A conversation that will give you hope
My interview with Mike Bonin on fighting state repression and lighting a path for democracy, even in the depths of darkness
When I spoke to Mike Bonin about fighting political repression on his podcast, What’s Next Los Angeles?, at the end of May, the new ICE raids hadn’t yet begun in earnest in LA. Donald Trump hadn’t dispatched the National Guard or the Marines, and the US Secret Service hadn’t wrestled Alex Padilla, California’s senior senator, to the ground for attempting to ask a question of the Homeland Security secretary. But by the time the interview went live last week, my hometown had been beset by a crisis of our government’s own design.
It is hard to convey the waves of grief, chaos, and trauma that are crashing over so many Southern California families and immigrant communities right now — though many journalists, including David Dayen and Jenny Medina, have helped make those stories more accessible. The federal government has kidnapped people from carwashes, farms, restaurants, bus stops, religious institutions, and off the streets. The raids have left families broken, often without recourse or even information about where their loved ones have been sent.
And yet the city has shown remarkable resilience and grit. Peep the interfaith vigils, the mass of Angelenos who denied masked agents entry Chavez Ravine, the restaurants pooling money so that street food vendors can stay inside, and the Mayor, who stood among the leaders of smaller cities in the region, and issued a forceful rebuke to the White House. All of that matters. “Where there’s widespread terror against immigrants and non-white communities more generally, there’s also astonishing solidarity,” Anna Merlan wrote last week in a striking portrait of the city for Mother Jones. “As occurred during January’s devastating fires, Los Angeles has been full of people and organizations trying to help.”
That Los Angeles is the one I’ve watched Mike Bonin work for years to build. I got to know Mike when he was a member of the City Council and I was working as a field organizer in the LA Mayor’s office. My job involved trying to persuade residents of wealthy Westside neighborhoods to support affordable housing and new beds for homeless families in their area. (Not for the faint of heart!) Mike was a voice of conscience, taking courageous and at times unpopular positions on housing, but also on poverty and community safety, that often had personal and political repercussions. He took risks, and sometimes paid for them, but always kept his eyes fixed on a vision for a fairer and more just city.
So it was especially meaningful for me to be interviewed by Mike on his podcast, and to talk about what I’ve learned from dissidents around the world about overcoming fear, fighting a repressive government, and finding strength among likeminded people. And fear not: I turned some questions on Mike, too, and he gave some great answers. It’s a 50-minute conversation and, I think, a soulful one. I hope you enjoy it.
Listen on: Spotify • Apple Podcasts • Mike’s website
I’m an early, out-of-the-gate supporter of Kamala Harris, and I want to put a spotlight on this conversation between Mike Bonin and Ami Fields-Meyer because it speaks to the moment we’re in and the kind of citizen courage we’re going to need.
The podcast speaks to a city under pressure by design: ICE raids sweeping everyday places, masked agents detaining people at bus stops and workplaces, families split without information, and federal muscle used as theater. By the time his interview with Bonin went live, Los Angeles was living through the sort of moral backsliding that authoritarians always insist is “normal procedure.” And yet the city answered: interfaith vigils, neighbors standing their ground at Chavez Ravine, restaurants pooling funds so street vendors can stay indoors, a mayor who said the quiet part out loud and rejected the power play. That pairing matters. Repression is a strategy. So is solidarity.
Why this podcast, and why now? Because Bonin has been the rare public servant who treats conscience as a job requirement, not a press release. He has the scar tissue to prove it. And Ami’s work sits right where ordinary people meet extraordinary pressure: how to move through fear, how to keep showing up, how to find strength with others when the state tries to make you small. The episode promises something we need more than outrage: a method.
Here’s what I want my readers to listen for:
• How fear actually works at street level. Not theory. Tactics. The sudden knock. The missing name. The paperwork that never arrives. Once you can name a tactic you can blunt it.
• What resilient communities do first. The episode points to real examples in LA: rapid response, faith networks, mutual aid, and public officials who refuse the performance of force.
• The difference between spectacle and power. Authoritarians rely on optics. Citizens win by routines: calling hotlines, knowing rights, recording encounters, showing up for hearings, and keeping counsel present.
• How to be a dissident without becoming a martyr. Boundaries, buddies, legal prep, secure comms, and sustainable cadence. Courage is not improvisation. It’s a practice.
If you stand against fascism, as I do, this work is not separate from politics. It’s the ground game of a pro-democracy coalition. Elections decide trajectories. Communities decide momentum. The federal government can try to frighten a city. A city can refuse to be frightened.
A few practical and tactical takeaways to carry from the episode into our week:
1. Map your first three calls. Save the numbers for your local rapid-response network, immigrant legal aid, and your council office. When something happens, seconds matter.
2. Build a buddy triangle. Not a lone-wolf plan. Three people who know where you are, what you’re doing, and how to find you if a protest or canvass goes sideways.
3. Practice “attention sovereignty.” Don’t rely on one platform’s feed to reach you or your people. Get on a text tree, an email list, and one backup channel so information still moves when algorithms don’t.
4. Support the helpers who actually help. If you can’t attend, donate. If you can’t donate, amplify. If you can’t amplify, print and post a resources sheet at the library or coffee shop.
None of this is romantic. It’s civic housekeeping under stress. But that’s how a city keeps its soul. As Ami and the podcast notes, where there is targeted fear, there can also be astonishing solidarity. That’s the Los Angeles I recognize. That’s the country I still believe we can be.
So do yourself a favor and listen to the conversation. It’s 50 minutes of grounded wisdom about overcoming fear, resisting a repressive playbook, and finding the others. Then share it with two people who think “it can’t happen here.” It already is. The question isn’t whether we’re scared. It’s what we do with our fear, together.