In the wake of the Charlottesville tragedy, our VI-supported LA-based comedic news man Jimmy Dore and his progressive colleague Tim Black break down “What People Are Missing About The Charlottesville Protest.” (Hint: Donald Trump did not invent racism in the US).

Closer to home here in the Green Mountains, Bernie Sanders, the most popular politician in the US, blames the POTUS for the violence in Charlottesville, while Vermonters hold peaceful rallies and protests around the state, including the cities of Montpelier (thanks, Joseph Gainza!) and Rutland.

Big picture – close to home. One of our signature University of Vermont/VI student-produced collaborative news projects this year is this short documentary on the theft of a #BlackLivesMatter flag on the UVM campus, and the impact the theft is having on the wider campus community. We share it here because 1) the doc is a solid example of Vermont student-produced journalism using our VI media power tools; 2) the doc provides a multiracial lens on a state commonly perceived as “lily white” by the US media; and 3) it seemed an appropriate time to highlight one example of grassroots-produced conversations re: race, class, and justice going on here in Vermont.

Click here to watch. Thanks to University of Vermont students Nishani Kessler and Meghan Nanan for researching and producing this documentary.  Download their bios/film discussion guide here at the bottom of our VT-LIT Media Power Tools page. We hope their film provides useful insights into one 21st century Vermont community as our “brave little state” becomes more racially diverse and more culturally cosmopolitan.