Saturday, June 6, 2020

In which enough is enough.



Scenes from this afternoon, standing with ca. 14,000 mostly masked, peaceful people protesting police brutality and racism at the official "Enough Is Enough" demonstration in Hamburg. The police were present, but all in my area were standing quietly on the sidelines. Though the protest clearly broke the current Corona restrictions on gathering in large groups, it was decided that the best thing was to let it continue, though no longer officially sanctioned by the city, as otherwise people would have been put at even more at risk of infection -- even after a week of single-digit new infections recorded in our city of 2 million people. Same as the protest outside the U.S. Consulate General yesterday that had expected 250 people and ended up with over 4,500. Though I wholeheartedly support and follow the social distancing rules, I also know how important it was to be there and fill the streets with our bodies to stand up for the rights and lives of my friends and all people of color who have everything harder just because of the color of their skin. As a white, educated, U.S. American person living in Europe, I am keenly aware of the level of privilege that has and continues to make my life so easy compared to others, and the fact that this system exists to make my life easier is not okay. In fact, it's shit. And it needs to change. 

Stand with strangers, stand with people you love, stand up, speak up, and vote, vote, vote.