Photography: No Kings 3: 3/28/26
“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
– James Baldwin
“I chose my camera as a weapon against all the things I dislike about America — poverty, racism, discrimination.”
-Gordon Parks
No Kings 3: 3/28/26: When No Kings organizers announced that No Kings 3 would be on 3/28/26, I remember joking with my loved ones “well, I guess I
know what I’m doing on my birthday!”
So for my 47th, I headed into Midtown Manhattan with my camera gear and press card, and joined several hundred thousand New Yorkers and several hundred photographers for what early estimates say was the biggest single day protest in American history. As of this post, I saw estimates of 8-9 million people. That may well be true, but from what I saw in Midtown suggested more than that.
As the march slowly moved south down Seventh Avenue, there was a line of protestors and onlookers on both sides of the street. Unlike a parade where there would be barricades, people were just everywhere. For a good 5-6 blocks, it was as though photographers were surrounded by protestors. It was a chaotic, confusing, dizzying cacophony of chants, a seemingly endless stream of people. Where did the protest start and end? Who the fuck knew?
Around 51st Street and 7th Avenue, I looked south and saw a sea of people for close to a mile, maybe mile and a half or so. Organizers were yelling, begging and pleading for people to move back — and to join in if they had a sign.
I walked to the bed of the march around 34th Street, turned around and stopped around 38th Street to observe. I walked up to the mid 40s and joined the march to get a better sense of the crowd. And somehow, it seemed even more massive as part of crowd.
Dissent and protest are American. Never forget that y’all.
While I’m proud of my live concert work, I’m probably the most proud of having a press card and covering protests over the past year and change. It has been a profound honor to personally be a part of the democracy process — and to document such massive, historic moments.
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