P E R S P E C T I V E : S c e n e s o f A c t i v i s m
In Election Campaign’s Final
Stretch, Activists Out and Loud
On August 27, as Donald Trump gave his acceptance speech, groups descended from a variety of New York locations on Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain with a very
clear message for the Republicans.
BY DONNA ACETO
In recent weeks, as the coronavirus
pandemic continued
to plague the US, the focus
on law enforcement abuse of
Black Americans re-intensifi ed with
the August 23 police shooting of Jacob
Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin,
and the presidential campaign moved
into high gear with both parties’ conventions
unfolding, LGBTQ activists
and their allies were on the streets in
New York for a wide array of actions.
On August 21, hundreds marched
from the Barclays Center to the
Brooklyn Bridge and into Lower
Manhattan in a March for the Dead,
Fight for the Living to bring attention
to the continued COVID-19 crisis
gripping the nation. The march
was held in coordination with similar
events in San Francisco, Seattle, San
Diego, and elsewhere, and was endorsed
by Rise and Resist, the New
York Immigration Coalition, ACT UP,
Revolting Lesbians, and the Reclaim
Pride Coalition. Reclaim Pride’s Jay
W. Walker and Ken Kidd were among
the organizers, as was Martin Quinn,
who lost his father to COVID-19 just
days before.
“My dad tested positive for the virus
for two full months. He fought
DONNA ACETO
hard but suffered alone,” Quinn said.
“He was livid and just saddened at
the incompetence of the Trump administration.”
On August 27, the night Donald
Trump accepted the Republican Party’s
nomination for president on the
White House lawn, Rise and Resist
organized activists on gun violence
prevention, nuclear disarmament,
defense of the postal service, immigration
rights, COVID-19 care, and
disability access and rights in a No
More Years event where different
groups came from a variety of start-
DONNA ACETO
Martin Quinn, who days before lost his father to COVID-19, addressed the March
for the Dead, Fight for the Living action.
➤ SCENES OF ACTIVISM, continued on p.27
DONNA ACETO
Marti Gould Cummings and Sheila Marino-Thomas drew attention to the plight of
immigrants in detention facilities where the coronavirus risk if very high.
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