We need to do more than hope.

 Stanley - Thursday

Two weeks ago I wrote about the obvious trauma felt by those who witnessed the death of George Floyd at the knee of Minneapolis policeman, Derek Chauvin. Even though they were bystanders, what they saw will stay with them forever. You can read that post here.

Who would have thought that tragedy was about to take place - of epic Greek proportions.  Ten days after I wrote the blog, in a Minneapolis suburb about 10 miles from the Chauvin courthouse, another Black man, 20-year-old Duante Wright, was shot and killed by police.

Duante and his son, Duante Jnr

Why is it a tragedy of epic proportions? 

First and foremost, Duante Wright is dead.

Second, the timing couldn't have been worse - right in the middle of a trial for another police shooting. Protests immediately erupted, some violent. There were police-protestor confrontations, shops were boarded up, and curfews were imposed. The third set in a year: COVID curfews, Chauvin curfews, and now Wright curfews. 

Rocks thrown in protest

Third, the location couldn't have been worse. It would have been bad enough for another Black man to be killed anywhere in the country, but for it to happen where the Chauvin trial was taking place.....

Fourth, the circumstances couldn't have been worse. It is awful when anyone is killed, but in this case, it seems that the shooting was accidental, that the policewoman pulled her handgun instead of her Taser. This whole episode is difficult to comprehend - how did someone with 26-years in the police, pull the wrong weapon?  What would Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides have created from this?

To be fair, as writing partner Michael is prone to say (why I don't know - who wants to be fair?), I would not want to be a policeman in the United States with so many guns and automatic weapons floating around. But I would like it even less to be a Black man, having to be perpetually nervous as to what may happen to you at any moment.

In the October 2020 Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health (click here), data showed that in the previous 5 years: 

In the case of armed victims, Native Americans were killed by police at a rate three times that of white people (77 total killed). Black people were killed at 2.6 times the rate of white people (1,265 total killed); and Hispanics were killed at nearly 1.3 times the rate of white people (889 total killed). Among unarmed victims, Black people were killed at three times the rate (218 total killed), and Hispanics at 1.45 times the rate of white people (146 total killed).

I feel so sick about this whole affair that I don't want to write about it any more. To end, I list the Black people who were killed by police over the past ten years. (Click here for the source.) I'm sure that each had unique circumstances, and that in some cases police were justified in firing. What is so depressing is that so little changes. We need to do more than hope.

Daunte Demetrius Wright, October 27, 2000 - April 11, 2021
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
Shot: Brooklyn Center Police Officer, April 11, 2021

Patrick Lynn Warren Sr., October 7, 1968 - January 10, 2021
Killeen, Texas
Shot: Killeen Police Officer, January 10, 2021

Vincent “Vinny” M. Belmonte, September 14, 2001 - January 5, 2021
Cleveland, Ohio
Shot: Cleveland Police Officer, January 5, 20201

Angelo Quinto, March 10, 1990 - December 26, 2020
Antioch, California
Knee on neck/Asphyxiated: December 23, 2020

Andre Maurice Hill, May 23, 1973 - December 22, 2020
Columbus, Ohio
Shot: December 22, 2020, Columbus Police Officer

Casey Christopher Goodson Jr., January 30, 1997 - December 4, 2020
Columbus, Ohio
Shot: December 4, 2020, Franklin County Sheriff Deputy

Angelo “AJ” Crooms, May 15, 2004 - November 13, 2020
Cocoa, Florida
Shot: November 13, 2020, Brevard County Sheriff Deputies

Sincere Pierce, April 2, 2002 - November 13, 2020
Cocoa, Florida
Shot: November 13, 2020, Brevard County Sheriff Deputies

Marcellis Stinnette, June 17, 2001 - October 20, 2020
Waukegan, Illinois
Shot: October 20, 2020, Waukegan Police Officer

Jonathan Dwayne Price, November 3, 1988 - October 3, 2020
Wolfe City, Texas
Tasered/Shot: October 3, 2020, Wolfe City Police Officer

Dijon Durand Kizzee, February 5, 1991 - August 31, 2020
Los Angeles, California
Shot: August 21, 2020, Los Angeles County Police

Rayshard Brooks, January 31, 1993 - June 12, 2020
Atlanta, Georgia
Shot: June 12, 2020, Atlanta Police Officer

