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Richmond DSA

@richmonddsa.bsky.social
181 followers 5 following 75 posts

linktr.ee/dsarichmond tinyurl.com/DSApotluck linktr.ee/RDSA_Migrant_Solidarity givebutter.com/flockoutofRichmondDSA

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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
We applaud the decision to not renew the Flock contract, but we must continue to demand that we stop this mass surveillance now, and commit to banning ALPRs. We cannot allow a simple bait and switch from Flock to another company. Keep emailing and calling the mayor to protect our privacy.
Major Win! Flock cameras on their way out. The mayor announced yesterday that the city will not renew its contract with Flock. We have to keep up the fight.  

Richmond and Henrico have both stated they’re interested in OTHER Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs).

These mass surveillance systems criminalize communities and do not prevent crime. 

What can you do? 

Email the mayor and your city council member to thank them for this decision. 

Ask them to keep all ALPRs out of Richmond!
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Come out Saturday (10/10) and stand with workers fighting for a fair wage!
Join us at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Workers United picket! 10/10 9am-3pm. Park near the CVs at 6100 Lakeside Ave.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Danny Avula wants to hear from YOU! 🫵 Join us this friday for a virtual phone zap to let Danny Avula know what Richmonders really think about ALPRs and Flock! PSSST! You're also free to call him anytime you like at (804) 646-7970. #noalprs #blockflock #deflock #dsarichmond
Block Flock. Mayor Danny Avula says he wants community input about ALPR usage in the city of Richmond. Phone zap! Virtual. Friday 9/25 2:30-4PM. Let’s make sure he hears us loud and clear. Zoom link in bio! Join the call for support, tips, and solidarity as we make calls demanding an end to ALPRs in Richmond.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Join us for the sixth district school board debate this Thursday, September 17th, 7pm @ Ann Hardy Community Center, 1000 Pollock St, Richmond, VA 23222. Due to limited seating, we ask that members arrive early! (The audience will not be permitted to applaud while the candidates are speaking)
6th District School Board Debate Night flyer for Jackie McDonough. 9/17 at 7pm at the Ann Hardy Community Center (1000 Pollock St). Arrive early as there is limited seating!
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Reposted by Richmond DSA
Richmond DSA Eco-Socialism Working Group @rva-ecosocialism.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Join us for a community clean-up this Saturday at Battery Park in #RVA! 10am to 12pm! Trash bags and gloves provided. Meet at the intersection of the terrace and Overbook Road by the basketball courts.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Join us Monday 9/14 to remind city council that Richmond needs an end to mass surveillance. We'll meet at the 9th Street Entrance at 5:30pm before entering city hall together. Where: 900 E Broad, Richmond, 9th St Entrance. When: 09/14/26 @ 5:30p. #dsarichmond #blockflock #noalprs
Block Flock Rally!

We'll meet at the 9th Street Entrance at 5:30pm before entering city hall together.

Where: 900 E Broad, Richmond, 9th St Entrance.
When: 09/14/26 @ 5:30p.

#dsarichmond #blockflock #noalprs
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Support LGBG Workers! You can join the picket line (daily from 9am-5pm) and/or donate to the strike fund: www.gofundme.com/f/strike-fun... Funds are urgently needed!
Richmond DSA Stands with Workers

After 500+ Days of stalled negotiations and regressive bargaining, workers at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens are currently on ON STRIKE until they win a fair contract.

