Two new members were elected for their first time to the Planning Committee this year.  I asked them about their impressions of their first month. 

Cesar Chavez is a 19-year-old anti-racist, queer Latino immigrant and eco-feminist.  He has been a member of the BRU for one year. 

Rosa Miranda is 34-year-old immigrant woman from Mexico.  She is married and a mother of 3 children.  She has been a BRU member for almost 3 years.

So what's it like--your first PC meeting?

ROSA: I am very happy.  I can already tell this will be a big year for me and I will learn a lot.  Our first meeting was like a history class, starting from the present.  Manuel taught us about the roots of our organization in social movements going all the way back to slave rebellions, he also explained key political themes that run throughout.

CESAR: Well, the first meeting was a bit overwhelming.  I sat down with everyone at the table and nobody said anything to me.  Everyone was quiet and serious, they were all reading something and I didn't know what I was supposed to do.  But then someone told me that we do this at the start of every meeting. Everyone reads and then must approve the last meeting's minutes.

[laughter]

But I'm really excited, too. To learn.  To share my ideas.  

How has being on the PC changed your understanding of the BRU's work?

ROSA: In my election speech, I said I loved the BRU because we're involved in different struggles.  In Planning Committee, We talk in detail about our work to support struggles we are connected to, like the Koreatown Park campaign, the "We Are Alex" campaign.  Sometimes representatives from those groups come to talk with us.

I expressed it in my speech but now I realize on a deeper level how important these alliances are for other groups.  I realize if we want to win, we all have to support each other. The other thing is that it is our members who make our support really mean something.  Real solidarity must have a base behind it.

How do you see the PC differently now that you're inside it?

CESAR: Before coming to my first meeting, I imagined that we would be talking about ideas and sharing our opinions. And we do that.  But I hadn't realized how practical and business-like PC meetings would be, too.  We keep a strict timetable and agenda.  And we analyze.  In one meeting, we dissected statistics from the monthly meeting, how many members came, how many new members, was that up or down from the past, what worked, what didn't, how to improve translation.  The planning committee is very serious about its job leading the organization in all aspects.