REBEL STEPS - Key Persons
David Campbell is an anti-fascist and anarchist. Learn more about his case at FreeDavidCampbell.com and "Stronger Than Their Bars: An Interview With David Campbell's Support Committee" from It's Going Down. Check out his piece "Stick Up on Rikers Island" in Hard Crackers. Maura was part of David's defense committee. Check out her work as at art historia at www.mauramccreight.com and anarchistarthistory.com
David: My name is David Campbell. I am an anti-fascist activist and former anti-fascist political prisoner, and my pronouns are he/him, I am affiliated with MACC, which is the Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council in New York. I've been doing a little bit of work with ABC that's Anarchist Black Cross, which is a political prisoner support organization that's been around for a long time.
David has been interviewed on Rebel Steps once before in our Jail Support episode in Season 1. If you haven't heard that part of the story, I recommend giving it a listen.
David: So I was arrested at a counter protest to an alt right event in Manhattan in January of 2018. It was a very boring protest until late at night and the fight broke out, maybe a half dozen people on each side, a drunk guy on the alt right side was knocked out. And a police officer kind of came while this fight was going on and just grabbed the first person he saw, without saying anything or telling anyone to stop. That person happened to be me. So this cop who is much bigger than me, grabbed me from behind and threw me to the ground. And when it did that, he broke my leg. I was the only one that was arrested. So the DA, you know, they were gonna make an example out of somebody, but I was only option they had. So I fought my case for almost two years. Ultimately, I ended up taking a non-cooperating plea deal to a gang assault charge, which gang assault was written into the law in the 90s under Giuliani and the Giuliani era, and it's like impossible to beat. To cut my losses, I took a plea agreed to be sentenced to serve 18 months on Rikers Island. I did 12 months straight, I got six months earlier than my 18 month sentence.
In addition to interviewing David, I spoke with Maura, a member of David's defense committee, about the experience of supporting David from the outside.