newyorker--2020-06-01--Atlanta’s Fault Lines in a Moment of Protest

Jaquan Cummings wasn ’ t sure whether he wanted to attend the protests in Atlanta this weekend .
Last year , the twenty-five-year-old photographer , who has a large Instagram following and some blue-chip commercial clients , got into what he described as “ a drunken argument ” with a police officer , and was charged with reckless conduct .
( The case has yet to be resolved “ because COVID keeps pushing court dates back , ” he told me . )
Cummings , who is black , lives with his mother and younger sister .
“ I was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decide if I wanted to go out or not , ” he said .
“ I had a fear of getting arrested.
” A friend finally convinced him to go , “ because that ’ s what photographers do , ” he said .
He grabbed a Nikon camera that his grandfather— “ my favorite photographer ” —gave him years ago , before he died , and he headed out .
By the time he arrived on Friday night , people had already marched from Centennial Olympic Park , downtown , to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carrying signs and chanting , “ Hands up !
Don ’ t shoot !
” and “ No justice , no peace.
” Atlanta ’ s chief of police , Erika Shields—who , earlier in the week , had said that the Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of George Floyd should serve prison time—spoke to protesters individually .
“ People are upset .
They ’ re angry .
They ’ re scared .
And I get it , ” she told a news crew .
“ They want to be heard.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ said that they had “ a right to be pissed off.
” John Peterson , an eighteen-year-old political-science major at Georgia State University , had joined the march with a few friends .
They brought medical supplies to help their fellow-protesters—Peterson is a lifeguard with CPR and first-aid training—but hadn ’ t needed to use them yet .
It was a hot day , and a few of them went to Peterson ’ s apartment to cool off .
Then he got a call from one who ’ d stayed : a crowd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a large complex adjacent to the park where the protest had begun .
Police had formed a barrier in front of the building , blocking further passage along Centennial Olympic Park Drive .
A protester had been maced .
At around five p.m. , Peterson and his friends headed back out , with a half-dozen first-aid kits and bottles of isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide .
“ It was still peaceful , ” Peterson , who is white , said of the scene when they arrived .
But the police presence had grown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Atlanta Police Department squad cars in a line , and countless officers .
He found another crew of ad-hoc medics , who were trying to move people behind large tree planters in front of the CNN Center , “ because they were concerned that , if the police used tear gas , it would drive the protesters to break the barricade and cause a stampede , ” he said .
A few minutes later , three SWAT-unit Humvees with turrets on top pulled up .
“ They arrived before there was any violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Peterson said .
He noticed a large prison bus arriving behind the Humvees .
“ The officers made multiple announcements on the loudspeakers , telling people that , if they didn ’ t disperse , they were going to be arrested , ” he told me .
Protesters began to spray-paint the large CNN logo that sits on the sidewalk outside the center , and people jumped on top of the letters .
One person waved a Black Lives Matter flag .
Another waved a Mexican flag .
The mood was still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt more like a celebration.
” But officers were trying to halt the graffiti , and protesters threw milk and water at them .
Other protesters threw rocks and objects ; Peterson thought their aim was to break the building ’ s windows .
He heard someone say , “ What the hell are y ’ all doing ?
Like , CNN is with us .
One of their reporters got arrested the other day.
” Someone responded , “ There ’ s a police precinct here .
They ’ re still with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broke , and police formed a line at the edge of the building to prevent entry .
Cummings arrived at the complex with a friend , who also had a camera , and they began to shoot the unfolding drama .
“ It unfolded fast , ” he said .
A protester jumped on top of a police car that had been surrounded by protesters , and it became the focal point of activity .
The windshield and windows were shattered ; Peterson heard air coming out of the car ’ s slashed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vehicle over .
Cummings looked for a safe place to shoot as the police car went up in flames .
“ I honestly didn ’ t know that a car could burn like that , ” Peterson told me .
Protesters began coming to Peterson and his friends with injuries .
One had bad cuts on his hands from the car ’ s broken glass , another had been hit by a rubber bullet and his arm was bleeding badly .
Peterson tended to a man with bloody knees , who “ reached @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crumpled five-dollar bill as , like , payment , ” Peterson said .
“ I was , like , ‘ No , man , that ’ s not something you got to do.
’ ” A deaf man had been maced and was in pain—one of Peterson ’ s friends knew sign language , but the man couldn ’ t see on account of the pepper spray .
They tried to flush it out with water .
Three people carried a motionless woman toward Peterson and said that she had been hit in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rubber bullet .
Peterson and his friends laid her down in a comfortable position as a huge crowd ran from the street into the park , yelling about tear gas .
The tear gas had made it painful to breathe , so Peterson couldn ’ t turn back and retrieve his things .
Minutes later , a stranger handed Peterson his wallet and keys .
“ I saw a lot of stuff that really shook my faith in humanity , but protesters were looking out for each other , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cummings told me .
“ But it actually made it worse , because people just went down the street and started breaking into other businesses.
” These included a Starbucks , a Korean deli , a sports bar .
Cummings saw three police cars on fire .
In front of one of them , a young woman wearing a head covering held a sign aloft that read “ You got me fucked up !
!
!
Fuck the police.
” As the night began to grow late , Cummings heard that people were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about twenty minutes north of the park , which caters to an upscale crowd .
He arrived there around midnight , with his camera .
Georgia ’ s governor , Brian Kemp , had just issued a state of emergency for Fulton County and activated some five hundred of the state ’ s National Guardsmen “ to protect people & property in Atlanta.
” Cummings watched as people began to deface nearby buildings .
“ I could see the residents above , ” he said .
“ And they ’ re just , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see some parents with their child in their hands .
They don ’ t know if their building ’ s gon na burn down .
They don ’ t know what ’ s gon na happen .
People below them are throwing trash cans at windows .
Tables and chairs from restaurants thrown into the streets .
Complete chaos.
” Cumming was still taking pictures .
He saw a man who ’ d been shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet writhing on the ground .
“ It wasn ’ t a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It was like a big fight .
Ignorance .
Craziness.
” He returned home around five in the morning .
His younger sister was still awake , worried about him .
“ I ’ ve never seen this in Atlanta , ” he told me .
“ I guess it was a long time coming with our history here.
” “ What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta , ” the city ’ s mayor , Keisha Lance Bottoms , said at a press conference on Friday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spirit of Martin Luther King , Jr .
This is chaos.
” In 1968 , after King ’ s assassination , there were riots in many cities , but not in Atlanta , where he was born and raised—a matter , for some , of local pride .
“ If you love this city—this city that has had a legacy of black mayors and black police chiefs , where more than fifty per cent of business owners in metro Atlanta are minority business owners—if you care about this city , then go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people who wanted change to “ show up at the polls.
” Howard Shook , a white city-council member whose district includes the Lenox Square mall , told me the remarks were “ a tour de force , ” adding that Bottoms “ probably went three rungs up the V.P .
ladder.
” ( The mayor is reportedly among those Joe Biden is considering adding to the ticket . )

