In which we spend a pleasant afternoon over on the back patio of community organizer and would-have-been school committee candidate Ashley Spring.

A lot to talk about: we discussed their volunteer work with LUCE that brought them down to the scene at Eureka Street and what happened before the body cam footage seen round the world. We pointedly do not discuss the arrest or the “Dangerous Weapon” as there is an active court proceeding but for the record: lol lmao rofl etc. Also: the Election Commission disqualifying them for the November election and oh yeah GoFundMe canceling their campaign out of nowhere because they apparently love ICE. Pretty brutal couple of weeks. But as they explain, you just gotta dig in! Here’s a good moment, 21 mins in:

Bill: What motivated you to become invested in this issue in the first place?

Ashley: Why not? Why not? You know what I mean? Like if something’s happening that, you know, you want to change in the community, you have to take an active role in changing it, you know, and this is scary stuff. I don’t want, you know, armed, unidentified people on the streets, you know, terrorizing the community. And I think a lot of people don’t want that. And a lot of people signed up for rapid response trainings because of that.

Quick note: Spring uses they/them pronouns, a fact which you’ll hear us forget for the first few minutes of the intro then correct ourselves and move on (you’ll notice it’s not a hard thing to do nor is it the end of the world). Our bad!

Rolling Stone: Trump’s ICE Used a Woman’s Kids and Grandchild as ‘Bait’ to Arrest Her

Our writeup of Spring’s meeting with the Election Commission last week

Steve Quist’s hilarious post about this newsletter

LUCE and Neighbor To Neighbor

Eric Prince/Blackwater’s private ICE prison plan

Candy Mero Carlson Campaign Slogan

Oh yeah and the baby bottle

After the interview, some fun stuff:

Internet Roadtrip, a real simple fun cool thing where people collectively “drive” via Google Maps. Stories in 404 Media Collective and the Boston Globe.

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