Two of the most important developments in American politics in recent years have been the Bernie Sanders campaign and the teachers’ strike wave. The former reinjected left politics into American life, not just through Sanders’s shot at the presidency itself but also through the explosion of grassroots energy it produced, like the rapid growth of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The latter put workplace militancy back on the map, sparking the largest strike wave we’ve seen in years (with hopefully more to come).

Robert LeVertis Bell has been at the center of both. He’s a public school teacher and DSA activist in Louisville, Kentucky. In an interview with Jacobin, Bell talked about how the political upheavals of the last few years led him to run for Louisville’s city council.