RL Stephens Live from Charlottesville: Local DSA Members Speak Out

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🗓️ 18 August 2017

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

In the wake of the fascist terror attack, RL attended DSA Charlottesville's monthly meeting. Time and again, the issues of safety and violence were discussed along with how the terror attack would change their organizing work going forward. RL asked a few members to stay after the meeting for a chat.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for listening. This is R.L. Stevens live from Charlottesville. I've been here since Tuesday in the aftermath of a fascist terror attack in this town.
0:09.0	It's been an eye-opening experience. I've gotten a chance to talk to a lot of people. I hope you got a chance to listen to the Haven episode that I just recorded yesterday.
0:18.0	But today I have a special treat for you all. I went to the DSA Charlottesville meeting and they were kind
0:25.2	enough to talk to me, some of them, to talk to me after the meeting was over. I will say without a shadow of doubt that this was one of the best if not the best
0:34.1	DSA meeting I've ever been to and I'm really confident in the work that they're all
0:38.5	doing going forward and they take this work very seriously. Without further ado, here's the interview.
0:44.0	It's a little raucous, we didn't do names,
0:46.0	we wanted you to catch the spirit
0:48.0	of what it was like, what solidarity was like in this space,
0:51.0	and so, uh, check it out. This is R.L. Stevens of Jackman magazine
0:56.1	live from Charlottesville, Virginia.
0:57.6	We met at the DSA meeting here in Charlottesville and you were doing security here and you're not a member of
1:04.2	DSA but you came to help out and I wanted to you said something really
1:08.1	interesting in the meeting today and I wanted to give you a chance to to talk here.
1:12.2	So let's start with like where you're from and you know what
1:16.3	you've thought about being a black man in this community for for a number of
1:19.7	years. Well I'm I'm from Charlottesville, Virginia.
1:23.0	I'm born and raised here, so, you know, I went to high school here, and like I said, in 1983, we had a racial riot here.
1:31.0	So racism has been in this town basically ever since I've been in
1:35.1	school and since I've been born here. But the thing about it was I was born. I was raised in basically neighborhoods where there were all kinds of colors of people
1:46.0	black white Asian Mexican and we all got along you know but then there's always the behind the door stuff you know so when this
1:56.8	happened in Salasfield already knew it was going down I knew these people that
	...

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