I've stopped taking pictures in the CHAZ/CHOP. The weekend saw some sun breaks and huge crowds looking at the new Black Lives Matter mural down Pine Street. It felt more like block party than a protest, so I stayed away other than a couple of quick looks.
The messages I'm hearing and seeing from the activists who have been on the scene since the beginning is: this is a protest, not a party. And asking: why are you taking pictures? Who benefits?
So, in light of these important questions, no more protest tourism.
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Today I walked through, in the morning and afternoon, and SDOT had heavy trucks depositing concrete barriers up and down Pine. The fire chief was there. Reporters with video cameras and crews. Masked onlookers watching the enormous concrete moved into place. One person said the barriers were to provide corridors for emergency vehicles--and in light of the attempted arson Sunday night, I think it's a good idea.
But the area claimed by protesters is shrinking, at least on the street.
At the park, it's another story. A few tents have now mushroomed into dozens, with a raft of new porta-potties, a medical truck parked outside a church, and music bumping all day and night. Is it related still to the CHAZ/CHOP? I don't know. I've wondered how the homeless who use the park feel. Or the dog-walkers. It's getting used more but it's also not a place I feel like I can linger, even with a mask.
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I do know--on a personal note--that I'm not sleeping very well. First, a couple of weeks of tear gas, grenades and tear gas; now, no law enforcement (at least not visibly) but disruptive elements picking fights and parading around after dark. There's a feeling that this detente may not last, and then what? I took 1/2 a sleeping pill last night; woke in the dark, feeling the floor shake, and finally went back into a restless doze.
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