Voice of Witness

Voice of Witness is honored to share, Heart of the Matter: Reflections from the Fight for Immigrant Justice During the Second Trump Administration. 🫀

This original oral history zine shares first-person stories from community organizers, attorneys, and others working to support immigrant and refugee wellbeing and rights in the United States in 2026.

During an era of violent ICE activity and increasingly hostile policies toward the immigrant community, this collection is an act of resistance—a love letter to our immigrant friends, families, and neighbors and to all those fighting to make our country a more peaceful, welcoming place for all.

Hear from narrators like: Veronica, an immigration attorney defending asylum seekers; Monica, a Mexican American artist and organizer whose artistic and political work center around liberatory and abolitionist principle; Aaruba, a therapist supporting immigrant and refugee mental health; and others working for collective change and justice in the fight for immigration justice.

🫀 Read now: bit.ly/HEART-OF-THE-MATTER

This zine is our final project as an organization, and we could not have chosen a more meaningful way to close. We offer it in love and solidarity to our community of attorneys, oral historians, memory workers, community organizers and activists, and artists and illustrators fighting for justice for our immigrant neighbors. We are honored to have walked alongside you.

To connect more on this project, please reach out to the editors, F***y García at narrativesinpractice.com and Ela Banerjee at [email protected].

Heart of the Matter was produced with the generous support of the San Francisco Foundation.

We’re putting on the final touches on 🍽 SETTING THE TABLE: A Sonic Installation of Food, Belonging & Migration 🍽 and can’t wait for you to experience this interactive exhibition soon!

While our opening event on May 22 is now sold out, will be available for public viewing at:

📍 Oakland Bloom Open Test Kitchen ‣ 528 8th St. Oakland
May 23–June 4 • Wed-Fri, 9AM–2PM

📍 Chapter 510 ‣ 546 9th St. Oakland
June 5, 12, 19 • 11AM–5PM

✨ SETTING THE TABLE is an interactive exhibition featuring nine audio stories from immigrant, refugee, and diasporic community members living in the East Bay, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Chechenyo-speaking Ohlone and Bay Miwok peoples.

This table of stories and food memories draws connections to Mexico, Panama, Nigeria, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, Jamaica, Pakistan, Iran, Guatemala, and the African American diaspora. This project is grounded in the belief that food brings us together, that gathering can be joyful, and that there is room for everyone.

This project is a collaboration between Voice of Witness, GEMS Oral Histories & Audio Storytelling, and Rami KD, with funding provided by Creative Work Fund. Special thanks to Oakland Bloom and Chapter 510 & the Dept. of Make / Believe for hosting the exhibition. 💛

A Difficult Update from Voice of Witness

For over 15 years, Voice of Witness has been honored to amplify critical human rights stories, to bring oral history education to classrooms across the country, and to collaborate with diverse community partners dedicated to advancing justice in all its forms. Like many organizations in our field, VOW has faced rising funding challenges in recent years. After months of discussion and reflection with our staff and board, we have made the difficult decision to close VOW's operations at the end of May 2026.

What started as a single oral history collection in 2005 grew into a nonprofit that has published 22 books, connected with tens of thousands of educators and students, and built community partnerships with activists, attorneys, journalists, artists, and healthcare professionals. We have been privileged to share the first-person experiences of hundreds of individuals impacted by human rights crises around the world, including incarcerated people, undocumented immigrants, refugees, agricultural workers, Indigenous peoples, communities displaced from public housing, and many more. Together, we have worked to create a space of deep listening and belonging, where stories can help us learn how to better advocate for justice and positive social change.

We are so grateful to our incredible community, who have supported us throughout the years and made our work possible. Your dedication, passion, and belief in the transformative power of storytelling keep us believing in a better, brighter, more empathetic future for all.

Please stay tuned in the coming weeks for more updates about where to access VOW’s oral history books and resources after our closure. We invite you to join our virtual farewell celebration on Tuesday, May 26 at 3pm PT to share reflections and fond memories of our time together: vow-farewell.eventbrite.com.

Oral history is about connecting through the transformative power of storytelling, and we are so honored to have connected with each of you.

With deep gratitude and love,
The VOW Staff & Board

Join us for the opening of our brand new exhibition: 🍽️ SETTING THE TABLE: A Sonic Installation of Food, Belonging & Migration!

