[Applause]
welcome to rocky mount virginia
a town full of confederate symbols and
trump flags
it's a 30-minute drive from westlake
corner a site where kkk meetings were
once held
it's also the place that bridget
craighead calls home
i made it a point to shake the hate out
of franklin county
i never felt welcome here i felt like
i was born the wrong skin color if i
didn't start this then
nobody else would have done anything
brigid along with our cousin katasha
and friend malala founded the first
chapter of black lives matter
in a county that's almost entirely white
this is the last place in the world that
would ever have a protest
the death of george floyd and the loss
of other black lives has sparked a
movement reaching
even into the whitest parts of the
country
but that doesn't mean everyone's
listening all
lives matter i don't believe in racism i
think it's ridiculous it really is
it's the officers that are killing our
brothers and sisters
for no reason that's why black lives
matter
this is what fighting for black lives
looks like
in one rule american town
in 2010 rocky mount spent more than 60
thousand dollars to rebuild this
confederate statue
saying it's central to their identity i
feel hurt
it's a symbol of hate it lets me know
that my county hates me
when we go to the courthouse we don't
feel justice i feel like i'm going to a
slaughterhouse
the protests in rocky mount may be small
in size but voices have only grown
louder
since the first protest for george floyd
[Applause]
what happened recently like with jacob
blake
you know this is a continuous struggle
that we're fighting every single day
even though we're a small town we are
with the whole world that's protesting
right now
hi queen how are you
there's like a comfortable racism that
everybody's just kind of accepted
i see it i hear it but not all rocky
mount residents
agree with the protests the slavery days
that was back in the day man and
everybody's putting us out that we're
the bad people well
we can't control what happened in the
past
black lives matter i'm protesting for my
kids
i'm protesting for a change for them
but it's not just about organizing
protests bridget is confronting racism
on a daily basis
on the streets and in stores this is a
place
that sells races statues and figurines
growing up i was always afraid to even
ride by
let alone to go inside i feel a little
nervous being here but i am brave
a few months ago bridgette visited
boone's mill produce to confront a store
employee
about selling racist statues what is
this
sir what is this it that that is hurtful
if you want to buy it
how much is it 20 bucks i'm buying it
okay there are a lot of people who come
here who are much much much older than
you
and they've been coming here for 90
years 80 years 70 years
and this is a tradition that also must
be worked through
okay this is how i feel
[Music]
and as bridget visited boone's mill for
the second time she had
another encounter with white customers
who were there at the same time
they had a black statue with red lips
eating a watermelon
i want to talk to them you want to talk
hey okay
now because i i wanted to say something
to them because they did that on purpose
and that's the type of conversation i
want to have i want to have
conversations with trump
supporters they feel the need to yell
out vote trump when they see
me
in recent years virginia has elected
democrats into office at every level
but in 2016 donald trump beat hillary
clinton
in franklin county by more than 40
percent
right now donald trump is not a
representation of the black people
i feel that if black people understood
that their vote does matter and that
they need to be accounted for
then we can you know get him out of
office and bring somebody that is ready
to move forward in this country
[Music]
meanwhile malala is stepping out of her
comfort zone
confronting the remains of generational
racism
her grandfather used to tell stories
about how he refused to eat at the hub
a restaurant that historically did not
allow black people to dine inside
see back here in the window behind the
two propane tanks you can see that
that's the window that they use
to serve the black people from and they
could only just get their orders from
there that was not a part of his moral
or values and he did not comply with
that so he didn't like it so he
decided not to ever go or dine at the
hub
today malala has decided to see whether
the restaurant has changed its attitude
towards the black community
yeah so right now we're about to go to
the hub restaurant and ask for
their support with black lives matter
but as we approach the restaurant
the owner asked us to leave the property
are you surprised at all of this
i'm really not i'm not surprised at all
she didn't want us on here anywhere
we're just here
and asking them of supportive black
lives matter and she said no
i'm thinking she was going to say no so
there are all sorts of ways franklin
county is still resistant to change
that was clear when rocky mount
residents were enraged
over black lives matter chalk art on a
bridge we wrote black lives matter
right here as soon as we started writing
this somebody
screaming out if black lives matter i'm
like okay well we love you
i mean all this was filled that was
nothing but expressions of love
they called it graffiti they said that
franklin county
has turned into chicago the town
officials only allow the art to stay up
for
three days it made me feel like
i don't have a voice in this town it
made me feel even more suppressed
that you allowed us to have 72 hours to
express how we feel
but then what yet another bridge in town
with graffiti and hateful words
has remained untouched by town officials
i can clearly see this oppression that's
what's fueling me to continue to do this
but if i don't do it then nobody else
will and they can continue to suppress
our people here
i feel a bondage over me and i'm
breaking it i'm going to continue to say
something i'm going to continue to go
against
what they're telling me i can and can't
do i know i can move anywhere else but
this is my town
so now this cannot be stopped and the
worst thing they can do is lock me
up come on king
bye mommy see your baby
i love you give me a kiss
all right bridgette centers her fight
around love because growing up
she spent too many days feeling like she
didn't deserve any
okay let me put my hair up
this is what you call black girl magic
[Laughter]
i thought white was right i didn't think
that my skin color was the right
skin because in my mind i thought being
white
was better i was
about nine or ten i didn't like myself
i thought my skin was ugly i feel sad to
know that i hated myself so much
bridgette says she suffered frequent
racist abuse from other students at her
school that was almost
80 percent white i was suspended 33
times from benjamin franklin middle
school
you know even though you know they
called me a knick they felt because i
throw the first punch
i should be suspended the school
declined to comment about bridget's
experience
until june of this year the franklin
county school board allowed confederate
gear
at school the school board currently has
just
one black member
you kid yummy kick your feet
growing up in rocky mount bridget and
her cousin katasha felt like second
class citizens
they never questioned why they didn't go
to the pool club in town
instead of driving to a lake 40 minutes
away
this is where i learn how to swim this
is where i'm teaching my son how to swim
i just knew that black people did not go
to the pool
when bridget called out the pool for its
lack of diversity on facebook
it drew a larger response from some
black community members
who said they never felt welcome either
that's when the club offered to sell
two new memberships for 700
which the swim club said is its standard
rate
katasha and bridget felt priced out
first of all i'm trying to make it as a
single mama
i don't want to pay 700 to go swim the
club told aj plus it doesn't
discriminate against its membership
based on race
and does not collect racial data from
members coming here to the lake
it's free it's freedom yeah i mean we
have the biggest pool in the world
a single moms both katasha and bridget
say their fight is for their kids
to live in a place of equality you know
we gotta break break these curses like
it's gotta stop
i don't want a white officer to kill my
son that's my biggest fear
for my son i honestly feel like that i
am breaking generational curses
and breaking the chains of suppression i
feel more alive now than ever before
i want everybody else to feel what i'm
feeling right now
i feel that strength that
i don't have to be suppressed anymore
i'm free
hey guys it's anna in franklin county
virginia thank you so much for watching
this video
is your neighborhood also confronting
systemic racism let us know in the
comments below
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