Mason community marches on campus to peacefully protest on the Fairfax campus to voice their support for the Black Lives Matter in reaction to the recent death of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and countless others
Photos taken during protests and other activities at Black Lives Matter Plaza (16th St NW between K and I, Washington D.C.) during June 2020 and again from November 2020 through January 2021.
During the second period, I was part of a crew of approximately 10 people who regularly helped maintain the signs on the large chain link fence that ran along H street NW (the northern edge of Layfayette Park) and did everything we could to keep the plaza safe and protect it from Proud Boys and similar fascist groups.
see, eg.,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/black-lives-matter-art/2021/01/30/da5d376a-6187-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html
(All photos are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-NonCommercial (or any other license which may be applied to this project))
After seeing the George Floyd video, protests, and the inequality going around this country, I was inspired to create an art piece that many of the tragic events that has happened in this country the UNITED STATES. For me this is not just an art piece but a mural that will forever remember the names and events of all the victims in this past decade.
As a young Black woman who is cisgender, physically able, and mentally/emotionally able, I find it pertinent to insert the examination of the ways that Black women + girls are actively and intentionally policed within the United States. Divesting from the police is not limited to the buildings or funding of institutional forces, it extends to the ways in which Black women + girls' boundaries, safety, and humanity is infringed upon by people who don't wear a uniform.
East side of 14th at Church St NW, looking north
I had just gotten my first haircut (with all the Phase I reopening covid protocols in place) since February, at Logan 14 salon, walking back to where I'd parked the car, I took some photos. Great Wall Szechuan is one of the best Chinese restaurants in town, btw - there's a whole story about it closing pre-pandemic and then opening for take-out during stay-at-home.
Photos of the signs - memorial art - covering the temporary fence along the north side of Lafayette Sq Park, mid-morning Tuesday June 9. These are all taken from the intersection with 16th St NW west towards Jackson Pl. I didn't take any photos east of 16th, where there was a larger crowd and some speaking, chanting, and singing while I was there. (I was trying to "social distance" so avoiding tighter packed crowds)
These are images a grad student at George Mason took while participating in the Juneteenth Bike Ride for Racial Justice and Fundraiser for the Fairfax County NAACP. It started at Northside Social in Clarendon and ended at the Lincoln Memorial. Some of us continued on to Black Lives Matter Plaza afterwards.
**It is important to note that this was a safe, fun, easy protest for a mostly white, able group of riders to participate in. Many riders, myself included, enjoyed breakfast or coffee at the restaurant where it began. I feared the whole thing might be too performative, too white, too...something to be meaningful. Juneteenth was the day before, after all. But as we rode, it became clear that pedestrians, drivers, joggers, and other bikers appreciated our action as they honked their horns, raised their fists, and cheered. If nothing else, maybe staying visible and continuing to demand attention in public spaces can serve as a small but hopefully useful action to support of the greater racial and social justice work being done.**
Here is a description of the ride from the Facebook event page, edited to omit names of people I don't know and their virtual payment URLs:
"Join us for a 5 mile bike ride to honor the holiday, show community solidarity, and raise support for Fairfax NAACP's ongoing work for racial justice. The Fairfax NAACP president will give remarks.
Participants are encouraged to make a $20 donation to the Fairfax NAACP. The donations will be tracked here and the final amount will be posted then donated to the NAACP. The PayPal link for Fairfax County's NAACP is http://www.fairfaxnaacp.org. Thank you!
We'll meet at 11:00AM at the Northside Social parking lot in Clarendon then take off for the Lincoln Memorial promptly at 11:30 AM. This should be an easy 5 mile (roughly 25 minute, one way) ride, utilizing bike lanes, perfect for the whole family and riders at any level. A map of the route we plan to follow can be found at https://goo.gl/maps/QJhit8YJRPVDk38G9
This will be a socially distant event. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, participants are asked to maintain a distance of 6 feet from others and wear facial coverings as recommended by the CDC.
We encourage you wearing black for this event."
Images of posters, art, and objects left in memorial or solidarity on the fences at Lafayette Park. Also a flier for a bike protest that happened on Juneteenth in DC, which I am sorry that I missed. Last time I was here when the fence around Lafayette Park was up, there were still crowds of protesters. Today there were hardly any. Instead I saw a few concession stands set up and what looked like an encampment in front of St. John's Church.
Protesters pulled down, wrote graffiti on, and burned the statue of the only Confederate statue in Washington, DC. The violence was limited to the statue. These images show the statue's pedestal a few days after the statue of Pike was taken down and destroyed.
As a white mother of a white daughter, who is but 35 days older than Breonna Taylor, I was deeply moved by the fact that Breonna's mother didn't get to celebrate her 27th birthday because she was murdered by the police. This letter to Breonna is my attempt to understand my privilege as a white woman and the oppression her mother and she experienced because of the systematic racism and the deep pain that white supremacy that I simultaneously benefitted from.
Protesters gathered in Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C.'s Capital Hill neighborhood on Friday, June 26 for the teach-in and debate about what to do with the statue. They had been there earlier in the week, calling to tear it down. The statue is Emancipation Memorial and originally commissioned by Black freedmen who did not have a meaningful say in the statue's design, which shows a Black man seeming to kneel at President Lincoln's feet. Disagreements about what to do with the statue surfaced within the Black community and across generational lines during the teach-in. The signs on the fence were photographed a few days later, on June 30, 2020. The statue is protected by a cement barricade and fence and still stands at the time of this post.
Walking on C St NE near the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., I stumbled on a gold mini memorial of Sally Hemings standing next to Thomas Jefferson, holding two children, with chains near her feet. The inscription above her states: "Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson's slave, bore 5 of his children. Sally was never freed. 1 child died. 3 escaped. 2 were freed." I believe this is part of a larger movement in DC, as I saw a similar gold mini memorial in Lincoln Park a few months prior to the Hemings one.
This is a photo of a community chalkboard in downtown Charlottesville. From the images, you can see that people continue to write their political views on the wall.
This is a photo of a community chalkboard in downtown Charlottesville. From the images, you can see that people continue to write their political views on the wall.
These images show the fence that went up around Lafayette Park and the White House to keep protesters out. Protesters reclaimed the fence by placing memorials, artwork, and posters on the fence. Other images include graffiti in downtown DC sprayed over plywood that covered doors and windows, a statue in Lafayette Park covered in graffiti with workers trying to clean it off, and protesters, including members of the clergy. They were taken by a graduate student at George Mason University who lives in Washington and participated in some of the protests.
This is a photo of a community chalkboard in downtown Charlottesville. From the images, you can see that people continue to write their political views on the wall.
This is a photo of a community chalkboard in downtown Charlottesville. From the images, you can see that people continue to write their political views on the wall.
