Photos courtesy of Carlos Calzadilla-Palacio
By ELEANOR TRAUBMAN | news@queensledger.com
Eleanor Traubman is the founder of My Local Heroes, which lives on both Facebook and Instagram. Now in its fifth year, MLH is a celebration of activists, artists, athletes and entrepreneurs from Brooklyn and beyond who are working to make their communities better places to live.
Launched during the pandemic, the project was featured in News12 and The Patch, and received a Covid-19 Heroes Award from the former Brooklyn Borough President.
This article is part of a series of posts Eleanor is writing about community leaders and their take on local community involvement. This week, we’re featuring her conversation with Carlos Calzadilla-Palacio, president of the Brooklyn Young Democrats and district director for state Senator Andrew Gounardes.
My Local Heroes: When and how did you get interested in civic life, activism and electoral politics?
Carlos Calzadilla-Palacio: I’ve always been interested in history and had a strong sense of social justice.
I was a soccer player when I was younger. I went to play in Europe during my senior year in high school. During that time, I started listening to talks given by a then-little-known Senator from Vermont named Bernie Sanders who articulated a picture of justice and offered hope. I remember him saying “No one who works a forty-hour-a-week job should live in poverty.”
At age 18, while I was offered a position playing for a small pro soccer team in the U.S. After going home to Miami to contemplate whether to take next steps, I went to a Sanders rally and fell in love with the movement. I turned down the soccer job to finish high school, start college, and volunteer for Sanders in Miami. I eventually went to work on a congressional campaign in South Florida as a field organizer.
I started college at Long Island University in Brooklyn. On that first day I walked onto the campus, something insane was happening: The university administration had physically locked out the professors, due to a contract dispute. They had hired people who they found on Craigslist to stand in for the professors and take attendance in the classrooms.
I joined the professors in their picket line and helped to lead sit-ins and protests. Those led to massive walk-outs by the students. We actually stopped the school from being able to function.
So that was the beginning of my New York activism. I eventually transferred to Brooklyn College. During my time there, I endorsed progressive candidates such as AOC, Cynthia Nixon, and Jumaane Williams. I did a lot of immigration activism, working to stop deportations.
All of these experiences reinforced in my mind the power that individuals and collectives have to make an impact.
MLH: Who or what in your young life gave you the idea that you could make a difference?
CC: My mom always taught me to speak up when something was not working.
In the political sense, it was Bernie Sanders who taught me about speaking truth to power, that how any one person can inspire a chain of action. If you are passionate about an issue, there are always people who will follow you.
Any person can be that domino to start a chain of action. In the organizing and leading that I did on the LIU campus, we changed the course of events, of history. We helped make sure that something like that would never happen again.
Calzadilla-Palacio with his mother.
MLH: What have you found the most rewarding about being involved in your local community?
CC: I love seeing the passion of the people who care deeply about issues – housing, safe streets, after-school programs. Community, comradery, and collective action are everything,
MLH: Working for change can be rewarding and also challenging, especially now! What do you do to bring joy into your life?
CC: I approach everything with a positive attitude, with a zest for life. As Emma Goldman famously said: “If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.” Activism can be fulfilling and fun if we approach the work with light-heartedness, humor, and a belief that things will work out.
We set things up for success by having that positive attitude. As the singer Pitbull said: “Every day above ground is a good day!”
It’s important to ask for what a community needs at the highest level. As Pitbull also said, “They say the sky’s the limit, but there’s footprints on the moon.” There are fewer limits than people think that there are. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You’ll have fun and get more done!
MLH: Why is it important for people to get involved in their local communities? What are some ways people can get involved at the local level?
CC: People organizing is at the core of the fight for a better world. The easiest way to effect change is to find other people who care about what you do and band together.
Some great places to get involved with are democratic clubs, where you can shape the party to reflect the needs of its constituents. You can also call local elected officials, organize press conferences, organize protests. You can volunteer for and donate to candidates who reflect your values.
MLH: Fans want to know: what was it like getting to recently meet Pitbull in person?
CC: It was the experience of a lifetime to meet a fellow Cuban-American from Miami. After meeting him, I feel more motivated than ever. Like myself, he comes from a working class immigrant family. He approaches life with a positive mentality, a sense of humor, and zest. He never gave up, but instead fought for his dreams and succeeded! He is also a generous philanthropist yet never forgot where he came from.
MLH: Any final thoughts?
CC: We are in a battle where there are two different visions for the world. One is rooted in cruelty, and the other is rooted in empathy. We need to fight harder and not let those whose actions are rooted in cruelty win. We are fighting for a society in which love prevails. Never give up hope; everyone has the power to change the world.
