California Working Families Party Hosts IE Gathering

On March 22, the California Working Families Party hosted a virtual gathering for the Inland Empire. 

Carolina Mendez, digital organizer for the party, facilitated the event. Mendez shared the goals of the party, including access to healthcare and lower prescription drug costs. California is blue on the surface, but has red undertones, Mendez said, and the fight for power is between progressive Democrats and pro-corporate Democrats. The California Working Families Party, she said, hopes to become the state's second party by displacing Republicans and pushing policies toward the left.

Mendez shared the party centers people of color and communities of color and that decision-making is regionally driven. Power is balanced, she said, between individual members, local unions, and regional community-based organizations. 

Inland Empire United is one of seven regional charters for the party.

The party endorses Corey Jackson for State Assembly. Jackson spoke at the event, saying in his campaign, "people power comes first." Jackson, who is a trained social worker, said a core principal of social work is social justice. "Nobody should be living anywhere in this country or even around the world and not have their basic needs met," he said. Health care, health equality, housing, and public education free from systemic racism are all human rights, he said. 

So many, Jackson said, don't believe what's possible, but instead have been So many folks don’t "have been conditioned to take the moderate route" or  "think this is not the right time." "This is the right time," Jackson said.

Jackson is holding a volunteer canvassing day in Moreno Valley on April 2. More information is available on his website.