I’m not an activist
And have never been super political either
Although I must admit September 11th
Changed that quite a bit for me
as I'm sure you know if you're been reading me
I have marched in gay pride events
Went on the march to Washington for gay rights
And would have loved to have gone on many others
If I weren’t working
Which it seems like I often am
But tonight
Tonight was different
As you know I just got back from a month in Provincetown
And returning to NYC in the middle of the Republican Convention
Is well
Its intense
But the truth is
George Bush Junior
Scares me
I think he’s a bad man
And a bad president
And I truly, from the bottom of my heart am frightened of what another 4 years of him will do to this country
To this world
So I decided to go to Union Square tonight
Ive been out of the loop
Being away and all
So I did not know what would be going on
But I did know that something would be going on in Union Square park
It always is
La Cubana went with me
And La Cubana who never quite recuperated from being just a little too young to go to Woodstock was ready
She wore her hand made tank top that read
“No one died, when Clinton Lied”
we by-passed Union Square and walked up Irving Place towards 16th street
It was sometime after 6:00 Pm and I could not have guessed that we’d actually walked into perhaps the most intense drama that unfolded in Union Square that night..at least up until this point
People were running when we got there
People were scared
A woman ran by with a black and blue on her chin
camera crews were running
We went to the source of the upset but were held back by police in riot gear
Then more police in riot gear showed up
Then police started leading out young men and women with their hands held behind their back in plastic hand ties.
What had unfolded before us
Was that a group of protestors in Union Square park had decided to march
A peaceful march
But they were herded onto 16th street
And then fenced in by riot police using orange, net fencing
And then they were stuck, just stuck waiting to get arrested
I think I personally watched over 100 people get arrested
I’m sure at least 200 were arrested
there were so many arrestees they had to bring in empty NYC commuter buses
to carry them away
the boys bus
the girls bus
The scene was so strange
3 huge cups in riot gear pulling out a 90 pound 16 year old girl
a 21 year old baby faced young man
again and again
I became outraged
And started to hoot
Like everyone else did
La Cubana was so horriried
I had to calm her down
I was afraid she would get herself clobbered by one of the cops
"This is like the 60's all over again!" she screamed
I tried to ask one of the cops
What are these people being arrested for??
But he just looked at me with glassy eyes and said nothing
We stayed there photographing the sight for an hour
The cameras made the cops nervous
Im sure it helped to keep violence at bay
Then La C and I walked around the arrest zone and into Union Square Park
We walked through the park
And saw all these peaceful protestors
While helicopters buzzed overhead
A group of young men and women led by a drummer began to march
And to chant
“This is what democracy looks like!”
and La Cubana and I joined them.
We were told as we marched
to march only in twos, not threes
if we stayed on the sidewalks, did not obstruct traffic
were peaceful
chanting marchers
we were totally legal
so we marched around Union Square
and off heading towards 17th Street
and once on the side street
I saw a net orange fence go up blocking us in on one side
And realized suddenly that we were about to be corralled in
Just like the group I had just seen get arrested
But we were peaceful legal marchers?!
Legal!? We had stayed on the side walk!
Still the orange fence went up on one side
And I knew if we did not get out of there
Right or wrong
Before the fence went up on the other side
We would be arrested
I grabbed La Cubana to pull her out the open side
Before it was too late
But she did not want to go
She felt so outraged
At the arrests of a peaceful protest
That I think she wanted to get arrested to prove her outrage
I did not
And was afraid for her too
So I pulled her out
despite her protests
And we escaped
The rest of the night was a blur
And I sit here now
Feeling upset and angry
I can hear the helicopters
Buzzing out my window
Shades of the days after “911”
And I feel outraged
That so many peaceful protestors were arrested
Almost myself
And La C
I feel so angry
That the climate in this city
And in this country
Is that if you speak out against this president you are un-American
When speaking out
Speaking freely is what being American is all about
So I think again
About the chant of our young charged leaders in our ill-fated march
“This is what democracy looks like!”
and it is
Democracy is not pretty
And polite
And neatly folded
It’s a rag tag group of sweaty, frightened
People
Many just more than children
Out in the night
In plastic handcuffs
Teary eyed
Yelling to their friends to call their family
It’s the young police man in riot gear
Who was so frightened he looked like he wanted to cry
Because he so much did not want to be there
Its you
Right now
Sitting watching the news
And wondering
What is right?
What is right?
