Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Sosa.
Hi Anthony, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Our organization, The Justice Reform League, was born out of the George Floyd protests of the Summer of 2020. My spouse Amber and I were working with Enough are Enough, protesting, advocating at the City Council, and writing the 13 demands we presented to the city council, as well as engaging in meetings with Mayor Betsy Price and Chief Kraus. After about 6 weeks of protesting, organizing, public speaking, event planning, and working in solidarity with other local organizations like No Sleep till Justice, O.D. Aid and United FW, Amber, and I felt we would be best serving our city and community by providing a platform to educate and openly discuss the political, economic, and systemic issues right here in Tarrant County. Amber and I founded The Justice Reform League and created a podcast called The Fort Worth Freedom Review that focuses on local politics and local issues and breaks down how the city, county, and state governments function and how we can interact with them–to fix them. The podcast began with 4 hosts: me, Amber, local defense attorney Michael Campbell, and bartender Christopher Rose. Over the past 2 years, we shifted to having 2 hosts, myself and Thomas Moore, founder of No Sleep till Justice. Christopher Rose moved to Portland, and Amber is finishing a Ph.D. in Sociology at Texas Woman’s University.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Organizing activities based on solidarity are never easy. Getting everyone on the same page can be hard sometimes, and that is really how we began in the first place, out of challenges in finding our lane in this movement and disagreeing about tactics. A lot of the people we were working with were wanting to spend more time and resources organizing and orchestrating protests. We, who eventually founded JRL, felt that our time would be better spent learning about and educating people on how the City Council and the County Commissioners Court function so we could effectuate change through policy.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a history teacher in FWISD with a Bachelor’s in History and a Master’s in Education from UTA. Amber is a critical academic with a bachelor’s in Fine Arts and two Masters degrees: one in Criminology and Criminal Justice and one in Social Work, all from UTA. She is currently a PH. D Candidate at Texas Woman’s University. We are passionate about history and society, and empowering people to change tomorrow by learning about the past. So, we created JRL to provide a platform for this type of education and advocacy.
Art is also a part of this process. One way to affect hearts and minds is through music. I have also been a local musician in the DFW music scene for over 20 years and played in numerous regionally successful acts like The Raven Charter, Huffer, and The Foo, and I am currently playing in Temporal Distortions–a political band with a political message. When I began organizing politically, I realized that starting a local org is no different than starting a band, The same skill-sets are important and the relationships between the people involved are almost more important than the product itself. After organizing with Enough is Enough and founding Justice Reform League, I felt I could bring what I learned to benefit the local music scene and co-founded Local Famous Records with a bunch of friends to provide a platform and a community for local artists, ourselves included.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
In regards to networking: make friends. Don’t be a jerk. You never know how a certain relationship may benefit you in the future. In regards to a mentor: be willing to accept different types of mentors. You can learn a lot from someone, even if they have a different perspective or outlook than you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.justicereformleague.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fortworthfreedomreview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/FwReview
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHsmo8HxM7oK3ZNMBGOmFpQ