Show your support by joining the picket line (daily from 9-5) and consider donating to their strike fund.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Join us for this screening along with a talkback by documentarian Arun Vickram. Hosted by our friends @studiotwothree.bsky.social
Join us for documentary screening Grief-Stricken Winds: The Tamil Struggle Buried by the World with talkback by documentarian Arun Vickram. Sunday, August 30 at 1pm.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Come learn about the Block Flock campaign's next steps and how you can help! Thursday, July 9th 6:30pm at the East End Library. @justicefwdva.bsky.social
Come learn about the Block Flock campaign's next steps and how to get involved! Thursday, July 9th 6:30pm at the East End Library.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (10/10) Do you want flock off your block? Email the mayor and get involved with the DSA coalition: linktr.ee/RDSA_Migrant...
Do you want flock off your block? Email the mayor and get involved with the DSA coalition: https://linktr.ee/RDSA_Migrant_Solidarity
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
(9/10) The longer this contract stays in place, the more harm will be done.
We know ICE and ATF have used Flock data to search for immigrants. Not if, but when more harms continue to be revealed, it's on City Council and Mayor Avula - Emily, co-chair of RVA DSA's Migrant Solidarity Group.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (8/10) We remain committed to protecting ALL Richmonders' 4th amendment rights.
Richmond DSA will continue building community support to cancel the Flock contract entirely and demand the mayor cancel it by June 30, 2026, so the data does not exist at all.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (7/10) Despite state guardrails (that are investigated and enforced by Virginia State Police), and Richmond's promises, ICE continues to have a back door to Flock data.
"State guardrails can never do enough. ICE will always have a
back door through Flock. The best way to ensure data is not
abused is to stop collecting it." - Victoria McCullough, co-chair of RVA
DSA’s Migrant Solidarity Group
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (6/10) The administration is feeling the pressure, and threw us a bone, but this is not enough.
After weeks of showing up to council, over 700 emails
to Avula, and continued agitation through media, the city caved and said it would stop sharing its flock data with localities with
formal 287(g) collaboration agreements with ICE.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (5/10) Like other cities, Richmond's Flock cameras disproportionately target neighborhoods that are "overwhelmingly non-white." All the while, ICE can STILL access Richmond's Flock data.
Keener shared preliminary findings analyzing Richmond ALPR deploymentthat indicated that ALPR cameras are
disproportionately concentrated in neighborhoods that are “overwhelmingly non-white”.

Penny, member of Richmond DSA, noted that in the meeting with them, Avula and Edwards “confirmed that ICE can still access Richmond’s Flock data, even now, despite that they've done everything they
can to stop this from happening.”
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (4/10) The administration remains committed to warrantless mass surveillance.
“I appreciate city officials meeting with us, but I walked
away disappointed… The meeting consisted largely of
Chief Edwards defending the use of Flock cameras for
policing purposes." - Dr. Steven Keener, a Richmond resident,
CNU researcher, and author behind Surveillance Inequality: Race, Poverty, And The Geography Of Automated License Plate Reader Deployment
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (3/10) Flocks abuses have been widely documented. We cannot rely on just a "good executive" to protect us from abuse as we've seen time and time again.
At the end of April, based on the findings of an audit in the first quarter of 2026, Richmond disclosed that it shared its ALPR data with the FBI, despite prohibitions in state law. Before the state law took effect, Richmond also provided direct access to the ATF which used it for immigration enforcement. The commonwealth attorney declined to prosecute these offenses.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (2/10)
Flock Safety is an $8.4 billion startup funded by Peter Thiel and others, that markets automated license plate readers (ALPRs) and other mass surveillance tech. ALPRs in Richmond were installed without public input or consideration, and abuses have been widely documented.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
🧵 (1/10) Richmond’s mayor and city council continue to ignore community members’ objections to the city’s Flock contract.
Richmond’s mayor and city council continue to ignore community members’ objections to the city’s Flock contract.
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Reposted by Richmond DSA
Richmond DSA Eco-Socialism Working Group @rva-ecosocialism.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Ashland residents! Community meeting this evening at 6:30 regarding yet another data center wanting to set up nearby, Randolph-Macon College Copley Science Center. #RVA
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Our billboard is up on Mayo Bridge! Tell the mayor to Get the Flock Off My Block: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...
Billboard saying: 'Hate Mass Surveillance? Tell Mayor Avula: Get Flock Off My Block!'
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(10/10) Stand with us against Flock’s mass surveillance, learn more and tell Avula to drop Flock here: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...
Fill Danny Avula's mailbox before we meet with him on May 1! Tell him to Cancel Flock!
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(9/10) “The anti flock people got me after the budget town hall” said Mayor Avula. Richmond DSA is proud of our members for always asking the hard questions!
After trying to reach the Mayor's office for several weeks, DSA Flock Campaign members spoke with the Mayor at the Budget hearing Saturday, 2/28.

His response: “The anti flock people got me after the budget town hall” said Mayor Avula. Richmond DSA is proud of our members for always asking the hard questions!
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(8/10)
"According to the open-source website DeFlock - which allows communities to identify and map Flock equipment - Richmond's cameras are heavily concentrated around Gilpin Court, VCU Health's complex and parts of Richmond's South Side along Hull Street, Broad Rock Boulevard and Midlothian Turnpike."