Jaquan Cummings wasn’t sure whether he wanted to attend the protests in Atlanta this weekend. Last year, the twenty-five-year-old photographer, who has a large Instagram following and some blue-chip commercial clients, got into what he described as “a drunken argument” with a police officer, and was charged with reckless conduct. (The case has yet to be resolved “because COVID keeps pushing court dates back,” he told me.) Cummings, who is black, lives with his mother and younger sister. “I was looking at everything online, trying to decide if I wanted to go out or not,” he said. “I had a fear of getting arrested.” A friend finally convinced him to go, “because that’s what photographers do,” he said. He grabbed a Nikon camera that his grandfather—“my favorite photographer”—gave him years ago, before he died, and he headed out.
By the time he arrived on Friday night, people had already marched from Centennial Olympic Park, downtown, to the capitol building, a mile away, carrying signs and chanting, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” and “No justice, no peace.” Atlanta’s chief of police, Erika Shields—who, earlier in the week, had said that the Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of George Floyd should serve prison time—spoke to protesters individually. “People are upset. They’re angry. They’re scared. And I get it,” she told a news crew. “They want to be heard.” Other Atlanta cops fist-bumped protesters and said that they had “a right to be pissed off.”
John Peterson, an eighteen-year-old political-science major at Georgia State University, had joined the march with a few friends. They brought medical supplies to help their fellow-protesters—Peterson is a lifeguard with CPR and first-aid training—but hadn’t needed to use them yet. It was a hot day, and a few of them went to Peterson’s apartment to cool off. Then he got a call from one who’d stayed: a crowd had gathered outside the CNN Center, a large complex adjacent to the park where the protest had begun. Police had formed a barrier in front of the building, blocking further passage along Centennial Olympic Park Drive. A protester had been maced. At around five p.m., Peterson and his friends headed back out, with a half-dozen first-aid kits and bottles of isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide.
“It was still peaceful,” Peterson, who is white, said of the scene when they arrived. But the police presence had grown. He saw as many as twenty Atlanta Police Department squad cars in a line, and countless officers. He found another crew of ad-hoc medics, who were trying to move people behind large tree planters in front of the CNN Center, “because they were concerned that, if the police used tear gas, it would drive the protesters to break the barricade and cause a stampede,” he said. A few minutes later, three SWAT-unit Humvees with turrets on top pulled up. “They arrived before there was any violence, suited up for a riot,” Peterson said. He noticed a large prison bus arriving behind the Humvees.
“The officers made multiple announcements on the loudspeakers, telling people that, if they didn’t disperse, they were going to be arrested,” he told me. Protesters began to spray-paint the large CNN logo that sits on the sidewalk outside the center, and people jumped on top of the letters. One person waved a Black Lives Matter flag. Another waved a Mexican flag. The mood was still buoyant; Peterson said, “It felt more like a celebration.” But officers were trying to halt the graffiti, and protesters threw milk and water at them. Other protesters threw rocks and objects; Peterson thought their aim was to break the building’s windows. He heard someone say, “What the hell are y’all doing? Like, CNN is with us. One of their reporters got arrested the other day.” Someone responded, “There’s a police precinct here. They’re still with the cops.” The glass exterior eventually broke, and police formed a line at the edge of the building to prevent entry.
Cummings arrived at the complex with a friend, who also had a camera, and they began to shoot the unfolding drama. “It unfolded fast,” he said. A protester jumped on top of a police car that had been surrounded by protesters, and it became the focal point of activity. The windshield and windows were shattered; Peterson heard air coming out of the car’s slashed tires. People tried to tip the vehicle over. Cummings looked for a safe place to shoot as the police car went up in flames. “I honestly didn’t know that a car could burn like that,” Peterson told me. Protesters began coming to Peterson and his friends with injuries. One had bad cuts on his hands from the car’s broken glass, another had been hit by a rubber bullet and his arm was bleeding badly. Peterson tended to a man with bloody knees, who “reached into his pocket and offered me a crumpled five-dollar bill as, like, payment,” Peterson said. “I was, like, ‘No, man, that’s not something you got to do.’ ” A deaf man had been maced and was in pain—one of Peterson’s friends knew sign language, but the man couldn’t see on account of the pepper spray. They tried to flush it out with water.
A protest in Atlanta on Friday, May 29th. Photograph by Jaquan Cummings
Three people carried a motionless woman toward Peterson and said that she had been hit in the back of the head by a rubber bullet. Peterson and his friends laid her down in a comfortable position as a huge crowd ran from the street into the park, yelling about tear gas. The tear gas had made it painful to breathe, so Peterson couldn’t turn back and retrieve his things. Minutes later, a stranger handed Peterson his wallet and keys. “I saw a lot of stuff that really shook my faith in humanity, but protesters were looking out for each other,” he said.
“The gas dispersed everybody,” Cummings told me. “But it actually made it worse, because people just went down the street and started breaking into other businesses.” These included a Starbucks, a Korean deli, a sports bar. Cummings saw three police cars on fire. In front of one of them, a young woman wearing a head covering held a sign aloft that read “You got me fucked up!!! Fuck the police.”
As the night began to grow late, Cummings heard that people were headed to the Lenox Square mall, about twenty minutes north of the park, which caters to an upscale crowd. He arrived there around midnight, with his camera. Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, had just issued a state of emergency for Fulton County and activated some five hundred of the state’s National Guardsmen “to protect people & property in Atlanta.” Cummings watched as people began to deface nearby buildings. “I could see the residents above,” he said. “And they’re just, like, looking terrified. And I see some parents with their child in their hands. They don’t know if their building’s gonna burn down. They don’t know what’s gonna happen. People below them are throwing trash cans at windows. Tables and chairs from restaurants thrown into the streets. Complete chaos.”
Cumming was still taking pictures. He saw a man who’d been shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet writhing on the ground. “It wasn’t a protest anymore,” Cummings said. “It was like a big fight. Ignorance. Craziness.” He returned home around five in the morning. His younger sister was still awake, worried about him. “I’ve never seen this in Atlanta,” he told me. “I guess it was a long time coming with our history here.”
“What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta,” the city’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, said at a press conference on Friday night. “This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos.” In 1968, after King’s assassination, there were riots in many cities, but not in Atlanta, where he was born and raised—a matter, for some, of local pride. “If you love this city—this city that has had a legacy of black mayors and black police chiefs, where more than fifty per cent of business owners in metro Atlanta are minority business owners—if you care about this city, then go home,” Bottoms continued, telling people who wanted change to “show up at the polls.” Howard Shook, a white city-council member whose district includes the Lenox Square mall, told me the remarks were “a tour de force,” adding that Bottoms “probably went three rungs up the V.P. ladder.” (The mayor is reportedly among those Joe Biden is considering adding to the ticket.)
She was followed at the podium by two of the city’s homegrown hip-hop stars: Clifford Harris, Jr., who performs as T.I., and Michael Render, a.k.a. Killer Mike. “We can’t do this here,” Harris said. “This is Wakanda. This is sacred—it must be protected.” Render also counselled against the destruction of property. “It is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy,” he said.
“The mayor and a lot of these voices you’re hearing on TV are privileged black voices,” Miya Bailey, an artist, entrepreneur, and community activist who moved to the city from North Carolina in the nineteen-nineties, told me later. “I came from not the privileged, and I hang with mostly not the privileged, so I understand that mind state.” Bailey owns multiple local businesses, including a popular tattoo parlor downtown; he took part in the protests on Saturday. “I’ve been beaten by the police multiple times,” he said. “Multiple times. So I understand the frustration of the youth. It’s past talking.” Bailey, who is black and, like Michael Render, forty-five years old, saw a generation gap that reminded him of previous eras. (Harris is thirty-nine; Bottoms is fifty.) “The Black Panther Party were young,” Bailey said. “They were criticized by the older generation. This is the same thing. They’re supposed to get upset and spark change to lead us! We’re supposed to support them, even if we don’t understand their mind state.” As for the destruction of property, he didn’t think it had been entirely random or without purpose. “It was luxury businesses for the most part,” he said. “It was in the wealthy part of town. So I don’t agree with the notion at the press conference that Atlanta was getting burnt down. No one was burning their own houses down.”
When Howard Shook woke up on Saturday, he checked his phone. “I about choked when I saw it,” he said. “They hit all my places: the CVS, my Target, my Publix, my dry cleaner, all of it.” That morning, he walked a few miles around his district, which begins about ten minutes north of downtown by car; it encompasses many of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods and shopping areas, where white businesses and patrons predominate. “I was stunned,” Shook said, “because the clips I saw on the news mostly were centered on what was going on downtown, which had better visuals—you know, police cars on fire.” He saw a few hand-printed signs taped to broken windows—he didn’t know if the messages were placed before or after the damage had been done—that said “Black Lives Matter: Minority Owned Business.” “It breaks my heart,” he said.


newyorker--2020-06-01--Scenes from a Weekend of Mass Protest in New York City

“ Minneapolis Is Everywhere , ” read the sign of one young protester in Brooklyn on Saturday night , during the third day of protests in New York City over the police killing of George Floyd , in Minneapolis , on May 25th .
In New York , as in cities across the country , the weekend was marked by a mass uprising and aggressive police action .
A rally on Saturday began on 125th Street in Harlem and headed downtown , at one point blocking the F.D.R .
Drive .
Groups split up and eventually convened at Washington Square @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the evening , protesters clashed with police in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush , which has lost residents such as Kimani Gray , a sixteen-year-old , to police killings in the past .
Some protesters burned police cars and erected barricades using trash .
Some threw bricks and bottles at police .
There , and throughout the city , police responded with force , using batons and pepper spray and making hundreds of arrests .
In one widely circulated video , a police S.U.V .
plowed directly into a crowd of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solidarity .
Bus drivers and other motorists honked their horns to the beat of protest chants , and rolled down their windows to cheer with demonstrators .
Volunteers wove through the crowds , distributing food , bottled water , and hand sanitizer .
The masks that most protesters wore to reduce the spread of the coronavirus turned into wearable protest signs , scrawled with phrases like “ Black Lives Matter ” and “ I Can ’ t Breathe.
” Protesters sang the lyrics of Pop Smoke , a young Brooklyn rapper who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home invasion in Los Angeles , and shouted chants : “ No justice , no peace ” ; “ I believe we will win .
”

“Minneapolis Is Everywhere,” read the sign of one young protester in Brooklyn on Saturday night, during the third day of protests in New York City over the police killing of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, on May 25th. In New York, as in cities across the country, the weekend was marked by a mass uprising and aggressive police action.
A rally on Saturday began on 125th Street in Harlem and headed downtown, at one point blocking the F.D.R. Drive. Groups split up and eventually convened at Washington Square Park before making their way farther downtown. In the evening, protesters clashed with police in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush, which has lost residents such as Kimani Gray, a sixteen-year-old, to police killings in the past. Some protesters burned police cars and erected barricades using trash. Some threw bricks and bottles at police. There, and throughout the city, police responded with force, using batons and pepper spray and making hundreds of arrests. In one widely circulated video, a police S.U.V. plowed directly into a crowd of protesters. There were also scenes of solidarity. Bus drivers and other motorists honked their horns to the beat of protest chants, and rolled down their windows to cheer with demonstrators. Volunteers wove through the crowds, distributing food, bottled water, and hand sanitizer. The masks that most protesters wore to reduce the spread of the coronavirus turned into wearable protest signs, scrawled with phrases like “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe.” Protesters sang the lyrics of Pop Smoke, a young Brooklyn rapper who was killed, in February, during a home invasion in Los Angeles, and shouted chants: “No justice, no peace”; “I believe we will win.”


newyorker--2020-06-01--A Rise in Anti-Chinese Rhetoric During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Peter Hessler has been in one of the strictest COVID-19 lockdowns in the world : starting in January , he was quarantined with his family in Chengdu , China , presaging what life would soon look like in America .
Now , as restrictions lift in China , Hessler says that the experiences of the two countries have diverged .
China ’ s government spent the lockdown setting up systems to check people ’ s temperatures on a wide scale and do contact tracing when someone becomes ill .
But , although China ’ s response has been effective in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientist told Hessler , “ There is no long-term plan .
There ’ s no country that has a long-term plan.
” Meanwhile , in the United States , perhaps the only common ground in the Presidential campaign is to attack China ’ s handling of the outbreak , which , candidates claim , cost lives around the world .
The Trump Administration has implicated China in spreading the virus ; Joe Biden ’ s campaign positions him as the tougher leader to take on China .
Evan Osnos , who previously reported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington , tells David Remnick that both sides count on the fact that China ’ s government ignores whatever American politicians say about it during campaign season .

