June 16, 2004
Report From New York
Above, you’ll find an image of the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in 1968. As you can see, things got out of hand. Apparently, a lot of people were upset about a war at that time.
Here in NYC, we’re gearing up for a Republican National Convention at the end of August – timed, through a surprising coincidence, to serve as an intro to the third anniversary of September 11th. Preparations for protest are brewing, but our mayor, Michael Bloomberg, isn’t playing ball. He has shut down the possibility of using Central Park completely, and has offered – as a perfectly reasonable substitute – Flushing Meadow Park. In Queens. A bit like the G-8 protesters being banished to Savannah.
The original deadline for protest permit applications was yesterday, with none yet granted. Today, the NYPD announced that they would extend the deadline another month. But the front-page headline of the free paper AM New York reads, “NO PROTESTS.”
New Yorkers are angry that the people who promised aid money and then didn’t deliver it are coming to our town to exploit our tragedy for political gain. I’m angry, too. But I don’t want to see my city turned into Chicago in 1968.
