In the COVID world, we live online more than ever. Everything has gone virtual, people broadcast events on livestreams and a grid of faces in squares no longer signals “The Brady Bunch” intro theme, but a Zoom meeting. Unexpectedly, social justice has moved online as well.
If you’ve watched any protest or direct action online this summer, chances are it’s a livestream broadcast by Uprise RI. Taking inspiration from national alt-online outlets like Unicorn Riot, a national media collective that livestreams and records protests and social actions across the nation, Will Conns takes his smartphone (and at one time what looks like a boom mic) to the streets. He interviews bystanders, protesters and sometimes Uprise founder Steve Ahlquist. In a time where most Rhode Islanders (we hope) are avoiding big crowds and events, Conns records the courage and chronicles the things some Rhode Islanders are standing up for.
Conns studied media production at Johnson and Wales, but did not like corporate-owned media. “I didn’t want to go in that direction,” he said in an interview with Motif. Luckily, he found inspiration in local superhero, Steve Ahlquist. “He was this guy recording all these meetings that no one else was attending,” says Conns. “Confronting doctors at their houses and stuff.” The doctor was the chiropractor Speaker Nicholas Mattiello would have managed to funnel a million dollars to last year in the state budget, if not for Ahlquist raising the alarm online.
It showed Conns that there were paths in media that did not come with a Conde Nast logo on it. He introduced himself to Ahlquist when he was covering a protest at the Wyatt Dentention Center. Conns pitched him a video idea: short, informational videos pioneered on social media by companies like NowThis, except the videos would be about local issues. Ahlquist was on board and told Conns just to send them when they were done.
The NowThis style videos on Uprise net about 1,000 views per video, which is not terrible for local online content. Conns completes one of them a month, but he wants to do more.
When George Floyd was killed, igniting protests across the nation, Conns and his friend Jackson decided to livestream a protest. They first tried early in June, when there were rumors that Warwick Mall might be broken into as Providence Place Mall had been on June 2. That night there wasn’t much action, just a few protesters with signs and a heavy law enforcement presence. Their big break came during the massive BLM demonstration in front of the State House on June 5.
Sometime during that day, Conns sat down in front of the Biltmore and opened Facebook to check Uprise’s streaming statistics. At that point in the day, they had already had 97,000 views on their livestream. “I think I was in shock for three days,” he says, not believing the stream would be that popular on only their second live broadcast.
Since the first week of June, Conns — on his own — has covered several dozen protests, vigils, marches and all other kinds of social justice action. He chooses the events by himself; Ahlquist rarely gives him directions on where to go. Sometimes people will direct him with tips on Twitter, like when people planned a noise protest in front of Mayor Jorge Elorza’s house.
Conns takes pains to listen to the concerns of activists and protesters at the events he covers. They broadcast at 480p, so there frequently isn’t enough video definition for law enforcement to target protesters. “Unicorn Riot said hands could be used [by law enforcement to identify protesters],” says Conns. “The ways to keep you safe are pretty limited, blurring faces isn’t always gonna help you.” He also stresses the importance of not giving any ground to right-wing streamers with aggressive and reactionary agendas.
“People are tuning in to see something,” he says. “Not just a conflict-based thing, and just because there’s no direct conflict doesn’t mean it’s not explicitly political.” He gives the example of the ways the military are exploitative of communities of color; everything is political, but not everything results in conflict.
Protesters have been accepting of Conns’ broadcasting, and he acknowledges the need to respect their wishes. One night, an ABC6 crew set up a camera too close for comfort at a protest, and the protesters complained to the journalist present. Protesters are always worried their faces will be used to identify them if recorded on video, especially as unidentified agents arrest people into unmarked vans.
Conns has only been asked to stop livestreaming once, during a vigil for a local Black trans sex worker who was raped and murdered. Those attending asked him to stop broadcasting. Sexual assault survivors aren’t comfortable broadcasting their assault stories online; it can very personal and very traumatic to share.
The big June 5 livestreamed protest doubled the number of supporters for UpriseRI on their Patreon. In July, they gained the ability to livestream to three platforms at once; prior to that they were solely broadcasting on Facebook.. Conns hopes his livestreaming will bring in more Patreon supporters so they can upgrade their equipment, with a goal of ensuring their broadcast is never cut off because of lack of reception.
Given their viewership numbers regularly outclass local television news, it seems Conns and Uprise RI have tapped into something into our COVID-haunted zeitgeist that traditional media is missing.