29april'15
Wednesday evening found the youth of NYC gathering at Union Square to march on the streets of the city. I found my way there after hearing about the rally only an hour before arriving at 7pm— by the time I made it off the subway station, Union Square was at at capacity, with almost 1,000 protesters packed into the area and upwards of one hundred police standing by, fingering their batons as a recording blared from the back of a police truck stating "it is illegal for pedestrians to walk in the streets, and to obstruct pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks. If you unlawfully obstruct traffic, you may be placed under arrest and charged with Disorderly Conduct." This was somewhat difficult to hear, as there were several helicopters flying overhead. Despite the announcement, the streets were overflowing. As I made my way into the crowd, the mass of bodies began to march towards Times Square.
At this point, I find myself struggling to put to words what I saw that evening. Because of the fragmented nature of my memory of the protest, this review will continue in a fragmented format.
"All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray"
Protesters being pulled from the edge of the crowd, thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and carried off to police vans.
Hundreds of protesters walking with their hands in the air, chanting "Hands up! DONT SHOOT!"
"Whose streets?"
"OUR STREETS!"
Cops running to keep up with protesters, handing out ziptie-style riot cuffs to each other.
Young man tackled to the ground so hard that his glasses get knocked off, and a cop kindly doing his best to put glasses back on the man. Protesters ignoring this act of kindness, shouting "SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!"
Cops holding batons as protesters peacefully march along sidewalk.
(Asked the officer why he had his baton at the ready, considering the protesters were non-violent. Was he overly excited to exercise brutality? His answer was to smile and blow kisses at me with a wink.)
Bystanders looking on from doorways, taking pictures with their smartphones. Tour busses stopped amid a sea of protesters, shouts of “Welcome to New York!”
Protesters waving banners and walking into the middle of oncoming traffic on the Westside Highway, headlights blaring, cars passing inches away, helicopters overhead.
Officers on Vespas accelerating down 47th st to disperse protesters from the road, jumping off of scooters with batons in hand.
Undercover officers following protesters, reporting movements to units ahead to block streets, direct arrest vans, and identify protest leaders.
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Officers on Vespas running down protesters that leave the sidewalk and run into the street, a young man sandwiched between the two vehicles and calling out that his leg was being crushed.
Times Square barricaded, police walking streets and obstructing traffic.
After 100+ arrests and several injured protesters, police in Times Square celebrate with a photo shoot, posing with tourists.
It's hard to say how things were changed by this march. Certainly, it was an incredible display of solidarity and awareness of the problems of police brutality and black oppression in the US, but one wonders how much was changed by it, what was gained. I was there when a young man was yelling at an officer, accusing the cop of enjoying the idea of getting to hurt protesters with the baton he was swinging by his side as he walked. An organizer came up to the young man and told him that "there was no victory to be had here", and went down the sidewalk, encouraging people to stay off the road in the hopes of avoiding arrests. This sentiment didn't work, as the police started grabbing protesters from the sidewalks, but I was astonished at how controlled and level-headed the organizer was, particularly in contrast to the aggressive police. By 11pm, the cops had become so organized that they had effectively split the protesters into small and manageable groups, and I left for brooklyn, headed off to bed with marching chants ringing in my head. "The people, united, will never be defeated!" And that was the problem: the people were efficiently divided, and the march lost its steam. This country is still divided on the issue of police brutality, although if the sustained murder charges against the police responsible for Freddie Gray's murder is any indication, hopefully the United States will begin living up to its name.
"Tell me what democracy looks like."
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