Good morning. It's Monday, July 6, the first Monday since the closure of CHOP, the first workday after the tragic death of Summer Taylor, and meanwhile Taylor's fellow Black Femme March protester Diaz Love is fighting for survival in an ICU. (There will be more about both of them in Slog AM.)
For today's message, we turn to the performance artist Pol Rosenthal. He says in his message that all of this protesting in the air these days originates in "people asking for the cops to treat them the same way they treat white people — rich white people. If you don’t get that, then shove off until you do."
He also says, "White folks newly awakened: while your urgency is appreciated, please remember, some of us have been working on this for decades." He also says, "You’ll know when we lose all patience. There will be no cake for any of you ever again."
And he proceeds to eat a whole bunch of cake.
Pol is an actor, dancer, musician, writer, crowd control specialist, and "mayhem artist."
He has been part of the protest movement in Seattle for decades, including co-founding the Infernal Noise Brigade, which helped lead the WTO protests and went on to protest economic injustice and racism throughout George W. Bush's disastrous two terms as president.
It should be noted: He created this piece of video art right before CHOP got shut down, and before the Black Femme March protest on I-5 on July 4.
Thank you for this message, Pol. Thank you for making art about this moment in time.
Have a good week, everyone.
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Previously in this series:
