During my first semester at Florida Gulf Coast University, I’ve taken the time to interact with and participate in some of the college’s political organizations. As it currently stands, I’m an active member of the Turning Point USA chapter, an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values on university campuses. We’ve had many outreach events during the beginning of the school year, including tabling, canvassing, and visits from special guests, such as PragerU media personality Will Witt.
On many occasions, I’ve also come to interact with the chapter for the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). The YDSA is the youth subsidiary for the National organization, the DSA, a multi-tendency socialist and labor-oriented nonprofit organization. They also participate in many forms of campus outreach, such as tabling, meetings, and petitioning. As of recently, they have looked to remove a Community Pregnancy Clinic van from the campus, citing that, “they spread misinformation about healthcare, shame students when they go there for sti testing…and they are an antiabortion group that are not licensed medical practitioners.”
TPUSA and YDSA members often survey one another’s activism in order to keep tabs on the other’s agenda and aid in potentially organizing counter-activism.
As of recently, I had found on their Instagram story that they were promoting a “free brake light fix clinic” in coordination with the Southwest Florida chapter of the DSA. They stated that the event’s purpose was to, “…reduce police interactions and have discussions with our neighbors about police.” I found this interesting to a degree, and in response, I decided to message the FGCU chapter to better understand the ideology behind this specific action.
Here is the documented exchange:
Bo: Why reduce police interaction??
YDSA: The police are hostile and you can get a ticket for having a break light out. They often use the excuse of a broken brake light to pull people over and to harrass people of color. People of color (specifically black people) get profiled by police and are more likely to get a ticket or even be arrested just because their break light was out.
Bo: What makes you say all police are hostile? Not arguing just curious.
YDSA: Because the[y] are. I didnt say all cops. But they are predatory and have a quota to fill.
Bo: Do you think that’s the driving force for most cops? Not to keep the peace?
YDSA: Yes absolutely. Their driving force for most cops is to meet their quotas for tickets and arrests but there are some sinister ones who just do it to feel powerful and exert control.
Bo: Do you think police should be reorganized and retrained or defunded altogether?
YDSA: The idea of police needs to be completely rethought. Ydsa and our parent org Dsa support the defunding of police.
Bo: What about cities that have already partially defunded police? NYC, Oakland, and other cities had to reverse their decision due to a rise in crime. Agenda or not, the police do help people and reduce crime. Is there another solution?
As of Thursday, October 23rd, the YDSA has yet to respond to my final question.
[UPDATE: A few weeks after my interaction, I found that the organization had blocked me on Instagram, as I was no longer able to see or interact with their account.]
The current agenda of the YDSA’s FGCU chapter is focused upon building vaccine confidence, supporting labor strikes for workers and students, and propagating pro-choice viewpoints. I will continue to monitor and ask questions to gain a better understanding of the organization.
