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Join the Democratic Socialists of America Fund, Dissentmagazine, DSA’s Ecosocialist Working Group and Green New Deal Campaign Committee, Sunrise Movement, Verso, Haymarket, Lux magazine, and In These Times for the second installment in a series of virtual events inspired by the film The Big Scary “S” Word. This month’s discussion will focus on climate change and the fight for a Green New Deal.

The Big Scary “S” Word, a new documentary feature from director Yael Bridges examining the past, present, and future of socialism in the United States, connects the dots between many of our social and economic crises and focuses on American socialists’ responses.  

On June 9, the filmmaker will join us to show a clip from the film and answer questions about the movie. The panelists will discuss and respond to your questions about how we get where we need to go now to combat climate change and fight for a Green New Deal.

Yael Bridge is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker. She produced Left on Purpose, winner of the Audience Award at DOC NYC. She was also the director of productions at Inequality Media, making viral videos that tackled complex political issues and gained over 100 million views in 2016. She holds an MFA in documentary film and video from Stanford University and an MA in media studies from the New School. She resides in Oakland, where she works as a filmmaker and film educator.

Marquita Bradshaw is a single mom who grew up in South Memphis. She is an alumna of the University of Memphis. After graduating, she worked in grassroots organizing around a military landfill. While doing that work, she learned from her parents, Doris and Ken, the relational organizing model that secured her Senate nomination. Marquita’s career and service have spanned labor, environment, education reform, tax reform, trade policy, and social justice work. After making history in the state of Tennessee as the first black woman nominated for a statewide position, Marquita formed Sowing Justice, a non-profit dedicated to increasing civic engagement in communities experiencing environmental racism and injustice.

Rep. Ruth Buffalo is a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. She is originally from Mandaree. Ruth has served in various capacities focused on building healthy and safe communities. Ruth was elected into the North Dakota House of Representatives in 2018 and proudly serves the people of District 27 in south Fargo. 

Rep. Jeanné Kapela serves in the Hawai’i State House of Representatives, where she is the Vice Chair for the Committee on Education. Before holding elected office, Jeanné served her community as a board of directors member for the Kona Coffee Farmers Association and Kona Coffee Cultural Festival. She has also worked as a service provider for survivors of sexual exploitation. She is the first woman and Native Hawaiian to represent her district. Jeanné is committed to strengthening racial, gender, and economic justice throughout Hawai’i and pursuing Green New Deal policies that uplift people and our planet.

 Javier Miranda is a Venezuelan-American and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He lives in a small apartment in St. Paul with a broke-ass car. He installs solar panels for a living, and hopes to see a world free of borders.

Thea Riofrancos is an associate professor of political science at Providence College, an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2020-2022), and a Radcliffe Institute Fellow (2020-2021). Her research focuses on resource extraction, renewable energy, climate change, green technology, social movements, and the left in Latin America. These themes are explored in her book, Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020) and her co-authored book, A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (Verso Books, 2019). She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and serves on the organization's Green New Deal Campaign Committee.

 Ashik Siddique is an organizer with Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, and serves on DSA’s Ecosocialist Working Group steering committee.

This event could go as late as 9:30pm Eastern.