PALANTIR OUT OF MOUNT SINAI! 2/2

ACT UP! FIGHT BACK! FIGHT AIDS!

As per the ACT UP Policy:

You attend one meeting. You go to one action.

You are an ACT UP member.

I announce on the bullhorn

as we are now in a bit of a Standoff

with the Port Authority Police and the NYPD.

Let me start from the top…

My comrade and I were a bit anxious given the site—

1 World Trade Center.

The main principle in executing a successful Civil Disobedience

is to remain Nonviolent.

We gather at 7:45am

The adrenaline is buzzing

One must remind oneself to breathe.

I do a hustled danced around our comrades all dressed in black,

toss around posters and flyers,

give hugs and casual running orders

We descend toward 1 WTC.

Having recently had a Security Guard

Strangle Me With A Chain

to protect the stocks out of his reach—

Breathe, girl.

We approach the Six Revolving Doors with our Six Banners

the Security Guard guides a woman to a side door—

my comrade and I quicken our pace in this moment

This is it.

The Security Guard sees the hustle of a crowd dressed in black,

he shuts the door he had just shown to a visitor

and locks himself in.

The base of 1WTC is indestructible.

And this fella knows he doesn’t get paid enough for all of this.

We deploy. Six Banners.

And we chant.

And chant and chant.

I pass the bullhorn around; hoping to spotlight the groups involved—

the intersectionality of our demand.

We chant for almost 90 minutes.

The Port Authority Cops are waiting us out.

They offer to kettle us in with barricades;

provide us with one of those Free Speech Zones.

Upon this offer, we sit down in front of all Six Revolving Doors at the Southern Entrance of 1 World Trade Center.

And we continue to chant.

Throwing different tones at these rhymes..

A comrade does a silly coo of the sorts to lure Brendan Carr.

I shuffle between the groups—

Folks are throwing around ideas of how to escalate, or if we should march off.

My TRUMP IS A WAR CRIMINAL Arrest at the UN from yesterday morning is hitting me…

and I know it’s hitting my comrade who is gloriously laid back into one of the revolving doors.

My ACT UP Comrades summon me over.

We should take the North Lane of the West Side Highway

It’s right there—

They say with ease.

We all look over our shoulders.

I do the shuffle to the groups again—

Everyone is down.

I alert our comrades who have been fulfilling the many other roles needed for a successful Nonviolent Civil Disobedience.

Can’t wait. A Climate Comrade smiles.

We get up. We are on the move, again. We walk the fifty feet from 1 WTC

to the West Side Highway.

We wait for the crosswalk sign to change. We deploy, again. We hold the traffic.

NEWSWEEK IS HOSTING AN AI IN HEALTH SUMMIT ON THE 72ND FLOOR!

BRENDAN CARR THE CEO OF MOUNT SINAI IS ONE OF THIER KEYNOTE SPEAKERS!

We get arrested.

The same NYPD Officer who arrested me yesterday pulls up with a smile.

I smile back and nod.

Hey Ryan, looks like I’m going to be your Arresting Officer again today.

At one point yesterday, he encouraged me to—

Do My Thing.

The Nineteen Arrestees and Our Comrades Chant:

PALANTIR OUT—

OF IMMIGRATION!

PALANTIR OUT—

OF OUR GOVERNMENT!

PALANTIR OUT—

OF OUR HEALTHCARE!

PALANTIR OUT—

OF MOUNT SINAI!

Photography by Ken Schles