First published in USA Today, June 3, 2020

How a single arrest left a #BLM March to wander Manhattan

For one hour, Jhyair Fields was the lead scout for the biggest protest march in New York City. Protesters gathered inside Washington Square Park on Wednesday afternoon. As they marched onto Fifth Avenue, Fields weaved his silver kick scooter to the front.

His command was loud and quiet, overt and subtle. He weaved between the bikes, cars and pedestrians ahead of the march, waiving at them to stop or get out of the way.

“You’re stuck now. I’m sorry,” Fields said to the driver of a silver BMW, whose car quickly became engulfed by the crowd. “This is gonna be a bit.”

Looking backward, Fields locked eyes with Chris Muckle, the protest's lead organizer. From these glances he took his instructions, which he passed along in a voice that was high and loud.

“Yo yo yo! Slow down!” shouted Fields, 23, from The Bronx. “We’ve got to keep together!”

Five days after thousands of demonstrators marched on Foley Square in anger over George Floyd's May 25 death at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Wednesday's demonstration was smaller and less organized — even as charges against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin were upgraded to second-degree murder and three other former officers were also charged in Floyd's death. 

Fields tried his best. At 14th Street, he stopped his scooter. The marchers paused on his order. No one knew which way to turn. Fields raised his right hand barely above his head. He pointed west, toward the Hudson River.

The marchers saw his signal. A thousand people turned left. Fields was asked his plan.

“I’m going to shut down the West Side Highway,” said Fields, 23, from The Bronx. “If we show that we can shut down the highway, maybe the police will know we’re not playing around. Maybe they won’t kill us so much.”

Waze can’t help you here

All week in New York, the protests have been like this. Every march has moments of careful planning followed by long stretches of organic eruption. The organizers often have a desired destination in mind — Trump Tower, perhaps, or the mayor’s residence at Gracie Mansion.

But then the vagaries of traffic and police presence kick in, and scouts like Fields make judgement calls about where to go next. The ancient craft of wayfinding —rendered simple by apps like Waze or unnecessary by apps like Uber and Lyft — suddenly becomes crucial.

“Why would we go to Union Square? There’s too many cops up there,” Fields said to some junior scouts on bicycles. “Let’s go to the river!”

In the crowd and away from it, divergent needs drove protesters in different directions. As Wednesday’s march turned uptown from 14th Street, dozens of protesters peeled off. They tucked their signs under their armpits, slowed to a stroll, and started looking for food, water and bathrooms.

“Let’s pull over, guys,” Jennifer Lee, 34, said to three friends near 42nd Street. “I think there’s a pizza place up here.”

Others found directions from inside the crowd. Velli Sirri took the day off work from a recording studio in Brooklyn to meet his friend at the protest near Chelsea Market. But by the time Sirri caught a ride to Chelsea, the march was nowhere in sight. Sirri called his friend inside the march, who said the protest had moved a mile uptown.

After power walking two miles up Eighth Avenue, Sirri and his friend finally united in Times Square.

“I’ve protested in New York before, but I’ve never seen anything this,” said Sirri, 27, who wore a mauve sweatshirt that dripped with sweat. “I’m dressed all wrong. If I had known how long these people were gonna walk, I would have won a t-shirt.”

An arrest removes the rudder

Fields got halfway to the river. Then he got arrested. Kicking away from the marchers, he zoomed west on 14th Street. Ahead of him, at Second Avenue, police officers dismounted from their bicycles and ran to form a phalanx. They were just getting into position as Fields rolled up. He aimed for a gap between two bicycles. A scrum of officers pounced. They slammed Fields against a construction fence, which toppled under their weight. In seconds Fields was jerked upright, his wrists ziptied behind his waist.

“I’m peaceful!” Fields screamed. “I could have hit you, but I didn’t. I tried to avoid you!”

Fields was guided into a white police van. With no one at the helm, the march split in two. Half the protesters stayed to protest Fields’ arrest. The other half marched away. They walked so quickly that in places the protest grew thin. Muckle worried the gaps might provide opportunities for police to drive a wedge, surround a group of protesters, and arrest them.

At Bryant Park, Muckle attempted to restore order. He asked all the marchers to kneel.

“My lead scout got arrested! And now we’re moving too fast!” Muckle, 30 and from Brooklyn, shouted to the crowd at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. “We need everybody to stick together. And I need a volunteer to be my new lead scout.”

Lele Saueri stepped forward.

“I will do it,” said Saueri, 40.

Muckle clapped him on the shoulder. The power was conferred. Saueri aimed his red Schwinn bicycle uptown and pedaled to the lead.

Saueri is tall, which helped his effort. He is also white, soft-spoken, and entirely devoid of magnetism, which did not. The crowd surged ahead. Saueri barely moved. Within a block, his orange bike helmet was lost in the crowd.

At 45th Street, Muckle tried again.

“That was a test, and you guys failed!” Muckle yelled to the marchers. “Come on, you guys. We have to be more organized than the cops! The cops have no idea what they’re doing!”

Saueri was asked his plan.

“Fox News is two blocks ahead. Trump Tower is one block over,” Saueri said. “We should hit one of them. We’re going over to Trump Tower.”

They hit neither. The electronic news scroll that wraps around the headquarters of Fox News was switched off, and the marchers did not seem to notice the building was there.

They reached 56th Street, where Trump Tower looms one block to the east. Again Saueri did not take command. No marchers turned. Instead they continued up Sixth Avenue toward Central Park. This was probably for the best. The streets around Trump Tower were closed with steel barricades. Behind the barricades stood dozens of police in riot gear.

“It’s true,” Saueri said. “We are a little disorganized now.”