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1. for 663 to learn more.
2. This is April Grace, and you and I are listening to KPFK,
3. 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara,
4. 93.7 FM in San Diego, and 99.5 FM in Ridgecrest in China Lake.
5. Also streaming online at kpfk.org.
6. A world run by a handful of greedy bankers and CEOs
7. who nobody elected.
8. Can't possibly last.
9. I'm going to tell you a number of things.
10. But you really only have to remember two words.
11. Two words.
12. Two words.
13. Good afternoon and welcome to the Signal News Information and Analysis.
14. I'm your host, Dino.
15. So, listen, folks, let's start off with the obvious happy Fourth of July
16. For those of you who are taking the day off of work here in the studios, they locked us in and they said,
17. you guys are not going anywhere until you put together another episode of The Signal, news, information, and analysis.
18. So a couple of us got together, including our wonderful sound engineer, studio engineer, Ozzy,
19. and we were throwing some ideas around and said, okay, let's see what we're going to come up with today.
20. And so here's what we have lined up.
21. So we are going to open up the show with a commentary, a commentary on behalf of this program, this show, yours truly as your host,
22. on what it is to be at a day like this, the 4th of July, and what it represents during this political climate.
23. And before I get into that, let me also say that later in the program, we're going to talk to Wolfgang Bernandes, founder of Next Step Ministries, who is coordinating relief efforts, one of hundreds, if not thousands at this point, for the state of Venezuela, for the country of Venezuela.
24. as folks literally dig up from under the rubble of what were these devastating, horrific earthquakes
25. that happened now a couple of weeks ago and that has led to so much devastation, so much heartbreak.
26. And unfortunately, with rising death toll numbers, this is far from over.
27. So Wolfgang Fernandez, a Venezuelano himself, is coordinating some special relief efforts that we're going to talk to him about,
28. how you all can help and support and learn a little bit more about that.
29. And then we're going to close out the program with Christy Hernandez.
30. She is co-chair of the Maravilla Community Advisory Committee, MCAC,
31. who has been one of the organizations on the front lines of what is happening out in the east side,
32. East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, as you all know, and those of you who've been following our program,
33. we've been covering this issue since it started.
34. And unfortunately, you know, that too, like Venezuela, has a long way to go before folks can start to rebuild and recover
35. from what is an ongoing and consistent problem with how government, how officials and others treat the communities of Boyle Heights and East LA.
36. So we're going to bring a voice to that, continue to bring a voice to that important topic.
37. But here's the thing, folks.
38. You know when we talked about this show earlier in the week in fact I think it might have been last week with my producer Nella We were talking about you know we knew that it was going to be the 4th of July
39. And again, I want to thank everybody who's in studio
40. and is here giving up their time
41. to allow us to do this live broadcast.
42. We weren't going to take the day off
43. because we wanted to do this commentary.
44. I keep calling it a commentary,
45. but it really is a reflection,
46. a reflection of where we are
47. and what I keep describing as a moment to review what this idea of we the people represents, right?
48. Let's not forget the 4th of July is meant to be a holiday that marks the Continental Congress
49. adopting a written Declaration of Independence in 1776.
50. This particular 4th of July is the 250th anniversary and is a major cultural milestone for this country, whatever that means.
51. You can take it as is or you can apply different or various meanings to it.
52. But a cultural milestone, bringing together nationwide celebrations, parades, absolutely failed efforts out in D.C.,
53. some by the current administration that has resulted in utter waste of resources,
54. taxpayer dollars, putting on this 250, you know, self-praised glorification by the Trump
55. administration that we've now seen has been another failure, as has been his entire administration.
56. But then something happened this morning, and it really kind of threw me for a tailspin on the way
57. into the studio. I was talking to one of my colleagues. In fact, I started getting messages
58. early in the morning from colleagues, including some in D.C., who said, have you seen this?
59. And when I got here, I was chatting with Ozzy and others. Have you seen this? And some of you
60. already know what I'm talking about. New York Times, Newsweek, NBC, political, across all social
61. media platforms, you've been getting these reports, these images, indeed, these verified
62. described descriptions of white nationalists, white racist, bigoted nationalists marching in Washington.
63. Now, look, we're not going to get into whether or not this is their right.
64. As a broadcaster, as somebody who cherishes fundamentally the right to free speech,
65. I would never go down that path, not even for a racist.
66. Indeed, I think everybody has a right to express their positions, opinions, or otherwise ignorance, yours truly included.
67. But, you know, these reports started coming in, these social media reels and what do you call the other ones?
68. posts and, of course, we now have verified reports from news media, video, dramatic images
69. of these white nationalists crisscrossing the city of Washington, D.C., across the monuments
70. and protesting what they're calling the reclaiming of the United States of America.
71. Now, this group in particular is a group that is called the Patriot Front.
72. Yes, I think I got that right.
73. The Patriot Front, which, you know, dig this.
74. Let me share this for a second, right?
75. The Patriot Front is actually a Texas white nationalist neo hate group that splintered from the and you got to love these names Vanguard America in the aftermath of the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally led by Thomas Rousseau The
76. organization seeks to establish a white ethno-state in the United States championing an ideology of
77. racial and cultural
78. hemogenity.