- Samuel B. Parker, Richmond Times Dispatch
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(7/10)
Chief Edwards attempts to pull in the support of the NAACP to influence public appetite for surveillance.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(6/10)
"In Avula's and Edwards' talking that "claims of racial bias" based on the CNU study were "probably a liability area". - Samuel Parker, Richmond Times Dispatch
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(5/10)
Chief Edwards weaponizes the tragedies of two fatal hit-and-runs to justify surveillance cameras with no consideration of preventative solutions.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(4/10)
Text messages showing Chief Edwards unsure if Flock deletes data after 21 days as legally required.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(3/10)
Text message from Jan 28th showing the administration planning to weaponize pedestrian deaths in support of surveillance.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(2/10)
Text message showing Avula's press secretary initiating the request for stories to use in spinning a positive Flock narrative.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
🧵 (1/10) RVA admin manufacturing consent for mass surveillance. Thanks to @richmond.com reporting, we have a timeline of the planning for their pro-Flock campaign. Stand with us against Flock and tell Avula to drop Flock here: actionnetwork.org/letters/tell... @mediajustice.bsky.social
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(8/10)
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(6/10)
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(5/10)
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(4/10)
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(3/10)
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
(2/10)
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Reposted by Richmond DSA
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 10/04/2026
Huge scoop from @richmond.com showing how RPD and @dannyavula.bsky.social schemed to "saturate the public narrative" (i.e, do propaganda) about Flock after @richmonddsa.bsky.social activists began organizing against use of the controversial surveillance system.
richmond.com
Texts show Richmond officials planning to 'saturate the public narrative' with positive Flock camera stories
In text messages, Mayor Avula, police Chief Rick Edwards and others discuss how to turn the tide of public opinion in favor of controversial automatic license plate readers.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Tell Council we want Flock out of Richmond. Anyone can give comment, but if you want to just support, come hold a sign!
Tomorrow, Monday 4/13, Tell City council to drop flock from the Budget. We'll meet at the 9th Street entrance to city hall (900 E. Broad) around 5:30pm.
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Reposted by Richmond DSA
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 28/03/2026
If I hadn't already obtained RPD's Flock contracts separately (either via my FOIAs, or shared w/ me by @richmonddsa.bsky.social via its FOIAs), that spreadsheet would have been virtually useless. As it was, I spent hours cross-referencing the various documents to validate the data for this report:
richmonder.org
RPD has spent $1 million on Flock. With those contracts up for renewal, anti-surveillance activists call for cancellation while Mayor, Council demur
The Mayor wrote that he “continues to be both supportive of RPD's use of Flock as a tool to solve crimes and also continues to take the privacy and auditing seriously.”
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
RGENT UPDATE ON BUDGET HEARING: Public comment needed. No registration required for public comment in the “legislation on the agenda comment” portion of Monday’s City Council meeting at 6PM. Come speak in opposition to funding for FLOCK ALPRs (Annual Budget - ORD 2026.063 & RPS Budget - 2026.064)!
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
URGENT UPDATE ON BUDGET HEARING: Public comment needed. No registration required for public comment in the “legislation on the agenda comment” portion of Monday’s City Council meeting at 6PM. Come speak in opposition to funding for FLOCK ALPRs (Annual Budget - ORD 2026.063 & RPS Budget - 2026.064)!
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
It's budget season in Richmond City! Please come support the Block Flock campaign and other Richmond coalition partners, THIS MONDAY, in demanding the end of surveillance & to increase funding for RPS schools, Gilpin housing & other social programs! Priority is given to those who call in advance.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Join us Sunday at @studiotwothree.bsky.social for 'Flock's Foundation: The Long History of Surveillance in the US Settler Colonial Project.' In person with Spanish translation and virtual! Register here: actionnetwork.org/events/polit...
Flock's Foundation Flier: Sunday 3/15 12-3pm at Studio Two Three (109 W 15th St)
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Join comrades across Richmond at our first Potluck of the year March 8th, 2-5pm @studiotwothree! We’ll exchange food and exchange knowledge with a short presentation of Block Flock in RVA! 🧑‍🧒‍🧒 FAMILY FRIENDLY 🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Link to RSVP will be in our bio!
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Join the Block Flock coalition March 15th for a political education event diving into the dark history of Surveillance in United States. 🗓️ March 15th ⏰ 12:00-3:00pm 📍 Studio Two Three, 109 W. 15th St.
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
See you Monday outside city hall for the Block Flock rally! Wear red 💃
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Richmond DSA @richmonddsa.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
The official Get The Flock Out! concert poster has been masterfully crafted by Brent McCormick (brentmccormick.com/). Snag one of these as a raffle prize at the show! Shows on Tuesday, Feb 17th. Doors at 7–$10 suggested donation.
Get the Flock Out concert poster by Brent McCormick
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