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Bianca Cunningham: From AfroSOC to Elections to Eviction Defense

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Black Work Talk
Black Work Talk
Bianca Cunningham: From AfroSOC to Elections to Eviction Defense
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When thousands of people occupied the park across from New York City Hall in 2020 to demand defunding of the police, “it turned into a huge mutual aid project, and we had to look at what keeps a community safe,” Bianca Cunningham said. Cunningham, now a  campaign director at Action Center for the New Economy, reflected on her range of organizing experiences with Black Work Talk co-hosts Steven Pitts and Toussaint Losier. The energy of the #BlackLivesMatter protests flowed into eviction defense; Cunningham and other supporters of the first Black homeowner on her block faced off against violent landlord goons. Working closely with the eight socialists elected to the New York State legislature, NYC DSA is injecting an element of collective organizing into constituent services—for example, mobilizing for better housing policies at the state level.  In the big picture, Cunningham says, “socialism is the only way to ensure that people get what they need to survive.” She joined DSA and co-founded the AfroSocialist and Socialist of Color Caucus; it started as a happy hour to build relationships, and has grown into a space for people of color inside and outside DSA  who are “radicals and leftists and socialist-curious.” 


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