Charlottesville: Where's the $200,000 the DSA raised?
Allie was among the 19 people injured when white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr allegedly drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia in August.

"When the car backed away, he smashed me between his car and I got kind of hung up on the trunk of another," Allie, who asked her last name not be used, recalled.

"He smashed my pelvis into a parked car," she told Al Jazeera

The attack also killed 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Allie suffered a crushed pelvis that left her with sizeable hospital bills.

While she has insurance, under the US healthcare system she still must pay "deductibles" or partial fees before the insurance fully kicks in.

Allie's out-of-pocket limit for 2017 was between $15,000 and $16,000.

"This is going to be a lifetime injury," Allie said. "I'm going to need physical therapy for probably the rest of my life and orthopedist for at least the next decade."

That is why when she heard about a fund by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to support victims of the far-right attack, she thought she could find some reprieve.

"I was hoping the DSA would be a faster route," Allie said.

But after more than three months of searching for information, writing applications and attempting to find answers, Allie and others still have not received any financial help from the DSA, prompting questions over the DSA handling of the money.
Delayed from the beginning

The DSA, which has gained about 20,000 new members over the past year, raised more than $198,000 to help victims of the far-right attack in Charlottesville through a crowdfunding page.

Allie said she learned about the DSA fund "almost immediately" after her initial hospital stay, and she reached out to the DSA to apply for assistance.

"It took me a really long time to get in touch with the DSA, locally," Allie said.

A few weeks passed and she was put in contact with the Richmond DSA chapter through a friend and finally received information about how to apply.

The DSA's national office told her she had to report the hospital where she received care and the police officers she spoke to regarding the attack.

But the requirement of police involvement for Charlottesville and Richmond activists was controversial, Allie said.
Police requirement

Charlottesville police have arrested left-wing, anti-racist protesters for petty offences, prompting fear among many. A grand jury related to the events of the August violence began on November 12 and activists are afraid they may be summoned.

Activists in nearby Richmond have told Al Jazeera that they suspect police department has attempted to infiltrate their ranks.

A 220-page review of the police's handling of the rally released on Friday said law enforcement on the local and state levels were not adequately prepared for the rally.

This view was shared by counterprotesters, who have maintained that police allowed things to escalate.

Charlottesville Police Lt Stephen Upman said at a press conference that police were planning "to determine our next steps" after the report.

Police actions during the rally worsened the already-strained relationship between law enforcement and left-wing activists.
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A police-related controversy had struck the DSA earlier in August when Danny Fetonte, a long-time organiser from the Austin, Texas chapter, was elected to the DSA's National Political Committee (NPC), the party's primary political leadership body.

Fetonte, who worked with the Combine Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT), was involved in organising police unions, a fact in which many in which many of the DSA's new members took issue. CLEAT, the state's largest police officer union, has been accused of working against police reform.

Fetonte eventually stepped down after DSA chapters across the country called for his dismissal.

Despite her concerns about police involvement, Allie still applied for the funds, submitting all the required documents.
Questions over who controls the funds

Local activists including Allie told Al Jazeera that the DSA initially wanted the Red Cross, an international charitable organisation that also requires a police report to verify claims, to distribute the funds.

After members from the DSA's Charlottesville and Richmond chapters complained about the choice, national DSA went with the National Compassion Fund (NCF), according to the DSA's Deputy Director David Duhalde.

Allie never received this news. It came when she was looking into charitable organisations supporting the victims of the October 1 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest in modern US history, that she saw a Charlottesville fund on the website of the NCF. She immediately applied again.

According to Allie, it was DSA Richmond chapter that confirmed that the funds had been transferred to the NCF, not the national chapter to which she had originally applied for assistance.

Other than an automated response from NCF, Allie has not received word from the charitable organisation.

Eve, another counterprotester and survivor of the August 12 Charlottesville attack, echoed Allie's story.

"I'm not sure" about the status of the money, Eve, who did not give her last name, told Al Jazeera.

She said she hasn't heard from the NCF, though she did fill out an application for funds shortly after the attack. She isn't sure it was passed to the NCF.
Lack of transparency

The DSA's approach to handling the funds has been criticised by the community and some of its local chapters.

According to Austin Gonzales, the chair of the DSA's Richmond, Virginia chapter, the process lacked transparency and local input for a variety of reasons.

Gonzales said the fund was first set up by members of the Anchorage, Alaska DSA chapter. After the national organisation realised it was going to be a sizable amount, it took over the funds "amicably".