79. Classified as a hate group
80. by watchdogs like the Southern Poverty
81. Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League,
82. this group, dig this,
83. disguises
84. its explicit fascist white supremacist
85. agenda under the guise of American
86. patriotism on this
87. day, the 4th of July, folks.
88. Members argue that only
89. people of white
90. European descent, are truly American, and advocate for the preservation of a pan-European identity.
91. The Patriot Fund is one of the most prolific distributors of racist, anti-immigrant,
92. anti-Semitic propaganda in the United States. They are responsible for the vast majority
93. of recorded hate-flying incidents across this country.
94. So beyond flyering, which is a term I just learned this morning, and marching in major cities, members have been tied to vandalism, targeting of black historic murals, attacks on LGBTQ, memorials, and community centers across the board.
95. These guys, for all intended purposes, could be described and categorized as all around hating bigots and racists who are today on the 4th of July while you and I are on the radio and Ozzy and I are here in the studio.
96. And many of you are preparing the carne asada, the barbecues, queseyo, on vacation at the river.
97. these bigots are at the nation's capital marching, exercising their freedom of speech,
98. and calling for their own state, essentially, according to the interweb on it.
99. Now, originally, I wanted to come on here and open up the program with this reflection on the,
100. not only 4th of July, but something else that happened earlier this week that has really
101. caught my attention, and that was the Supreme Court ruling, which ironically, ladies and gentlemen,
102. had everything to do with the issue of birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship, which went
103. before the Supreme Court. And here's part of what I wanted to share on that topic.
104. Every generation has been asked the same question, who belongs in this country? Who counts when we
105. say, we the people. And every generation has been challenged to expand that circle just a little bit
106. further. It took the abolitionist movement, the Civil War, the Reconstruction movement, to move
107. this country closer to its founding ideals and extend the promise of citizenship and equal
108. protection to formerly enslaved Black Americans. It took generations of immigrants from Asia who
109. endured exclusion, discrimination, and violence, but yet helped build the very railroads, the
110. farms, the businesses, the communities that shape the American West.
111. It took generations of Mexicanos, Mexican-Americans, Chicanos, and Latinos, many of whose roots
112. on this continent long predate any of these bigoted white boys out here going around claiming
113. that this country needs to be reclaimed from them Long way before And yes it took countless Americans workers women veterans civil rights leaders labor organizers ordinary citizens
114. people who insisted that the words written in 1776
115. had to mean something more than just aspirations,
116. that they had to become a reality.
117. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the American story.
118. This is the Fourth of July story.
119. Not perfection, progress.
120. Not exclusion, expansion.
121. An ever-growing understanding of who belongs within the promise of this country we call America.
122. Which is precisely why this week's Supreme Court decision is so significant.
123. On the very week that this country celebrates its birthday, the court confronted one of the oldest constitutional questions imaginable.
124. Who is an American?
125. Who gets the protections of the Constitution and who gets to decide?
126. Those are not merely immigration questions.
127. They are constitutional questions.
128. They are questions about equality.
129. And ultimately, they are questions about what America stands for.
130. The court held that the Constitution, not the president, determines who is an American citizen.
131. That's the headline.
132. A president cannot rewrite the Constitution through executive order simply because he disagrees with more than a century of constitutional understanding.
133. if birthright citizenship is ever to change
134. it cannot happen because one president
135. one bigot, one racist
136. signs a piece of paper and says so
137. it would require changing the very constitution itself
138. the constitution that we in effect are celebrating
139. today 250 years later ladies and gentlemen
140. that alone makes this one of the most significant
141. constitutional decisions in decades
142. What concerns me isn't that the court reaffirmed birthright citizenship
143. It's actually that several members of the court were prepared to reinterpret it
144. One of our oldest constitutional guarantees
145. In a way that, in my opinion
146. Cannot be reconciled with either the text or the 14th amendment
147. Or more than a century of settled precedent
148. America has always had conservative judges
149. yes, we know that, that's not the issue here
150. the issue here is something totally else
151. and that is that increasingly portions of this Supreme Court
152. appear willing to reinterpret long-standing
153. long-settled constitutional principles
154. in ways that consistently advance particular political agendas
155. again, look no further than the bigots and racists
156. who are out there in the streets today
157. going around saying we want to reclaim the U.S.
158. as if their founding fathers were here before Native peoples,
159. before the people that were here from other countries.
160. So as we sit here and prepare to celebrate the 4th of July,
161. I share this reflection because when it comes down to who counts as an American,
162. The 14th Amendment answers that question with constitutional principle rather than political passion.
163. Which brings us to this issue.
164. Across Los Angeles and throughout California, we've witnessed one of the most aggressive periods of immigration enforcement in history.
165. We've seen workplace raids, families living in fear.
166. year. Allegations of racial profiling and ongoing constitutional challenges testing the very limits
167. of executive power. As someone who has spent years working alongside immigrants and workers
168. and Latino communities, I can tell you these debates are not abstract. They are families.
169. These are workers. These are veterans. These are taxpayers. These are business owners.
170. These are children growing up in American schools wondering whether the country of their birth
171. will continue to recognize them as Americans in the years to come
172. as these conservative efforts continue.
173. And we highlight this because it is the 4th of July, ladies and gentlemen.
174. Because it is the 4th of July.
175. The legitimacy of the Supreme Court depends not upon whether we agree with every decision.
176. It depends upon believing that the constitutional interpretation
177. is driven by law rather than political preference.
