Scary to Imagine (2/2)

This is the second part of a two-part story. If you haven’t heard part one, “Don’t Eat Nazi Shit Melons,” you can listen to it here.

After the arrest of Indiana University Professor Cara Caddoo, the Mayor of Bloomington doubled down on anti-protest rules and police presence in the Bloomington City Farmers Market. But this failed to satisfy local activists calling for the removal of “Identitarian” Sarah Dye — and failed to mollify right-wing groups who were now turning Dye into a White nationalist media icon.

As it became clear that the city wouldn’t change its position, differences between different groups of anti-racist activists became clear as well. And as Bloomington Police continued to arrest protestors in the market, local Black Lives Matter core council member JadaBee found herself at odds with her friend Abby Ang, who continued to amplify Sarah Dye’s links to the American Identity Movement while navigating the tense boundaries between “free speech,” “unacceptable protest,” and “arrestable offense.”

Eventually, multiple new markets took root — including The People’s Market, a cooperatively-run alternative to the Bloomington City Farmers’ Market and co-created largely by BIPOC community members (including Abby and Jada).  Some in Bloomington would consider this addition of new markets to be a successful result of the farmers market protests of 2019. But for the local farmers and activists who continue to grow that alternative at great expense, the experience has left lasting scars and raises ongoing questions about what it takes to truly dismantle White supremacy.

Credits

• Produced and written by James Boo
• Edited by Julia Shu
• Fact checking by Harsha Nahata
• Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound
• Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love
• Our Executive Producer is Ken Ikeda

Resources and Reading

• “Bloomington 2019: ‘The Year of the Farmers’ Market Controversy’” by Ellen Wu for Limestone Post Magazine
• “Identity Evropa’s Neo Nazi Organizing Plans Revealed in New Leaks” by Freddy Martinez, Caroline Sinders, and Chris Schiano for Unicorn Riot
• Black Lives Matter in Bloomington archive of blog posts and open letters
• “Man Drives SUV at Anti-Fascist, No Space for Hate Protestors Near Bloomington Farmers Market” by Lydia Gerike for the Indiana Daily Student
• “Five Protestors Arrested at Farmers Market” by Jeremy Hogan for the Bloomingtonian
• “Ethos of New People’s Market Focuses on Food Justice, Mutual Aid” by Ellen Wu for Limestone Post Magazine
• “A Graduate Student in the (Farmers’) Marketplace of Ideas” by Abby Ang for In the Middle
• “Confronting White Supremacy: The Negative Peace of White Liberalism” by JadaBee for Black Lives Matter B-Town IN
• “Food Justice Locally Part 2” by the Black Progressives Podcast feat. JadaBee, Lauren McAllister, and Martin Law