Another large protest wound its way down Central Park West en route to Washington Square Park on Saturday. It started in Harlem and is called the “March for Stolen Lives and Looted Dreams”.
UPDATE: Here’s a look at the front of the #TheTakeBack demonstration that started in #Harlem. Protesters made it to 86th Street & Central Park West on the #upperwestside. They have about 80 blocks to go before making it to #WashingtonSquarePark. @CBSNewYork #BLM #protests pic.twitter.com/zt7qZHh1NQ
— Cory James (@CoryJamesTV) June 6, 2020
The photos below are by Dr. G. Levine.
Hey remember when gathering in tightly knit groups was widely frowned upon because of a deadly pandemic?
Me neither.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 doesn’t care about the worthiness of your cause.
They are wearing masks. Do you?
First, not all are wearing masks. At least one has lowered his mask, probably because it interferes with talking/chanting/whatever, a natural thing to do.
Second, the protection offered by masks can diminish drastically based on length of time in a group, size of group, distance between people, and yelling or chanting or even just talking. The mask is a very very limited protection. Hence the lockdown.
There is a guy in that march you have not noticed. He is wearing a hoody, night black, and when you look into the hood, you cannot see his eyes. He carries a long stick with a hooked blade at the end. He is quite friendly, and anxious to meet you.
Your comment is perhaps unintentionally ironic, insofar as COVID 19 has affected communities of color the hardest. We care about COVID, that’s why most of us wear masks while protesting and are mindful of social distancing. If you care about COVID you should care about communities of color. Unless, of course, if you only care about yourself.
What a righteous twist on Jane’s comment.
Also, could you please explain why do you think Covid affects communities of color more? Is it because of the virus racism? Could there be other reasons, for example, not wearing masks and having block parties?
UWS is engulfed in pc show much more than in getting justice for police brutality. Whoever says something negative about the protests, even a very valid concern about Covid spread , gets harsh criticism. Covid deaths no longer matter?
Let’s first applaud Jane and Jen for having the courage to say what so many of their peers think but do not dare utter (instead they are busy posting on the bikes article which somehow has three times the comments). For dialogue is the first step toward developing understanding.
First, “your cause.” This isn’t my cause or your cause, we should all be concerned when those whose sworn duty it is to protect and serve us all feel they are immune from the laws they enforce. Hidden badge numbers. Turned off body cams. Disciplinary records shielded from public view. Running over crowds in their SUVs. Everyone of us should support police accountability, so I will assume you do but are concerned about the large number of people gathered outside. There are many things that could have been said, as an example: “It concerns me to see such large number of people gathered as we still deal with COVID, I urge you to channel your frustration into solo actions such as calling your local state representative and asking them to support the repeal of 50-A.”
Second, why are communities of color more affected by COVID? Could there be reasons such as they are more likely to be the front line service workers styling your hair, doing your nails, delivering your dinner (and getting arrested for it right in our neighborhood), the FedEx/UPS drivers and Amazon warehouse workers out there so you can have your Instagram-worthy cupcake sprinkles delivered in under two hours, the janitors, the uber drivers, MTA employees, your doormen, and all the other heroes that make it possible for you to sit at home and complain on WSR then clap your hands and have whatever you want appear? Or is it because these same workers most likely rely on public transit to get to these jobs and may live in multi-generational, higher-density households because of the rent burden? Or because air quality and particulate pollution from traffic and power plants are worse in their communities exacerbating respiratory conditions?
You know who else had very high rates of COVID, cops. Let me guess, you’re thinking it’s the backyard cookouts in Staten Island /s (Although they have been very big into the whole let’s-not-wear-masks thing)
Thank you for saying this
No community benefits from abolishing the police (the signs in the photos) and from tarring whole groups (such as police) (or people of particular fairness) with supposed universal failings common to that group (Such as supposed racism). Surely we all should agree that people should be judged on their individual merits. Not on their skin tone, or choice of religion, or choice of profession. And setting aside the hypocrisy of tarring an entire group or people, practically, who would protect the marchers and their fellow citizens from looters and muggers in NYC if all police were deemed bad and thus abolished?
Amazing March and pics!!!
Our family could only join part way but the organizers of this march did an amazing job of running things.
Thanks for this report and for being out there at the protest.
Great photos. A diverse and hopeful march.
I am so happy the pandemic is over!
Unbelievable! This is what what it comes too!
Do you realize it’s the D DAY!!!?!?!
It is admirable to see the solidarity among people to show via protest marches that people demand government leaders in the United States take the necessary steps to bring systemic and dramatic changes to how police departments operate in communities. The people wants changes now. It looks like the marches will continue because people are expressing that the changes need to start very soon. It it fantastic to see history happening in front of one’s eyes. The next step is to see if changes will come. If not, I suppose there will be more marches to come.
I was there. Everyone had plenty of masks and space around them. One guy was offering masks to whoever wanted them. Photos can’t show distance.
To me there is something creepy about people who criticize the marchers for not distancing. I believe they feel threatened — by the very existence of the protest more than from any corona-virus concerns.
So if one thousand folks have a pro Trump march tomorrow you will be ok with the March other then you still hate Trump
No, just Covid. Don’t criticize and shush valid concerns.
People equating in importance getting to eat in a sit-down restaurant with not getting murdered by the police are telling you all you ever need to know about what kind of people they are.
So. Cannot have weddings, graduations, funerals, conventions… even with masks and social distancing. But, hey a few thousand marchers huddled together for miles all day. No problem!
So happy the Pandemic is over! Now can we open bars & restaurants? Stores? That’d be too logical and economically sane.
That’s what it came to. Current atmosphere dictates that there shouldn’t be any other important concerns except for BLM. Other lives don’t matter.
Anybody marching for Tessa Majors?
Or brave officers that have been killed or injured in the line of duty? Think that will ever happen on the Upper West Side?
Never. Manhattan has been completely overrun by far left progressives who see white men as always wrong and evil, and people of color as victims of said white men. Which is so very twisted, as I personally know African-American and Hispanic police officers at the 24th precinct who are respected comrades with their white peers, who love their job and try to make the area better and safer for everyone, from those residing in the Frederick Douglass houses to those on Riverside Drive.
You’re so woke.
Then those fine officers should have no problem displaying their badge number with pride, supporting the release of their disciplinary records to the public, and calling out those in ranks that do not deserve to wear the badge.
I will speak for myself, but venture a guess it is sentiment of many here, we are not upset that there are bad cops, we are upset that good cops stand idly by and say nothing while their colleagues commit heinous acts. That the blue wall requires those that are good to defend the bad, and as a result tarnishes them all.
Thank you, Ryan, and others for commenting on these posts. I was in the march as well. Nearly everyone had a mask (and people were everywhere giving them out). Marchers were arranged much more distantly that this picture can convey, and all these masked people were moving along through open air.
The science simply does not back this up as a high-risk activity.
The fact people are nevertheless seizing upon this point as a bone of contention — at this pivotal time in our nation’s history, when true life-and-death issues hang in the balance — is informative, but perhaps not surprising. Whatever the issue, there have always been people clinging to the wrong side of history.