There is a cop right behind me as I write this in the 24 hr. Amerikkkan chain dinner. Hi cop, ACAB. HE is just chilling and having breakfast. I am in this breakfast shop because there really was nothing else and after tonight I have a lot less fucks to give. It was supposed to be just a night of documenting a protest at EL Nuevo Dia’s distribution center. I got there in the taxi to find the protestors already set up. They had set up a blockade at both entrances, preventing any of the trucks from leaving. The motivation for disrupting the shipment of the Monday paper came from the papers owners, the Ferrers. Support for PROMESA and the fiscal control board or La Junta.
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
I hope this cop is enjoying his breakfast. I kind of hope he is reading this. I can’t do a damn thing to stop him but I won’t give the asshole the satisfaction of seeing me split. Ill rub one out here in front of him if I thought it was pertinent.
The protestors reportably arrived at 1am sharp. Around 2am and 3pm a motorcade showed up with some high ranking police officers in tow. There were discussions between the head of El Nuevo Dias security and the protestors. Then some talks between high ranking officials and protestors. There had already been a few actiones that received a mild response from local law enforcement.
Everyone has been waiting for things to get rough like they were in 2010 during the student/teacher strikes at UPR. I was even asked by the head of security if I was from UPR. Apparently everyone involved in any sort of activism is “accused“ of being a public university student, as if carried some sort of criminal stigma. If that is the case then sign me up. The whole legal system in the US is garbage and in a colony it is garbage in a very small space.
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
That asshole is having eggs. I hope he gets salmonella.
The riot police showed up. The stormed through the crowd and made way for the delivery trucks at 5pm. All the trucks made it through but the protestors tried. Those motherfuckers held the line the best they could and whatever ground they lost to turned right back around to take it back.
That’s it. She was scared but she kept pushing the cops back. She was not alone, there were a few bigger people there also pushing but they singled her out like low hanging fruit. She got loud then. She didn’t scream, she didn’t cry, she kept it together and shouted to her name and what was happening to her. She exactly what to do. She knew exactly what she was getting into.
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
I don’t know if it is exhaustion, or stress or the despair of seeing so many beautiful people I have spent almost two months with get arrested and roughed up and I all did was watch. You don’t really get used to that. You can act hard against it but you don’t get used to that. Certainly, one does not desensitize to that sort of thing when they put so much love into trying to tell their story.
I wish I knew that woman’s name. I want to tell her I am jealous of her. I want her to know I wish I had that strength. That’s the person you want next to you when shit gets real. Never gave up, never cried when the cops squeezed her wrist and raised her arms up behind her back with her elbows pointing to the sky. She never cried for help. I lost her in fray. I ran to the other side of the police perimeter to see if I could find her and film her arrest, and give her chance to say her name and describe everything.
One of the black blocked got my attention and directed towards the woman that got arrested. The cops where getting a lot rough but started easing up when I showed up narrating everything I was seeing.
Ok the asshole is gone but I am not feeling safe yet. I have not slept and my adrenaline is draining.
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
They carried off into El Nuevo Dia. This whole time the crew form the second gate is marching towards us with the Puerto Rican flag in the front. Not the dark blue one but the beautiful sky blue flag.
The cops were shifting their formation to push the crowd away. They were kind of overreacting considering that no one was armed, no one was actually violent, but when aren’t police overreacting. The precious shit rag of a newspaper had to be protected. That’s is fair. I won’t let those fuck wads stop y signal. I remember one of the older ladies at the camp saying that you can cut all the flowers you want but you cannot stop the spring.
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
Fuck El Nuevo Dia and fuck the police. Sorry folks, but I never said I was objective. These last few days have been days of revelation. The true face of things have been revealed, maybe I need to drop the charade and be the asshole I really am.
There is no more reason to keep pretending with any one. I am a journalist and I will fight with words and pictures but I will make sure my skills and tools serve the people that have allowed me to document them. I will serve this resistance for as long as I am her and for as long as I can.
El Nuevo Dia had their own news team there to put a spin on things. These folks are big and the Ferrers have enough power to call upon the shock troops.
I am in this struggle now 100% or not at all. I still have a few months left and need to make the most of it. I am an angry Filipino/Afrikan/Borikua Journalist and I am not required to put up with fuckery. Fuck capitalism, fuck patriarchy fuck white supremacy and everything that come with that. From the Philippines to Palestine, from Puerto Rico to Portland, there is not stopping us from getting heard.
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
Today every one that was asleep woke up. This fight is very real. There is no safety for the disobedient. If there is a struggle where you are that you want to be part of, stop thinking about. You have given it plenty of thought. Get in it. Do the work. The more you keep waiting for others to succeed the deeper into untenable territory you will find yourself in. Get involved, get organized, get educated, get agitated and help others do the same. Revolution won’t happen when it is convenient for you. Be part of the work. There are lovely people you know and lovely people that you have yet to know being put in danger because of your reluctance and indifference. DO not do it out of guilt either, just decide what side you’re on. Choosing to do nothing is a choice. There is no neutrality other than dead or inert.
Every moment is the moment of truth. Who are you really?
LUCHA SI, ENTREGA NO!
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan |
 |
| Photo; Stevie Elepan If you enjoyed this article check out Through Our Own Eyes at KBOO 90.7 FM and get a post card from Puerto Rico when you make a donation to our project before the 1st of November 2016. |
No comments:
Post a Comment