It’s Time To Stand.
Will you show up for FREEDOM and LIBERTY?
Will you protect your children and grandchildren?
To do nothing is to agree. We don’t agree, let your voices be heard.
Pray for America. Pray we can remain the Beacon of Light and help others.
Our lineup tonight has been on the front line. Let’s join them.
Selena Fitanides, Esq.
Selena Fitanides is a staff attorney at a public interest law firm in Boston where she works to promote educational choice and opportunity, open and accountable government, and ecomomic fairness and opportunity. After receiving her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1995, she clerked for a federal judge in Philadelphia, served as a Philadelphia Public Interest Law Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, and then worked at large law firms in Philadelphia and Boston. Selena stopped working fulltime after her sons were born so that she could homeschool them. During that period, she occassionally represented plaintiffs in civil rights cases and taught part-time at Boston University Law School. Since returning to full-time work last year, she has focused almost exclusively on defending her clients' constitutional rights.
Shannon Llewellyn
Shannon has been actively fighting to defend personal and parental rights since 2019 when Massachusetts first introduced bills to remove religious exemptions in schools. 2020 found her partnering with Catherine Vitale to identify gaps in the freedom movement that need addressing. Together they launched series of actions and campaigns in 2021 to do the things others weren’t doing, applying direct pressure to officials and encouraging others to follow their conscience, not groups. An ordinance passed in Boston April 2022, to target and silence them and their partners. They’ve been working to expose the corruption. Shannon was arrested twice for violating the unconstitutional ordinance and several of her friends. Shannon and two others remain in court with criminal charges for peacefully protesting.
Catherine Vitale
Catherine was introduced to government corruption head-on, in 2018, when DCF (Dept of Children and Families) took her children out of her custody and placed them in foster care for 5 months. After winning that excruciating battle and getting full custody of her children back, she started on her mission to reform DCF and child protective services as we know it. Catherine spent the next year volunteering for political campaigns and networking, when she quickly realized that we were all being fooled by the illusion of a two-party political system, and prioritized finding common ground and building relationships with left-wing activists. She helped organize and execute many direct-action demonstrations throughout 2021 and 2022 with Shannon Llewellyn and other activists from all over Massachusetts. Catherine and Shannon’s activist group, We The People of MA, made many local and national headlines last year, when they began publicly shaming Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for her unlawful vaccine mandates. She has been arrested 3 times in the past year, and still has two open cases against her. In 2023, Catherine is working on building a bigger platform for We The People of MA by starting a YouTube show that is focused on having the uncomfortable conversations that are necessary for the political left and right to unite and take this war on together. She is also kicking off her campaign for Boston City Councilor At Large in the first week of May!
Carla Agrippino-Gomes
Like many Italian-Americans, North-End native Carla Agrippino Gomes, owner and general manager of Terramia and Antico Forno, grew up on her mother's Italian cooking. Then in 1993, she opened Terramia and her perception of authentic Italian cuisine was changed forever.
The first few months after Terramia opened, she remembers were the toughest. "I didn't realize how much work went into opening a restaurant; however, it didn't take long for the Terramia concept to catch on." In August 1996, three years after the opening of Terramia, Carla opened her second restaurant, Antico Forno, Cucina a Legna, across the street. Like Terramia, people flocked to Antico Forno to try the pizza and Italian rustic country fare. Carla credits Nocera and happily boasts, "Mario Nocera has single-handedly changed the face of Italian cuisine in the North End".
Carla and her family have gone on to open other restaurants in the North End but now find all of their had work in jeopardy. Extraordinary harsh fees were imposed on North End restaurants, just as they struggled to recover from Covid shutdowns and business losses. Rather than help the hardworking families of the North End, Mayor Wu has launched an attack on the very people that have worked to create the neighborhood we love dearly. Don’t let it happen! This is an obvious attack on the people, ethnicity and work ethic of our beloved North End!