Carlos Carson, May 16, 1984 - June 6, 2020
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Pepper Sprayed/Shot in Head: June 6, 2020, Knights Inn Tulsa Armed Security Guard, former sergeant and detention officer with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office

David McAtee, August 3, 1966 - June 1, 2020
Louisville, Kentucky
Shot: June 1, 2020, Louisville Metropolitan Police Officer

Tony “Tony the TIger” McDade, 1982 - May 27, 2020
Tallahassee, Florida
Shot: May 27, 2020, Tallahassee Police Officers

George Perry Floyd, October 14, 1973 - May 25, 2020
Powderhorn, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Knee on neck/Asphyxiated: May 25, 2020, Minneapolis Police Officer

Dreasjon “Sean” Reed, 1999 - May 6, 2020
Indianapolis, Indiana
Shot: May 6, 2020, Unidentified Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer

Michael Brent Charles Ramos, January 1, 1978 - April 24, 2020
Austin, Texas
Shot: April 24, 2020, Austin Police Detectives

Daniel T. Prude, September 20, 1978 - March 30, 2020
Rochester, New York
Asphyxiation: March 23, 2020, Rochester Police Officers

Breonna Taylor, June 5, 1993 - March 13, 2020
Louisville, Kentucky
Shot: March 13, 2020, Louisville Metro Police Officers

Manuel “Mannie” Elijah Ellis, August 28, 1986 - March 3, 2020
Tacoma, Washington
Physical restraint/Hypoxia: March 3, 2020, Tacoma Police Officers

William Howard Green, March 16, 1976 - January 27, 2020
Temple Hills, Maryland
Shot: January 27, 2020, Prince George’s County Police Officer

John Elliot Neville, 1962 - December 4, 2019
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Asphyxiated (hog-tied in prone position)/Heart Attack/Brain Injury: December 2, 2019, Forsyth County Sheriff Officers

Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, November 28, 1990 - October 12, 2019
Fort Worth, Texas
Shot: October 12, 2019, Fort Worth Police Officer

Elijah McClain, February 25, 1996 - August 30, 2019
Aurora, Colorado
Chokehold/Ketamine/Heart Attack: August 24, 2019, Aurora Police Officers and Paramedic

Ronald Greene, September 28, 1969 - May 10, 2019
Monroe, Louisiana
Stun gun/Force: May 10, 2019, Louisiana State Police

Javier Ambler, October 7, 1978 - March 28, 2019
Austin, Texas
Tasered/Electrocuted: March 28, 2019, Williamson County Sheriff Deputy

Sterling Lapree Higgins, October 27, 1981 - March 25, 2019
Union City, Tennessee
Choke hold/Asphyxiation: March 24-25, 2019, Union City Police Officer and Obion County Sheriff Deputies

Gregory Lloyd Edwards, September 23, 1980 - December 10, 2018
Brevard County Jail, Cocoa, Florida
Kneed, Punched, Pepper Sprayed, Tasered, and Strapped into a restraint chair with a spit hood over his head/Failure to Provide Medical Care: December 9, 2019, Brevard County Sheriffs

Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., June 18, 1997 - November 22, 2018
Hoover, Alabama
Shot: November 22, 2018, Unidentified Hoover Police Officers

Charles “Chop” Roundtree Jr., September 5, 2000 - October 17, 2018
San Antonio, Texas
Shot: October 17, 2018, San Antonio Police Officer

Chinedu Okobi, February 13, 1982 - October 3, 2018
Millbrae, California
Tasered/Electrocuted: October 3, 2018, San Mateo County Sheriff Sergeant and Sheriff Deputies

Anton Milbert LaRue Black, October 18, 1998 - September 15, 2018
Greensboro, Maryland
Tasered/Sudden Cardiac Arrest: September 15, 2018, Greensboro Police Officers

Botham Shem Jean, September 29, 1991 - September 6, 2018
Dallas, Texas
Shot: September 6, 2018, Dallas Police Officer

Antwon Rose Jr., July 12, 2000 - June 19, 2018
East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Shot: June 19, 2018, East Pittsburgh Police Officer

Saheed Vassell, December 22, 1983 - April 4, 2018
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Shot: April 4, 2018, Four Unnamed New York City Police Officers

Stephon Alonzo Clark, August 10, 1995 - March 18, 2018
Sacramento, California
Shot: March 18, 2018, Sacramento Police Officers