Photograph from Getty
Peter Hessler has been in one of the strictest COVID-19 lockdowns in the world: starting in January, he was quarantined with his family in Chengdu, China, presaging what life would soon look like in America. Now, as restrictions lift in China, Hessler says that the experiences of the two countries have diverged. China’s government spent the lockdown setting up systems to check people’s temperatures on a wide scale and do contact tracing when someone becomes ill. But, although China’s response has been effective in containing the virus so far, one scientist told Hessler, “There is no long-term plan. There’s no country that has a long-term plan.”
Meanwhile, in the United States, perhaps the only common ground in the Presidential campaign is to attack China’s handling of the outbreak, which, candidates claim, cost lives around the world. The Trump Administration has implicated China in spreading the virus; Joe Biden’s campaign positions him as the tougher leader to take on China. Evan Osnos, who previously reported from Beijing and is now based in Washington, tells David Remnick that both sides count on the fact that China’s government ignores whatever American politicians say about it during campaign season.


newyorker--2020-06-01--After the Killing of George Floyd, Fury at America and Its Values Spreads Globally

America is on the defensive worldwide over the murder of George Floyd and all that the killing implies about race , values , and leadership—not to mention common decency—in the United States .
On Sunday , thousands defied a government lockdown in Britain to march through the streets of London—from the famed Trafalgar Square , past the Houses of Parliament , along and across the River Thames , to the U.S. Embassy—to protest the murder of an unarmed black man by white police in Minneapolis , four thousand miles away .
The coronavirus pandemic—and its risks—be damned .
“ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fury and anguish not just in the USA but around the world , ” London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted .
“ No country , city , police force or institution can be complacent about racism and the impact this has.
” He also warned about the dangers of infection from COVID-19 at crowded protests .
“ Lockdown has not been lifted , ” he tweeted .
“ The virus is still out there.
” The protest nonetheless went on for hours , including a sit-in in front of the Embassy .
Homemade cardboard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” and “ Do I matter only after death ?
# GeorgeFloyd.
” Hundreds more turned out in northern Manchester , and more still in the Welsh capital of Cardiff , around its historic castle , to protest racism in America .
Three more protests—in a country that is America ’ s closest ally—are planned over the next week .
At Berlin ’ s Mauerpark—situated where a section of the Wall separated East and West Germany from 1961 to 1989—a mural of Floyd has been painted on a remnant of the Berlin Wall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t breathe.
” Protesters showed up in Berlin both Saturday and Sunday , to denounce death from discrimination in the United States .
They marched to the U.S. Embassy near the Brandenburg Gate , another historic symbol of the Cold War era .
Their focus was on a different kind of war .
“ Stop killing us , ” one sign pleaded .
In normally tranquil Copenhagen , two thousand showed up , on Saturday , at an angry demonstration at the U.S. Embassy .
Thousands turned out in Toronto , too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the deaths of Floyd and a black Canadian woman , who fell to her death from a twenty-fourth-floor apartment on Wednesday , while police were on the scene .
And those countries are all our allies .
The fury at America—so deep that protesters risked infection by the deadly coronavirus pathogen—is partly a reaction to three years of pent-up frustration with the Trump Administration .
Many in Britain and other allied nations “ are saddened by the damage which President Trump and his Republican supporters are doing to the values we share , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rule of law , ” Sir Peter Westmacott , the former British Ambassador to the United States , told me .
“ And even—if he means what he says—to democracy itself.
” But the disillusionment goes deeper now .
The demonstrations in London and elsewhere “ seem to be less about Donald Trump than about the continuing failure of society everywhere to end the scourge of racism , ” Westmacott said .
“ Young people , black and white , are horrified by the video they have seen of a white policeman knowingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ man detained for a possible minor offense—and suspect that , as usual , the policeman will get away with it .
It happened in Minneapolis .
But it might have happened somewhere else.
” On Monday , the European Union issued a statement calling for the swift resolution of “ all the issues ” that have emerged during a week of unrest in a hundred and forty American cities , with “ full respect for the rule of law and human rights.
” It used the kind of language usually directed at dictatorial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of life , express our condolences to those affected and condemn violence and racism regardless of where it comes from , ” the E.U .
added .
The outrage about the lack of decency and the American double standard has now gone global in everyday life , including sport .
In Germany , where a soccer league recently became the first in Europe to resume play ( albeit without fans ) , four players individually expressed their anger in matches over the weekend .
After scoring his first career hat trick , Jadon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off his yellow shirt to reveal another shirt underneath , with a handwritten message in black letters : “ Justice for George Floyd.
” He was willing to take a yellow card for misconduct , for playing politics on the field .
He later tweeted , about scoring , “ A bittersweet moment personally as there are more important things going on in the world today that we must address and help make a change.
” His teammate Achraf Hakimi followed suit after he scored , later in the game .
In another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after scoring , the same symbolic move made famous by the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick .
What is striking about the protest signs and the body language , whatever country they ’ re in , is that they are almost all in English or use symbols from the American experience .
The message in so many lands—that America has failed its people—is meant for American ears .
The protests reflect a broader global despair about the failure of the American experiment—and what that means for the rest of the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ understand that their own fights for human rights , for equality and fairness , will become so much more difficult to win if we are going to lose America as the place where ‘ I have a dream ’ is a real and universal political program , ” Wolfgang Ischinger , the former German Ambassador to Washington and the current chairman of the Munich Security Conference , told me .
“ Let ’ s hope the demonstrations all over the world will help remind Washington that U.S. soft power is a unique asset @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers—from China , Russia , and even from Europe .
It would be tragic if the Trump Administration turned a huge opportunity for the U.S. into a moral abdication.
” In Africa , U.S. diplomats have scrambled to counter the damage to America ’ s image over the past week .
A prominent media entrepreneur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo directed a scathing tweet to Mike Hammer , the U.S .
Ambassador : “ Dear ambassador , your country is shameful .
Proud America , which went through everything from segregation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still hasn ’ t conquered the demons of racism .
How many black people must be killed by white police officers before authorities react seriously ?
” Hammer responded on Twitter , in French , “ I am profoundly troubled by the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis .
The Justice Department is conducting a full criminal investigation as a top priority .
Security forces around the world should be held accountable .
No one is above the law.
” America ’ s rivals are exploiting the growing U.S. unrest for their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In China , the editor of the Global Times cynically tweeted , “ I want to ask Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Pompeo : Should Beijing support protests in the U.S. , like you glorified rioters in Hong Kong ?
” Over the past week , Trump and Pompeo have issued sharp public condemnations of China for its new security law allowing crackdowns on months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong .
In Russia , Vladimir Putin ’ s Foreign Ministry lambasted “ systemic problems in human rights ” in the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first in a series of lawless conduct and unjustified violence from U.S. law enforcement , ” the ministry said , in a statement .
“ American police commit such high-profile crimes all too often .
”

