PJ's Studio: BLM protests

Sunday, July 19, 2020

BLM protests

It is the summer of our discontent. (Nod to Shakespeare.)

On May 25, George Floyd was murdered by the police in Minneapolis on live stream. Because many people were on lockdown due to Covid-19, they were home watching television. So they got to see with their own eyes what they had previously believed to be untrue. Cops were indeed murdering Blacks with impunity. It was a real stunner for some. And a turning point for America.

While the visual evidence was undeniable, there were other factors at work too - most notably the changing demographics in the U.S. According to projections, by the end of 2020, people in the U.S. under 18 will be majority non-white. In some places, like NYC, they already are. Here's a blog I wrote about it...

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2020/06/are-changing-demographics-reason-blm_17.html

When the protesting first began, we were still on lockdown so I was afraid that I would miss out on this moment in history. But I underestimated the organizers. They determined that the best approach would be a series of small protests in every neighborhood to limit the need for people to travel to be involved.

On June 3rd, there was a sit-in at the mayor's residence, not too far from our apartment. Then they marched. The wrong way down First Avenue. It was a bit of a shock. But at least it was peaceful.

My friend @timbaynes was even moved to create art from my photo.

Then on June 4 they came again. This time across 73rd Street. Once again breaking curfew, which had started on June 2 and ended on June 7.

We were very worried that they were spreading Covid-19. But as you can see from this pic the protestors were mostly masked. They were also young, educated and 61% white.

And they were highly motivated. By June 8th it was getting a bit unnerving. This group was led by bicycles and followed by police. Clearly everyone had adjusted to their new normal.

On June 12, the NYC banned chokeholds. So the protests were clearly working https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/nyregion/50a-repeal-police-floyd.html

But there was still work to be done so the protestors were back again on June 13th. This time I thought I'd shoot some video. Here they are walking against the traffic asking people to join them...

And here's the more familiar "Black Lives Matter" refrain. But what struck a deeper chord was "no justice, no peace."

On June 14th, I switched back to photos. I was just thinking what a quiet Sunday it was in the hood when I saw these two guys looking south.

When I looked out to see what they were looking at I heard the noise of the approaching group.

Since then we had an all bicycle protest on July 4th, which appears to have wrapped things up in the neighborhood. I was glad. Six protests in my front yard are definitely enough for me.

But protests have continued in other parts of the city, larger now because Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted. On July 9th a Black Lives Matter mural was painted in front of Trump Tower.