Millions March Reportage

I started the day a little after 2 at Washington Square Park. The crowd was so massive, it was hard to get any distance on it. I was at the park until 3 or so, and people were still streaming up Fifth Avenue even though the march had started an hour ago.



As people marched around and through the triumphal arch, I wanted to make sure I included the statue of George Washington that stands against the north side of the arch. More on him, later, though.





At Union Square, the festive red and white striped booths of the holiday market made an incongruous backdrop to the protest. I'm not sure what the shopping tourists made of the protest, but I saw plenty of onlookers taking photos. The march took place on the same day as SantaCon, and I saw at least one Santa taking part.



There were a *lot* of cops lining the route of the march. These three were pretty jolly considering the chants marchers were directing their way. I guess I'd rather they be indulgent than aggressive, but their confident, even arrogant, body language said it all.



The march ended near Foley Square in front of police headquarters. The police had set up a dead end, so everyone was packed into a really tiny space. There was a constant stream of people moving in and out of the plaza as people were deciding to go home, to stay and protest some more, or to march to the Brooklyn Bridge.



At the bottom of the page there is a quote from George Washington inscribed on the pediment of the New York State Supreme Court Building in Foley Square, which I saw as I was leaving the march: "The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government." To me, it was a perfect summary of the point of the march, and since I'd started with a drawing of George Washington, it seemed apt to end with him as well.

If you want to see more reportage of the march, check out my friend Alex Charner's powerful work on his blog.

Eric Garner Protest Reportage

I went out to Foley Square last night with Carly Larsson, Evan Turk, and Chris Brody to reportage the protest surrounding the decision not to indict the police officer responsible for the death of Eric Garner. The first thing I noticed was how many people came out. I've seen estimates in the thousands, and that's just at Foley Square (here's a photo from above from Gothamist). It was heartening to see so many New Yorkers come out to protest, and I was especially glad to see how diverse the crowd was. Especially at the beginning of the protest, many of the protesters were very young, possibly college or even high school students.



Unlike the Occupy protest, some people had amplification, although to communicate with the whole crowd, the human microphone was in full effect.



The protest moved down to the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge (which is only a few blocks from Foley Square). Since I was hanging back a bit from the main protest group to draw, the cops formed their line right in front of me. They made an intimidating barrier. Their commanding officer was telling them "shoulder to shoulder!" as they lined up.



Since the protesters were denied access to the bridge, they started marching back to Foley Square. A lot of people carried signs saying "Black lives matter" and "End police brutality," but I found these paper cutouts really haunting. Each one had the name of a black man killed by the police: Sean Bell, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner, among others.



The protest left Foley Square so quickly, I actually lost them for a bit. I found them again down on Canal Street, at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. The protesters had moved to try to block the tunnel, but again had been turned back by the police. If I was intimidated by the uniforms and the numbers at Foley Square, it's nothing compared to how I felt seeing riot helmets and batons.



After that, the protest moved on without me. I went down there feeling pretty down about the state of our democracy, but going home I felt buoyed by the turnout of so many people who care about what goes on. I don't know if there are more protests planned, but if you're upset, even just a little, by police brutality and the lack of accountability, I encourage you to go and see or participate.

Occupy Wall Street

The Occupy Wall Street protest in Liberty Square isn't far from where I live, so I took some time last Thursday to go down and see for myself what was going on. For the most part, I'm going to leave the discussion of the protest and its agenda for other forums. I'm all for people exercising democratic rights at all times, no matter what their message and that's all I'll say about that. As a reportage artist, I love to draw a protest, although it's not something I often do. People that are passionate, that are committed to what they're doing are interesting, and interesting to draw. They want to talk, to communicate, and that's something I understand.

One of the first things I noticed was the number of very fancy cameras around. The protest isn't really getting too much press, so I can only assume these are just people who came out to take pictures.

Here's someone taking a picture with their iPad. The guy didn't feel like a protester either (although statistically, the 99% does cast a wide net).

I'm not sure what to think about the high-end video cameras.

Here's a protester whose opinion is pretty clear.

And it wasn't all young people (although there did seem to be a lot of students). Here's a member of the Granny Peace Brigade.

And who's this fellow in his striped button-down, tie, and suit slacks? Possibly a Wall Streeter on his smoke break?

The protesters are prohibited from having any amplification system, so they've worked out a way to communicate without one. Someone in the center would make an announcement, just a few words at a time, and the message would be repeated by anyone who heard it in a rhythmic singsong that would ripple out towards the edges. It was interesting, if not always perfectly effective.

If you agreed with the point being made, you could put up your hands and wiggle your fingers. Jazz hands, everybody!

And no protest reportage is complete, in my opinion, without the cops. I know they've behaved abominably at times, and have now been accused of luring people onto the Brooklyn Bridge roadway only to arrest them. While I was there, though, the cops were standing around the perimeter of the square, making sure traffic wasn't obstructed, being pretty unobtrusive.

Let's hear it for democracy in action!

Liberty Bell Reportage

The Liberty Bell is a symbol of independence, liberty and justice. It was rung on July 8th, 1776 to summon the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. It was also rung at the beginning of the First Continental Congress, and at the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775. I've been meaning to get to Philadelphia to see the bell, which hangs in front of Independence Hall. Fortunately, a full scale replica hangs at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, in Liberty Square. Below is my panoramic drawing, as well as some stamps.

(click on the drawing to see it larger)

1000 Voices Part II

This illustration if for my friend Mimi. It illustrates her opinion for Evan Turk's A Picture for a Thousand Voices project.

Often, I do a couple of versions. Here's the other one that I liked:

Equality is achievable if we keep our hopes alive,

because the minute we back down is the minute

they'll think they've won! - Mimi

Mostly I wanted to express Mimi's determination to persevere, and her hope that, through that perseverance, over time we can achieve equality. Since Mimi's opinion was fairly general and abstract, I kept the illustration abstract. I hope she likes it!

A Picture for 1000 Voices

My friend Evan Turk has a blog called A Picture for 1000 Voices that seeks to" create a dialogue about the individual hopes for the LGBT equal rights movement through the medium of illustration." I've submitted an illustration you can see below. Hopefully, you'll be able to see it on Evan's blog soon:

My illustration is about trying to quantify and weigh an abstraction like love. How can the law say that someone's love isn't valid and in some way not equal to someone else's? I think it's pointless to try to weigh them on some kind of scale. Anyone should be able to have their relationship legalized, if that's what they want. Please check out Evan's blog, and if you are an illustrator, definitely submit a piece!