On Thursday afternoon, hundreds of protesters converged on Union Square, in New York City, to join the outcry over the police killing of George Floyd, in Minneapolis. Chris Facey, a student at the School of Visual Arts and a father of two girls, attended the demonstration. The police used bikes to form a barricade, in the hopes of keeping the protest contained to a single corner of the square, but, as Facey put it, “everything started spilling out.” He witnessed police officers shoving protesters and hitting them with bikes, “bending their arms in places they’re not meant to go.” More than seventy people were arrested. According to the police, several officers were injured. (On Friday, a new round of demonstrations—and arrests—took place, in Foley Square and at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn.)
Facey, who has documented protests in the past, told me that he often tries to anticipate scenes before they happen. This is a habit he formed not only through his work as a documentary photographer but also through his experience as black man in the presence of police officers. When reaching for the camera, hanging by his side, he often takes care to move slowly. He worries that his gear might be mistaken for a weapon. He worries for his own safety, and for that of his daughters in the future. “When I have my camera on me, I don’t forget that I’m a black human being,” Facey said. “I remember why I’m at these protests.”
As clashes between law enforcement and protesters escalated on Thursday, Facey said, he’d put his camera aside to help people get to safety. Others bought bottles of water and distributed them, or helped carry those who were hurt. The Citizen app on his phone buzzed with one notification after another. “Some of the other photographers were getting yelled at,” Facey recalled. “Are you here to take pictures, or are you here for the cause?”
Race, Policing, and Black Lives Matter Protests
- The death of George Floyd, in context.
- The civil-rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson examines the frustration and despair behind the protests.
- Who, David Remnick asks, is the true agitator behind the racial unrest?
- A sociologist examines the so-called pillars of whiteness that prevent white Americans from confronting racism.
- The Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi on what it would mean to defund police departments, and what comes next.
- The quest to transform the United States cannot be limited to challenging its brutal police.