178. And perhaps that is the greatest irony of the 4th of July.
179. As we celebrate the nearly 250 years of American democracy, we also find ourselves debating whether to narrow constitutional protections that generations before us fought to expand.
180. Every generation inherits the American promise.
181. Every generation decides whether the promise becomes larger or smaller, more inclusive or more exclusive, more faithful of our ideas or less.
182. This week, a majority of Supreme Court chose to preserve one of these promises, not because it was politically convenient,
183. rather because constitutional rights are supposed to outlast presidents, political parties, and passing moments.
184. To that is the real meaning of Independence Day.
185. It is not simply celebrating the birth of a nation.
186. It is asking whether we still possess the courage to fulfill the promise that gave birth to it.
187. Because the American experiment has never been without narrowing the circle of we the people.
188. It has always been about expanding it.
189. And with that, I say happy 4th of July.
190. Stay with us.
191. We're going to take a quick break.
192. And when we come back, we're going to talk with, on the Venezuelan earthquake recovery,
193. My guest will be Wolfgang Fernandes, founder of Next Step Ministries, to let us know about some of the efforts that they're undertaking to help our Venezuelan brothers and sisters and how you can be a part of that.
194. Stay with us.
195. We'll be right back.
196. Tune into Cantos Sin Fronteras.
197. That is song without borders.
198. The best music from Latin America and the world with a political edge.
199. Every Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. right here on KPFK.
200. Thank you for listening to 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara, 93.7 FM in San Diego, 99.5 FM in Ridgecrest in China Lake, and around the globe at kpfk.org.
201. Welcome back.
202. On June 24th two major and devastating earthquakes struck in Venezuela a country with a slew of challenges already and a people who are now facing a growing humanitarian crisis that continues to grow But for many organizations that work didn begin
203. after the earthquake. Our next guest has spent years working throughout Venezuela,
204. building relationships with local communities long before this latest tragedy. Through his
205. organization, Next Step Ministries, he's helped develop local leadership, strengthen churches
206. and community organizations and respond to humanitarian crisis across the country.
207. Today, the same relationships have become the foundation of their earthquake relief efforts.
208. Joining us now is Wolfgang Fernandes, founder of Next Tech Ministries.
209. Wolfgang is also a Venezuelan whose family, friends, and longtime allies and partners
210. remain deeply connected to the communities now recovering from this disaster.
211. Wolfgang, welcome to The Signal.
212. Hi Dino, it's a pleasure to be in your programs
213. and greetings to all your listeners throughout Southern California
214. and wherever in the world they're listening from
215. Thank you, thanks Wolfgang
216. So first of all, I know that this is a holiday
217. but for you and for many of us indeed
218. this is a very difficult time to celebrate anything
219. because what happened in Venezuela
220. And let me just say as a matter of full disclosure, I myself have spent a long time in Venezuela over the years, especially during the 2007-2009 period in which I actually worked some time there and got to meet what are now lifelong friends.
221. And if there's one thing that I learned about Venezuela is set aside the politics and set aside the figures, especially back then when I was there, the beautiful people that, again, to this day, I hold very dear.
222. And this has been a devastating thing.
223. But before we get into that work or to that past and your work in particular, as a Venezuelan yourself, what are you experiencing now?
224. What are you hearing from family members, friends who are back in Venezuela and what they're going through?
225. Well, I have a very large number of family members who are there.
226. We're fortunate.
227. We only lost one family group, one cousin and her husband and her children all perished in one of the buildings that collapsed and completely destroyed.
228. We haven't heard anything from them and no signs of life in the building where they used to live.
229. many other of our relatives are engaged
230. in the recovery, rescuing of people
231. because that's what has happened in Venezuela.
232. People are helping people.
233. Right, right.
234. We've seen that.
235. And listen, on behalf of all of us here at the KPFK
236. and the Pacific Radio Network,
237. our deepest condolences.
238. These things are never, ever easy.
239. And, you know, you've been working in Venezuela
240. for more than a decade, long before the earthquake occurred.
241. Tell us about Next Step Ministries and why this organization that you helped create
242. has made such a long-term commitment to serving communities throughout Venezuela.
243. Well, yes, thank you.
244. You know, we started fully engaged in Venezuela in 2016.
245. I have worked in 88 countries around the world,
246. and my attention really was never given to Venezuela.
247. But in 2016, when we were watching people leaving by foot
248. the country because there was no food
249. and there was tremendous political instability
250. in the nation my wife and I agreed to buy some fields and to grow food And my cousin Abihail who was a pastor there
251. decided to leave the four walls of his church
252. and get his hands dirty with a number of other partners
253. and plant food, plant vegetables, plant healthy food for the people.
254. And we saw just through that simple act of work
255. in the dirt, see life coming to people that were very desperate.
256. So that's what got us started and what got us thinking
257. we need to try to do things in a different way from the traditional means.
258. You know, and Wolfgang, when I first learned about you and your work
259. through a mutual colleague of ours, friend of ours,
260. Ricardo Corso Moreno, who we'd been in contact with in Venezuela
261. and has reported on our program over the last six months or so,
262. he said to me something that caught my attention,
263. and when I was able to talk to you before this broadcast,
264. it really stuck with me.
