Ramón Mejía is from Dallas, Texas and is Grassroots Global Justice’s National Organizer. At the age of 18, to support his family, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and in 2003 participated in the initial invasion of Iraq. This experience led to self-reflection, converting to Islam, and becoming an outspoken advocate and organizer against U.S. wars and the growing militarization of our communities. Ramón is a member of About Face: Veterans Against the War and was recognized as part of the ‘MPower 100—Muslim Social Justice Leaders Building Power Across the United States’ in 2016.

Lindsay Koshgarian is the Program Director of the National Priorities Project, where she analyzes the Pentagon budget and outsized military spending’s impact on the defunding of education, health care and more. Her recent article, “Our Skyrocketing Military Spending Helps Pentagon Contractors—Not Ukraine” points out that less than one percent of the current $782 billion Pentagon budget is marked for Ukraine, and about 50 times as much will go to for profit weapons contractors.