America is on the defensive worldwide over the murder of George Floyd and all that the killing implies about race, values, and leadership—not to mention common decency—in the United States. On Sunday, thousands defied a government lockdown in Britain to march through the streets of London—from the famed Trafalgar Square, past the Houses of Parliament, along and across the River Thames, to the U.S. Embassy—to protest the murder of an unarmed black man by white police in Minneapolis, four thousand miles away. The coronavirus pandemic—and its risks—be damned. “The death of George Floyd has rightly ignited fury and anguish not just in the USA but around the world,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted. “No country, city, police force or institution can be complacent about racism and the impact this has.” He also warned about the dangers of infection from COVID-19 at crowded protests. “Lockdown has not been lifted,” he tweeted. “The virus is still out there.” The protest nonetheless went on for hours, including a sit-in in front of the Embassy. Homemade cardboard signs read “White silence is violence” and “Do I matter only after death? #GeorgeFloyd.” Hundreds more turned out in northern Manchester, and more still in the Welsh capital of Cardiff, around its historic castle, to protest racism in America. Three more protests—in a country that is America’s closest ally—are planned over the next week.
At Berlin’s Mauerpark—situated where a section of the Wall separated East and West Germany, from 1961 to 1989—a mural of Floyd has been painted on a remnant of the Berlin Wall, alongside the words “I can’t breathe.” Protesters showed up in Berlin both Saturday and Sunday to denounce death from discrimination in the United States. They marched to the U.S. Embassy near the Brandenburg Gate, another historic symbol of the Cold War era. Their focus was on a different kind of war. “Stop killing us,” one sign pleaded. In normally tranquil Copenhagen, two thousand showed up, on Saturday, at an angry demonstration at the U.S. Embassy. Thousands turned out in Toronto, too, over the weekend, to protest the deaths of Floyd and a black Canadian woman, who fell to her death from a twenty-fourth-floor apartment on Wednesday, while police were on the scene. And those countries are all our allies.
The fury at America—so deep that protesters risked infection by the deadly coronavirus pathogen—is partly a reaction to three years of pent-up frustration with the Trump Administration. Many in Britain and other allied nations “are saddened by the damage which President Trump and his Republican supporters are doing to the values we share, to freedom of expression, to the rule of law,” Sir Peter Westmacott, the former British Ambassador to the United States, told me. “And even—if he means what he says—to democracy itself.”
But the disillusionment goes deeper now. The demonstrations in London and elsewhere “seem to be less about Donald Trump than about the continuing failure of society everywhere to end the scourge of racism,” Westmacott said. “Young people, black and white, are horrified by the video they have seen of a white policeman knowingly and illegally putting to death a black man detained for a possible minor offense—and suspect that, as usual, the policeman will get away with it. It happened in Minneapolis. But it might have happened somewhere else.”
On Monday, the European Union issued a statement calling for the swift resolution of “all the issues” that have emerged during a week of unrest in a hundred and forty American cities, with “full respect for the rule of law and human rights.” It used the kind of language usually directed at dictatorial governments. “We regret the loss of life, express our condolences to those affected and condemn violence and racism regardless of where it comes from,” the E.U. added.
The outrage about the lack of decency and the American double standard has now gone global in everyday life, including sport. In Germany, where a soccer league recently became the first in Europe to resume play (albeit without fans), four players individually expressed their anger in matches over the weekend. After scoring his first career hat trick, Jadon Sancho, of Borussia Dortmund, pulled off his yellow shirt to reveal another shirt underneath, with a handwritten message in black letters: “Justice for George Floyd.” He was willing to take a yellow card for misconduct, for playing politics on the field. He later tweeted, about scoring, “A bittersweet moment personally as there are more important things going on in the world today that we must address and help make a change.” His teammate Achraf Hakimi followed suit after he scored, later in the game. In another match, a player took a knee after scoring, the same symbolic move made famous by the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. What is striking about the protest signs and the body language, whatever country they’re in, is that they are almost all in English or use symbols from the American experience. The message in so many lands—that America has failed its people—is meant for American ears.
The protests reflect a broader global despair about the failure of the American experiment—and what that means for the rest of the world. “People all over the world understand that their own fights for human rights, for equality and fairness, will become so much more difficult to win if we are going to lose America as the place where ‘I have a dream’ is a real and universal political program,” Wolfgang Ischinger, the former German Ambassador to Washington and the current chairman of the Munich Security Conference, told me. “Let’s hope the demonstrations all over the world will help remind Washington that U.S. soft power is a unique asset, setting America apart from other great powers—from China, Russia, and even from Europe. It would be tragic if the Trump Administration turned a huge opportunity for the U.S. into a moral abdication.”
In Africa, U.S. diplomats have scrambled to counter the damage to America’s image over the past week. A prominent media entrepreneur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo directed a scathing tweet to Mike Hammer, the U.S. Ambassador: “Dear ambassador, your country is shameful. Proud America, which went through everything from segregation to the election of Barack Obama, still hasn’t conquered the demons of racism. How many black people must be killed by white police officers before authorities react seriously?” Hammer responded on Twitter, in French, “I am profoundly troubled by the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Justice Department is conducting a full criminal investigation as a top priority. Security forces around the world should be held accountable. No one is above the law.”
America’s rivals are exploiting the growing U.S. unrest for their own goals—and to justify their own policies. In China, the editor of the Global Times cynically tweeted, “I want to ask Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Pompeo: Should Beijing support protests in the U.S., like you glorified rioters in Hong Kong?” Over the past week, Trump and Pompeo have issued sharp public condemnations of China for its new security law allowing crackdowns on months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s Foreign Ministry lambasted “systemic problems in human rights” in the United States. “This incident is far from the first in a series of lawless conduct and unjustified violence from U.S. law enforcement,” the ministry said, in a statement. “American police commit such high-profile crimes all too often.”
In Iran, which has faced two years of escalating pressure from the Trump Administration, the English-language account of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted, “If you’re dark-skinned walking in the US, you can’t be sure you’ll be alive in the next few minutes.” The tweet added the hashtags “#ICantBreathe” and “#BlackLivesMatter.” It was accompanied by a short video chronicling slavery in the United States. In the holy city of Mashhad, a group of young people held a candlelight vigil for Floyd, complete with posters of him above the hashtag “#JusticeforFloyd” and a sign, in English, declaring, “Black Lives Matter.” The impact of Floyd’s murder even consumed people facing far greater existential challenges. In Syria, where more than half a million people have died at the hands of a ruthless dictator during the country’s nine-year civil war, local artists painted a mural of Floyd on the side of a destroyed building in Idlib Province. Above it, in big pink letters, they wrote, “No to racism.”
The United States has been struggling to counter China’s deepening economic and diplomatic presence around the world by claiming that it offers a better model. It’s an increasingly hard sell after the police killings of so many black Americans and a higher COVID-19 death rate among African-Americans. “People are genuinely appalled that a police officer could treat an African-American man with such gratuitous and ultimately lethal violence,” Ken Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, told me. The global protests are also “a commentary on the perceived callousness of American society that has come to the fore during this pandemic, with African-Americans and other minorities disproportionately affected due to a constellation of factors that include the ‘co-morbidities’ of poverty,” he said. “That a wealthy nation could treat its minorities so shabbily fuels the outrage over George Floyd’s death.”
Race, Policing, and Black Lives Matter Protests


newyorker--2020-06-01--Bryan Stevenson on the Frustration Behind the George Floyd Protests

The past weekend saw the start of an uprising in dozens of American cities , with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets for peaceful protests and violent encounters with the police .
The proximate cause was the killing of George Floyd , an unarmed , handcuffed African-American man , by a Minneapolis police officer , Derek Chauvin .
In Minneapolis and other cities , police in riot gear have responded aggressively to protests and looting , pushing and shoving protesters and using an arsenal of crowd-control weaponry .
In Louisville , a protester was shot dead , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brooklyn , social media captured an incident in which police officers drove into a crowd of protesters .
On Sunday , I spoke by phone with Bryan Stevenson , a civil-rights lawyer and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative , a human-rights organization that challenges convictions , advocates for criminal-justice reform and racial justice , and created the National Memorial for Peace and Justice , in Montgomery , Alabama , which honors the victims of lynching and other forms of racial terror during the Jim Crow era .
Stevenson , who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jeffrey Toobin , in 2016 , is also the author of a memoir , “ Just Mercy , ” which was made into a feature film last year .
During our conversation , which has been edited for length and clarity , Stevenson and I discussed the roots of police violence in both slavery and Jim Crow , how to change the culture of policing , and the frustration and despair behind this week ’ s protests .
What has been your biggest takeaway from the past week ?
We need to reckon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think everything we are seeing is a symptom of a larger disease .
We have never honestly addressed all the damage that was done during the two and a half centuries that we enslaved black people .
The great evil of American slavery wasn ’ t the involuntary servitude ; it was the fiction that black people aren ’ t as good as white people , and aren ’ t the equals of white people , and are less evolved , less human , less capable , less worthy , less deserving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ white supremacy was necessary to justify enslavement , and it is the legacy of slavery that we haven ’ t acknowledged .
This is why I have argued that slavery didn ’ t end in 1865 , it evolved .
Next month will be the hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of when black people gathered to celebrate the end of slavery : Juneteenth .
They believed they would receive the vote , and the protection of the law , and land , and opportunity , and have a chance to be full Americans .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ because this ideology of white supremacy would not allow Southern whites to accept them , to value them and to protect them , and so , immediately after 1865 and the Thirteenth Amendment , violence broke out .
We are going to be releasing a report next month on the horrendous violence that took place during Reconstruction , which blocked all of the progress .
So , for me , you can ’ t understand these present-day issues without understanding the persistent refusal to view black people as equals .
It has changed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where we used terror and intimidation and lynching and then Jim Crow laws and then the police , created this presumption of dangerousness and guilt .
It doesn ’ t matter how hard you try , how educated you are , where you go in this country—if you are black , or you are brown , you are going to have to navigate that presumption , and that makes encounters with the police just rife with the potential for these specific outcomes which we have seen .
How do you think our current @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a continuation of that past ?
I think the police have been the face of oppression in many ways .
Even before the Civil War , law enforcement was complicit in sustaining enslavement .
It was the police who were tasked with tracking down fugitive slaves from 1850 onwards in the north .
After emancipation , it was law enforcement that stepped back and allowed black communities to be terrorized and victimized .
We had an overthrow of government during Reconstruction , and law enforcement facilitated that .
Then , throughout the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was law enforcement and police and our justice system that allowed people to be lynched by white mobs , sometimes literally on the courthouse lawn , and allowed the perpetrators of that terror and violence to engage in these acts of murder with impunity .
They were even complicit in it .
And , as courageous black people began to advocate for civil rights in the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-sixties , when these older , nonviolent black Americans would literally be on their knees , praying , they were battered and bloodied by uniformed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and oppression is not something we can ignore .
We have to address it .
But , rather than address it , since the nineteen-sixties , we have been trying to distract ourselves from it and not acknowledge it , and not own up to it , and all of our efforts have been compromised by this refusal to recognize that we need to radically change the culture of police .
Now , the police are an extension of our larger society , and , when we try to disconnect them from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policymakers , we don ’ t accurately get at it .
The history of this country , when it comes to racial justice and social justice , unlike what we do in other areas , is , like , O.K.
, it ’ s 1865 , we won ’ t enslave you and traffic you anymore , and they were forced to make that agreement .
And then , after a half century of mob lynching , it ’ s , like , O.K.
, we won ’ t allow the mobs to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lynch you anymore .
And that came after pressure .
And then it was , O.K.
, we won ’ t legally block you from voting , and legally prevent you from going into restaurants and public accommodations .
But at no point was there an acknowledgement that we were wrong and we are sorry .
It was always compelled , by the Union Army , by international pressure , by the federal courts , and that dynamic has meant that there is no more remorse or regret or consciousness of wrongdoing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ did anything wrong over the past fifty or sixty years .
And so , in that respect , we have created a culture that allows our police departments to see themselves as agents of control , and that culture has to shift .
And this goes beyond the dynamics of race .
We have created a culture where police officers think of themselves as warriors , not guardians .
Do you think this situation with the policy today has a specific purpose , and what is it ?
It does .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to recognize the wrongfulness of this racial hierarchy .
Even the abolitionists , many of whom fought to end slavery , didn ’ t believe in racial equality .
So , if you embrace white supremacy , then you are going to use black people and exploit black people and deny black people opportunities , because it advances that purpose .
And a lot of white supremacy wasn ’ t even “ purposeful.
” What was the purpose of banning interracial marriage ?
What was the purpose of banning black people from coming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racial hierarchy , and that presumption or narrative that black people are dangerous , that black people can ’ t be trusted , that black people have to be controlled .
And if it didn ’ t have an economic value , that didn ’ t mean that it wasn ’ t purposeful .
The purpose was to sustain that hierarchy .

