Darializa Avila Chevalier Refuses to Fit in Your Box

About this episode

Darializa Avila Chevalier discusses her journey and challenges as a candidate for Congress, breaking stereotypes and advocating for social justice.

"No one fits into these types of boxes." Darializa Avila Chevalier has spent her whole life being asked to pick one: Black or Latina, Dominican or American, organizer or politician. Two weeks ago, the 32-year-old from Harlem broke the biggest box of all, defeating a five-term incumbent to win the Democratic nomination in New York's 13th Congressional District, with no corporate money and no party machine. If she wins in November, she'll be the first Dominican woman ever elected to Congress. In this episode of Immigrantly, Saadia Khan goes beyond the headlines with Darializa: growing up the daughter of working-class immigrants across Florida's many Americas, arriving at Columbia University as a low-income Afro-Latina student who didn't know office hours were a thing, and how campus organizing turned into a life of movement-building. They get into the surreal weight of making history while being picked apart in public, housing for all, abolishing ICE, the Democratic establishment's meltdown — and why dissent might be the most patriotic act of all You can connect with Saadia on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠IG ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@itssaadiak⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠…

People in this episode

Host: Saadia Khan

Guest: Darializa Avila Chevalier

Topics covered

• politics
• identity
• immigration
• activism
• congressional race
• social justice

Keywords

• Darializa Avila Chevalier
• Congress
• Afro-Latina
• Democratic nomination
• activism
• immigration
• housing
• abolish ICE

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Columbia University, Democratic Party, ICE

Places: New York, Harlem, Florida

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