By Uta Allers
After participating in the New York City Elders Day Protest on June 13, with animated marching, singing, and chanting, this elder felt totally energized. So, when I heard that the first protest of Elder Week at Citibank headquarters in NYC on July 8 would be a more somber occasion —a procession with a coffin, tombstones, and “Lamentors” coming from as far away as San Francisco — I was not particularly enthusiastic. But I am so glad that curiosity got the better of me. It was the most brilliantly conceived, emotionally charged and superbly executed protest I’ve ever been a part of.
On the morning of the protest, we gathered at the North Moore Street side of the city block-sized Citibank building and listened to sidewalk sermons by Bill McKibben, Hip Hop Caucus President and Chief Executive Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., Episcopal Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, United Church of Christ Rev. Jim Antal, and two inspiring young activists. Already present were the Lamentors, dressed in sackcloth, ashes on their faces, heads covered and bowed, and with hands outstretched, palms up. The rest of us wore and carried signs.
After the sermons, a bagpiper led a slow and silent procession of the speakers carrying our banner, following by the Lamentors walking single file, four pallbearers carrying a coffin, and the rest of us hundred or so protestors carrying signs. About as many police officers watched and accompanied us on our route around the building and ending in the Greenwich Street plaza in front of the main entrance to Citibank.
Once in the plaza, the die-in began with some of us lying on the pavement and others marking our bodies’ outlines with yellow chalk. We then got up and filled the outlines with statistics and slogans, including “Climate Change is Bad for Business,” “Fossil Fuel Kills,” “Stop Funding Extinction,” “RIP Next Generation’s Dreams,” “Citi $ = Death,” “Be a Good Ancestor,” and “Invest in Green not Greed.” We chalked pretty much every part of the plaza, including the inactive fountain in the middle. Citibank employees who may have been unaware of our action in real time, would see the plaza as they left the building.
Behind us and closer to the Citibank entrance were protestors with 20 cardboard gravestones each with an epitaph for a real victim of heat deaths, such as “United Parcel Service PS Driver Collapses Delivering Packages in Texas,” “Ashlyn M. Maddox Nurse Dies During Oregon Heat Wave at Age 36,” and “52 Yr. Old Farmer Felled by Heatstroke on Cornfield – Heat Death.” The protestors also placed the makeshift coffin before the police.
All the while, silence pervaded the plaza, with a woman’s keening, a high funereal voice, the only sound heard anywhere.
By now, the Lamentors had lined up in front of the building, the entrance to which had been secured by a phalanx of police officers. Next to the officers was a line of arrest-risking “red” protesters, many of them continuing the die, lying on the ground with the sun beating down on them. The earlier speakers stood in front of the prone bodies. As protester struck a gong, one speaker at a time recited recent climate crisis-related events.
13,000 Americans died of heat-related causes last summer. Gong.
Lytton Canada exploded from heat in 2021. Gong.
Each new month brings a new heat record. Gong.
Young monkeys fell out of trees from heat in Mexico. Gong.
1,700 people died from heat during the Haj in Mecca. Gong.
Arrests
Then a police officer announced: “Anyone lying down will be arrested.” In response, more protesters lay down, including the Lamentors. Thus began the first of 46 arrests, with the protesters’ hands zip-tied behind their backs, including Bill McKibben’s. Several protesters with medical conditions asked not to be tied, and their requests were granted.
While our comrades were loaded into police vans, Summer of Heat organizer Valerie Costa thanked us all for being staunch resisters and making a difference. We then cleared the area, leaving behind the lower plaza completely covered with yellow chalked facts and helped to load everything into a van. Those who volunteered as Jail Support proceeded to Luna Pizza near police headquarters where the arrestees were taken. As was the case for the NYC Elders Day Protest on June 13, several of our group waited for the release of the arrestees at the police station and then accompanied them to the pizzeria.
Though I didn’t sign up to be in a “red” role, I carried a sign and stood with them in front of the police line. In hindsight, I wish I had a “red” role. The stipulation for a “red” role person is that they only carry a cell phone and keys, which would be given to “yellow” supporters for safekeeping until later retrieval. Because I knew I would have my luggage with me, I didn’t think I could be in a “red” role. So, I was surprised when I saw two carts with people’s suitcases and bags transported from the plaza to the pizzeria. But it was too late to change my travel plans. Next time!
In terms of outreach, we were not as successful as the one on June 13th. Police had cordoned off the plaza, so handing out information cards to passers-by was not possible. There was little press coverage, except for one local TV station and Democracy Now. Still, although we did not connect with the Citi employees or pedestrians, it was clear that some police officers, as witnesses and arresters, were moved. They could have stopped us at any moment on the plaza, as they did within 10 minutes on June 13th, but they watched our entire production before taking action.
I’m looking forward to more protests throughout the summer. With enough protesters, resisters and fleeing bank customers, the bank’s determination to stay on its present planet-destroying course will crack.
Check the brief YouTube video and a July 11 New York Times article about the hundreds of activists descending on City Bank to protest its disastrous policies.
My thanks to Diane DeFries who was a pallbearer at the protest and added significant details.