Back in the streets

Four hundred people came out Friday for a candlelight vigil in Olympia to commemorate the victims of violence by federal immigration agents. Won't be the last time I'm out at demonstrations this year.

(Photo by Jo Arlow, on Instagram: (@joarlowphoto)

Thursday marked my second month back in Olympia. Since then, I have: deep-cleaned my apartment; sold the family home; registered my mom’s car; bought some new furniture; settled the cat; did my first artist’s residency at Sou’Wester; ground out two pieces of journalism; submitted two essays for the next Beach Badge; saw the pacific ocean; saw friends; resumed hikes, thrown a lot of punches at the gym; and practiced a lot of upright bass. I haven’t been able to finish a book since July. Otherwise, projects large and small proceed at pace.

Friday was another notable date: my first night back covering political demonstrations. This one was a vigil in east Olympia commemorating the victims of ICE violence. Documenting street politics has been a necessary part of my work this past decade both for news stories, and live on social media in breaking situations.

In fact, my era as a political reporter is defined in part by how it traces the disintegration of our political cohesion. We went from covering politicians and government budgets and bills to covering insurrectionists and the anti-vaccine movement, Black Lives Matter, and the incursion of political agitators and federal troops into Portland during both Trump terms. (Budgets and bills are still being written, with fewer journalists than ever to cover all these things.) After the 2020 election, pro-Trump and anti-Trump demonstrators in Olympia shot each other on three different occasions. No one died, so it didn’t become national news. As we say: If it bleeds, it leads.

I’d wager more blood’s ahead. Over the past year, we’ve seen what are estimated to be the biggest protests in American history in the No Kings movement. Those have come in response to the federal administration’s deportations of immigrants, attacks on civil and democratic institutions and its persecutions of political foes.

The increasing incursions by federal ICE agents into cities on deadly and antagonistic operations is raising that temperature. Last week saw the murder last week of an unarmed American citizen in Minneapolis by an ICE officer. A day after that, Border Patrol agents shot two people in Portland. Meanwhile, Seattle saw reports that masked ICE agents pulled people off Aurora Avenue into unmarked vans.

On Friday, about four hundred people gathered in on the east side of Olympia evening for a candlelight vigil. This one was peaceful, with no counter-demonstrators. It was also held out on Fourth Avenue where it junctions with Pacific Avenue, rather than the standard City Hall or Capitol locations with more foot traffic.

I headed out to document it with independent photographer Jo Arlow. I’ve shared a couple of her photos here.

For my Jersey readers, Jo is the rare Olympian with a shore connection: she spent a couple recent years living in the Asbury Park area and documenting Jersey’s wildlife and beach scenes, among other things. Check out her photography on instagram at: @Joarlowphoto.

It’s different covering protests these days, and harder. In our era of doxxing, harassment and government retribution, people are more afraid to talk to journalists or documentarians. They’re more wary about having their photo taken. And we’re more wary than ever of exposing people to retaliation of harassment. By that metric alone, America is less free than ten years ago.

I’ll be out this year documenting our street politics in Olympia and the region, likely through the November elections and beyond. Jo will likely be out there too. We will keep you appraised.

Meantime, enjoy this taste of the southwest Washington coast, taken by me last week.