After concerns were raised about Red Cross involvement, the national DSA approached the NCF on August 29 about potentially taking over the fund, according to a statement by the DSA Richmond chapter.

The NCF "has told us that they do not work with police", Gonzalez said. Still, the Richmond DSA chair, along with other groups in the area, felt local organisers should have more say in the disbursement of funds.

Representatives of Richmond and Charlottesville DSA chapters and the NPC held a conference call on October 3, nearly two months after the attack, to discuss options for allocations of funds.
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DSA Richmond submitted a proposal a week later calling for the funds to be held by national DSA while local chapters "moderate the disbursal" by vetting applications from the injured, Gonzalez said.

This method of distribution was designed to make the system quicker and shield local chapters from legal penalties if funds were given to the wrong people. Four days later, on October 14, the DSA informed the Richmond chapter that it had voted for the NCF.

Gonzalez said he understands the reasoning behind the decision, but wishes the DSA national Steering Committee would have attempted "to entertain an alternative, which I don't think that was done".

Regarding the decision-making process, DSA Deputy Director Duhalde told Al Jazeera their "staff dedicated significant time to researching and understanding what our options were" regarding the funds.

By the time Richmond DSA provided "options to distribute the money to local organisations, national DSA had moved forward with finding alternative plans in response to requests from Richmond DSA leaders to resolve the situation," he added.

Local chapters were not incorporated at the time of the proposal, Duhalde said, meaning they could have faced "faced serious legal and financial consequences" if funds were inappropriately handled. "These legal and financial risks were a major factor in the NPC's decision."

Gonzalez, who has been in discussions with the national DSA, said February is the most recent estimate of when funds would begin to be distributed. He said, however, that he was "encouraged" by more recent conversations with the DSA national and that it is "possible" that the funds might be distributed sooner.

Duhalde said "all 10" people who applied through the DSA had their information transferred to the NCF.

The NCF did not return Al Jazeera's request for comment.

For Allie, who suffered a crushed pelvis, the DSA's conduct, including the lack of transparency and public outreach regarding the fund's status, was "problematic".

While she was "sorry" for any harm the facts about the Charlottesville fund might cause the DSA, "this is something they completely brought upon themselves with their actions", Allie said.

to be fair the richmond and cvilel DSA chapters have been relatively on-point this summer-- seeing local DSA nerds masked up and ready to go was one of the more bizarre things to see in an incredibly bizarre summer. but if we need any more proof that the DSA national is a garbage organization filled with careerist traitors here you go. this is fraud.

anyyhow if the rhizzone wants to buy anti-racist activists in charlottesville a new pair of pants do it here: https://fundly.com/solidarity-c-ville-7-8-anti-racist-legal-fund

Edited by dank_xiaopeng (Dec. 8, 2017 14:53:30)

TG posted:

its hard to confirm someone's medical bills are tied to a certain event without a public record. there may be a better way than police reports but its probably the most standard. it would actually be pretty negligent to write checks to people based on their word and that $200k would dry up real fast, potentially without being given to any actual victims. any thoughts on alternative ways to back up someones claim?

Any idiot at any local branch can review someone's medical records, which they themselves can get freely from the place they were treated, and the records would confirm the date and cause of the injury. This is the same kind of argument that people use to justify cutting welfare because of benefit fraud. Have some faith in the ability of normies to do the right thing. They were the ones who did the work of raising the money, you don't think they'll be somewhat scam resistant? Furthermore if someone does have to pretend to have been injured at Charlottesville so they can pay for their own necessary medical treatment, so what?

tears posted:

remember when the dems raised 12 grand in 40mins through gofundme to rebuild the NC gop office that got firebombed

I still believe that was a false flag tbh

swampman posted:

TG posted:

its hard to confirm someone's medical bills are tied to a certain event without a public record. there may be a better way than police reports but its probably the most standard. it would actually be pretty negligent to write checks to people based on their word and that $200k would dry up real fast, potentially without being given to any actual victims. any thoughts on alternative ways to back up someones claim?

