Post 83 - June 2, 2020
Day 83…
Last night, New York City was locked down from 11:00pm to 5:00am. We were put under an official curfew.
It has already been announced that the curfew will be imposed upon us again tonight. It will start this evening at 8:00pm - three hours earlier. As I am writing this, they’ve just announced that it will be in place through Sunday at the end of the week.
I’m trying to remember if I have ever been in a situation before where I was not allowed to leave my home; where leaving my home could subject me to arrest.
This is just one of the many things that I have seen or experienced in New York City for the first time these past few months. I fear that there are more coming.
Throughout Manhattan, yesterday, people were preparing for the night. Businesses surrounding every large square in the city boarded up their windows. Times Square. Herald Square. Union Square.
Businesses, already closed, are now being covered up with plywood.
With each passing day, more and more evidence comes to light showing that much of the violence all around the country is being ignited and enflamed by white supremacist and other splinter groups. One such group claiming to be ANTIFA, issued tweets yesterday calling for violence in all major US cities.
ANTIFA is short for anti-fascist. It is a political protest movement of people militantly opposed to fascism and extreme right-wing ideologies. The President is trying to get them labeled as a domestic terrorist organization.
ANTIFA is not an organization, it’s a movement. They don’t have leaders. They don’t have office supplies. They don’t have stationery. You can’t legislate against a feeling or an opinion.
The people attracted to the ANTIFA movement believe that violence is justified in the pursuit of political aims. Because of that, those people are a perfect target for manipulation by white supremacists who also believe that violence is justified to achieve their aims.
The President is trying to get ANTIFA labeled as a terrorist organization because of their political beliefs not because of their willingness to participate in violence. If he was truly concerned about violence, there are plenty of right-wing groups who are actual organizations - who do have leaders and office supplies and the stationery - that he could apply that label to, but he hasn’t. And he won’t.
In Times Square yesterday, I participated in a large, peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. People of all races gathered together at the southern end of the square and we listened as people spoke passionately about their pain. Surrounding us, was a massive police force. A long line of Police scooters was parked to the south of the group. To the north, was where most of the officers stood. They were in three well-ordered lines in front of the Hard Rock café. Each officer had a large bundle of zip cuffs tied to their belts.
As that protest continued, I made my way downtown to a vigil that was being held in Sheridan Square in front of the Stonewall Inn. As I walked through Herald Square, I could see that Macy’s flagship store had been completely boarded up. Likewise, retailers up and down 34th Street had followed or were following suit. In a city, where traffic is the usual background noise, yesterday, that sound had been replaced by drilling and hammering. Near Union Square, Paragon Sports and ABC Carpet and the Barnes and Noble at the north end of the square were all being covered by raw plywood.
The vigil in Sheridan Square was even more peaceful than the protest in Times Square. Marking the beginning of Pride month, the gathering memorialized the gay and trans people of color who had lost their lives at the hands of the police.
From the Village, I headed down into SoHo which had been subject to a lot of looting and violence the night before. There was still broken glass in the street and repair crews were doing their best to bring order to the neighborhood. There was fresh graffiti everywhere. A lot of F*^k 12. 12 being a slang reference to police officers that derives from an old TV series about the police called Adam-12.
In Washington D.C., after days of silence, the President finally addressed the nation from the Rose Garden at the White House. There was an odd delay at the beginning and some confusion about when, exactly, he would start.
At the same time that the press was focusing on the imminent arrival of the President, there was a peaceful demonstration happening out in front of the White House.
It was not a march. Protesters were staying in place. They were doing nothing wrong at all.
St. John’s Episcopal Church which is just to the north of the White House on the other side of Lafayette Park was operating as a kind of first aid and water station for the protest. The church had been damaged and vandalized the night before.
The President finally started speaking in the Rose Garden. As he said, “I am your President of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters,” DC police officers and National Guard members moved on the protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets and compression grenades to clear all of them from the Square.
The President then finished his remarks and walked across Lafayette Square for a photo op in front of the church. Holding a bible. Posing with a group of all-white aides. He never went inside.
Back here in New York, the Mayor of the city and the Governor of the state are engaged in a pissing match. They cannot or will not agree on policy. Cuomo did not want to impose a curfew, de Blasio did. We got a curfew. Cuomo offered de Blasio National Guard protection last night, de Blasio refused saying that the NYPD could handle it.
They didn’t. There was wide-spread looting last night throughout New York City. Macy’s Herald Square, despite being boarded up, was broken into and vandalized. There was looting up and down 5th Avenue. The NYPD was nowhere to be seen in many of these places.
It is extremely important that we separate the Black Lives Matter demonstrations happening during the day from the looting and violence that is happening at night. Yes, there is some crossover, but they are two different things - one action legal and protected by the Constitution, and one not.
During the President’s address last night, he said "I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights." By mentioning the second amendment, which outlines the right to bear arms, in conjunction with CIVILIAN resources, the President was sending a clear message to his base, that he was OK with people taking matters into their own hands.
We have gotten to this place in persistent measured steps.
I couldn’t help but wonder yesterday as I walked through the now unrecognizable streets of New York City what a New Yorker who has been sheltering outside of the city in the woods without a TV would think if they were suddenly to return.
We are a nation without leadership. We are floundering through these crises while the person who is meant to be leading us, turns violently on his fellow citizens all for a quick photo op. The President reportedly felt that people thought he appeared weak for sheltering in a bunker on Friday night while protests happened around the nation’s house.
He wanted to show everyone that he was strong.
Love is strong.
Fear is weak.
Threats are weak.
Hate is weak.
The President did not show any strength yesterday. Instead, he showed us all how very weak he really is.
We are strong. Together, we are even stronger.
We are in the middle of something, the likes of which most of us have never seen or experienced before.
Fear is weak. Threats are weak. Hate is weak.
If you go out today to add your voice to the demonstrations happening around the country, please stay safe. Please make sure that you are home well before any curfews begin. If you choose to stay at home, today, take comfort in the fact that there are more people working towards a better world than there are people trying to destroy the one we have.
We WILL get through this.
Remember your strength.
Fear is weak. Threats are weak. Hate is weak.
Love is strong. Love will win.
Love will win because love ALWAYS wins.