Pro-Socialism Groups Back Janelle Perez for Florida State Senate
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY (FLV) – Several groups promoting socialism and defunding the police have backed Democrat Janelle Perez in the state senate race for District 38, which includes Miami Beach and parts of North Miami.
Perez is a business owner in Miami-Dade County, specifically a Medicare company. She will face Republican state senate candidate Alexis Maria Calatayud.
The organizations “Florida Rising,” “Run for Something,” and “Florida Immigrant Coalition” are all listed on Perez’ website as endorsements. Many of these groups have advocated for socialism and defunding the police.
Socialism
“Florida Rising” describes itself as a group that advances “economic and racial justice” in Florida. The organization said they are going to “fight” capitalism “with socialism.”
“Proudly, we say we’re not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we’re going to fight it with socialism. We’re going to fight (their) reactions with all of us people getting together and having an international proletarian revolution,” “Florida Rising” said on Twitter in January of 2021.
Perez was also endorsed by the group “Run for Something,” which states is mission is to “recruit and support young, diverse progressives … We promote progressive values.”
“Run for Something” has endorsed hundreds of candidates, including those who describe themselves as socialists. For example, Jabari Brisport is a self-proclaimed “Queer, Black, Public School Teacher” who calls himself a socialist running for Black Lives Matter.
The organization has also supported Kendra Hicks, a self-described socialist. Hicks in Spring 2021 has shared her intention to “pave the way for sidewalk socialism in Somerville, Boston DSA.”
The organization supports additional socialists, specifically Lisa Burnman, a socialist running in District 9, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, a democratic socialist and a Cambridge City Council member, and Sarah Destasio, a Democratic Socialist, running for Olympia City Council.
“Run for Something” also endorsed socialist candidate for Buffalo mayor India Walton.
“If she wins in November… then Walton will become Buffalo’s first woman mayor, the first successful left-wing challenger to an incumbent in the history of the Buffalo mayorship, and America’s first socialist mayor of a major city since Milwaukee’s Frank Zeidler left office in 1961,” the article said.
“Florida Rising” is an affiliate of the Center for Popular Democracy, which advocates for social housing and claims the “for-profit, private sector is incapable of creating deeply affordable housing at scale.”
In a report labeled “Social Housing for All,” the group supports the government providing housing for low-income communities of color first.
“Social housing is a public option for housing that is permanently affordable, protected from the private market, and publicly owned by the government or under democratic community control by non-profit entities,” the social housing report said.
Janelle Perez has also received endorsements from the organization “Florida Immigrant Coalition,” which says it works for the fair treatment of “all people, including immigrants.” The Florida Immigrant Coalition has ties to socialist and communist viewpoints. The “Florida Immigrant Coalition” advocates with “Florida Rising.”
The Florida Immigrant Coalition joined the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Sex Worker Solidarity Network to march for International Workers’ Day in 2018. The Newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation wrote a piece describing the march.
“Only a socialist society built on the principles of equality and liberation for all can serve the needs of the masses of working people and stop the destruction of our planet. End racist deportations and police brutality! End capitalist oppression!” they wrote.
In an article about Miami-Dade losing Latino voters after the 2020 election, the executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Maria Rodriquez, said they tried to “diminish the impact of socialism” while reaching out to Cubans and Latinos in Florida.
“We tried to diminish the impact of ‘socialism’ during the campaign because, give me a f**king break, it’s Biden, c’mon,” Rodriquez said. “But we’ve overestimated, across the board, people’s electoral literacy.”
Rodriquez outlined the weaknesses of the Democratic party in Florida and referred to the GOP’s campaign garnering support for Cubans and Latinos as the “socialism thing.”
“Yes, the Republicans hammered on the ‘socialism’ thing,” Rodriquez said.
“But they had an asymmetric advantage in local media—the El Nuevo, all the QAnon influencers, the anti-Semitic influencers, influencers like Alex Otaola—that reaches hundreds of thousands of people in Spanish-speaking communities. We did not have the same machinery.”