Any idiot at any local branch can review someone's medical records, which they themselves can get freely from the place they were treated, and the records would confirm the date and cause of the injury. This is the same kind of argument that people use to justify cutting welfare because of benefit fraud. Have some faith in the ability of normies to do the right thing. They were the ones who did the work of raising the money, you don't think they'll be somewhat scam resistant? Furthermore if someone does have to pretend to have been injured at Charlottesville so they can pay for their own necessary medical treatment, so what?

people donated money to the dsa for the express purpose of helping people injured out of the charlottesville incident. why do you care that some dickhead dsa person embezzled it, or some idiot bureaucrat in a charity is sitting on it? im assuming its a sense of fair play or justice. isnt it a problem if its going to some random person who just wanted money for their hospital visit and is willing to commit fraud to get it? $200k is a decent chunk of change, but not in the light of medical costs. the article references one victim with ~$15k worth of deductibles, not to mention years of pt. if one person made off with that amount, that's almost 10% of the money that was raised, which is gonna short a lot of people and the people who donate money should have some say in how its disbursed, no?

i recently lost my driver's license and the person that found it went on an impressive crime spree that included going to the hospital and getting ~$3,000 worth of health care in my name. i found out about it when i got the bill. i honestly dont care that much that the guy did it; he probably needed some medical attention and couldnt afford it. the reason i bring it up is that it shows that medical records are not sacrosanct and using them to verify a claim leaves the people holding the money open to fraudulent claims. also, sometimes people lie to get things they want. if your concern is that the victims of charlottesville get paid, i dont know why you wouldnt be worried about people willing to lie to steal money from them. the charity is trying to safeguard against that, admittedly in a short-sighted way that ignores some pretty significant issues

i do agree that its a pretty unlikely scenario and involves a lot of steps most people wouldnt take, but it does happen and i imagine the charity's heart is in the right place: they just want to get the money to the people that deserve it. i just wondered if there were any suggestions on how to minimize fraud but i guess youre cool with it if they just, like, really want it enough?

this is the lawyer talking so i know yall will hate it, but the dsa could be sued for that money by the donors if it ever came out that they disbursed it incorrectly or they did not exercise due care in doing so

TG posted:

swampman posted:


TG posted:


its hard to confirm someone's medical bills are tied to a certain event without a public record. there may be a better way than police reports but its probably the most standard. it would actually be pretty negligent to write checks to people based on their word and that $200k would dry up real fast, potentially without being given to any actual victims. any thoughts on alternative ways to back up someones claim?

Any idiot at any local branch can review someone's medical records, which they themselves can get freely from the place they were treated, and the records would confirm the date and cause of the injury. This is the same kind of argument that people use to justify cutting welfare because of benefit fraud. Have some faith in the ability of normies to do the right thing. They were the ones who did the work of raising the money, you don't think they'll be somewhat scam resistant? Furthermore if someone does have to pretend to have been injured at Charlottesville so they can pay for their own necessary medical treatment, so what?



people donated money to the dsa for the express purpose of helping people injured out of the charlottesville incident. why do you care that some dickhead dsa person embezzled it, or some idiot bureaucrat in a charity is sitting on it? im assuming its a sense of fair play or justice. isnt it a problem if its going to some random person who just wanted money for their hospital visit and is willing to commit fraud to get it? $200k is a decent chunk of change, but not in the light of medical costs. the article references one victim with ~$15k worth of deductibles, not to mention years of pt. if one person made off with that amount, that's almost 10% of the money that was raised, which is gonna short a lot of people and the people who donate money should have some say in how its disbursed, no?

i recently lost my driver's license and the person that found it went on an impressive crime spree that included going to the hospital and getting ~$3,000 worth of health care in my name. i found out about it when i got the bill. i honestly dont care that much that the guy did it; he probably needed some medical attention and couldnt afford it. the reason i bring it up is that it shows that medical records are not sacrosanct and using them to verify a claim leaves the people holding the money open to fraudulent claims. also, sometimes people lie to get things they want. if your concern is that the victims of charlottesville get paid, i dont know why you wouldnt be worried about people willing to lie to steal money from them. the charity is trying to safeguard against that, admittedly in a short-sighted way that ignores some pretty significant issues

i do agree that its a pretty unlikely scenario and involves a lot of steps most people wouldnt take, but it does happen and i imagine the charity's heart is in the right place: they just want to get the money to the people that deserve it. i just wondered if there were any suggestions on how to minimize fraud but i guess youre cool with it if they just, like, really want it enough?

this is the lawyer talking so i know yall will hate it, but the dsa could be sued for that money by the donors if it ever came out that they disbursed it incorrectly or they did not exercise due care in doing so

Fuck the G Ride, I want the machines that are makin em.

so the takeaway here is the DSA is more interested in ass-covering and some ridiculous idea of propriety than actually being in solidarity with victims of fascist terror. solidarity is something you can hold in your hands. people need this money, and they aren't getting it because the DSA is imposing bullshit restrictions on them.

the DSA is a garbage organization