CUNY Academic Commons

Walking outside of the New York Studio School earlier this summer to survey an artist’s recent work, I stumbled upon a scene that shook us to our core; thousands of students rallying outside of an NYU building, surrounding a small group of heavily armed NYPD dragging one suspect into custody against his will. As they dragged the man into a Special Operations van, hell broke loose: onlookers became assailants, pulling police to he ground, as the police broke ranks to violently beat young students involved or otherwise. Within minutes, 50 or more NYPD bicycle units descended upon the previously peaceful BLM protest, battering young students with bikes. As I took pictures of as much as I could, I took a bicycle tire to my chest, winding me and almost shattering my lens. I watched as young children were trampled by police in riot gear, one young girl emerging from he crowd with her nose pushed to the side, gushing blood. The sheer terror I witnessed in the gazes of onlookers shook me to my core, as I saw fuming police officers strike unarmed students in the skulls with their batons.

Directly after, I noticed the police presence around Washington Square increase exponentially, with anew kind of bicycle police outfitted in full teflon FOX brand body armor deploying from unmarked delivery trucks and doing drills around the area at night.