"Thinking Globally and Legislating Locally" with Cheryl Davila
Cheryl Davila is an elected member of the Berkeley City Council
Councilmember Davila is currently up for reelection and this conversation provides an intimate window into the experience of an elected representative who is working at the local level to address global and national issues while also communicating directly with the people she represents, who are also neighbors, family and friends.
In this conversation we talk about her experience as a passionate yet common citizen coming into politics an outsider, and the tension between being a voice for her people and the pressure to play political games.
We talk about her vision for laying the foundations for an economic and cultural recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, while also addressing racial justice, climate change, demilitarizing the police and addressing homelessness.
We talk about the need of all legislators to make difficult short term choices that also support long term change.
While so much of the United States is paying attention to national politics, it is actually the local politicians like Councilmember Davila that are making the decisions that affect our day to day lives.
Wherever you are, I hope that this conversation inspires you to reflect deeply on the importance of local politics during this election season. I hope it helps you remember that politics is made up of people like you and me.
Your voice matters. So speak up, talk to your representatives and please vote.
Councilmember Cheryl Davila Resources
Visit Councilmember Davila’s Official Site: cityofberkeley.info/council2
Here is Councilmember Davila’s Campaign Site: cheryldavila.vote
Visit Cheryl on Facebook @CouncilmemberCherylDavila
and Instagram @cheryldavila.vote
More info about Councilmember Davila's Work
Police Reform
Read about Cheryl's efforts to defund police reform in this article: “Berkeley council approves ‘omnibus motion’ on police reform” by Emilie Raguso July 15, 2020, Berkeleyside. Here are some excerpts from the article.
That public process will also include, as per Davila’s proposal, consideration of “the goal of reducing the Berkeley Police Department budget by 50%, to be based on the results of requested studies and analysis and achieved through programs such as the Specialized Care Unit.”
Also in line with the Davila item, the city will look at ways to reduce the police budget so more money can be spent on youth and restorative justice programs, housing and homeless services, and mental health services, among other community needs.
During public comment, speaker after speaker expressed their gratitude for Councilmember Davila. They said she represented the community’s views and called on her colleagues to support her more.
Many said they had been disgusted, earlier in the night, when no other council member supported a late item from Davila to censure the police chief for comments he made in June. As a result, the item could not be considered for Tuesday’s agenda.
Read about Cheryl's efforts to end the participation of Berkeley Police in Urban Shield training here: “Berkeley City Council votes 5-4 to let police, firefighters stay in Urban Shield” by Emilie Raguso, July 24, 2018, Berkeleyside
Davila, who has advocated a complete withdrawal from Urban Shield for police, firefighters and disaster preparedness groups, said change is urgently needed and that Urban Shield is “training our officers to kill, to kill Black and Brown people.”
Davila's efforts were eventually successful when Urban Shield was terminated in 2019.
Emergency Climate Mobilization
In June 2018 Berkeley was one of the first of thousands of cites to officially declare a Climate Emergency. You can read the Climate Emergency Declaration here.
Cheryl Davila also created the Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force (CEMTF) is a Bay Area coalition of elected officials, city & county staff, youth, environmental activists, social activists, and front line communities addressing the inequities and causes of the climate emergency.
The CEMTF is committed to shifting the region collectively towards building a regenerating economy and creating new career opportunities, building relationships and eliminating barriers that keep us apart, increasing emergency preparedness, sharing legislation, and working towards saving our planet.
Cheryl's legislation was inspired by The Climate Mobilization that is building a movement of people across the United States to reclaim our future by initiating an emergency-speed, whole-society Climate Mobilization, reversing global warming and restoring a safe climate.
Recognition of Ohlone Territory
Listen about Cheryl's efforts to officially name Berkeley as Ohlone Territory in recognition of the Bay Area's original people in this radio piece by KQED: “Berkeley’s ‘Welcome’ Signs Acknowledge Ohlone Land and the Bay Area's Original People“
Berkeley unveiled new city limit signs this week that say “Welcome to the City of Berkeley - Ohlone Territory.” Colonizers have wiped away much Native American history in the Bay Area, but a few burial shellmounds are still around. Another sign that reminds us of who was here first and whose land we are living on. In this episode, originally produced by KQED's Bay Curious show, we review a part of the Ohlone shellmound history in the East Bay.
Guest: Laura Klivans, KQED reporter
Read more about Ohlone shellmounds from KQED’s Bay Curious show.
Related Fractal Friends episodes:
"Let's Make Everything Organic" with Armando Davila
Music
The song in this episode is “We Remember” by the Thrive Choir.
ABOUT THIS SONG:
This song is a prayer for life. That we may wake up to the our holy responsibility - in every thing we think, say, or do. A prayer to protect the sacred, which is everything with a beating heart, everywhere and through everyone water flows on this small rock, dancing through the galaxy. Even now, amidst the Great Unraveling, the "take and the take and the take," the murder of unarmed Black children, the clear cutting of old growth trees thousands of years young, the robotic wasteful mundane everyday deaths of late-stage capitalism, the persistent poison of colonial mind on a land that can never be owned - amidst all this we can:
be remembered
back into the order of things
remember me to this earth mama
a dream of a woman
becoming a grandmother tree
in it she says to me
kindness is honoring
kindness
everything else is condescension.
[excerpt from Eli Marienthal's poem that inspired this song]
CREDITS:
Music and Lyrics | Eli Marienthal and Kyle Lemle
Production and Audio Engineering | Austin Willacy
Mixing and Mastering | VSOP Studios Creative Direction,
Filming and Editing | Mer Aldao Photography | Brooke Porter & Maya Raveneau-Bey
Production Assisting and Styling | Ariella Powers
Soloists | Dyna Erie & Beatriz Martinez
Performance | Lena Moon Choreography
Assistance | Suniti Dernovsek
Filmed at Dancing Tree Sanctuary, Occupied Cowlitz land, Occupied Ohlone land