Hard Knock Radio brought together two Bay Area organizers working at the intersection of immigration defense and civil liberties: Eric from the Friends of La Peña Immigrant Rights Committee, and Marisa Almor of East Bay Sanctuary Covenant. The conversation cut through the noise and focused on how people can protect themselves—and each other—amid rising repression.

The moment we’re in

Listeners are seeing lines blur fast. Undocumented neighbors are targeted. Dissent is branded as “Antifa.” Eric called the landscape “very dark,” citing a breakdown of guardrails in Congress and the courts. Yet he also sees a counter-force: millions mobilizing to defend constitutional rights—immigrants included.

Marisa’s perspective lands hard. She grew up with stories of Spain’s Franco dictatorship. The tools were familiar: surveillance, fear, and the chilling effect on everyday speech. She believes the current shift is bigger than a single community; it’s a political project widening its targets. Still, she notes, mass resistance is growing—and it doesn’t take a majority. “Roughly 3.5%” of the public can swing outcomes if organized and persistent.

History rhymes—and warns

We traced the parallels. COINTELPRO. The “war on drugs.” Today’s catch-all label of “Antifa.” The Black Panthers’ annihilation was named plainly. Eric and Marisa agreed: repression has long defined life for Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. What’s new is its expansion and brazenness. That should push us toward deeper solidarity, not purity tests or selective speech limits—even within the left.

Know Your Rights = first aid

Marisa framed Know Your Rights as first aid for civic life. You hope you never need it. But you’ll wish you had it when it counts.

Core guidance from the show:

• Stay silent until you have a lawyer.
• Do not consent to searches. Demand a judicial warrant (not an administrative ICE warrant).
• Record openly without interfering. Name the time, place, and officers if possible.
• Organize roles in the moment: one records, one calls the Rapid Response line, one gathers the impacted person’s info.

Friends of La Peña has distributed ~140,000 “red and yellow” rights cards and is training court watchers; they also support asylum applications and the Adopt-a-Corner effort for day laborers.

Action items

• Attend the workshop: Sat., Nov. 2, 2–4 pm at La Peña Cultural Center (3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley). Capacity ~150.
• Bring two friends. Learn, then train others.
• Volunteer: Court watch, rapid response, asylum support, community safety.

Resources:
Friends of La Peña Immigrant Rights Committee — flpir.org
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant — eastbaysanctuary.org

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

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