The past weekend saw the start of an uprising in dozens of American cities, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets for peaceful protests and violent encounters with the police. The proximate cause was the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed, handcuffed African-American man, by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin. In Minneapolis and other cities, police in riot gear have responded aggressively to protests and looting, pushing and shoving protesters and using an arsenal of crowd-control weaponry. In Louisville, a black restaurant owner was shot dead, under circumstances that remain unclear; in Brooklyn, social media captured an incident in which police officers drove into a crowd of protesters.
On Sunday, I spoke by phone with Bryan Stevenson, a civil-rights lawyer and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human-rights organization that challenges convictions, advocates for criminal-justice reform and racial justice, and created the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, in Montgomery, Alabama, which honors the victims of lynching and other forms of racial terror during the Jim Crow era. Stevenson, who was the subject of a Profile, by Jeffrey Toobin, in 2016, is also the author of a memoir, “Just Mercy,” which was made into a feature film last year. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, Stevenson and I discussed the roots of police violence in both slavery and Jim Crow, how to change the culture of policing, and the frustration and despair behind this week’s protests.
What has been your biggest takeaway from the past week?
We need to reckon with our history of racial injustice. I think everything we are seeing is a symptom of a larger disease. We have never honestly addressed all the damage that was done during the two and a half centuries that we enslaved black people. The great evil of American slavery wasn’t the involuntary servitude; it was the fiction that black people aren’t as good as white people, and aren’t the equals of white people, and are less evolved, less human, less capable, less worthy, less deserving than white people.
That ideology of white supremacy was necessary to justify enslavement, and it is the legacy of slavery that we haven’t acknowledged. This is why I have argued that slavery didn’t end in 1865; it evolved. Next month will be the hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of when black people gathered to celebrate the end of slavery: Juneteenth. They believed they would receive the vote, and the protection of the law, and land, and opportunity, and have a chance to be full Americans. They were denied all of those things because this ideology of white supremacy would not allow Southern whites to accept them, to value them and to protect them, and so, immediately after 1865 and the Thirteenth Amendment, violence broke out. We are going to be releasing a report next month on the horrendous violence that took place during Reconstruction, which blocked all of the progress.
So, for me, you can’t understand these present-day issues without understanding the persistent refusal to view black people as equals. It has changed, but that history of violence, where we used terror and intimidation and lynching and then Jim Crow laws and then the police, created this presumption of dangerousness and guilt. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, how educated you are, where you go in this country—if you are black, or you are brown, you are going to have to navigate that presumption, and that makes encounters with the police just rife with the potential for these specific outcomes which we have seen.
How do you think our current era of criminal justice and policing is a continuation of that past?
I think the police have been the face of oppression in many ways. Even before the Civil War, law enforcement was complicit in sustaining enslavement. It was the police who were tasked with tracking down fugitive slaves from 1850 onwards in the north. After emancipation, it was law enforcement that stepped back and allowed black communities to be terrorized and victimized. We had an overthrow of government during Reconstruction, and law enforcement facilitated that. Then, throughout the first half of the twentieth century, it was law enforcement and police and our justice system that allowed people to be lynched by white mobs, sometimes literally on the courthouse lawn, and allowed the perpetrators of that terror and violence to engage in these acts of murder with impunity. They were even complicit in it. And, as courageous black people began to advocate for civil rights in the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-sixties, when these older, nonviolent black Americans would literally be on their knees, praying, they were battered and bloodied by uniformed police officers. That identity of violence and oppression is not something we can ignore. We have to address it. But, rather than address it, since the nineteen-sixties, we have been trying to distract ourselves from it and not acknowledge it, and not own up to it, and all of our efforts have been compromised by this refusal to recognize that we need to radically change the culture of police.
Now, the police are an extension of our larger society, and, when we try to disconnect them from the justice system and the lawmakers and the policymakers, we don’t accurately get at it. The history of this country, when it comes to racial justice and social justice, unlike what we do in other areas, is, like, O.K., it’s 1865, we won’t enslave you and traffic you anymore, and they were forced to make that agreement. And then, after a half century of mob lynching, it’s, like, O.K., we won’t allow the mobs to pull you out of the jail and lynch you anymore. And that came after pressure. And then it was, O.K., we won’t legally block you from voting, and legally prevent you from going into restaurants and public accommodations.
But at no point was there an acknowledgement that we were wrong and we are sorry. It was always compelled, by the Union Army, by international pressure, by the federal courts, and that dynamic has meant that there is no more remorse or regret or consciousness of wrongdoing. The police don’t think they did anything wrong over the past fifty or sixty years. And so, in that respect, we have created a culture that allows our police departments to see themselves as agents of control, and that culture has to shift. And this goes beyond the dynamics of race. We have created a culture where police officers think of themselves as warriors, not guardians.
Do you think this situation with the policy today has a specific purpose, and what is it?
It does. But the purpose was possible because of our unwillingness to recognize the wrongfulness of this racial hierarchy. Even the abolitionists, many of whom fought to end slavery, didn’t believe in racial equality. So, if you embrace white supremacy, then you are going to use black people and exploit black people and deny black people opportunities, because it advances that purpose. And a lot of white supremacy wasn’t even “purposeful.” What was the purpose of banning interracial marriage? What was the purpose of banning black people from coming into restaurants? It was about maintaining racial hierarchy, and that presumption or narrative that black people are dangerous, that black people can’t be trusted, that black people have to be controlled. And if it didn’t have an economic value, that didn’t mean that it wasn’t purposeful. The purpose was to sustain that hierarchy.


newyorker--2020-06-01--Study: Many of Nation’s Problems Could Be Solved by Having a President

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) —A controversial new study suggests that the United States of America could benefit from having a President .
The study has raised eyebrows by claiming that a President could be helpful in unifying a country and , in a best-case scenario , providing moral leadership .
“ At a time of crisis , a President could be a galvanizing figure who leads a country to a better future , ” the study theorizes .
“ He or she could bring a nation together rather than tear it apart.
” In one of the study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ argues that a so-called Justice Department could include an Attorney General appointed by the President to uphold the rule of law .
“ Additionally , a President , by scrupulously obeying the law himself , could set an example for the rest of the country , ” the study claims .
“ As improbable as it might seem , citizens would look to the President as someone to admire and emulate in their daily lives.
” While many in the United States remain resistant to the concept of having a President , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to consider such an unorthodox measure .
“ We have ample evidence of what happens when a country does not have a President , ” the study concludes .
“ It ’ s a shit show .
”

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—A controversial new study suggests that the United States of America could benefit from having a President.
The study has raised eyebrows by claiming that a President could be helpful in unifying a country and, in a best-case scenario, providing moral leadership.
“At a time of crisis, a President could be a galvanizing figure who leads a country to a better future,” the study theorizes. “He or she could bring a nation together rather than tear it apart.”
In one of the study’s most radical proposals, it argues that a so-called Justice Department could include an Attorney General appointed by the President to uphold the rule of law.
“Additionally, a President, by scrupulously obeying the law himself, could set an example for the rest of the country,” the study claims. “As improbable as it might seem, citizens would look to the President as someone to admire and emulate in their daily lives.”
While many in the United States remain resistant to the concept of having a President, the study says that desperate times may lead them to consider such an unorthodox measure.
“We have ample evidence of what happens when a country does not have a President,” the study concludes. “It’s a shit show.”


newyorker--2020-06-01--Ernest Hemingway’s Grandson on an Unpublished Story from the Author’s Archive

