The Mayor's Grass

The Mayor's Grass

It seems that the Mayor shares the country club mentality of many
uppercase republicans: the view that a fine trimmed lawn, a fine
trimmed facade, is indeed preferable to something as messy as civil
rights. It is a fact that the City is shutting down bridges for
two marches (the March for Women's Lives will march over the
Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, 28 August and Bergen Action will march
over the George Washington Bridge on Sunday 29 August). This will
doubtless disrupt traffic to some degree but as it does not involve
any vegetation it is not as much of an issue as walking on the
Mayor's grass. I personally am grateful to the Mayor for protecting
my grass. I would love to see him relaxing in a lawn chair, nestled
gently on my grass, as he sips a mint julep with other corporate
giants. All the while, working folks travel past pushing lawn mowers.
All the while, unpleasant protesters are kept at bay, swept under the
bright green rug.

While enjoying his mint julep the Mayor could wax poetic on how he
has not only kept the protesters away but how he has successfully avoided
providing the noisy police, firefighters and teachers unions with a
living wage. He has successfully avoided negotiating a contract with
these unpleasant types for two years. Clearly the Mayor is protecting
the citizenry from those who would take advantage of our generosity.
After all, we do not owe those who educate and protect our children
a wage that keeps up with the cost of living. And clearly it would be
uncivic of me to question the need to have a Republican convention
in New York City when we have budgetary and security concerns. The
disruption to our lives caused by permitting the presence here of
someone as controversial and divisive as George W. Bush is not my
concern as a New Yorker who occasionally visits Central Park, in
search of the green grass of home. Perhaps the Mayor merely wants
some company...someone who understands the importance of good grass
and fending off troublesome labor unions. Perhaps a round of mint
juleps is the order of the day. Perhaps we should all remove our
shoes and relax.

Returning to the Mayor's penchant for protecting grass, I find myself
wondering if perhaps His Honor has forgotten that the Park is owned
by the people. It is true some of us cannot afford mint juleps at
the country club (especially if we work as teachers, police or
firefighters) but nonetheless we have hired the Mayor to protect our
interests, not necessarily our grass. Although we are of course
grateful that he will see to it that all concerned tread lightly on
this valuable resource, we can only hope that one day civil rights
will be as valuable a resource as a fine trimmed lawn.

In closing, I find myself marveling at the fact that, for all of the
comparisons with Chicago in 1968 made by pundits predicting violent
demonstrations at the RNC, the fact is that history rarely repeats.
The New York City Police Department is not the Chicago Police Department
of Mayor Daley. The peaceful protesters coming to New York City are
not traveling here solely to tread upon the Mayor's grass - they are
assembling here to perform their civic duty as they see it. For some
of us this will include a nonviolent civil disobedience on August 31st.
Despite the media proclaiming our violent intent the clear fact is that
we are committed to peace, as a long term goal and a code of conduct.
As peaceful protesters we hope that the NYPD will be aware that we
may require arrest for trespass, whether on the Mayor's grass or on
some sidewalk somewhere. And yet as we require arrest we do not require
to be on the receiving end of batons and pepper spray. We will not
be confrontational with the Police because, unlike the Mayor, we regard
them as working people struggling to do a tough job while earning a
living wage.