Dennis Plowden Jr., 1992 - December 28, 2017
East Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Shot: December 27, 2017, Philadelphia Police Officer

Bijan Ghaisar, September 4, 1992 - November 27, 2017
George Washington Memorial Parkway, Alexandria, Virginia
Shot: November 17, 2017, U.S. Park Police Officers

Aaron Bailey, 1972 - June 29, 2017
Indianapolis, Indiana
Shot: June 29, 2017, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officers

Charleena Chavon Lyles, April 24, 1987 - June 18, 2017
Seattle, Washington
Shot: June 18, 2017, Seattle Police Officers

Fetus of Charleena Chavon Lyles (14-15 weeks), June 18, 2017
Seattle, Washington
Shot: June 18, 2017, Seattle Police Officers

Jordan Edwards, October 25, 2001 - April 29, 2017
Balch Springs, Texas
Shot: April 29, 2017, Balch Springs Officer

Chad Robertson, 1992 - February 15, 2017
Chicago, Illinois
Shot: February 8, 2017, Chicago Police Officer

Deborah Danner, September 25, 1950 - October 18, 2016
The Bronx, New York City, New York
Shot: October 18, 2016, New York City Police Officers

Alfred Olango, July 29, 1978 - September 27, 2016
El Cajon, California
Shot: September 27, 2016, El Cajon Police Officers

Terence Crutcher, August 16, 1976 - September 16, 2016
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Shot: September 16, 2016, Tulsa Police Officer

Terrence LeDell Sterling, July 31, 1985 - September 11, 2016
Washington, DC
Shot: September 11, 2016, Washington Metropolitan Police Officer

Korryn Gaines, August 24, 1993 - August 1, 2016
Randallstown, Maryland
Shot: August 1, 2016, Baltimore County Police

Joseph Curtis Mann, 1966 - July 11, 2016
Sacramento, California
Shot: July 11, 2016, Sacramento Police Officers

Philando Castile, July 16, 1983 - July 6, 2016
Falcon Heights, Minnesota
Shot: July 6, 2016, St. Anthony Police Officer

Alton Sterling, June 14, 1979 - July 5, 2016
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Shot: July 5, 2016, Baton Rouge Police Officers

Bettie “Betty Boo” Jones, 1960 - December 26, 2015
Chicago, Illinois
Shot: December 26, 2015, Chicago Police Officer

Quintonio LeGrier, April 29, 1996 - December 26, 2015
Chicago, Illinois
Shot: December 26, 2015, Chicago Police Officer

Corey Lamar Jones, February 3, 1984 - October 18, 2015
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Shot: October 18, 2015, Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer

Jamar O’Neal Clark, May 3, 1991 - November 16, 2015
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Shot: November 15, 2015, Minneapolis Police Officers

Jeremy “Bam Bam” McDole, 1987 - September 23, 2015
Wilmington, Delaware
Shot: September 23, 2015, Wilmington Police Officers

India Kager, June 9, 1988 - September 5, 2015
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Shot: September 5, 2015, Virginia Beach Police Officers

Samuel Vincent DuBose, March 12, 1972 - July 19, 2015
Cincinnati, Ohio
Shot: July 19, 2015, University of Cincinnati Police Officer

Sandra Bland, February 7, 1987 - July 13, 2015
Waller County, Texas
Excessive Force/Wrongful Death/Suicide (?): July 10, 2015, Texas State Trooper

Brendon K. Glenn, 1986 - May 5, 2015
Venice, California
Shot: May 5, 2015, Los Angeles Police Officer

Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., August 16, 1989 - April 19, 2015
Baltimore, Maryland
Brute Force/Spinal Injuries: April 12, 2015, Baltimore City Police Officers

Walter Lamar Scott, February 9, 1965 - April 4, 2015
North Charleston, South Carolina
Shot: April 4, 2015, North Charleston Police Officer

Eric Courtney Harris, October 10, 1971 - April 2, 2015
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Shot: April 2, 2015, Tulsa County Reserve Deputy

Phillip Gregory White, 1982 - March 31, 2015
Vineland, New Jersey
K-9 Mauling/Respiratory distress: March 31, 2015, Vineland Police Officers

Mya Shawatza Hall, December 5, 1987 - March 30, 2015
Fort Meade, Maryland
Shot: March 30, 2015, National Security Agency Police Officers

