Change is on the Horizon – A Day in the Life in NYC

In 2013, the community organizers Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors, and Alicia Garza started the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The BLM Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. What began as a hashtag in response to Trayvon Martin’s death became a nationwide phenomenon, with protests in response to the killings of African-Americans and chapters across the country. After the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, BLM is once again the biggest story in the country.

I have been a practicing (not devout) Buddhist for a long time and broke into tears two weeks ago while reciting the chant “Homage to the Three Jewels” which usually takes about 7 minutes. Why you ask? I could not get George Floyd’s last words as seen in a video “I’m Through” out of my head after he cried out for his mother. It gives me chills down my spine as I am typing this still. After an hour and regaining my composure I made a recording in tribute to George Floyd on Facebook which got 3 likes.

By no means do I judge those who are not speaking out or condemn those for their beliefs, but things do need to change for the better and we all can have a voice in some fashion or extent.

I saw a recent post on social media that framed this situation up very well:

Some are posting on social media,

Some are protesting in the streets,

Some are donating silently,

Some are educating themselves,

Some are having though conversations with friends and family,

A revolution has many lanes – be kind to yourself and tot others who are traveling in the same direction,

Just keep your foot on the gas.

Per the BLM web site, this is an anthem, a slogan, a hashtag, and a straightforward statement of fact. While it is not a new movement, the message is central to the nationwide protests happening right now. BLM speaks out against the police brutality and systemic racism that caused the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and Breonna Taylor, as well as the thousands of violent incidents that happen to Black people that aren’t recorded, aren’t reported or aren’t afforded the outrage they deserve. At its most basic level, it calls for a shift in the statistics that Black people are twice as likely to be killed by a police officer while unarmed, compared to a white individual. According to a 2015 study, African Americans died at the hands of police at a rate of 7.2 per million, while whites were killed at a rate of 2.9 per million.

I chose to join a peaceful protest this past Sunday in NYC and first called two black friends to see if they were interested. Both were busy with other plans so I decided to reach out to the monk of the Korean Buddhist temple I have gone to for years. He and the other monk there agreed without hesitation, so here is my story.

I used to often get up ~ 3 a.m. to go hiking in the Adirondack mountains. The popularity in the last 5 plus years has made me reluctant to join the large crowds since it damages the trails and the pristine alpine growth, so these days I prefer to walk the streets of NYC and do so often and enjoy the energy and diversity from many densely populated cities such as Seoul or NY.

I rose at 3 a.m. and was on the road at 0320 with a beautiful full moon lighting my path down I-87. The clouds were majestic at times and guided me southbound. I saw the smallest baby deer with its mother on the side of the road, as well as an owl flying in front of my vehicle which I have never seen while driving.

I arrived in the city at 5:40 a.m. and parked nearby on W. 95th and Columbus. After throwing my backpack on, I walked for a few minutes, opened the door to the temple basement , and got ready for 6 a.m. prostrations, chanting and meditation. Both monks and another woman entered and we practiced for an hour physically distanced. After, we had a nice light breakfast together. I showered in the makeshift shower in the basement and gave them an some time to get a few things done.

During this time, I walked through Central Park around the Jackie Onassis Reservoir exiting in East Harlem. I continued over to my favorite bagel shop in Harlem and bought a baker’s dozen.

My journey continued back down the west side, making a stop to buy some fresh cherries for the monks from a man selling from his cart. He was appreciative to be selling anything as a long line of customers waited to get into Whole Foods just a short distance away. I believe strongly in supporting mom and pop shops, and wished him well before heading back to the temple for another quick shower before myself and the two monks headed down 7th Avenue.

The weather that morning was beautiful, with few clouds and a strong sun early, but not too hot or humid. The streets were rather quiet all over. We passed by one man near Columbus Circle who approached the one monk quickly yelling at him pointing close to his face “Get the f$ck away from me you filthy b#tch”. I kept an eye on that deranged man with my peripheral vision and nothing escalated, but I prayed for him as we continued.

One monk was a little hungry and suggested we get some food for a picnic. This became a challenging task as not much was open in the vicinity, so we found a small diner that offered takeout. We proceeded to Central Park and sat under a big tree and had a nice lunch. As we ate and laughed, this one squirrel was very interested in my wrap, and got within a foot to me standing on its hind legs. I thought it was going to grab the food right out of my hand, but it did not after numerous close encounters.

We finished up and continued down 7th Ave. and then Broadway. We began to see more boarded up shops everywhere and chunks of busted glass in the joints of sidewalks.

The foot soldiers continued walking downtown as we were forced to cut over to 6th Avenue before Times Square when one of them heard yelling. We walked over and found a decent sized protest. The three of us positioned ourselves against a wall so as to not be immersed in the crowd, although it was peaceful and everyone had masks on. The protest was conducted by a group of younger people including one rapper who performed a song. There were lots of call and response type protest phrases like “No Justice…No Peace”, “What’s His Name…George Floyd”, “What’s Her Name…Breonna Taylor”. We stayed for just over 30 minutes and continued walking down to Washington Square Park (WSP) with a possible end goal of the Brooklyn Bridge.

I wanted to see what Korea Town looked like so we walked across 32nd Street from 6th to 5th Avenue and there was less damage than other stores that sold phones, sneakers, jewelry, etc.

As we walked downtown, we were passed by about 300 people marching up 5th Avenue. Even with a couple microphones the sound did not resonate back far enough so each cluster was doing their own protest which seemed to diminish the message a little.

Arriving on the east side of WSP, we saw lots of people, but no protesting. There were people walking pets, sunbathing and just chilling out until the same group looped back around and into the park. They formed a group of interested bystanders, but not with the same intensity as we saw and participated in near Times Square. After a long day, we were all getting tired so around 4 p.m. decided to catch the C train uptown at W. 4th Street.

We departed at 96th Street and walked back to the temple. I thanked them for the day, wished them good health and was off to NJ for some fresh fruit before driving home upstate.

It was a great day of peaceful demonstrations from what we saw and made me proud to do my little part. I hope you look inside yourself in how you can make change if you are interested. Step one can be to educate yourself by simple key word searches online.

Peace

Vincent L. Apa III

June 8, 2020