The Florida Immigrant Coalition put together a report following the 2018 midterms and 2020 election. The group said it needed to change their messaging since they knew communism and socialism “would not play well with voters” who lived in communist and socialist states.
“But ultimately the GOP built an identity around being anti-socialist and anti-communist that our movement did not have an adequate response for,” the report said. “We need to have more important conversations and equip ourselves with messaging that will resonate with independent and swing voters.”
Defunding the Police / Removing Law Enforcement
“Florida Rising” has been very clear in their policy stances to create police-free schools, defund the police and Black Lives Matter advocacy.
“Police-free Schools are possible and NECESSARY. We marched on Osceola School Board grounds to call for the REMOVAL of all SROs in schools” as well as “police presence in schools helps no one, and harms our children,” the organization has tweeted.
“Florida Rising” is a staunch advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We (Florida Rising) remain steadfast in our belief that the State of Florida must end all police presence in schools,” circulating the hashtag, #PoliceFreeSchools,” one tweet said.
The Center for Popular Democracy, which Florida Rising is affiliated with, has a report advocating for the removal of police officers from schools and defunding the police. A report from that organization concludes that Congress “must” defund police.
“Congress must listen to the urgent call to defund police and shift its priorities by defunding programs that support state and local law enforcement and scaling up its funding for programs that support true public safety,” the report said.
In another report, the group outlines the movement to end policing in schools as seen in Minneapolis, Oakland, Denver, Seattle, and Portland.
“We are clear: for schools to safely reopen they must be police-free, adequately and equitably funded, and community centered,” the report said.
To end overdoses in the United States, the group believes in divesting from policing and incarceration to invest in “public health measures.” This includes supporting the “safe” use of drugs, the Center for Popular Democracy outlined in a report.
“That starts with harm reduction, an effort to meet people who use drugs where they are at and keep them safe while they use drugs,” the report said. “Most people who use drugs do not seek to stop. Abstinence programs and incarceration will not protect these people.”
New Florida Majority, which is now called Florida Rising, is listed as a partner and ally with the progressive group “Advancement Project.” The “Advancement Project” also calls to abolish the police and prisons. The group claims “people of color will never be free” until “we move beyond prisons and police.”
“We can’t reform policing; the only choice is to defund the police on the way to abolishing them and building a world that is free and safe without them,” the group said.
There are political contribution ties between Florida Rising and Perez’s political committee called “Democracy and Freedom PC”. Perez’s PAC received a contribution of $5,000 and $10,000 from “Florida for Everyone” political Committee.
The “Florida for Everyone” political committee is funded by Florida Advancement Project, inc that lists its email address as this organization: Black Lives Matter Resources – Florida Watch Inc.
The “Florida for Everyone” political committee is affiliated with the organization “Florida Alliance.” The “Advancement Project” is the top donor for “Florida for Everyone.”
The Florida Immigrant Coalition’s political director in 2019, Thomas Kennedy, was seen at an #AbolishICE protest in 2018.
“At this moment our comrade Thomas is putting his body on the line at Abolish ICE: Florida outside the #Miami ICE facility in #Miramar, to demand an end to the abuses, raids, and deportations that ICE is responsible for in our community,” a Miami DSA Facebook post read.
The Florida Immigrant Coalition’s partners include Florida Rising and Alianza Americas, which filed the class action lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis for flying illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
In a 2020 “Run for Something” reform poll, the group voiced support for defunding the police and redistributing the money to “affordable housing, well-funded schools, and accessible healthcare for all.”
The Democrat-activist groups are ramping up their efforts as Florida is becoming increasingly red. According to data from the Florida Division of Elections, Florida Democrats added just under 20,000 new voters since DeSantis’ victory in 2018.
On the other hand, Republicans are reported to have added over half a million.
