NEWSLETTER VOL 21 | Jan 2026

These days it's easy to get desensitized. In recent weeks alone, we've watched Iran's brutal protest crackdown and ICE raids and violence accelerating in our own country. Sustained compassion can feel like a heavy lift. But continuing to care about each other, especially when systems are designed to drain our empathy, is its own form of resistance.

People's Economy Lab frames what's at stake: ICE enforcement is fracturing labor markets, disrupting food systems and caregiving networks, threatening the people who feed us, care for our children, and build our homes. Minnesota has shown us that resistance can be rooted in block-by-block organizing to take care of neighbors. This month's blog offers practical steps for this moment: communicating strategically, documenting operations, switching where you shop and invest.

We also have something to learn from those that have overcome systemic challenges before. Limitless: Stories from the Neighborhood that Shaped Seattle captures how Central District residents, facing redlining and discrimination, opened their homes and built community anchors that shaped the entire city.

Small, sustained actions are how we fight back.

BLOG POSTS

WHAT WE’RE READING

Limitless:
Stories from the Neighborhood that Shaped Seattle

"Limitless” is a powerful collection of oral histories from the Central District—Seattle's historically Black neighborhood that many Seattle residents may not fully understand or appreciate. Edited by filmmaker Jill Freidberg, the book features narratives from former and current residents alongside original artwork by Central District artists.

Stories range from immigrating to redlined Seattle in the mid-20th century to navigating today's gentrification, celebrating community anchors like KYAC (Seattle's first Black-owned radio station) and the Black Panthers' community-building efforts. Many elders spoke of thriving for decades in the neighborhood, only to now feel isolated as waves of displacement erode the cultural commons they built.

As Freidberg told The Seattle Times, she clings to hope that stories can shift people's minds and behaviors—that understanding a place's history makes us better neighbors and more conscious of our impact on the communities we enter. In a moment when so many are grappling with how to show up for their communities, "Limitless" offers a roadmap grounded in listening, learning, and honoring what came before.

Immigrants and Refugees are at the Heart of our Communities and Economy

A recent post by The People's Economy Lab reminds us that immigrants and refugees are central to our community and that ICE’s enforcement tactics are both dehumanizing and economically destabilizing. Beyond the human toll, workplace raids and arrests are fracturing labor markets, disrupting supply chains, and creating economic risk across entire sectors—from food systems to caregiving to construction.

The post makes a crucial connection many miss: authoritarianism isn't just ideology, it's profit. A small group of corporations and wealthy individuals are using their capital to tip the scales toward extracting value from vulnerable communities while accumulating more wealth and control.

The piece highlights local organizations leading the defense work, encourages boycotting corporations that support ICE, redirecting spending to immigrant-owned businesses, and organizing mutual aid networks that build community resilience outside extractive systems.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Mon Rovîa (Janjay Lowe) is a Liberian-born, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter creating unique "Afro-Afro-Appalachian" folk music. His debut album, Bloodline, explores themes of war, adoption, grief, and identity. His music blends acoustic, melodic, and alternative sounds with tender, poetic storytelling, often addressing themes of displacement and belonging. 

Key Details About Mon Rovîa:

• Background: Born in Liberia during a civil war, he was adopted as a child by American missionaries.

• Musical Style: Described as "Afro-Appalachian," his sound incorporates elements of folk, with instrumentation featuring guitar, banjo, and ukulele.

• Themes: His work frequently tackles the complexities of being a Black man raised in a white, religious household, the trauma of war, and the search for identity.

• Album: His debut album, Bloodline (January 2026), deals with his personal history, including the loss of his parents and friends in Liberia.

• Hit Song: The folk-protest anthem "Heavy Foot" addresses government oppression and the power of love as resistance.