A story in this week ’ s issue , “ Pursuit as Happiness , ” will be included in a new edition of Ernest Hemingway ’ s “ The Old Man and the Sea ” to be published by Scribner later this year .
Can you explain why it was never published and how it was discovered ( or rediscovered ) ?
The story is part of the Ernest Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum , in Boston , which is the most important repository of my grandfather ’ s manuscripts and papers .
As I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of “ The Old Man and the Sea , ” I carefully went through the rich archive of manuscripts , letters , photographs ; fishing logs from my grandfather ’ s boat , the Pilar ; and other ephemera at the Kennedy Library , with the help of the textual archivist , Stacey Chandler , and her colleagues .
The story exists in a single typewritten manuscript with emendations in Hemingway ’ s hand .
I was surprised and excited by it and thought it would make a wonderful addition to the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exists in the Scribner Archive , at Princeton University , and came with the papers of Carlos Baker , who wrote a major biography of my grandfather .
There is no indication as to when Baker acquired it and whether it was after Hemingway ’ s death , but that seems likely to me .
Along with several autobiographical stories about the Second World War , it is one of the few Hemingway stories that was left unpublished .
I am not sure why it received so little attention ; it is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grandfather ’ s personal papers .
The story is autobiographical : the narrator is referred to as “ Ernest ” and “ Hemingway , ” and he goes on a fishing trip with “ Mr .
Josie ” —Hemingway ’ s name for his friend Joe Russell , with whom he fished in Cuba—and his first mate , Carlos Guttiérez .
What made you conclude that the story was fiction and not a memoir ?
Actually , I find it difficult to classify as fiction or nonfiction because much of the story is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think of it as fiction .
It is carefully crafted and reads like a short work of fiction .
As my grandfather wrote about his memoir “ A Moveable Feast , ” which he called fiction , a work of fiction may shed light on actual events .
How much of the story do you think was invented ?
Was it based on a particular experience Hemingway had—of hooking a giant marlin and losing it ?
It is certainly possible that the story was inspired by a particular fishing trip in the summer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set , but in my opinion it was more likely inspired by several different experiences , to which the author has added fictional elements that improve upon the story .
The story is set against a backdrop of political strife in Havana .
Mr. Josie has a couple of run-ins with the Cuban police—first , when one tries to take the fish that he and Hemingway have caught , and then when “ one of those special Machado police ” gets belligerent in a bar .
Gerardo Machado ’ s government collapsed a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story .
How important do you think that political setting was to Hemingway ?
Hemingway witnessed plenty of the ugliness of that summer of 1933 in Cuba , including riots and the shooting in the streets of young activists protesting the Machado regime .
To my mind , the political strife is not the focus of the story but the contrast with life ashore makes the happiness of fishing for marlin at sea all the more poignant .
The giving away of all their catch to the locals adds purpose to their fishing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The story is set in 1933 , but you believe it was written years later .
Do you know whether it dates to before “ The Old Man and the Sea , ” which Hemingway wrote in the early fifties , or if it could be considered in some way notes for the novella ?
There are elements of the story that make it clear that Hemingway is writing it years later .
I find it hard to pin down and would date its creation somewhere between 1936 and 1956 , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The Old Man and the Sea.
” I don ’ t see it in any way as notes for the novella , but I do think that it makes a strong companion piece , since it is also about setting out to catch a very large marlin , and it shows in different ways how difficult that undertaking is , even with modern fishing equipment , a motor boat , and several experienced fishermen .
The title was chosen by your uncle Patrick Hemingway .
Where did it come from ?
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Ernest Hemingway ’ s second son , chose the title , which is a section heading in my grandfather ’ s book “ Green Hills of Africa.
” Hemingway divided his nonfiction account of his African safari , which took place in the winter of 1933-34 , not long after the setting of this story , into four sections .
“ Pursuit as Happiness ” was the last and climactic section of the book .
Hemingway adapted his fourth section title from a famous phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pursuit of Happiness.
” I think it is a very apt title for this unpublished story , because it is not just about catching and losing a large marlin—in the same way that “ The Old Man and the Sea ” is not just about catching and losing a large marlin to sharks .
It is about the joy of fishing and the happiness that it brings .

Seán Hemingway, a grandson of the author Ernest Hemingway, in 2009. Photograph by Richard Perry / NYT / Redux
A story in this week’s issue, “Pursuit as Happiness,” will be included in a new edition of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” to be published by Scribner later this year. Can you explain why it was never published and how it was discovered (or rediscovered)?
The story is part of the Ernest Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, in Boston, which is the most important repository of my grandfather’s manuscripts and papers. As I was preparing the new Hemingway Library Edition of “The Old Man and the Sea,” I carefully went through the rich archive of manuscripts, letters, photographs; fishing logs from my grandfather’s boat, the Pilar; and other ephemera at the Kennedy Library, with the help of the textual archivist, Stacey Chandler, and her colleagues. The story exists in a single typewritten manuscript with emendations in Hemingway’s hand. I was surprised and excited by it and thought it would make a wonderful addition to the new edition. Another copy of the manuscript exists in the Scribner Archive, at Princeton University, and came with the papers of Carlos Baker, who wrote a major biography of my grandfather. There is no indication as to when Baker acquired it and whether it was after Hemingway’s death, but that seems likely to me. Along with several autobiographical stories about the Second World War, it is one of the few Hemingway stories that was left unpublished. I am not sure why it received so little attention; it is a gem among the unpublished material in my grandfather’s personal papers.
The story is autobiographical: the narrator is referred to as “Ernest” and “Hemingway,” and he goes on a fishing trip with “Mr. Josie”—Hemingway’s name for his friend Joe Russell, with whom he fished in Cuba—and his first mate, Carlos Guttiérez. What made you conclude that the story was fiction and not a memoir?
Actually, I find it difficult to classify as fiction or nonfiction because much of the story is autobiographical, but I do prefer to think of it as fiction. It is carefully crafted and reads like a short work of fiction. As my grandfather wrote about his memoir “A Moveable Feast,” which he called fiction, a work of fiction may shed light on actual events.
How much of the story do you think was invented? Was it based on a particular experience Hemingway had—of hooking a giant marlin and losing it?
It is certainly possible that the story was inspired by a particular fishing trip in the summer of 1933, when the story is set, but in my opinion it was more likely inspired by several different experiences, to which the author has added fictional elements that improve upon the story.
The story is set against a backdrop of political strife in Havana. Mr. Josie has a couple of run-ins with the Cuban police—first, when one tries to take the fish that he and Hemingway have caught, and then when “one of those special Machado police” gets belligerent in a bar. Gerardo Machado’s government collapsed a few months after the events of the story. How important do you think that political setting was to Hemingway?
Hemingway witnessed plenty of the ugliness of that summer of 1933 in Cuba, including riots and the shooting in the streets of young activists protesting the Machado regime. To my mind, the political strife is not the focus of the story but the contrast with life ashore makes the happiness of fishing for marlin at sea all the more poignant. The giving away of all their catch to the locals adds purpose to their fishing pursuits, especially during that difficult summer.
The story is set in 1933, but you believe it was written years later. Do you know whether it dates to before “The Old Man and the Sea,” which Hemingway wrote in the early fifties, or if it could be considered in some way notes for the novella?
There are elements of the story that make it clear that Hemingway is writing it years later. I find it hard to pin down and would date its creation somewhere between 1936 and 1956, when he was working on the film of “The Old Man and the Sea.” I don’t see it in any way as notes for the novella, but I do think that it makes a strong companion piece, since it is also about setting out to catch a very large marlin, and it shows in different ways how difficult that undertaking is, even with modern fishing equipment, a motor boat, and several experienced fishermen.
The title was chosen by your uncle Patrick Hemingway. Where did it come from?
The manuscript is untitled. My uncle Patrick, Ernest Hemingway’s second son, chose the title, which is a section heading in my grandfather’s book “Green Hills of Africa.” Hemingway divided his nonfiction account of his African safari, which took place in the winter of 1933-34, not long after the setting of this story, into four sections. “Pursuit as Happiness” was the last and climactic section of the book. Hemingway adapted his fourth section title from a famous phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence: “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I think it is a very apt title for this unpublished story, because it is not just about catching and losing a large marlin—in the same way that “The Old Man and the Sea” is not just about catching and losing a large marlin to sharks. It is about the joy of fishing and the happiness that it brings.


newyorker--2020-06-02--The Best and Worst Heckles from Robot Baseball Fans

“ You call that a fastball ?
I haven ’ t seen anything that slow since Pentium II !
” “ Hey , batter !
You swing like your tension-amplification mechanism was sent to the wrong 3-D printer !
” “ ERR-OR !
ERR-OR !
YOUR SUCKINESS AT FIELDING DOES NOT COMPUTE !
” “ C ’ mon , let ’ s score some runs !
If I wanted to look at zeros and ones all day , I would ’ ve gone to work !
” “ Hey , ump !
When was the last time you had your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that pitch was right over the plate !
” “ These guys make how much money ?
!
They haven ’ t even been programmed not to spit.
” “ Really ?
You can ’ t make that catch ?
What , are your tactile sensors malfunctioning or something ?
” “ Throw strikes !
My calculations have determined that to be the most efficient way to pitch !
” “ Look alive out there , team !
You ’ re the ones with consciousness , remember ?
” “ We want a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We want a batter , not a broken—Just a moment , I ’ m scanning every rhyming dictionary in existence for a better word than ‘ ladder.
’ ” “ BOSTON SUCKS !
BOSTON SUCKS !
Hold on , you were developed by Boston Dynamics ?
My bad .
So .
.
.
what are those robot dogs like ?
I ’ ve been thinking about buying one , but I ’ m not sure about the ethics of doing that when I could just adopt .
.
.
.
” “ That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ !
I ’ d say he was one of us but I ’ ve listened to a few of his interviews , and , when I say that he could benefit from A.I.
, I mean Any Intelligence .
”

As the Chinese Professional Baseball League starts its season, one team has gotten creative about “filling the stands” during the coronavirus pandemic. The Rakuten Monkeys will play games in front of robot mannequins in the audience dressed up as fans, according to the CPBL official website. —USA Today
“You call that a fastball? I haven’t seen anything that slow since Pentium II!”
“Hey, batter! You swing like your tension-amplification mechanism was sent to the wrong 3-D printer!”
“ERR-OR! ERR-OR! YOUR SUCKINESS AT FIELDING DOES NOT COMPUTE!”
“C’mon, let’s score some runs! If I wanted to look at zeros and ones all day, I would’ve gone to work!”
“Hey, ump! When was the last time you had your scanner checked? According to mine, that pitch was right over the plate!”
“These guys make how much money?! They haven’t even been programmed not to spit.”
“HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMAN! HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMAN!
HUUUUUUU—
Oh, shit, he looked at me.”
“Really? You can’t make that catch? What, are your tactile sensors malfunctioning or something?”
“Throw strikes! My calculations have determined that to be the most efficient way to pitch!”
“Look alive out there, team! You’re the ones with consciousness, remember?”
“We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher. We want a batter, not a broken—Just a moment, I’m scanning every rhyming dictionary in existence for a better word than ‘ladder.’ ”
“BOSTON SUCKS! BOSTON SUCKS! Hold on, you were developed by Boston Dynamics? My bad. So . . . what are those robot dogs like? I’ve been thinking about buying one, but I’m not sure about the ethics of doing that when I could just adopt. . . .”
“That shortstop has a rocket for an arm! I’d say he was one of us but I’ve listened to a few of his interviews, and, when I say that he could benefit from A.I., I mean Any Intelligence.”
“Hey, batter, batter, batter, batter, batter! Sa-wing battery level is low. Commencing power-conservation mode.”
“Beep BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!”


