“Happiness or unhappiness often does not depend on the actions of others, but on your own.”
Lately a lot of print space, social media, and tv has been devoted to the events in Ferguson, MO. I knew about it in passing and read about the protestors in Oakland and the resulting damage and looting in the stores. But when I read Debra J. Saunders’ article in the Sunday’s SF Chronicle, “Don’t shoot (your mouth off) before all the facts are known”, I got a much clearer picture about what has been going on.
There is so much going on in the world where different groups are trying to make their point by killing each other. I don’t usually follow these stories, since there is little I can do to prevent these things from happening, other than listening or reading about them in the news.
For me, Ferguson is far away and even problems in Oakland are not exactly my problems. (I have a handful of my own.) But, what happened in San Francisco was closer to home. Especially since I was on the Union Square before peaceful protests turned violent. And again, I found out about what happened only on Sunday in the SF Chronicle.
I do not like crowds, but on Black Friday afternoon, I went to downtown to photograph shoppers for my online photo book, “Encounters in San Francisco”.
There were mobs of people in front of Macys and other stores. A long line standing to get to The Cheesecake Factory restaurant. A small group of policeman was peacefully chatting. I went into Macys where from the 5th floor, I photographed the crowded Union Square. (Images coming soon in my Christmas newsletter.) Afterwards, I went to the square where a crowd had formed. In the middle was a group of people with place cards, mostly white folks. One yelled some slogans into a megaphone, which others would echo. Then there was another white guy who would whistle and the crowd would respond in return. People were expressing their opinion against “police brutality” in peaceful democratic form. I took some of the images and left, pursuing other photo-opportunities.
Apparently after I left, a group of hooligans, whose purpose was to distract the joyful crowd, attacked the police, broke windows, and looted, perhaps to get attention made all of the noise. Will their looting and violence bring justice to those who deserve it or change anything? In my view, true peace and justice be accomplished only through good intentions, never through intimidation or violence.
My images only tell part of the story, but I have others, more joyful ones which I will share with you later.
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