It Did Happen Here

Fight The Power, Do No Harm: The Story of the Black Cross Healthcare Collective

There were lots of opportunities in the late 90s in Portland Oregon and the Pacific Northwest to get pepper sprayed by the police. Before the World Trade Organization protests took place in Seattle in 1999, there wasn’t an effective antidote to pepper spray that was well known, easy to use on the street, and affordable.

The Black Cross Healthcare Collective was a group of health care workers who lived in Portland, Oregon. They formed after the WTO protests of 1999, after seeing a need for medical care that specifically served people who were attending direct actions, demonstrations and political protests. 

In the early 2000s they pioneered community-supported trials to find an antidote to pepper spray. These trials resulted in an antidote that has been used in street protests internationally. The collective disbanded as a medical group in 2005 or so, morphing into the Black Cross Social Club. 

 “Fight the Power, Do No Harm" is the story of the Black Cross Health Care Collective.  This audio documentary was produced by Jodi Darby, Honna Veerkamp, and Erin Yanke. April 27, 2024

Kate Boyd and Cristien Storm of the Seattle-based collaborative group If You Don’t They Will discuss  “no. NOT EVER”, an interactive, immersive presentation of cultural  resistance to white nationalism practiced by rural and suburban groups  in the Pacific Northwest throughout the 80s and 90s.

Transcript

Show Notes

Credits

Producers:  Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Mic Crenshaw

Editors: Erin Yanke and Icky A.

Story editors: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Icky A., Mic Crenshaw, Moe Bowstern

Visual archivist:Julie Perini

Mastering: Colin Casserd

Music: Neo Boys

Thanks: Kate, Cristien, Marat

In this episode we hear from antiracist street fighters: Iran, Jackson, Pan and Tom. The four

transcript

show notes

Credits

Producers: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Mic Crenshaw

Editors: Erin Yanke and Icky A.

Interviewer for this episode: Mic Crenshaw

Story editors: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Icky A., Mic Crenshaw, Moe Bowstern

Visual archivist: Julie Perini

Mastering: Colin Casserd

Music: Godspeed You Black Emperor

This episode features Coalition for Human Dignity activists Steve Wasserstrom, Jonathan Mozzochi and Abby Layton. In this bonus episode we look at how the meticulous collection of data mined for opposition research contributed to a world-famous trial to debunk fascist Holocaust denier David Irving.

Transcript

Show Notes

credits

Producers: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Mic Crenshaw

Editors: Erin Yanke and Icky A.

Interviewer for this episode: Claire Rischiotto and Celina Flores

Story editors: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Icky A., Mic Crenshaw, Moe Bowstern

Visual archivist: Julie Perini

Mastering: Colin Casserd

Music: Kai Engel,  the fucked up beat, and silicone transmitter, all from the Free Music Archive

Enrique Rivera of the Multnomah County Library, hosted this event with the IDHH podcast producers on March 11, 2021. They play clips of the podcast, talk about making the podcast, storytelling, their favorite moments, book recommendations, and much more.

Thanks to Lyndsey Runyan and Enrique Rivera of the Multnomah County Library.

In this bonus episode, we hear from Coalition for Human Dignity veteran Devin Burghart, now Executive Director of left wing think tank Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. Burghart talks about the role of YouTube personalities in the effective radicalization of white nationalists, especially younger viewers.

Transcript

Show Notes

credits

Producers: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Mic Crenshaw

Editors: Erin Yanke and Icky A.

Interviewer for this episode: Ceina Flores

Story editors: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Icky A., Mic Crenshaw, Moe Bowstern

Visual archivist: Julie Perini

Mastering: Colin Casserd

Music: LG 17nfrom the Free Music Archive

Scot Nakagawa and Eric Ward talk together at " It Did Happen Here: Nothing is Final", recorded March 4, 2021 at an event sponsored by the Multnomah County Library.

Scot  was the founding staff person of the Coalition for Human Dignity, and is co-founder and Senior Partner of ChangeLab, a national racial  equity think/act lab promoting innovation in racial equity advocacy. Eric Ward  founded and directed a community project to expose and counter  hate groups and respond to bigoted violence with the Community Alliance  of Lane County (1990–1994).He is currently the Executive Director of the Western States Center.

Thanks to Enrique and Lindsey from the Multnomah County Library

We talk to Martin Sprouse, former shitworker and coordinator Maximum Rocknroll about the role of the long-running punk rock zine as a cultural organizing tool for many groups, including Anti Racist Action. 

Show Notes

Transcript

Credits

Producers: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Mic Crenshaw

Interviews for this episode: Erin Yanke

Story editors: Celina Flores, Erin Yanke, Icky A., Mic Crenshaw, Moe Bowstern

Photo: Cammie Toloui   IG:@cammietolouiphoto

Mastering: Colin Casserd

Music: 

A Touch of Hysteria

It Did Happen Here:  Histories of Fighting White Supremacists was recorded on February 25, 2021. This was a panel discussion with one of the podcast participants China,  Producers Celina Flores, Mic Crenshaw, and Erin Yanke, and moderated by   Eliza Canty-Jones. The event  was sponsored by the Oregon Historical Society.

It Did Happen Here returns to the Midwest for deeper  conversations with veterans of the Minneapolis Baldies and  Skinheads of Chicago (SHOC) about what it means to  be a Black, Brown or Indigenous person in a predominantly white  movement, a woman in a male-dominated movement, how we  direct our anti-racism as middle-aged activists, with deep discussion on how experiences with a violent youth have shaped political and personal philosophies.

Interviews with Lorraine, Gator,  Malachi/Mickey, Marty, Gator, and Mobonix/Mo.