newyorker--2020-06-02--St. Paul’s Mayor on Violence in the Twin Cities

Melvin Carter , the mayor of St. Paul , Minnesota , took office in January , 2018 , promising dramatic change to the city ’ s racial and economic inequities .
Carter , who is forty-one and St. Paul ’ s first black mayor , was sworn in on the same day as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey , a civil-rights lawyer who also ran on a progressive platform .
In the wake of a series of high-profile police shootings in the area , including the killing of Philando Castile in a St. Paul suburb , in 2016 , Carter instituted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ department , to decidedly mixed results .
( His director of “ community first ” public-safety initiatives resigned and criticized the mayor for insufficient support at the beginning of 2019 ; leaders of a local civilian body that looks into police misconduct stepped down six months later . )
Now , however , following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer , Derek Chauvin , on May 25th , police and protesters have been involved in violent conflicts across the Twin Cities .
On Tuesday , I spoke by phone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between the St. Paul police and the city ’ s African-American community .
Carter , whose father was a St. Paul police officer , has said that all four officers who were present at the time of Floyd ’ s death should be held responsible for his killing .
Last Saturday , Carter appeared at a press conference with Frey and Minnesota ’ s governor , Tim Walz , in which he said that every person arrested at protests in St. Paul on Friday night had come from out of state .
Carter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he had been given inaccurate information at a police briefing .
During our conversation , which has been edited for length and clarity , we discussed the need for further police reforms , whether it was helpful for Minnesota to call in its National Guard , and why he initially blamed outside agitators .
Why have there been so many of these incidents in the Twin Cities area recently ?
I think the bigger question is why there have been so many of these incidents in the country , over and over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just over these ten years .
We have seen , over the last decade , cell-phone video after cell-phone video , but the only thing that is new is cell-phone cameras .
My father and my grandfather and my aunts and uncles and my great-grandfather would tell you that they have lived through moments like this .
We have seen these moments in the Twin Cities , and we are traumatized by them , and we are frustrated by them , and we will be until we prove our justice system ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life of a black man—an unarmed and unaggressive African-American man—is taken by law enforcement .
And I don ’ t just mean Officer Chauvin .
I mean all four of them , because I am astounded by the fact that all of humanity can look at this video and be disgusted , yet there can be three officers guarding the scene and doing nothing to intervene .
And so it seems that until we prove our ability to hold people accountable for the value of black life , and until we prove our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prevent this same scene from playing out over and over again , we will continue to be stuck in this disgusting and vicious cycle .
What reforms have you tried to put in place , and what further reforms are needed ?
My father is a retired St. Paul police officer , so I ran for mayor both as someone who grew up praying for our police department and the safety of our officers every day and as someone who knows what it feels like to get pulled over for driving while black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a central part of why I ran for mayor in the first place , and what our administration has been up to since Day 1 .
In the first two months of our administration , working in partnership with our police department and neighbors and police chief , we completely reviewed and revised our police department ’ s use-of-force policies , through a public-engagement process .
We are one of the only law-enforcement agencies that I am aware of that has asked community members to weigh in on what our use-of-force policies that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And we have expanded our civilian oversight of the department and worked very hard to expand our view of public safety beyond just showing up to catch somebody after something bad happens .
We are saying , “ How do we proactively invest in our community , both the physical space and the people , so that we have done the work on the front end ?
” It isn ’ t just about us responding to someone calling 911 .
Our public-safety philosophy in St. Paul centers around reducing the number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first place .
You asked the question of how these officers could sit and watch this while most people who saw the video were outraged .
Do you feel like you have insight into this , or is this something you have talked to your father about , if he is still with us ?
My father is still with us .
His name is Melvin Carter , Jr .
He patrolled the neighborhood that I went to school in and lived in and went to church in and went to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he himself was raised in .
There were Friday nights where our phone would ring at eleven or midnight , and someone holed up somewhere would say , “ I am only giving myself up for Sergeant Carter.
” They knew him .
They trusted him .
They knew that , while he would hold them accountable for their actions , he would treat them with respect and dignity .
It ’ s a rhetorical question of why is it that three officers can just sit there while Officer Chauvin so casually squeezes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We had the national-security adviser , [ Robert O ’ Brien ] , tell us a couple days ago that he thinks the challenges of policing in America are limited to a couple bad apples .
If Officer Chauvin was in the video by himself , you might be able to call him a bad apple .
But the fact that there are three other officers at the scene who don ’ t see anything wrong with what is going on undeniably points to a culture of abuse , a culture of violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we all know is the ugly part of the history of policing in America , and that we can not accept as a part of our future .
Have you talked to your dad about this ?
Constantly , yes .
Like I said , we have a great police department and work very closely with them .
Our chief always asks our officers three questions : Were your actions reasonable ?
Were they necessary ?
Were they done with respect ?
And every police officer I know—from my father to our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security detail to the officers in our community today protecting protesters ’ rights to peacefully protest—is disgusted by that video .
I was talking to an officer the other day who said that he went to work every day with the knowledge that he could be injured on the job .
And that is part of the work , but he said he would be really upset and disgusted if he were injured on the job about something some other knucklehead in some other department did .

Melvin Carter, the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, took office in January, 2018, promising dramatic change to the city’s racial and economic inequities. Carter, who is forty-one and St. Paul’s first black mayor, was sworn in on the same day as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a civil-rights lawyer who also ran on a progressive platform. In the wake of a series of high-profile police shootings in the area, including the killing of Philando Castile in a St. Paul suburb, in 2016, Carter instituted reforms of his city’s police department, to decidedly mixed results. (His director of “community first” public-safety initiatives resigned and criticized the mayor for insufficient support at the beginning of 2019; leaders of a local civilian body that looks into police misconduct stepped down six months later.) Now, however, following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, on May 25th, police and protesters have been involved in violent conflicts across the Twin Cities.
On Tuesday, I spoke by phone with Carter about the state of relations between the St. Paul police and the city’s African-American community. Carter, whose father was a St. Paul police officer, has said that all four officers who were present at the time of Floyd’s death should be held responsible for his killing. Last Saturday, Carter appeared at a press conference with Frey and Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, in which he said that every person arrested at protests in St. Paul on Friday night had come from out of state. Carter later walked back that statement, saying that he had been given inaccurate information at a police briefing. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed the need for further police reforms, whether it was helpful for Minnesota to call in its National Guard, and why he initially blamed outside agitators.
Why have there been so many of these incidents in the Twin Cities area recently?
I think the bigger question is why there have been so many of these incidents in the country, over and over and over and over again. Not just over these ten years. We have seen, over the last decade, cell-phone video after cell-phone video, but the only thing that is new is cell-phone cameras. My father and my grandfather and my aunts and uncles and my great-grandfather would tell you that they have lived through moments like this. We have seen these moments in the Twin Cities, and we are traumatized by them, and we are frustrated by them, and we will be until we prove our justice system’s capability of holding people accountable when the life of a black man—an unarmed and unaggressive African-American man—is taken by law enforcement. And I don’t just mean Officer Chauvin. I mean all four of them, because I am astounded by the fact that all of humanity can look at this video and be disgusted, yet there can be three officers guarding the scene and doing nothing to intervene. And so it seems that until we prove our ability to hold people accountable for the value of black life, and until we prove our ability to create deep systemic changes to prevent this same scene from playing out over and over again, we will continue to be stuck in this disgusting and vicious cycle.
What reforms have you tried to put in place, and what further reforms are needed?
My father is a retired St. Paul police officer, so I ran for mayor both as someone who grew up praying for our police department and the safety of our officers every day and as someone who knows what it feels like to get pulled over for driving while black. The question you just asked is a central part of why I ran for mayor in the first place, and what our administration has been up to since Day 1. In the first two months of our administration, working in partnership with our police department and neighbors and police chief, we completely reviewed and revised our police department’s use-of-force policies, through a public-engagement process. We are one of the only law-enforcement agencies that I am aware of that has asked community members to weigh in on what our use-of-force policies that govern our police officers should be. And we have expanded our civilian oversight of the department and worked very hard to expand our view of public safety beyond just showing up to catch somebody after something bad happens. We are saying, “How do we proactively invest in our community, both the physical space and the people, so that we have done the work on the front end?” It isn’t just about us responding to someone calling 911. Our public-safety philosophy in St. Paul centers around reducing the number of times we have to call 911 in the first place.
You asked the question of how these officers could sit and watch this while most people who saw the video were outraged. Do you feel like you have insight into this, or is this something you have talked to your father about, if he is still with us?
My father is still with us. His name is Melvin Carter, Jr. He patrolled the neighborhood that I went to school in and lived in and went to church in and went to the grocery store in and knew intimately—the neighborhood he himself was raised in. There were Friday nights where our phone would ring at eleven or midnight, and someone holed up somewhere would say, “I am only giving myself up for Sergeant Carter.” They knew him. They trusted him. They knew that, while he would hold them accountable for their actions, he would treat them with respect and dignity.
It’s a rhetorical question of why is it that three officers can just sit there while Officer Chauvin so casually squeezes the life out of George Floyd. We had the national-security adviser, [Robert O’Brien], tell us a couple days ago that he thinks the challenges of policing in America are limited to a couple bad apples. If Officer Chauvin was in the video by himself, you might be able to call him a bad apple. But the fact that there are three other officers at the scene who don’t see anything wrong with what is going on undeniably points to a culture of abuse, a culture of violence, a culture of aggression and escalation that we all know is the ugly part of the history of policing in America, and that we cannot accept as a part of our future.
Have you talked to your dad about this?
Constantly, yes. Like I said, we have a great police department and work very closely with them. Our chief always asks our officers three questions: Were your actions reasonable? Were they necessary? Were they done with respect? And every police officer I know—from my father to our chief to the officers who provide my security detail to the officers in our community today protecting protesters’ rights to peacefully protest—is disgusted by that video. I was talking to an officer the other day who said that he went to work every day with the knowledge that he could be injured on the job. And that is part of the work, but he said he would be really upset and disgusted if he were injured on the job about something some other knucklehead in some other department did.
Is there any tension between what you are saying about this culture running deep, as seen by the officers sitting around and watching, and your feeling that all the cops you know are just people trying to do their best?
The change absolutely needs to be very deep and systemic. Former officer Chauvin and George Floyd had just a heartbreaking interaction. And we have to know that that interaction is symbolic of a much bigger picture and much bigger problem. I was sharing with some friends that my grandfather was a Pullman porter. He was a Navy vet and an accomplished musician who played his trumpet for four different United States Presidents. But, instead of trying to go seek fame and fortune as a musician, he stayed home and worked as a janitor in our local public schools for thirty years. When he worked as a Pullman porter, his name was Melvin, Sr., but nobody knew that, because they called them all George. There is a movie called “10,000 Black Men Named George” that chronicles this history. No matter who you are or what you do. The reason this is so deeply personal for me and so many people is that every African-American lawyer and accountant and painter and athlete and musician and certainly mayor in this country knows that, minus this suit and tie, I am George. I literally am George.