265. Ricardo says to me, you've got to talk to this guy.
266. He's doing something incredible.
267. They have a whole different approach to this issue,
268. and that's something that, again, impressed me when we had our conversation,
269. which is your organization's approach to relief.
270. Now, rather than simply delivering supplies and just kind of handing things out as kind of is the standard, and nothing bad with that,
271. you're actually transforming churches into what, as I recall, are 24-hour community relief centers.
272. Tell us about that.
273. Right. Yeah, well, in the same way that Abihail Lada, our leader in Venezuela, left the four walls of his church to work on the ground,
274. we have realized that our best presence, our best capacity to work towards the common good of a nation in distress is to be out in the field.
275. So when this situation emerged, we really felt that we could envision church pastors to recognize that their best service would happen if they were to turn the four walls of their building into a place where there would be a power source.
276. There's no electricity, for example, in the whole coast of La Guayra in Venezuela because of the destruction.
277. so if you had a generator there,
278. people could just come simply and charge their phones
279. so that they can communicate with their loved ones
280. and get news and updates of what's going on.
281. Have a stove equipped with pots and pans
282. where food can be cooked by the church members
283. and basically provide food for people.
284. Have a few mattresses there
285. so people who have no place to sleep can come and sleep.
286. Basically turn the inside out.
287. of these church buildings that often are insulated from the regular stream of society
288. to places where people can find shelter, can find encouragement, can come and pray,
289. can receive some counseling, can simply have a shoulder to cry on
290. and get some practical things like food, like power for their cell phones.
291. So we've made a list of, at this point, 25 like-minded churches.
292. We believe that there's a lot more, and we're raising the total of $7,500 to equip these
293. churches on the ground to provide these services So per church to essentially convert these churches these ministries which by the way this isn just if I may and please feel free to correct me this isn an effort to bring the word of the church to the people
294. This is an opportunity to be there when a time of need is most.
295. You're not there to provide spiritual guidance, which is helpful during these moments.
296. This is one of the most important components.
297. But what you're saying to me and what I'm hearing, if what I'm hearing is right, is that you're taking one of the most trusted concepts, institutions, or otherwise forms of belief.
298. And you're saying we're opening up our door not just to provide spiritual guidance and support but also to provide literal support.
299. And I can't think of how important it is to be able to walk into a place and for a moment, if given the opportunity, maybe feel relevant again by cooking a meal or being a part of that process.
300. That to me is what stood out when you and I had our first conversation about this.
301. And, you know, one of the other things, Wolfgang, and let me reintroduce you.
302. My guest is Wolfgang Fernandes, founder of Next Step Industries, a Venezuelan who himself has been directly impacted by the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela, which are now in this recovery mode.
303. The numbers continue to rise.
304. I'm not going to share where we are at this point, but just to say that those numbers of loss of life are expected to go potentially into tens of thousands.
305. But, you know, just the devastation that we're seeing on news, we're hearing directly from folks.
306. We've covered this issue over the last couple of weeks and we'll continue to cover it.
307. But we're now ourselves refocusing on those that are doing the work necessary to help not only rebuild communities, but essentially rebuild lives.
308. And Wolfgang, one of the things that, again, stood out to me, when we – and I was responsible for this, for transparency.
309. I was one of those who did this.
310. Much of the international attention has understandably focused on Caracas and La Guaira, two cities that I've been to myself many times over the years, especially when I was working there.
311. Yet, what you made me realize and reminded me of is that it's important that we concentrate on other regions.
312. And in your case, you shared your efforts in the region of Moron, which is closer to the earthquake's epicenter.
313. Tell us about the decision that went into why Moron.
314. Yeah, you know, it's important to recognize that what we are doing is not something new.
315. We are actually recapturing the spirit of the early followers of Jesus,
316. that in the first 300 years of Christian history,
317. they stayed behind whenever a pest or a pestilence came through a region.
318. They stayed to care for the people and they themselves, many of them died as they contracted the diseases, but they stayed to love and serve the people.
319. And so today we hear a lot of people focus on words, but I think we need to recapture the deeds part.
320. And this is exactly what we're doing in Venezuela.
321. So when I first saw this whole, the effects of this tremendous ground shake, and all the news were coming from the main cities of, like you said, Caracas and La Guaira, and I talked.
322. to my team and I said, I think we need to go to the epicenter because that's far away removed from
323. the main regions. It's out in the west side of the country, very close to the coast, very close
324. to a huge power plant, but really forgotten. So actually on Friday, right after the earthquake,
325. two days after the earthquake, we were there and we evaluated, we encouraged the people and we
326. brought the first items to set up when we had very, very little resources. We took everything
327. that we had in our bank account and transferred it there so that they can set up this concept.
328. And the people there received it gladly. The community all came because there was really
329. literally nothing. They had three days since the earthquake with no power, no electricity,
330. and no water. And so we brought them water, we brought them food, we brought them a generator
331. and soot to get them going. So that's when I realized, yes, we have to focus on these areas
332. that are more in the periphery, but in great need. And we now have listed two or three
333. that are in the same place that we are also immediately planning to serve
334. after we have gotten this model set up already in the city of,
335. it's a town really, it's a district of La Guaira called Caraballera,
336. where almost 80% of all the existing buildings are gone.
337. Wow.
338. And indeed, the times that I went to La Guaira,
339. which, you know, I've always found it to be this wonderful, beautiful people.