📅 Friday, May 22
⏰ 5:30–7:30 PM
📍 Oakland Bloom Open Test Kitchen ‣ 528 8th St. Oakland
🎟️ FREE with RSVP: setting-the-table.eventbrite.com

is an interactive exhibition featuring nine audio stories from immigrant, refugee, and diasporic community members living in the East Bay, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Chechenyo-speaking Ohlone and Bay Miwok peoples.

This table of stories and food memories draws connections to Mexico, Panama, Nigeria, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, Jamaica, Pakistan, Iran, Guatemala, and the African American diaspora. This project is grounded in the belief that food brings us together, that gathering can be joyful, and that there is room for everyone.

Please stop by during this happy hour-style gathering to experience the exhibit and chat with project collaborators! Light refreshments will be provided.

✨ SETTING THE TABLE is a collaboration between Voice of Witness, GEMS Oral Histories & Audio Storytelling, and Rami KD, with funding provided by the Creative Work Fund.

We're thrilled to partner with Oakland Bloom for this launch event. Following the opening celebration, SETTING THE TABLE will be available for public viewing at Open Test Kitchen through June 4 (Wed-Fri, 9am-2pm).

In a moment when history itself is under threat, when books are being banned, curricula are being gutted, and entire stories are being erased from public life, the work of public historians has never been more urgent.

Making history accessible, relevant, and alive for communities outside the academy is not just a professional practice. It is an act of resistance.

In our next AAOH session, we’ll explore the intersection of oral history and public history with Yolanda Hester, a public historian, oral historian, and co-founder of the consulting firm, Frameworks and Narratives. Bring your questions, your projects, and your curiosity!

📝 Public History
📅 Thursday, April 30
⏰ 12pm PT / 3pm ET
🔗 bit.ly/AAOH-9

💡 consultation hours are your chance to dive into the intricacies of oral history and learn alongside fellow storytellers. Whether you're wrestling with a current project or just curious about the craft, these monthly 60-minute working sessions are your space to grow and ask questions in an intimate, small-group setting.

At kitchen tables in Oakland, chefs are telling the stories this country is trying to erase. In Sacramento, advocates and community leaders will use their stories to confront policymakers.

This is what narrative power looks like.

The Sonic Tablecloth builds belonging through food, memory, and shared space. The Heart of the Matter carries emotional truths into advocacy and legislative action.

Stories move people. People move policy.

With 3 days left to reach our $7,000 goal, we’re asking you to stand behind immigrant-led storytelling that refuses silence and demands dignity.

💌 Donate before March 31 at bit.ly/recipesforresistance

We can’t wait to share these incredible stories with you soon. ➡️ Swipe for some BTS with GEMS Oral Histories & Audio Storytelling!

What does it mean to sustain oral history work? Not just the projects, but the practice itself? 💭

As part of our Storytelling in Practice speaker series, we will be in conversation with Sarah Dziedzic and David Wolinsky, co-founders of the Oral History Worker Collective, a practitioner-led network built around a simple but radical premise: the relationships we build with each other are the throughline of our careers.

Together, we’ll explore how oral historians and cultural workers are organizing around labor, care, and the conditions that make good work possible.

This conversation is for anyone who has ever wondered whether this work is sustainable, who it's sustainable for, and what we owe each other in the meantime.

📅 Wednesday, April 15
⏰ 2pm PT / 5pm ET
🎟️ Register now at sip-ohwc.eventbrite.com

We’re proud to bring excerpts from our Heart of the Matter project to Sacramento for 🦋 Immigrant Day of Action 🦋 on April 14, as part of the Amplifying Sanctuary Voices coalition with East Bay Sanctuary Covenant.

These stories will be used as powerful tools for policy advocacy – ensuring that California lawmakers listen to voices on the frontlines of immigrant justice work.

✊ Join VOW for Immigrant Day of Action on April 14! Register now: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/immigrant-day-of-action-2026

🎁 Give today to help us complete our narrative project: bit.ly/recipesforresistance

The Heart of the Matter is a new VOW narrative project documenting how immigrant communities and their allies are navigating an environment of increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics, denial of due process, and rising political violence.

Using VOW’s oral history methodology, we are documenting the stories of six narrators on the frontlines of immigrant justice work: family members of detainees, advocates, lawyers, and organizers standing up for their communities. These narratives will be published online, printed as a zine, and shared with lawmakers during the Immigrant Day of Action in Sacramento.

Help VOW bring these stories to life! Here are two ways to support:
🔁Share and uplift voices in our campaign
🎁Donate what you can to help us reach our $7,000 goal: bit.ly/recipesforresistance