Duxbury music lover, activist blends classic protest tracks, today’s street sounds to confront racism

June 26, 2020  |  By Cheryl Casey

The death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man, at the knee of a white police officer in late May has forced many white people across the country, including in Vermont, to reckon with the history and persistence of racism in America.

Leo Vecchione, a psychologist from Duxbury, began asking himself the difficult question of what he and other white individuals could and should do to begin dismantling systemic racism as protests broke out in major cities. For a Gen X-er who came of age in the 1990s, he arrived at an obvious solution: make a mixtape. 

As with any good mixtape, this one would have a special purpose. Vecchione, a 1995 Harwood graduate, wanted to use classic protest music, especially from the 1960s and 1970s, to contextualize the current outrage. “Having some kind of auditory narrative is how I think about things,” Vecchione explained. The tape could “help people see at least a small snapshot of the history of the issue,” he said.

So he dove into his vast collection of some 10,000 vinyl records to curate the 90 minutes of content, which spans jazz, soul, rock, and funk genres. Vecchione  produced the master recording on May 31 while “watching live streams [of protests] on Twitter and other platforms, and I used the live audio from the protests to add to the sonic environment,” he said. The result was an eclectic collection of music, poetry, and spoken word from a past era of protest woven with sounds from recent street demonstrations in Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and Seattle. 

The tape tells a jarring story of—well, the same old story of racism. “The complacency of white people is staggering—myself included,” Vecchione observed. 

After dubbing 10 cassettes and designing the case artwork, Vecchione posted some photos on his Instagram account (@leofromvermont) with a very specific offer: Show a donation of at least $10 to an organization supporting the protestors or communities of color, and he would send a tape for free, postage paid. Additionally, Vecchione would donate another $10 of his own to the organization. 

In the original Instagram post about the tapes, Vecchione explained his motivation: “As a white person of privilege, I’ve been struggling with what to do about this [Floyd’s murder] and so many other tragedies, and how to help in the inspiring response by people taking to the streets to demand justice.” 

All 10 tapes were claimed within 12 hours and several hundred dollars were donated. The next three batches of 10 tapes each went just as quickly, and at the last tally, over $2,500 had been contributed to a variety of organizations working against racism, including the $100 Vecchione gave as part of the initial batch. 

“It’s humbling to have that kind of response to something,” said Vecchione. “Vermonters are conscientious and generous. It’s heartwarming.” 

In light of the demand for themixtape, Vecchione went to a professional recording company in Canada for a batch of 50 more tapes, continuing to absorb all production and postage costs. “I’m happy to put the money up front to be able to get these donations rolling in,” he said. “I haven’t collected a dollar.” 

Vecchione expects to receive the next batch any day, and he says half of them are already spoken for. Requests are starting to come in from across the country, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Record stores in Seattle, Texas, and the UK have expressed interest in stocking the tape and giving copies to those who make in-store donations. 

His two sons ages 8 and 13 have helped with the artwork and used their own money to make donations and claim copies of the tape. Vecchione admitted, “It makes me so proud.”

To request a copy of Vecchione’s protest mixtape, send a photo demonstrating your donation of at least $10 to an organization supporting communities of color to leofromvermont@gmail.com or @leofromvermont on Instagram.

Cheryl Casey is an associate professor of Communication at Champlain College and lives in Waterbury Center.