340. And it's a beautiful region because it is a coastal town.
341. And in fact, I had looked up some of the places I'd stayed at before
342. and indeed they are all rubble.
343. And, you know, it just hit home in such a way that I still can't get over it.
344. And, of course, like many of us who would have been in that situation,
345. I started digging through old photographs and looking through
346. and trying to reconnect with friends there.
347. You know, one of the things before we sign off that I think is very important, Wolfgang,
348. and again, my guest is Wolfgang Fernandez, founder of Next Step Ministries,
349. and we're discussing Venezuelan earthquake recovery efforts.
350. And it's important.
351. I thought it was important to do this because, look,
352. there's hundreds if not thousands of recovery efforts all over the world right now,
353. as there should be.
354. And unfortunately, we also do have a lot of challenges with folks who look to take advantage.
355. That is something that we'll always have to contend with, whether it's here at home or in Venezuela.
356. And those different type of recovery efforts start to develop and arise, again, as people look to take advantage.
357. One area of big concern for me personally, professionally, here at home, and it's a growing concern for many out there,
358. is the direct and collateral consequences these type of situations have on children.
359. And, you know, you and I had a brief conversation,
360. and you said something that, again, you know, stuck with me,
361. and that's that one of your greatest concerns isn't simply the damaged buildings or the infrastructure.
362. Yes, we got it. We understand.
363. But the growing number of children that have lost parents, become separated from their families,
364. or suddenly find themselves without protection they once had.
365. and oh man, talk about adding fuel to a fire.
366. Incredible.
367. Wolfgang tell us about that Well two nights after the earthquake hit I heard this report from a friend that was in a park in Caracas where he said that there were a large number going into the hundreds of kids that were being brought to this park because they were alone
368. So many children have lost their parents, both parents, and they're not connected to families because communications are just not really working very well.
369. and so many people are just not even able to travel.
370. So we realized that we sounded the alarm
371. that there are a large number of children left behind.
372. And unfortunately, predators utilize
373. even these moments of great crisis
374. to kidnap kids, which are subsequently sold.
375. And we need to stop that.
376. We need to do all we can.
377. We work with a church that Ricardo,
378. who, as your previous guest has mentioned, in the city of Barquisimento, they are far from
379. Caracas in the west. They suffered very little damage, but this church feeds daily. They feed
380. 600 kids from their community, and they've been doing this now for several years.
381. They told us that they were prepared to receive kids, and they don't want to bring them,
382. They don't have an institution per se.
383. What they do is they have families that they will bring in the kids to care for them until things are more organized.
384. Now, all of this is in the backdrop of a government that is incapable, unable, not set up to deal with any of this crisis.
385. We have seen that in the news.
386. and so much less to care for hundreds of kids that are all of a sudden alone.
387. So this is a major issue.
388. And my wife Vivian and I are really wept over the reality of seeing children
389. wondering what happened to their parents and what are they going to do next.
390. So we definitely want to make an emphasis and an effort.
391. We plan to go to Venezuela soon.
392. and to be able to address this issue in particular,
393. the children that are now left orphans.
394. So, which brings us to perhaps the most important part of this interview
395. as we close, Wolfgang.
396. Again, my guest is Wolfgang Fernandes, Next Step Ministries.
397. We're talking about the recovery efforts, some of the recovery efforts,
398. but more importantly, support and recovery efforts from here,
399. from around the world. Wolfgang is somebody who's worked across the globe, as many as 88 countries
400. over several decades, contributing and supporting ways in which they can support periods or
401. locations that have gone through any variety of disasters or other problems, which is the
402. million-dollar question, right? How can we, our listeners, our supporters of The Signal and our
403. broadcast operation here. Support your efforts. This is important because a lot of times, you
404. know, we become very insecure. Who do I give money to? You know, once you get online and maybe make
405. an inquiry, the algorithm captures you. And before you know it, there's 2,500 different folks trying
406. to get you to donate. And this is why, you know, I actually went with folks that I know on the
407. ground. Ricardo Moreno, again, one of our regular contributors to The Signal said, check these guys
408. out They legit I work with them And we started this conversation about a week ago and here we are So where can folks where can our listeners across Southern California who want to help where can they go to learn more about your efforts and how can they support
409. Thank you for asking that.
410. Our website is nextstep, one word, nextstep-now.org, nextstep-now.org.
411. We have set up a PayPal service or direct donations through bank deposits.
412. And that's available.
413. We have an accountability process.
414. We are reporting how much money we have received and what has been deployed.
415. And we are prepared to give full accounts of everything.
416. 100% of all the money given is transferred to Venezuela for these efforts.
417. and we are committed to equip these local churches,
418. these 25 churches and perhaps even more as we are capable,
419. to enable them to do the work on the field.
420. Right now, the best thing that people can do is simply donate.
421. Donate to trustworthy organizations, people that they can count on.
422. And I think the credibility of your program ascribe us, and we receive it with great responsibility, this trust that you are giving us by being in your program, that we are applying any gift, any financial gift to the work, to the rescue, to the care of these people in Venezuela at this moment.
423. Well, Wolfgang, I want to thank you very much, and I want to bring this issue home, folks.
424. Remember, the latest update, Venezuela earthquake, has impacted as many as 6 million people.
425. 680,000 children are in humanitarian need right now.
426. 70,000 people are still missing.
