Mask bans are ableist and a terrible idea generally, but I also fundamentally disagree with laws restricting what I can wear on my body. If I don’t want to show you my face I shouldn’t have to. Activates my quasi-libertarian streak
people in black bloc make me feel safe, it's just a learned reaction from all the times they've been the nicest most wonderful helpful people in the crowd at a protest (if you're not filming and you're not a window)
My experience is very different as I got to see a black bloc'er pull out a gun at a counter protest that was solely to be a buffer so people could go to a mosque without being bothered. Thankfully none of the asshats were armed or a peaceful scene would have had a death count.
Really this is the day that changed my view about protests, seeing people who were there solely to pick fights, not just the person who wanted to shoot people, but the others who roamed around downtown looking for people they could deem to be Nazis and then hit with blunt objects.
It's one thing when it's the police or conservatives who are putting lives in danger, but when it's the people I'm supposed to be working with who kept escalating, it made me think more about means and ends and tactics and what behaviors I feel OK supporting.
i haven't a gun pulled like that, but i've experienced a variety of dudes, who are there to let out their anger. guys screaming "faggot" at cops, threatening women cops, men who bring megaphones, all kinds of men
it's hard, the only answer i really have is community and kicking out misogynists
In part it was the contrast with the rest of the event that was so shocking. It was a large scale show of support for the Muslim community, that we had their backs. It was fun - I was going back and forth with someone over whether Ramadan or Yom Kippur is more annoying - and felt productive.
