Political Protest In America

Political protest in America is a right that is possible thanks to the Freedom of Assembly that can be found in our First Amendment. When Union Square is thought of, the level of its diversity and unity among the people who inhabit it are what stands out the most. The way in which people, sculptures and buildings use a space give it its meaning and can also create a theme that can completely change how a space is looked at. Union Square is a space that is rich in subcultural gatherings ranging from open markets, artist, skateboarders, street performers and most of all, political protest. This paper serves a purpose to show the relationship in which people have with Union Square that defines it as a space of political protest. Outlined will

It is well known because it is usually the start or end point in many politic protest that take place in the city. Acting as a crossroad for New Yorkers, Union Square was built by the combining of multiple roads including Park Ave South, Broadway and Fourth Ave. The combining or “union” of these multiple roads represents to me the combination of many different cultures and this is very apparent in Union Square. Broadway which is known for its great history of plays, Park Ave which is known for its rich and luxurious lifestyle is lined with skyscrapers and historical monuments and Fourth Ave which is one of the oldest roads in New York City being that it is a remnant from the old Bowery Road. Union Square wasn’t designed to match other parks in New York City by being marked with lustrous landscaping, although beautiful and abundant in nature, the park was designed with a greater idea in mind. The parks design is a rectangular block that has large open areas that can facilitate large amounts of people in the north and south ends of the park, the east side of the park is rather large as well and can hold many people. Unlike parks such as Madison Square, Union Square was built this way in order to foster this space as a public forum where large scale events could take place and hold many people. With this brilliant design we start to see Union Square act as a forum

Currently we are dealing with a major uprising due to police brutality and the death of numerous African Americans at the hands of our officers. The movement now labeled as “Black Lives Matter” has seen a major surge in support from around the nation. As seen in figure. 1, it is apparent that the message of “Black Lives Matter” holds a great deal of meaning to people and the names of those who they hold dearly to them. Walking through Union Square this chalk drawing stands out because it is very large in size and hard to miss, it transforms this front area of the park, standing for a cause that has taken this nation by storm. In 2015 a man by the name of Freddie Gray died due to the spinal cord injuries sustained while in police custody. Protest and marches erupted across the nation with one of these taking place in Union Square. What started out with as a few dozen people in Union Square swelled into several hundred people who splintered off from there marching across the city to various sites blocking traffic and laying down in the middle of the street in Herald Square and Times Square. One of the common themes that took place was that New York stands with Baltimore and the representation of Union Square once again acted upon its historic nature, to unite those in protest and freedom of