427. 58,000 buildings have been impacted or destroyed, and the toll of this is going to rise well above $10 billion.
428. My guest has been Wolfgang.
429. Wolfgang Fernandez, thank you.
430. Thank you for taking the time to join us today, and thank you.
431. And again, our condolences to you and your family for the impact that you all have felt directly from the earthquake in Venezuela.
432. We hope to have you back and continue to promote and support this effort.
433. Again, thank you very much for being with us.
434. We're going to take a short break, folks.
435. Stay with us.
436. And when we come back, we're going to come back to another challenging problem, recovery, environmental justice, and what's next for East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights.
437. My guest will be Christy Hernandez, co-chair of the Maravilla Community Advisory Committee.
438. Hi, this is singer-songwriter Nancy Sanchez
439. inviting you to tune in every Saturday night at 10 p.m.
440. right here on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles
441. to listen to the best Latinx alternative show
442. on the coolest radio station powered by the people, La Gente.
443. See you this Saturday at 10 p.m. on Travel Tips for Us Latin.
444. Nos vemos!
445. Hi, this is Willie Nelson.
446. You're listening to Radical Free Speech Radio, KPFK, in Los Angeles.
447. Willie Nelson Welcome back to The Signal news information and analysis I want to welcome all my guests or my listeners rather from Los Angeles Santa Barbara San Diego Richcrest China Lake
448. and everybody around the world on kpfk.org,
449. especially my producer, who is in Vienna, Austria,
450. producing our show directly from there,
451. who's listening online and out gallivanting without me again,
452. if you guys remember.
453. My producer was out in Europe just a couple of weeks ago.
454. So listen, we're not holding it against her.
455. She's taking care of business as she should.
456. So listen, folks, we're going to come back to L.A. now and continue to cover this issue that we've covered before.
457. And before we get into this final segment today, I want to take a moment to remind our listeners that this issue of recovery,
458. environmental justice and what's next for the Boyle Heights East LA area is part of our ongoing
459. commitment to cover the issues that matter most to Southern California and in particular
460. the communities of Los Angeles. Too often once the flames are out, pun intended,
461. you know, and once the emergency has passed, the headlines start to disappear.
462. But for the families who live there, the workers who earn a living wage in that area or not, and the communities directly impacted, the story is far from over.
463. That's why today marks part two of our continuing coverage of the lineage logistics warehouse fire recovery phase or recovery period.
464. We're going to continue to cover this issue because for too long our communities have been neglected and left out when these type of issues happen.
465. Over the past week, the focus in that area has continued to shift from emergency response to recovery.
466. Cleanup crews continue removing millions of pounds of spoiled food and debris from the warehouse,
467. while environmental agencies monitor air quality, runoff, and other potential cleanup issues.
468. Transparency has become an issue.
469. Long-term health impacts continues to be an issue.
470. At a time when the fire has become part of a much larger conversation,
471. within roughly the past two months,
472. East Los Angeles has experienced two major environmental emergencies.
473. First came the crude oil spill that ultimately proved to be far larger than initially reported.
474. We were first told, I think it was like 2,000 gallons, and it's now turned out to be it's something like 25,000 gallons or something like that.
475. And now the fire.
476. The fire happened.
477. They didn't do an emergency evacuation of any sort, and it just led to a whole other slew of problems.
478. Joining us now is Christy Hernandez, co-chair of the Maravilla Community Advisory Committee, or MCAC.
479. I kind of like that.
480. MCAC serves as a forum connecting East Los Angeles residents with county agencies, local organizations, and public officials while advocating for the greater civic participation, transparency, and accountability.
481. Christy has become an important voice on these issues affecting East Los Angeles, including environmental justice, public health, and community engagement.
482. Christy, welcome to The Signal.
483. Hi, good morning. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.
484. And listen, thank you for being on this holiday weekend. I know that many folks are out and about. Only Ozzy and I were locked into the studio and they said, you can't leave until you finish this show. And they brought us a box of cherries and that's all we've had to eat all day. So it's horrible. Let's get into it. Christy, I'd like to begin with where things stand.
485. And today, I mean, you know, we prepare for this program.
486. We draft some questions that we're going to ask.
487. And then like my earlier segment where we were thrown for a curveball with these white bigots out in D.C., I learned this morning or maybe late last night that the lineage logistics who have been instructed by city officials to clean up their mess have now said, well, we can't do it because the guys who own the solar panels want their crap back or something like that.
488. Where are things at right now in the issue of the cleanup in East L.A.?
489. Well, thank you again.
490. I am definitely going to bring more of a community lens,
491. but I think, as you can see, one of the things that it has exposed
492. is that there is more than meets the eye here, right?
493. Folks didn't even know that this warehouse first existed.
494. We're now seeing that there's this invisible line, as they call it,
495. between the city and the county, which is Boyle Heights and corporate East L.A.
496. And so for a lot of folks who live in that area, that doesn't even matter.
497. For them, it's what can you do to help our families, families that have still remained in their homes.
498. There was never communication, orders for them to evacuate, considering how close they are to this warehouse.
499. And I want to make very clear that although this warehouse is located in Boyle Heights, literally, it is on the borderline of unincorporated East L.A. and Boyle Heights.