Meagan Hockaday, August 27, 1988 - March 28, 2015
Oxnard, California
Shot: March 28, 2015, Oxnard Police Officer

Tony Terrell Robinson, Jr., October 18, 1995 - March 6, 2015
Madison, Wisconsin
Shot: March 6, 2015, Madison Police Officer

Janisha Fonville, March 3, 1994 - February 18 2015
Charlotte, North Carolina
Shot: February 18, 2015, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer

Natasha McKenna, January 9, 1978 - February 8, 2015
Fairfax County, Virginia
Tasered/Cardiac Arrest: February 3, 2015, Fairfax County Sheriff Deputies

Jerame C. Reid, June 8, 1978 - December 30, 2014
Bridgeton, New Jersey
Shot: December 30, 2014, Bridgeton Police Officer

Rumain Brisbon, November 24, 1980 - December 2, 2014
Phoenix, Arizona
Shot: December 2, 2014, Phoenix Police Officer

Tamir Rice, June 15, 2002 - November 22, 2014
Cleveland, Ohio
Shot: November 22, 2014, Cleveland Police Officer

Akai Kareem Gurley, November 12, 1986 - November 20, 2014
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Shot: November 20, 2014, New York City Police Officer

Tanisha N. Anderson, January 22, 1977 - November 13, 2014
Cleveland, Ohio
Physically Restrained/Brute Force: November 13, 2014, Cleveland Police Officers

Dante Parker, August 14, 1977 - August 12, 2014
Victorville, California
Tasered/Excessive Force: August 12, 2014, San Bernardino County Sheriff Deputies

Ezell Ford, October 14, 1988 - August 11, 2014
Florence, Los Angeles, California
Shot: August 11, 2014, Los Angeles Police Officers

Michael Brown Jr., May 20, 1996 - August 9, 2014
Ferguson, Missouri
Shot: August 9, 2014, Ferguson Police Officer

John Crawford III, July 29, 1992 - August 5, 2014
Beavercreek, Ohio
Shot: August 5, 2014, Beavercreek Police Officer

Tyree Woodson, July 8, 1976 - August 2, 2014
Baltimore, Maryland
Shot: August 2, 2014, Baltimore City Police Officer

Eric Garner, September 15, 1970 - July 17, 2014
Staten Island, New York
Choke hold/Suffocated: July 17, 2014, New York City Police Officer

Dontre Hamilton, January 20, 1983 - April 30, 2014
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Shot: April 30, 2014, Milwaukee Police Officer

Victor White III, September 11, 1991 - March 3, 2014
New Iberia, Louisiana
Shot: March 2, 2014, Iberia Parish Sheriff Deputy

Gabriella Monique Nevarez, November 25, 1991 - March 2, 2014
Citrus Heights, California
Shot: March 2, 2014, Citrus Heights Police Officers

Yvette Smith, December 18, 1966 - February 16, 2014
Bastrop County, Texas
Shot: February 16, 2014, Bastrop County Sheriff Deputy

McKenzie J. Cochran, August 25, 1988 - January 29, 2014
Southfield, Michigan
Pepper Sprayed/Compression Asphyxiation: January 28, 2014, Northland Mall Security Guards

Jordan Baker, 1988 - January 16, 2014
Houston, Texas
Shot: January 16, 2014, Off-duty Houston Police Officer

Andy Lopez, June 2, 2000 - October 22, 2013
Santa Rosa, California
Shot: October 22, 2013, Sonoma County Sheriff Deputy

Miriam Iris Carey, August 12, 1979 - October 3, 2013
Washington, DC
Shot 26 times: October 3, 2013, U. S. Secret Service Officer

Barrington “BJ” Williams, 1988 - September 17, 2013
New York City, New York
Neglect/Disdain/Asthma Attack: September 17, 2013, New York City Police Officers

Jonathan Ferrell, October 11, 1989 - September 14, 2013
Charlotte, North Carolina
Shot: September 14, 2013, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer

Carlos Alcis, 1970 - August 15, 2013
Brooklyn, New York City
Heart Attack/Neglect: August 15, 2013, New York City Police Officers

Larry Eugene Jackson Jr., November 29, 1980 - July 26, 2013
Austin, Texas
Shot: July 26, 2013, Austin Police Detective

