will empower collective holistic healing and the ownership of our individual radical love and light.”
In the words of Ka’lane Raposa, CPP founder, musician, and human rights activist:
“The CPP is a place where I can stand in my truth and know that I will be safe and supported by a family that shares the same or similar truths…”
Mario Castillo, a long-term community organizer for justice in the Springs, envisions the CPP as a step towards shifting the county’s power dynamics:
“We can’t keep waiting for our turn. We need to be at the table now.”
For more information, contact [email protected].