500. So if you cross the street, you are an uncorporated East LA.
501. And if you cross back, you're back in Boyle Heights.
502. So when we talk about this environmental emergency, this warehouse is just feet away from residential homes.
503. So we have heard, I mean, I've actually been down to what we're calling now Ground Zero,
504. and this was days after the fire had started and once it was extinguished.
505. But folks are staying in their homes.
506. They're not coming out. These are elderly folks who have health conditions.
507. And so when we start hearing about their needs, we've been told that they've received small purifiers, air purifiers for one home.
508. We're hearing that there was no actual in-person communication.
509. They were left flyers and a box of masks.
510. I actually went in with an N95 mask and I had to go back in the car and put an N100 mask because of the smell of the way you could already smell the rotting food.
511. So what we were first told is that the fire would be out in possibly weeks.
512. Thankfully, it was only eight days compared to what we learned about the lineage fire in Washington state.
513. We were told that the removal of, and just from that perspective, this warehouse is 500,000 square feet.
514. Right, right.
515. And it houses 85 million pounds of food.
516. So, you know, I was actually in this area with East LA YMCA, who after four years of food distribution just celebrated 10 million pounds of food being distributed.
517. In four years, we're talking 85 million.
518. And again, I just want to give you a perspective of how much food and other items that are spoiling in this area.
519. We're hearing about rodents.
520. We're hearing about maggots.
521. We're hearing about anything that, I mean, think about throwing like meat, raw meat into your trash bin for a week in the sun and then opening it up, opening the lid.
522. What is that going to smell like?
523. Well, Christy, I got to tell you, you know, sometimes, you know, when I travel, whether it's for work or pleasure, and I'll come back and, you know, I'll stop in with my son.
524. And you know and he might leave his lunch from two days out in the refrigerator And I like hey there a science experiment growing in here And I can tell you know 80 million pounds or whatever that is
525. It's ridiculous.
526. I've actually heard from a colleague of mine who said, I drove by the freeway and I could smell it.
527. And at first I was like, you've got to be kidding me.
528. You've got to be effing with me.
529. That can't be.
530. And then I did it.
531. I drove out there.
532. And I said, oh, my God, this is what are you hearing from the community members, from these mom and pops, from folks who live in across the street who is now weeks into this disaster?
533. First, we're talking this horrid smoke, which, you know, we can get into this potential environmental crisis that it is, this public health crisis for our community.
534. But what are you hearing from them now?
535. And just how are they coping?
536. Yeah, I think one of the things that we have found is that they don't know who to call.
537. And some folks have gone to Boyle Heights and are told, sorry, you're on Incorporated
538. East LA.
539. Some people from Boyle Heights have gone to Incorporated East LA and they've been told
540. the same thing.
541. You know, I was out casting out air purifiers and one lady from the other side of the street
542. was like, well, I need one, but I'm like, okay, well, we're going to finish this street
543. and then we'll come around.
544. And she was so frustrated, like, but if I hear on the other side, nobody has come.
545. I want help. I need this air purifier. And I'm like, you know, we were able to go back. I made
546. sure to, you know, that we hand delivered it to her, but folks just feel like there's no real
547. communication. I did see that, you know, the mayor went out to speak to the residents of Boyle Heights,
548. which I thought was great for her to hear firsthand. She went out with, you know,
549. Istela YMCA and Proyecto Pastoral, but a lot of folks just feel like they're not heard. I mean,
550. we took the time to speak with folks and they're like,
551. we need to think about long-term solutions, right?
552. Like every household should have an air purifier year round.
553. We have five freeways that go into our community.
554. As you mentioned, two environmental emergencies in less than one month in the oil spill,
555. 25,000 gallons of crude oil spilled onto our streets through businesses.
556. And now we have this.
557. So they're, you know, we're saying like, we need air purifiers.
558. So who's going to pay for the electrical bill?
559. because now we're talking about working class families that have to run these air purifiers throughout the day.
560. So can we get electric, you know, can we get subsidies for our electrical bills?
561. Subsidies for electricity support, of course, of course.
562. Exactly.
563. Christy, you bring up an issue that you and I chatted about this when we did the pre-interview,
564. which has been an issue that I think has lingered for years, if not decades,
565. and that's this issue of representation, right?
566. This thing keeps coming up that, and you're so right, that you can cross whatever.
567. 50 feet to the other side, and you're now on county line. And just to explain for those of
568. you who may not quite understand, we're talking about jurisdictional oversight. On the one side
569. of the street is this massive behemoth that stores food, that whatever, the location of the fire. And
570. then, you know, again, you go back across the street, and now you're on county property, county
571. oversight. And for those of us that live in incorporated cities, these are small regions,
572. cities that at one point or another in history said, hey, we can become our own city. That means
573. that we'll have our own elected officials. We have our own services. If you are a constituent
574. and live within the community, you can come to City Hall and ask or request services. In the
575. case of unincorporated regions like East Los Angeles, that responsibility falls on LA County,
576. and in this case Representative Hilda Solis who has rejected or not rejected chosen not to participate in our program while every other representative has And I not saying that I rather stating a statement of fact
577. But our residents, the residents who are in the county jurisdiction,
578. when they want to address something, where do they go?
579. Yeah, so as an incorporated community,
580. we live in a county with 10 million people,
581. and five LA County Board of Supervisors.
