Jo Freeman: A Tale of Three Protests

Jo Freeman: A Tale of Three Protests – in Brooklyn

The press has been full of news about protests over the cop-killing of George Floyd.

I only went to three, largely because I could get to them from my Brooklyn home without taking public transportation. If I had been in Washington, DC, I would have gone to the White House. But I’m in Brooklyn for the duration of the Covid crisis.

Since I don’t do social media, just finding out where people were protesting has been challenging. Late Saturday afternoon I heard that a crowd was in Flatbush, specifically at Bedford and Tilden near the Sears parking where Covid testing has been conducted for several weeks.

When I got there about 5:30 I saw two to three hundred people milling in the street, with the police blocking their way south on Bedford. I gather that they had started near the Barclay Center, about five miles away. I don’t know why the police didn’t just let them march down Bedford to the bottom of the borough, which was the logical thing to do. The Sears parking lot is surrounded by a tall chain-link fence protected by the Air Force; the protestors were not a threat.

Many wore masks, but not all. No one was distancing. That was the most frequent illegal activity. Pursuant to Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order everyone could have been fined $1000 for not keeping their distance; that was pretty much everyone. The cops were just as close and fewer wore masks. Imagine fining them all $1000 – cops and protestors alike. Might have filled the hole in the city budget caused by closing all non-essential businesses.

Right, rally in Grand Army Plaza after the death of George Floyd, May 30, 2020; photo by Rhododendrites

I saw multiple confrontations and took photos of some of them. Since we were all in the street it was hard to find a high spot from which to get a broad view. The stoops were occupied by local residents cheering on the protestors. The few signs were homemade, indicating that not much planning went into this march. A lot only had acronyms. I know what BLM means; I had a little trouble with FTP and ACAB.

I always count race and sex. Both groups were very diverse. There were more white protestors than there were white cops. The white shirt NYPDs were mostly white and the blue shirts were mostly non-white (but diverse non-white). The former are the older generation, who have risen to positions of authority. I saw the top cop of the NYPD, Chief of Department (i.e. Chief of Police) Terence A. Monahan, his four stars gleaming in the sun.

There were a lot of women on both sides. In the eighties, a time when I dealt with a lot of NYPD officers who were not thrilled about women joining the force, the men told me that women weren’t big enough or strong enough to be effective police officers. At that time cops had to be a minimum height of 5"6' – which eliminated most women without really trying. Last Saturday, I was impressed with the sheer number of short women of all colors, facing down the protestors along with the men. I only saw one woman white-shirt.

Around 7:00 I followed the crowd as it ran back up Bedford. When I got close to Snyder, I saw a cop car smoldering. I found out later that it had been left unguarded on that street. Someone had smashed the side window and tossed something inside which caused a fire. Soon FDNY came and put it out. Those were the best photos I took all night. Across Bedford, the Youth for Christ Ministry Inc. was singing and praying into a very loud microphone. If they had been protestors the NYPD would have taken the megaphone away, but they were just doing their usual Saturday night preaching.

I saw bottles flying through the air and a couple fire crackers. I didn’t see any actual violence, but I saw the results. Several people were pepper sprayed. People poured milk on their faces to reduce the pain. Milk is slightly acidic. Pepper is alkaline. Although three public busses were present to haul off arrestees, they weren’t used. Arrestees were put into cop cars. I didn’t see what prompted the pepper sprays or the arrests so I don’t know who provoked whom.

I went home when it got too dark to take photos. The next day (Sunday afternoon ) I went to a protest at Grand Army Plaza that was advertised as "family friendly." There were many children among the thousand people who gathered at an entrance to Prospect Park and walked through the park to the Park Side of the Plaza. They were 99 percent white. As they walked through the park carrying their BLM signs, picnicers clapped.

They hung out for an hour before a PA system was set up and speaking began. Cars sweeping around the Plaza honked their horns in support. There was a little more distancing and a few more masks than Saturday night, but only a little. I saw only one cop car and no uniformed police. Now we know the key to keeping protests peaceful: bring the children, not the police.

Tuesday evening I went to my third protest in the streets northwest of Prospect Park. The participants were about 95 percent white. As was true on Sunday, most were twenty-somethings, but there were only a few children. I didn’t see much gray hair; us old geezers were scarce. Signs were plentiful, mostly written on cardboard. Different people passed out bottles of water and granola bars. Social distancing was among the missing. As far as I know, there were no flying objects and no arrests.

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Jo Freeman: A Tale of Three Protests – in Brooklyn

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