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Working Class History

E49: Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis

Working Class History

Working Class History

Society & Culture, Education, History

5.0813 Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rerelease of our episode 49 about Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis, because we are currently trying to co-publish a book, We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action, which is the definitive history of the group across the US. To fund its publication, we are currently running a Kickstarter campaign so please do check it out here, and support it by pre-ordering your copy at a great discount with lots of other great rewards.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at https://patreon.com/workingclasshistory 
Anti-Racist Action (ARA) started in Minneapolis and is a predecessor to the crews often now called antifa. ARA started in 1987 with a multiracial group of teenage skinheads who fought the rising white power movement. It grew into a network of groups in at least 120 towns and cities across the US and Canada. ARA’s first principle was: “We go where they go. Never let the Nazis have the streets.” They eventually applied that not only to white power organising, but to homophobic and anti-abortion organizing, and to police violence, which they saw as all connected. Producer and host Anna Stitt tells the story of the group in Minneapolis through vivid first-person accounts, archival audio, and music from the era. It starts under the railroad tracks in Uptown, Minneapolis and traces a movement that continues to shape the US to this day. 
Learn about the group across the US in the forthcoming book, We Go Where They Go, which you can preorder from our Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wrkclasshistory/we-go-where-they-go-the-story-of-anti-racist-action
More information about this episode, photos, full acknowledgements and a transcript here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/2021/01/11/e49-anti-racist-action-in-minneapolis
Listen to our exclusive bonus episode, where we discussed the topic further with Anna, and listen to more tape from participants about their early lives, political backgrounds and more on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e49-1-anti-bonus-46081746

Transcript

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0:00.0

We're doing something we haven't done before.

0:02.0

We are re-releasing our episode 49 about anti-racist action in Minneapolis.

0:07.5

This is because we're currently trying to co-publish a book.

0:10.5

We Go Where They Go, the Story of Anti-Racist Action, which is the definitive history of the group across the US.

0:17.3

To fund its publication, we are currently running a Kickstarter campaign on the link in the

0:21.8

show notes, so please do check it out and support it by pre-ordering your copy at a great

0:26.5

discount with lots of other great rewards.

0:29.3

This podcast episode tells the story of the birth of the organization in Minneapolis,

0:33.2

Minnesota in the late 1980s.

0:35.9

Young skinheads in the city came together to confront white

0:38.4

supremacists organising in their scene. They linked up with other youth facing similar issues

0:43.2

in other cities and their efforts evolved into ARA, a network of people across the US who were

0:48.5

determined to fight racism, fascism and neo-Nazis by any means necessary. The book, We Go Where They Go,

0:55.7

then looks at the growth and development of the organisation

0:57.9

and its activity across the rest of North America.

1:01.2

This episode is a bit different to our usual episodes

1:03.8

in that it's produced and hosted by Anna Stitt,

1:06.5

to whom we are very grateful for sharing this episode with us.

1:09.4

So hope you enjoy it. And again,

1:11.0

please check out the Kickstarter on the link in the show notes. In 2016, the US saw the most reported

1:17.7

hate crimes in five years. Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric and cabinet appointments have heightened

1:23.6

fears of violence, discrimination, and deportation in the Muslim American community.

...

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