newyorker--2020-06-02--A Tribute to Christo’s Unforgettable Art Works

For many years , I ’ ve wondered whether it was Christo ’ s naïvité , the childlike and overwhelming enthusiasm that he brought to every one of his hugely ambitious projects , that kept the art world from acknowledging him as one of the greatest artists of this era .
What he and Jeanne-Claude , his wife and collaborator , achieved was so different from the work of anyone else , and on such a huge scale—seventy-five hundred saffron-colored nylon “ gates , ” in Central Park ; the Reichstag , in Berlin , and the Pont Neuf , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrappings into monumental and sensuous sculptures—that it ’ s hard to believe it was also ephemeral .
Each spectacle drew huge crowds for two weeks and then vanished forever , without a trace .
Together , the couple brought us a long-running aesthetic experience that was unlike anything else in contemporary art .
Their deaths—Jeanne-Claude ’ s in 2009 , Christo ’ s this past Sunday—ought to shame historians into taking the full measure of it .
I met them in 1964 , the year they moved to New York from Paris , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of their very different personalities .
Christo , who spoke almost no English , was mercurial , passionate , and implacable .
Jeanne-Claude was French and upper-class , self-confident , witty , and—the essential factor—a brilliant manager .
Their arguments were public and fierce , and punctuated by endearments— “ Non , non , non , cheri !
” I wrote about them first in 1972 , when they were working on the “ Valley Curtain ” in Rifle , Colorado .
I went to the openings of “ The Pont Neuf Wrapped @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and several other projects that I didn ’ t write about .
The one I loved best , and did write about , was their “ Running Fence , ” from 1976 , an eighteen-foot-high white nylon “ ribbon of light , ” as Christo described it , which stretched across twenty-four and a half miles of rolling farmland in California ’ s Marin and Sonoma Counties , and ended in the Pacific Ocean .
The project cost the artists three million dollars , every cent of which Jeanne-Claude raised herself : some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but the major portion came from sales of Christo ’ s drawings of the staggeringly beautiful fence itself .
Four years earlier , when they had begun gathering the necessary permissions , they were told that the conservative sheep and cattle farmers in that part of California would never agree to let them put such a thing on the land , even for two weeks—but this turned out not to be true .
After repeated visits by Christo and Jeanne-Claude , all but three of the landowners not only gave them permission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the project .
The real opposition that Christo and Jeanne-Claude faced came from environmentalists and from outraged local artists , some of whom claimed that a nylon fence was not art and that this piece was a front for a series of McDonald ’ s stands .
The Christos eventually needed nine lawyers to help them through the lawsuits and the seventeen public hearings at the state and county level .
In the end , they defied the law by taking their fence to the ocean without a permit from the California Coastal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They made what the local paper called their “ illegal leap ” at the last minute , using the morning fog as cover , and by the time a legal hearing on a restraining order could be scheduled it was too late : the fence had already come and gone .
“ I completely work within American system by being illegal , like everyone else , ” Christo said to me at the time .
“ It ’ s the subversive character of the system that makes it so exciting to live @ @ @ @ @ @ @ night the illegal leap was completed , Christo and Jeanne-Claude , and twenty or thirty of the three hundred and sixty young , paid volunteers they had hired , were working by moonlight to install the last few panels , which went into the ocean .
The workers had been on the job since five that morning , and they were laughing and shouting to each other .
Christo moved back and forth , checking hooks , and occasionally running his hand along the white fabric .
“ Look at Christo flirting with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A long-haired kid in torn jeans said , joyously , “ It ’ s just so flip and outrageous .
I can ’ t wait to see the rest of it.
” Nobody enjoyed the fence more than Christo .
Riding beside it one day in the passenger seat of a pickup truck driven by Ted Dougherty , the contractor on the project , he called out excitedly , “ Look there , Ted .
See how it describes the wind .
”

For many years, I’ve wondered whether it was Christo’s naïvité, the childlike and overwhelming enthusiasm that he brought to every one of his hugely ambitious projects, that kept the art world from acknowledging him as one of the greatest artists of this era. What he and Jeanne-Claude, his wife and collaborator, achieved was so different from the work of anyone else, and on such a huge scale—seventy-five hundred saffron-colored nylon “gates,” in Central Park; the Reichstag, in Berlin, and the Pont Neuf, in Paris, transformed by their cloth wrappings into monumental and sensuous sculptures—that it’s hard to believe it was also ephemeral. Each spectacle drew huge crowds for two weeks and then vanished forever, without a trace. Together, the couple brought us a long-running aesthetic experience that was unlike anything else in contemporary art. Their deaths—Jeanne-Claude’s in 2009, Christo’s this past Sunday—ought to shame historians into taking the full measure of it.
I met them in 1964, the year they moved to New York from Paris, and I fell instantly under the spell of their very different personalities. Christo, who spoke almost no English, was mercurial, passionate, and implacable. Jeanne-Claude was French and upper-class, self-confident, witty, and—the essential factor—a brilliant manager. Their arguments were public and fierce, and punctuated by endearments—“Non, non, non, cheri!” I wrote about them first in 1972, when they were working on the “Valley Curtain” in Rifle, Colorado. I went to the openings of “The Pont Neuf Wrapped” and “Surrounded Islands,” and several other projects that I didn’t write about. The one I loved best, and did write about, was their “Running Fence,” from 1976, an eighteen-foot-high white nylon “ribbon of light,” as Christo described it, which stretched across twenty-four and a half miles of rolling farmland in California’s Marin and Sonoma Counties, and ended in the Pacific Ocean. The project cost the artists three million dollars, every cent of which Jeanne-Claude raised herself: some of the funds were from art dealers, but the major portion came from sales of Christo’s drawings of the staggeringly beautiful fence itself.
“Running Fence,” by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1972-76. Photograph by Wolfgang Volz / laif / Redux
Four years earlier, when they had begun gathering the necessary permissions, they were told that the conservative sheep and cattle farmers in that part of California would never agree to let them put such a thing on the land, even for two weeks—but this turned out not to be true. After repeated visits by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, all but three of the landowners not only gave them permission but became staunch and vocal allies of the project. The real opposition that Christo and Jeanne-Claude faced came from environmentalists and from outraged local artists, some of whom claimed that a nylon fence was not art and that this piece was a front for a series of McDonald’s stands. The Christos eventually needed nine lawyers to help them through the lawsuits and the seventeen public hearings at the state and county level. In the end, they defied the law by taking their fence to the ocean without a permit from the California Coastal Commission. It was a calculated risk. They made what the local paper called their “illegal leap” at the last minute, using the morning fog as cover, and by the time a legal hearing on a restraining order could be scheduled it was too late: the fence had already come and gone. “I completely work within American system by being illegal, like everyone else,” Christo said to me at the time. “It’s the subversive character of the system that makes it so exciting to live here—one reason, anyway.”
On the night the illegal leap was completed, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and twenty or thirty of the three hundred and sixty young, paid volunteers they had hired, were working by moonlight to install the last few panels, which went into the ocean. The workers had been on the job since five that morning, and they were laughing and shouting to each other. Christo moved back and forth, checking hooks, and occasionally running his hand along the white fabric. “Look at Christo flirting with his fence,” Jeanne-Claude said. A long-haired kid in torn jeans said, joyously, “It’s just so flip and outrageous. I can’t wait to see the rest of it.” Nobody enjoyed the fence more than Christo. Riding beside it one day in the passenger seat of a pickup truck driven by Ted Dougherty, the contractor on the project, he called out excitedly, “Look there, Ted. See how it describes the wind.”