On Monday night, a pair of movements converged within Manhattan as civil unrest continues to grip the nation.
A march for Jacob Blake — a Black man shot multiple times in the back by police in Wisconsin on Sunday — and a protest celebrating the life of gay-rights activist Marsha P. Johnson on what would have been her 75th birthday momentarily converged at Washington Square Park where amNewYork Metro’s Dean Moses was at the scene, before breaking off.
Blake’s three children, aged 8, 5, and 3, were in the vehicle. He is in stable condition in the intensive care unit.
Johnson was one of the prominent figures of the Stonewall rising in 1969, a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and a co-founder of the radical activist group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.).
The vigil for Jacob Blake began in Times Square and meandered to Pier 46 while the hundreds of members protesting for Johnson, made their way down toward the South Street Seaport area, chanting “Fire, Fire, Gentrifier” and “Black transgender women used to live here,” toward people taking advantage of the outdoor dining spaces.
#JusticeForJacobBlake protesters marched from #TimesSquare and converged at #WashingtonSquarePark #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/uq1ThSjeHz
— Dean_Moses (@Dean_Moses) August 25, 2020
Continue below for photos and video from the demonstrations (courtesy of Dean Moses, amNewYork Metro):