Kyam Livingston, July 29, 1975 - July 21, 2013
New York City, New York
Neglect/Ignored pleas for help: July 20-21, 2013, New York City Police Officers

Clinton R. Allen, September 26, 1987 - March 10, 2013
Dallas, Texas
Tasered and Shot: March 10, 2013, Dallas Police Officer

Kimani “KiKi” Gray, October 19, 1996 - March 9, 2013
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Shot: March 9, 2013, New York Police Officers

Kayla Moore, April 17, 1971 - February 13, 2013
Berkeley, California
Restrained face-down prone: February 12, 2013, Berkeley Police Officers

Jamaal Moore Sr., 1989 - December 15, 2012
Chicago, Illinois
Shot: December 15, 2012, Chicago Police Officer

Johnnie Kamahi Warren, February 26, 1968 - February 13, 2012
Dothan, Alabama
Tasered/Electrocuted: December 10, 2012, Houston County (AL) Sheriff Deputy

Shelly Marie Frey, April 21, 1985 - December 6, 2012
Houston, Texas
Shot: December 6, 2012, Off-duty Harris County Sheriff's Deputy

Darnisha Diana Harris, December 11, 1996 - December 2, 2012
Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
Shot: December 2, 2012, Breaux Bridge Police Office

Timothy Russell, December 9. 1968 - November 29, 2012
Cleveland, Ohio
137 Rounds/Shot 23 times: November 29, 2012, Cleveland Police Officers

Malissa Williams, June 20, 1982 - November 29, 2012
Cleveland, Ohio
137 Rounds/Shot 24 times: November 29, 2012, Cleveland Police Officers

Noel Palanco, November 28, 1989 - October 4, 2012
Queens, New York City, New York
Shot: October 4, 2012, New York City Police Officers

Reynaldo Cuevas, January 6, 1992 - September 7, 2012
Bronx, New York City, New York
Shot: September 7, 2012, New York City Police Officer

Chavis Carter, 1991 - July 28, 2012
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Shot: July 28, 2012, Jonesboro Police Officer

Alesia Thomas, June 1, 1977 - July 22, 2012
Los Angeles, California
Brutal Force/Beaten: July 22, 2012, Los Angeles Police Officers

Shantel Davis, May 26, 1989 - June 14, 2012
New York City, New York
Shot: June 14, 2012, New York City Police Officer

Sharmel T. Edwards, October 10, 1962 - April 21, 2012
Las Vegas, Nevada
Shot: April 21, 2012, Las Vegas Police Officers

Tamon Robinson, December 21, 1985 - April 18, 2012
Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Run over by police car: April 12, 2012, New York City Police Officers

Ervin Lee Jefferson, III, 1994 - March 24, 2012
Atlanta, Georgia
Shot: March 24, 2012, Shepperson Security & Escort Services Security Guards

Kendrec McDade, May 5, 1992 - March 24, 2012
Pasadena, California
Shot: March 24, 2012, Pasadena Police Officers

Rekia Boyd, November 5, 1989 - March 21, 2012
Chicago, Illinois
Shot: March 21, 2012, Off-duty Chicago Police Detective

Shereese Francis, 1982 - March 15, 2012
Queens, New York City, New York
Suffocated to death: March 15, 2012, New York City Police Officers

Jersey K. Green, June 17, 1974 - March 12, 2012
Aurora, Illinois
Tasered/Electrocuted: March 12, 2012, Aurora Police Officers

Wendell James Allen, December 19, 1991 - March 7, 2012
New Orleans, Louisiana
Shot: March 7, 2012, New Orleans Police Officer

Nehemiah Lazar Dillard, July 29, 1982 - March 5, 2012
Gainesville, Florida
Tasered/Electrocuted: March 5, 2012, Alachua County Sheriff Deputies

Dante’ Lamar Price, July 18, 1986 - March 1, 2012
Dayton, Ohio
Shot: March 1, 2012, Ranger Security Guards

Raymond Luther Allen Jr., 1978 - February 29, 2012
Galveston, Texas
Tasered/Electrocuted: February 27, 2012, Galveston Police Officers

Manual Levi Loggins Jr., February 22, 1980 - February 7, 2012
San Clemente, Orange County, California
Shot: February 7, 2012, Orange County Sheriff Deputy

Ramarley Graham, April 12, 1993 - February 2, 2012
The Bronx, New York City, New York
Shot: February 2, 2012, New York City Police Officer

Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., April 12, 1943 - November 19, 2011
White Plains, New York
Tasered/Electrocuted/Shot: November 19, 2011, White Plains Police Officers

Alonzo Ashley, June 10, 1982 - July 18, 2011
Denver, Colorado
Tasered/Electrocuted: July 18, 2011, Denver Police Officers

Derek Williams, January 23, 1989 - July 6, 2011
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Blunt Force/Respiratory distress: July 6, 2011, Milwaukee Police Officers

Raheim Brown, Jr., March 4, 1990 - January 22, 2011
Oakland, California
Shot: January 22, 2011, Oakland Unified School District Police

Reginald Doucet, June 3, 1985 - January 14, 2011
Los Angeles, California
Shot: January 14, 2011, Los Angeles Police Officer

Progress Report: NYC

Annamaria on Day 100

Today, Monday 8 June 2020, is the 100th day of the Covid pandemic in New York.  And it is the day when NYC will begin Phase One of Reopening.  We are about to stand up and try to walk after being knocked for a loop.

Back before the crisis hit us, epidemiologists were issuing warnings about this new bug that might come to the US from China.  Incoming flights from China were soon banned.  In mid-February when I flew home from Florence through Frankfurt, Lufthansa wanted to know if I had a fever (No) and if I had been in China in the past two months (No, not in the past 34 years, actually).  Little did anyone know that the virus had gotten on planes in China and gone to Europe.

In the first two months of this year, I was one of three million travelers coming from Europe and landing at JFK and Newark airports,.  We were carrying all sorts of stuff: dirty laundry, new Italian shoes,  corporate paperwork, gifts for friends, swanky clothing to wear to a family wedding, souvenirs of the Eiffel Tower...  

And at least some of us were bringing in the novel Corona virus.

Three weeks later, Italy went on lockdown, and a week after that I began self-isolating in what was rapidly becoming the world's most dangerous Covid-19 hotspot.

Today, having been through three kinds of hell, New York City is ready to open up.  A bit!  Our governor--the now famous Andrew Cuomo--credits the people of New York for bringing ourselves to this moment.  What we did was follow his fact-based advice, garnered from experts world-wide.

Here is where we are as of this past Saturday, in seven-day rolling averages:

• Daily number of New Yorkers testing positive has gone from a peak of 57% down to 2%
• At the peak, the daily number of new cases was 12,000 out of 100,000 of population.  On Saturday, it was 6.4 out of 100,000 of population
• New hospitalizations are down to 1.27/100K
• In New York State, the daily number of deaths has gone from a peak of 952, down to 32 this past Friday

Our Guv's by-words that have kept us going.

Now, carefully, cautiously, with eyes and ears tuned on the Guv's daily reports, we are beginning to move around.  We must, and will abide by the cautions of social distancing and wearing masks.  We have thresholds we have to maintain.  If our stats start to climb, we all will have to put ourselves back into isolation.

I have been out more in the past week than all my cumulative outdoor time since last March 16.  On Monday the 1st, I kept an important appointment with the eye doctor, an outing within the guidelines then in force.  Eschewing my usual mode of transportation, the NYC subways, I walked the 6.6 miles round trip, which I loved doing on a gorgeous late spring morning, as attested by photos of icons viewed along my route, above.  By the way, whatever anyone else may say about me, one of the world's top retinologists pronounced me "perfect."

Paint splattered on the entrance to the cafe at the end of my block

Broken windows at a men's shop on Park Avenue

Sad to say, a couple of the things I saw on that walk were not so pleasant. Bad, but these were the only two.  You see, George Floyd had been murdered, and then criminals had hidden themselves among legitimate protestors in Union Square.  Having listened to sirens and firetrucks wailing for serval nights in a row, I expected things to look a lot worse than they were.

Those protests continue.  But they are now mostly calm.  Thanks, I believe, largely because the police are leaving the protestors to their chanting and focussing on people committing crimes.

Baracades at the ready

   

This past Saturday, I visited my beloved Union Square Market.  It has developed its own rules to keep us all safe.

WSQ monument to Mohandas Gandhi,
the patron saint of peaceful protest.

Stalls spaced further apart than before

Spacings marked for queueing six feet apart

My city is beginning to come back to a semblance of itself, and I hope heading toward a new normal that will include new rules, addressing the societal flaws so dramatically revealed by the pandemic.  Particularly, the worst of the them brought into sharp relief by the murder of George Floyd.

