Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile)

An activist gets on the megaphone and leads the crowd in a chant of "Black Lives Matter!" He announces the evening's program He urges people to take initiative. Share suggestions. "don't wait for us to announce an event and complain about it"

"Understand this," the activist continues: "if you are an infiltrator here, you will be identified." He says that people performing bad actions will be identified and confronted By who? The crowd asks. Confusion about what this is in reference to

Another activist steps forward. Pushes back against the idea that these are the final days of the protest. "I'm gonna keep coming out after the election!" He commemorates the loss of someone close to the movement A different speaker acknowledges that we stand on stolen land

Another speaker leads the crowd in a chant of "stay together, stay tight!" He reminds us that this doesn't just apply to facing down police. We need to stay tight as a movement. United and ready and able to adjust tactics

The protest begins to move. It's gotta be 200 people now A robust drum line accompanies the chant: No Justice, No Peace; Take It to the Streets and Fuck The Police

The activist talks about the loss of RBG. The government won't protect us "We protect ourselves. We police ourselves. We take care of each other" "And for those of you just now finding out what this system is all about: welcome to the lives of black and brown people"

He continues: reminds us that whatever happens in this election, we've all been marked as part of this movement. We are all in danger It's very good that people are talking about this

The activist concludes with practical advice: If you grab a shield, be ready to go to the front If you don't have a gas mask, you don't belong at the front

A chant for Patrick Kimmons, and the protest prepares to moves to its next destination "Does anyone NOT know where the Justice Center is?" Laughter

Before the protest moves: 30 seconds of silence for the two fallen protesters in New York City I'm not sure what this is referring to. There was a shooting at a house party. Likely I don't know the whole story

As the protest moves on, as I climb down the courthouse steps, I hear the sound of shattering glass behind me

The protest stops behind the Justice Center. Settles in. A couple cameras--or were they lights?--meet an untimely end

An activist gets up and tells us that he is being kicked out of the United States because of his protest activities. He has lived here for a long time He began to protest because police killed his brother in NYC I watched him arrested on the 100th day. He did nothing wrong

He tells us he has no family in his home country. He says he doesn't know what he's going to do He tells us he hopes he can come back after November Chant: "No Borders, No Nations: Abolish Deportation!"

He talks about the origin of modern police in the slave patrols of the 1800s. But more than that: how the slave patrols had to convince people of their importance To convince the North to cooperate, they created a narrative ofan inherent, dangerous Black criminality

This myth of terrifying blackness continues to haunt us to this day And when enforced poverty led to acts of desperation? When brutalization led to brutality? The system incorporated these unsurprising effects of oppression into that myth

Editorial note: this shit is why reform isn't enough The problem isn't choke holds or body cameras or whatever The problem is that we are soaked, from the day we were born, in a deeply racist worldview

Ray points out that we are all part of this system. And that white people benefit from that system, whether they intend to or not These benefits places upon us an obligation to act "This is a fucked up situation we were born into. But now we are adults." Time to make a change

Ray says that if you truly understand the struggle, you can't just go home You can't just say, we've had enough If you really feel it, you have to keep fighting The crowd cheers