Boycott Home Depot
On February 22nd, community members of the Community Self Defense Coalition rallied at three Home Depots simultaneously across LA, calling on a boycott of Home Depot for its complicity in ICE raids targeting jornaleros in their own parking lots.
Boycott Home Depot, Cypress Park
02/22/26
On February 22nd, community members showed up at three Home Depots simultaneously across Los Angeles County: Cypress Park, Westlake, and Torrance. The coordinated action was organized by the Boycott Home Depot Coalition, the Community Self Defense Coalition, and the Northeast Los Angeles Alliance for Democracy. Signs, banners, musical instruments, and a car caravan moving through each parking lot with an audio recording documenting the names and numbers of those taken.
The Cypress Park Home Depot is my local Home Depot. I have been showing up there on Fridays as part of the broader the Community Self Defense Coalition’s rapid response patrol, helping to be a presence to ward off ICE who has been targeting our jornaleros (day laborer) neighbors.
Since June 2025, over 40 day laborers have been abducted by ICE from this parking lot alone. Home Depot has not only failed to protect them. They have actively worked against the IDEPSCA day laborer center that has operated on their property for over 25 years. They installed noise machines emitting painful high-pitched sounds to drive people away. They filed eviction notices against the center that has served this community since before most of us were paying attention.
But the Boycott Home Depot action is one piece of a much larger architecture. The coalition organizing this work is part of a broader network of over 80 organizations across Los Angeles building what organizers call popular power, the kind that doesn't dissolve when the march ends. There is a difference between mobilization and organization (see video by Kwame Ture below). Mobilization gets people in the street. Organization builds the relationships, structures, and sustained pressure that can actually win. What is happening at the Cypress Park Home Depot is both.
The rally ended in Confluence Park with speeches from IDEPSCA, Union del Barrio, Malaya, a Filipino diaspora movement, and coalition organizers. The message was clear: Home Depot is not a neutral party. They are a corporate actor colluding with the fascistic machinery of deportation, and the community will not let that go unanswered.
Ground Control
Ground Control Touring's fourth annual Abortion Access Benefit Series brought eight acts and a packed Lodge Room together for a night of music in support of reproductive justice, with Mind's Eye closing it out as the undeniable highlight.
Artist: Mind’s Eye, Shannon Shaw, Harmony Tividad (of Girlpool), Diners, Starling, Kid Sistr, Emory, Urika's Bedroom
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.)
Date: 1/24/26
Ground Control Touring's fourth annual Abortion Access Benefit Series landed at Lodge Room on January 24th, raising funds for reproductive justice organizations including ACCESS Reproductive Justice and the Chicago Abortion Fund, with 100% of proceeds going to NOISE FOR NOW. The night was one of four simultaneous benefit shows across the country, with sister events in New York, Austin, and Chicago.
Hosted by Syd and Olivia, the night moved through eight acts — Diners, Emory, Harmony Tividad (of Girlpool), Kid Sistr, Starling, and Urika's Bedroom — spanning indie, folk, and beyond, with the crowd staying locked in from start to finish. Mind's Eye closed out the night as the undeniable highlight: self-described as "kinda like the Beatles if Yoko was a goth Latina," their live show delivers on every bit of that energy. Frontman Vince came off the stage and danced with the crowd, swapped heartbreak stories, and had the room laughing and dancing in equal measure.
DEAD PREZ
Dead Prez celebrated 25 years of Let’s Get Free with a stacked night of guests. Daru Jones and Opio (Souls of Mischief) joined the set, with appearances from Ras Kass, Aja Monet, and Imani Archer.
Artist: Dead Prez
Venue: Lodge Room (L.A.).
Date: Dec. 10, 2025
Dead Prez celebrated 25 years of Let's Get Free at a sold-out Lodge Room. A night for real hip-hop. Legends in the crowd, legends on stage, organizers filling the room. Historic doesn't cover it.
Opio from Souls of Mischief opened with that '93 boom bap, pulling from the golden era that still sounds sharp decades later. Daru Jones, the two-time Grammy-winning drummer who's played with everyone from Jack White to Pete Rock, brought fire to his kit. Dead Prez took the stage and didn't let up. M-1 and stic.man shared stories from the early days, the formation of the group, the making of Let's Get Free. M-1 talked about his repatriation to Senegal, homeschooling his children, living off the land.
Then came the moment. "I see a lot of keffiyehs out in the crowd," M-1 said. "So let's hear it: FREE FREE..." The crowd roared: "PALESTINE." He did it again. Then: "But I like this one the most from my brother Bob Vylan. DEATH DEATH..." The crowd knew. "TO THE IDF." Legendary.
Ras Kass, the West Coast lyricist whose "Soul on Ice" set the standard for conscious rap in '96, came out for a surprise set. Later, Dead Prez brought Imani Archer to the stage, D'Angelo's daughter. They played a song in his honor. D'Angelo had passed just two months before. The room held it. Poet Aja Monet was in the crowd watching it all, soaking it in. She'll be back at Lodge Room in a week.
This wasn't just a show. This was the lineage on display: conscious hip-hop, boom bap, bigger than hip hop. For the culture.
¡PRESENTE! A DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS FUNDRAISER
Figgy Baby, Indigenous Cats, and Frosty perform a moving Día de los Muertos benefit show for the Community Self Defense Coalition at the Harriet Tubman Center. Music, community, and resistance under the LA Night sky.
Artist: Figgy Baby; Indigenous Cats; Frosty; Lxs Cochinxs
Venue: Harriet Tubman Center
Date: November 1, 2025
Figgy Baby, Indigenous Cats, Frosty, and Lxs Cochinxs turned the Harriet Tubman Center parking lot into a sanctuary under the LA night sky. Día de los Muertos benefit show, raising money for the Community Self Defense Coalition and families affected by ICE raids while honoring the ancestors. The lineup felt intentional: Figgy Baby, the non-binary Mexican rapper reimagining masculinity through fluid, high-energy performance. Indigenous Cats, the underground duo blending Salvadoran and Filipino roots with boom bap beats and razor-sharp political lyrics about decolonization and Indigenous resistance. Frosty and Lxs Cochinxs rounding out the night.
Indigenous Cats stood out, their sound unique and their politics uncompromising. Between sets, a community cypher opened the floor, voices circling back on themselves, building on what came before. This wasn't just a show. This was mutual aid in action, community care and call-and-response. Culture and politics. Music as organizing. Resistance as ritual.