We in NYC worry that those mass demonstrations may result in a spike of new Covid cases, but almost all of us share the protestors' outrage.  The news of sympathetic citizens worldwide voicing support helps enormously.  And in many countries people are demanding justice also for their own underserved countrymen and women.

One of the facts that haunts me about all this is the name of policeman who in nine minutes, in broad daylight, committed the crime that opened a Pandora's Box of outrage.

Coincidence has had a profound affect on my own life.  In my case to my joy.  But I have always had almost a reverence for it.

Scaramucci

Scaramuccia

At the beginning of his administration, Trump had appointed one Anthony Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier, as his Director of Communication.  His name is Italian for Scaramouche, a villainous figure in Italian Commedia Dell'Arte.  It seemed 100% prophetic, then, when their relationship fell apart in a farcical way.

That the tragedy of George Floyd's murder and its aftermath were unleashed by a man named Chauvin looks, on the other hand, like the depths of tragedy.

No self-respecting novelist would have allowed herself to give such a name to the character who would--with that label--so predictably commit the signature act of racial injustice.

Truth once again stranger, and in this instance more unbearably tragic, than fiction.

Women Stand Up

Sujata Massey

Ieshia Evans photographed in Baton Rouge by Jonathan Bachman/Reuters

When I picked up my newspaper from the sidewalk Monday morning and saw this picture, I was transfixed.

At a protest for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, a calm Ieshia Evans offers her wrists to the police. Something about the movement of her skirt makes her look other-worldy, almost angelic. The police arrested her and also provided the world with the latest iconic picture of a female stand against violence. Iesha's powerful calm has gone viral and been discussed in media like the Philadelphia Examiner and the Washington Post.

Images of women participating in civil unrest--or symbolizing war--are surely among the most powerful, imprinting images one knows. Even though I wasn't yet reading the paper in 1972, I know the photograph of the little girl burning from napalm by memory. Kim Phuc was taken for medical help by the AP photographer, Nick Ut and survived her terrible burns. Kim emigrated to Canada and has given interviews about the events of that day and what happened since the war. Her image became a testimony against war.

Nick Ut of the Associated Press won a Pulitzer for this photo and also saved Kim Phuc's life

At a Kent State University rally against the Viet Nam war, the Ohio National Guard shot dead four unarmed students in 1970. I can practically hear the screaming and smell tear gas in the black-and-white freeze-frame of anguish.  Mary Ann Vecchio, a 14-year-old staying near the campus, had attended the rally and grieved the shooting death of Jeffrey Miller. A photojournalism student, John Filo, shot the picture and won an Pulitzer. He has spoken about feeling guilty that Mary Ann might not have wanted to become the public face of the student struggle against war. But she holds no grudge. In the decades since, these two have participated in several forums on Kent State.

Kent State Massacre photographed by John Filo/Getty

What about the women who would not normally show their faces due to community custom and then discover their images broadcast worldwide? A famous photograph, shown repeatedly in magazines and posters, is known by the shorthand "Afghan Girl."Sharbat Gula, a young orphan, was photographed in a Pakistan refugee camp in 1984 for National Geographic. Sharbat's haunting eyes seem to tell the world everything you didn't want to know about what refugee life is like. Sharbat went on to marry young and live an extremely hard life with her husband and children in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Famous 1984 image of Sharbat Gula by Steve McCurry/National Geographic

Women  protesting during the Arab Spring revolutions throughout the Middle East in 2011 were widely photographed. Seeing colorful, modern headscarves draping passionate political protesters broke stereotypes about the passivity of Islamic women. The aftermath of the Arab Spring has brought continuing unrest and violence, but looking at these pictures at the time of the event, I shared these women's hopes.

Women at Tahrir Square in 2012 by Mohamed Omar/EPA

  Why do we react so strongly to pictures of women caught up in conflict? I suspect that women offer society palatable images of emotion, laced with vulnerability. Would men's faces and bodies communicate that as well? Can we bear to see a man cry, or hold out his hands for shackling?

The other side of the coin is that we have many armed women serving in the military and police who are part of these scenes, too.  I've not yet seen an iconic photograph of unrest where the restrictive element is a woman carrying a gun.

I'm sure it's coming-and we will be disturbed.

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