Simone Hunter, nineteen: “It’s not just about George Floyd. It’s about all the unseen s**t, where we don’t have the video.”
Photograph by Widline Cadet for The New Yorker
THOUGHT PIECE: Luke Mogelson. The Heart of the Uprising in Minneapolis. The New Yorker.
I was moved by this piece of long-form journalism from The New Yorker.
In the heat of the moment, it is hard to get perspective on events as complex and multi-faceted as the recent protests against police violence and systematic racism in the U.S.
The author of this piece embeds himself with the protestors for a few days and is able to shed some light on the complexity. By complexity I do not mean to suggest that the cause/reason for protest is ambiguous--there is a lot of consensus about the problems being highlighted.
By complexity I mean to say that the human beings participating in the protests are complicated human beings--as we all are--with different life experiences and motivations.
I was especially shaken by the profile of the young woman featured in the piece, Simone Hunter. She is a fiery and angry 19-year old living in Minneapolis and unafraid to confront the police. Being able to deal with complexity is a practice and trait that we all sorely need in these dark times.
~~ Dr. Shannan Mattiace (Professor, Political Science at Allegheny College)
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