891: The Test Case
7/12/20261 hr 12 min
Some people in this country think Antifa is a dangerous domestic terror organization. Some think that’s a complete myth. This week we go to the federal trial where, for the first time, the government sets out to prove that Antifa is real. Zoe Chace reports.
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- Prologue: Host Ira Glass tells the story of what happened at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. The government claims this was an attack by an Antifa cell. The defense says it was a protest gone awry. This argument goes to court in a first of its kind trial. (7 minutes)
- Act 1: Reporter Zoe Chace walks us through one of the worst days for the defense: all these guns. (5 minutes)
- Act 2: Zoe takes us through the testimony of the government’s Antifa expert. The defense team is optimistic that things are going well for them. (8 minutes)
- Act 3: Zoe goes to jail to talk with one of the cooperating witnesses for the prosecution, a former church lady named Lynette Sharp. She has a lot to say about all the events of her life that led to taking a plea deal and testifying against her friends. (24 minutes)
- Act 4: The verdicts come in. (12 minutes)
Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Ira Glass· Host0:28
From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Ira Glass.
Speaker 30:32
Yes, we need the police to come out to Prairieland Detention Center. I don't know what's going on outside. They just told me to call.
Ira Glass· Host0:40
Okay. You don't know what's going on?
Speaker 30:41
No, sir. I think they doing fireworks.
Ira Glass· Host0:45
This is a 911 call on the Fourth of July a year ago, around 11:00 PM, Alvarado, Texas, about an hour outside of Dallas.
Speaker 30:52
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Ira Glass· Host0:53
The woman calling works at the Prairieland Detention Center. You at the front desk? She's at the front desk there, and she's calling because a bunch of people have suddenly shown up outside wearing black, some in masks, lined up on the other side of this long barbed wire fence. They're setting off fireworks, and it's really loud. This facility is a detention center for ICE, full of people being held on immigration charges. Somebody in the crowd outside has a megaphone, starts calling out to the detainees inside, "Esperanza, hope. You are not forgotten." More fireworks go up.
Speaker 31:24
Oh, somebody's trying to get in. Can you hurry up and send somebody?
Ira Glass· Host1:27
Yes, ma'am. Someone's trying to get in?