This past weekend, the Charlottesville branch of the Democratic Socialists of America held its first free Brake Light Repair Clinic.
It’s 10:00 a.m. on a sunny Saturday, and the Democratic Socialists here at Edgecomb’s auto shop are ready to roll. Red shirts on, sodas chilling, tiny light bulbs stacked in boxes.
“Yeah, we're here to change brake lights for free,” says Nick Cummins, one of the DSA members who helped plan this Brake Light Repair Clinic. He knows a brake light bulb is a tiny thing that can lead to big problems.
“If you don't replace the bulb because of time or money, then you're getting pulled over and then if you are unable to pay that fine, then a warrant will be out for your arrest, then you've got this cascade effect, basically this domino effect,” he explains.
And that, in turn, can lead to bigger fines, jail time, and — in rare instances — something even worse. The routine traffic stop in which 32-year old Philando Castile was killed began with a broken brake light.
“As we've seen with Philando Castile, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland, you get pulled over by the police, you're a person of color, that might not end well for you,” says Lewis Savares, a founding member of the Charlottesville DSA chapter.
“So the fewer interactions people in our community have with police officers because of something as simple as a brake light, we see as a net gain for everybody, really.”
Jennifer West is one of the volunteers here today. She insists, “This isn’t anti-police, this is pro-community.”
West has has a family member — an African American man — who was once pulled over for tinted windows and ended up spending 6 weeks in jail for an expired license.
“It was pretty heart wrenching for the entire family,” she says, because “he has two young kids and his loss of income was pretty significant.”
As Jennifer sees it, replacing brake lights for free at an event like this “eliminates that initial reason for a person to be pulled over, it eliminates that first contact.”
The first driver to show up at the Brake Light Repair Clinic is Warren Price.
“I try to keep everything in order so I won't have any confrontation with the police,” he explains. So will it be a relief for him when the light is fixed? “Yes, ma’am,” he says, “Yes, ma’am.”
It takes only about ten minutes for Price’s light to be changed and, in the interim, he’s offered snacks by these very social democratic socialists.
Edgecomb’s auto shop lent the space for this event, and donated the bulbs. Everything else — the cans of soda, the bright red banner, the rubber gloves — was paid for by donations. The labor, of course, is provided for free by the nearly two dozen volunteer DSA members here.
Though this is the group’s first clinic, other DSA chapters around the country have been holding events like this for a year now. The Richmond DSA is currently planning its second brake light clinic. Which begs the question: what does socialism have to do with brake lights?
According to Nick Cummins, “Democratic socialism is by the people, for the people.” And this brake light repair clinic is an example of what the group wants to do.
“We’re out here ourselves as members of the community, trying to help members of the community,” Cummins explains, “and we have a not-that-radical and rather simple message of equality and justice for everyone.”
That includes people like Olga Garcia. She saw the sign for free brake repair and jumped at the chance to get her light fixed.
“I know they’ll pull you over if they see any problems,” Garcia says in Spanish, “so I try be good and follow the law.”
By the time the event wraps up at 5 p.m., the group has changed a total of 6 bulbs — fewer than they hoped, but more than enough to justify the event.
“Even if we just change one light bulb then that's good,” Cummins says. “That’s somebody that didn't have to get pulled over for that broken light bulb.”
The DSA says they’ll hold more free brake light clinics in the future, though they haven’t yet set any dates.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.