582. So you do the math, and each county supervisor represents 2 million people.
583. In our case, unincorporated East Los Angeles is made up of 120,000 residents.
584. So as you can imagine, we make up a very small portion of this overall population.
585. So the way that LA County supervisors will state it is that they are the de facto mayors
586. of these unincorporated communities, which there are over 180 unincorporated communities in the county.
587. And so in our case, we have a supervisor who has a satellite office in unincorporated East L.A.
588. And you can call that office if you live in the community.
589. The number there is 323-881-4601 for anyone listening who needs help around this issue.
590. But that is the office.
591. One of the things that I did hear was when we did share that number with folks,
592. they told us that they were really disappointed to hear that they were only open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
593. which is business hours during what was officially considered a state of emergency.
594. State of emergency, right.
595. Yeah, a state of emergency and the office is not answering, but you can leave a message and we'll get back to you.
596. So that's to give you just an idea of what the community is facing.
597. And I'll share this anecdote with you.
598. Please.
599. Because I think it's important to share that folks don't know that we live in an unincorporated community.
600. We have a lot of work to do, and that's what the Maravillas Community Advisory Committee is trying to do is to build that awareness.
601. I had just turned 18, and I had, you know, I had been volunteering for a mayoral candidate, and I was like, yes, when I go vote, I'm going to vote for this candidate.
602. And so I was really excited to vote for the first time.
603. I go into the polling place, and I get my ballot, and I'm voting, and I'm looking for the mayoral candidates on there, and I don't see them.
604. So I go back to the poll worker, the fellow worker working the election there, and I asked her, and I'm like, why the mayoral candidates weren't on there?
605. She's like, oh, hon, she's like, you don't live in the city.
606. You live in unincorporated East Carolina.
607. I was like, wait, what?
608. And that was the first time, Arondo, that I had heard that we were unincorporated.
609. So my question is, why aren't we doing more to build awareness around this topic so that folks actually know that they're living in an unincorporated community and what that means?
610. Because we know it because of the way we experience government and governing, but folks don't know to put a name to it.
611. Because a lot of them actually believe that Mayor Bass is our mayor, that as you stated, an unincorporated community has no city council, has no mayor, has no city hall.
612. So we're missing that buffer, like the communities around us of Monterey Park, Montevallo, Commerce.
613. You have a city council who talks to LA County, who talks to our state representatives, our federal representatives.
614. We don't have that.
615. So there's a lot of frustration in the community.
616. They don't feel heard.
617. They don't feel seen.
618. And this emergency has just put a light and has exacerbated something that we have been trying to build awareness on, which is we need hyper local representation.
619. Representation.
620. a group that is connected to and acknowledged by our Alley County Board of Supervisors made up of
621. people and this is the most important made up of people who actually live in the community Of course of course Christy as we close out we have a few seconds left Where can people learn more about Maravilla Community Advisory Committee
622. or get in contact with you if they want to support?
623. And what comes next, right?
624. I mean, we have to start looking ahead what happens after this process.
625. Where can folks learn more about the project you're doing
626. or your community efforts?
627. Give us a plug in the socials and or the website.
628. Yes, you can follow us on Instagram at MCAC, so MCAC underscore East LA.
629. So MCAC underscore East LA.
630. You can also email us at MCAC dot East LA at Gmail.
631. And we host a monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m.
632. And anyone who lives in unincorporated East LA is welcome to join us.
633. And I also just want to thank Armando for the opportunity and to say that our community is really being impacted.
634. And I don't want to leave out our small businesses who are really feeling it, first with COVID, then with the ice raids, and now with these environmental emergencies.
635. And I really want to underscore that because these are the mom and pop shops that have served us, fed us for decades and are being impacted.
636. So, you know, organizations like Inner City Struggle, Proyecto Pastoral, We Sell a Chamber.
637. And we're going to be bringing many of those on this series as we continue.
638. Christy Hernandez, co-chair of the Maravilla Community Advisory Committee, thank you for joining us today and for sharing that important perspective on behalf of East LA community.
639. This is exactly why we'll continue following this story.
640. Recovery doesn't end when the fire is extinguished.
641. It continues through the cleanup, through the public health monitoring, through the accountability phase.
642. And with that, I want to thank everybody who's joined me today.
643. As we celebrate Independence Day, we're reminded that the strength of a nation isn't measured by its history, but how it responds to the challenges of the present.
644. Today, we heard two very different stories, one from Venezuela, where communities continue rebuilding after a devastating earthquake,
645. and one from right here at home in Los Angeles, where families are still living with the impacts of the lineage logistics fire.
646. I want to thank all my guests.
647. I want to thank our board operator, Ozzy, who came through and has held the ground with us here.
648. And, of course, Nella, my producer, who is in Vienna, Austria.
649. And everybody for listening, have a very safe and healthy Fourth of July.
650. Stay with us.
651. Stay informed.
652. Stay educated.
653. Stay tuned.
654. The Car Show is next.
655. I'm Andrew Tonkovich of KPFK's weekly literary arts show, Bibliocracy.
656. Support this program and the station by hitting the online donations button at kpfk.org.
657. Choose the monthly donation option and, like me, become a sustaining member all year round.
658. Thank you.
659. This is KPFK 90.7 Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, worldwide on kpfk.org,
660. Southern California's original public radio station, hitting the airwaves since 1959.
661. Publicly funded and made possible by you, the listener.
662. You took me on that love.
663. Thank you.
664. you