Hi All, I sent this out to the NCDD listserv moments ago and thought I need to share it with the wonderful folks here on OS-LIST too.
You may have seen the violence in Charlottesville two weeks ago when alt-right protesters and Black Lives Matter & Antifa counter-protesters clashed. One alt-right sympathizer committed a terrorist attack by violently plowing his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19. The community is still stunned and no one knows what to do, so what should we do? We should open some space. I'm putting together a 3-hour open space-ish event on Thursday for the Cville tech community (and inviting local leaders of civic and activist groups) so we can figure out what we as technologists have to offer. If this goes well, we'll hold a larger open space for all of Cville. If that goes well, maybe I can work with some of you to hold some simultaneous open spaces across the country one day this Autumn. I'll also try opening some space with Zoom & QiqoChat (for the breakouts). If/when that happens, I'll be sure to reach out here so that we can plan this in the open. I look forward to seeing what else comes of all this... Lucas Cioffi Founder, QiqoChat.com Charlottesville, VA Mobile: 917-528-1831 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lucas Cioffi <lu...@qiqochat.com> Date: Mon, Aug 28, 2017 at 4:34 PM Subject: Hi from Charlottesville (Round 2) To: "ncdd-discuss...@lists.ncdd.org" <ncdd-discuss...@lists.ncdd.org> Thank you so much for the tremendous discussion on this listserv over the past sixteen days! I've learned so much from the resources and ideas you have all shared. *UPDATES* The work to respond to the violence of August 12th is just beginning. Last night the Department of Justice's Community Relations Service <https://www.justice.gov/crs/about-crs> (created as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act) held their first public town meeting here. I posted rough notes below so you can get a sense of what people were talking about. It was supposed to last 2 hours, but went 3.5 hours. The meeting was in a high school auditorium and there were about 500 people present. Everyone had a chance at the microphone. There were no time limits. There were 10 news crews present. Big themes that I heard: - Cville's black community is very upset about August 12th but also about the lack of economic opportunity & affordable housing, and pervasive racism - many people are outraged by the police security plan on August 12th - many people feel the community is still not safe for them - several people mentioning that they want to take action into their own hands if City Council doesn't act (alluding to violence, including the one guy who said he was the one who threatened the mayor at the last City Council meeting) - two people did get in a 5-min shouting match over the general idea of taking down monuments - there is a big lack of trust in government at all levels, from the city (& police) to the DOJ and the President *NEXT STEPS* As a member of Cville's tech community, the first step I'm taking is co-organizing a 3-hour "open space" this Thursday. The target audience is our local tech community plus leaders of local civic and activist groups. If this succeeds, we'll help convene a bigger one open which will be open to everyone in Charlottesville. I've also heard from 10 local citizens and half dozen members of this listserv who want to volunteer for any local dialogue initiative that we may plan. I'm sincerely thankful for those of you who have reached out. For those that cannot make it to Cville, I think we will also plan online dialogue using Zoom video chat (breakout rooms made possible by QiqoChat) during which time any NCDD member can host a breakout room and use any dialogue technique they want; the audience will be people across the country. We'll have an open planning process if/when that happens, so you will hear about it on this listserv. I'll know more after the local tech community convenes on Thursday. Lucas Cioffi Charlottesville, VA Mobile: 917-528-1831 ------- INTRODUCTION BY DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - Department of Justice Community Relations Service - Three phases: recovery, dialogue, moving forward - Acknowledge what has happened - Many questions have been asked and are under investigation. - We need to educate ourselves to preven tthis from reoccurring. - We've had dialogue about who we are in the past. - Let's be patient. - We all have to be able to listen. - DOJ CRS created as part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: https://www.justice.gov/crs/about-crs <https://www.justice.gov/crs/about-crs> - Tonight we will collect concerns, identify common themes, and create resolution. - Here are the ground rules: respect, one person at a time, etc COMMUNITY CONCERNS - lack of trust in Trump & Attorney General Jeff Sessions - police were reactive instead fo proactive - lack of leadership from City Council - we need better gun control in parks - we need to learn how to get these statues down - we need all voices heard; the political right should be a part of the meeting not a target of this meeting - the county is part of the Cville community - we need faith in rule of law - police failed to protect our people - wishing there was a way to remove privilege - http://solidaritycville.com/Demands/ has 10 demands: - 1. Revoke the permit for the August 12 “Unite the Right March on Charlottesville” and grant a permit for the Carnival de Resistance. - 2. Remove the Lee and Jackson statues, now. - 3. Fulfill the “Positive Vision of Resident Directed Redevelopment” from the Charlottesville Public Housing Association of Residents. - 4. Drop the charges against Veronica Fitzhugh. - 5. Apologize publicly for negligence in Sage Smith’s disappearance, and commit to an expansion of the investigation. - 6. Cease the targeting of Black families by social services to send children into foster care. - 7. End JADE (Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement militarized police unit). - 8. End money bail, and release people being held without bond before their trial. - 9. Stop discriminatory stop-and-frisk. - need affordable housing - police need to apologize - discriminatory foster care poliies - militarization of police - stop & frisk - remove monuments - resist white supremacy - sage smith's family - too few minority faces here - want understanding - call this a terrorist attack - systemic ideal of race - the DOJ note-taker miswrote on the screen what someone said and instead wrote "extend white privilege" - it's a shame that there are no Congressional staff here listening - why were there no barricades on 4th street? - lack of trust in government - gun control - this meeting is a waste of time, because we're staring from zero instead of the work that was already done at the Jefferson School a few days after - Jefferson School had a better, more engaging meeting - City Councilmembers have received death threats and that is unacceptable - black women want to feel safe - white nationalists mapped out the black neighborhoods according to online evidence - if more blacks were present at the rally, the alt-right would have opened fire - how do we protect ourselves - there should be no open carry law in Cville, there's a state level rule (Dillon's Rule) that prevents us from making our own laws unless specifically granted permission by the VA legislature - white supremacists are still in town - we are lucky that there was no massacre; we got very lucky - tired of calls for unity - feel abandoned by federal government - DOJ is taking away resources from liberal causes (voter ID laws, LGBT rights, etc) - I don't want unity with local wingnuts who have a rifle and a menacing look on their face - ask for resignations of city council and city manager - "Attorney General is a monument to white supremacy" - drop a bomb in Afghanistan and you're dropping it in Cville too, because a refugee is affected - free political prisoners - investigation of police body cameras - tear gas on Cville residents - power to the people (w/ black power fist) - "they are trying to bury us; we are seeds" - prosecute community leaders for failing to protect - charge Richard Spencer - call a terrorist a terrorist - When will Kessler get charged? - minorities are silenced through a summer of hate - no justice - police should have stop and frisked Nazis - our low income community has a gate to keep people in; not the way it should be - want harsh punishments of the alt-right - there is no affordable housing - there is too much racial profiling and unreasonable search - there needs to be recreation at low income housing areas; YMCA not affordable - no activities for black people - there should be free speech for the people who disrubpted the council meeting - there was a generation of blacks taught to not speak up - thank you to the white community for coming out in support of the black community - there were movies which all happened near here (Birth of a Nation, Loving, Hidden Figures); Hollywood must have known that something big was going to happen - we need to make our history more accessible - "each one, teach one" - lack of police presence at minority events - we're having to police ourselves - what is the role of Civlle police? - our history is that our city chose to close schools instead of desegregate - our history is Vinegar Hill - they want to kill back men, especially if they have knowledge - someone should pay my doctor bills for getting tear-gassed - judge has blood on his hands - "if you don't get it, we will shut it down" - leadership should resign - we should all vote differently - "What has voting done for us in the past?"- person yelled out - this meeting is a farce; we need truth - where are police when the shroud is removed from the statue last night? - Mayor should resign - (speaker says he was the one that threatened the Mayor at the last city council meeting) - give equal rights to blacks - if you can't do it, we will - police plan was publicly "arrest people when fights break out" but that didn't happen - don't allow hate speech; follow Europe's example of no Nazi symbols - our divided country is week - many of the Nazis are young, impressionable people - alt-right leaders are saying they are taking the country back - be careful of what the government tells you, they told us the police got pepper-sprayed at the KKK rally (the reason they used tear gas) but they're not saying that anymore - Trump = terrorist - investigate Trump - ISIS would not get a permit - deny the next permit - we need honesty and accountability - we need to elect better people - what if we had this meeting on July 9th instead? this meeting is too little & too late - This will play out in Richmond bigger if not solved - people shouldn't come in from out of town to battle on our streets - we need more black people at our meeting; we need a different venue - police faced the community not the KKK - media showed up at UVA torch rally long before police; shameful on police - no police presence at black churches and many other places - need a different process other than this meeting; Jefferson School meeting was much better - mental health professionals are volunteering to help Cville residents; there should be official support of such a program - many people are terrorized - get rid of monuments - change happens within ourselves - don't wait for the City's investigations to conclude; that's giving away power - drop charges on Veronica - need a different system than the Cville City Council & City Manager structure; our city is too big for that to work now - there is police harassment - there has been racism for a long time - no affordable housing - we black residents don't care about the statues - when speech turns violent, it's not protected; there were clear threats - Me: this way this race-based violence is escalating is following a similar pattern with what I saw civil war in Iraq - Me: anyone interested in building bridges, please share your email address - the juvenile justice system is broken - school to prison pipeline - "when someone is incarcerated their family does time too" - my boys are back from prison but mentally still locked up - we need new economics to build wealth - no good jobs - need a mindshift change in city council - there have never been two black city council members at any given time - UVA should be held accountable for the tiki torch rally - all investigators should be independent - we need a community security plan (ie sound fire station alarms if there's an attack)
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