In the summer of 2019, a public fight unfurled in Bloomington, Indiana — over accusations that Sarah Dye and Douglas Mackey, who sold produce at the city-run farmers’ market, were members of an organization classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League as a white nationalist hate group (an association that would soon be confirmed).

Abby Ang, a graduate student at Indiana University in Bloomington who had also become a community organizer, picked up on a series of chat leaks and reports from local farmers and activists about Sarah Dye, taking action to further publicize this connection and pressuring the city to remove Sarah and Doug’s farm from their market.

But when the city refused to do anything of the sort, Abby found herself in a fast-moving conflict that included the full spectrum of American politics: liberal elites, progressive organizers, antifascist activists, right-wing militias, farmers, customers, police, Black Lives Matter leaders… and of course, White nationalists (or in this particular case, as they preferred to be identified, White Identitarians).

The story eventually hit mainstream national news, the farmers’ market became a political battleground, and an Asian American professor was arrested by Bloomington Police — showing what it really looks like to wield White power in America.

Credits

• Produced by James Boo
• Edited by Julia Shu, with help from Cathy Erway
• Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
• Production support from Alex Chun
• Fact checking by Harsha Nahata
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound
• Self Evident theme music by Dorian Love
• Our Executive Producer is Ken Ikeda

Resources and Reading

• “Bloomington 2019: ‘The Year of the Farmers’ Market Controversy’” by Ellen Wu for Limestone Post Magazine
• your-farmer-is-a-white-nationalist.php"> “What if Your Farmer Is a White Nationalist?” by Kayte Young for Earth Eats, WFIU
• “I Yield My Time” statement during LAPC public hearing on June 2, 2020
• “Federal Charges Filed in Carmel Synagogue Hate Incident” by U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana
• Southern Poverty Law Center brief on Identity Evropa / American Identity Movement
• Anti-Defamation League brief on Identity Evropa / American Identity Movement
• “Identity Evropa’s Neo-Nazi Organizing Plans Revealed In New Leaks” by Chris Schiano and Freddy Martinez, for Unicorn Riot
• No Space for Hate web site and “Market in Context” Timeline
• “iu-professor-arrested-after-demonstration-at-farmers-market.php">Video: IU Professor Arrested After Demonstration at Farmers’ Market” by Adam Pinsker for WFIU (original video by Dina Okamoto)