A Japanese artist, activist and reporter went to Seattle to cover the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) and to show that the protest was non-violent. He left within 15 minutes having been severely beaten up.
Oogesa Taro, the organizer of a collaborative social art project called ‘Without Borders’, travelled to the US to explore the ongoing protests that erupted in the wake of the George Floyd killing by Minneapolis police.
シアトルに着きました。警察が逃げ出し、市民たちが今、自治区にしている #CHOP の様子です。市長との話し合いもあって今は市からも自治を認められた状態ですが、一昨日、何者かの銃撃があり、19歳の青年が殺されてしまいました。現場最前線から情報を発信していきます。#blacklivesmatterpic.twitter.com/W14ZA4YT0T
— 大袈裟太郎 = 猪股東吾 (@oogesatarou) June 22, 2020
Reporting from the ground within the CHAZ, it didn’t take long before Taro was set upon and beaten up by some of the area’s less welcoming residents.
Despite the unsavoury encounter and hostility, Taro’s indomitable spirit led him back to the scene of the crime.
“Im back. #CHOP. To prove that this is not a protest that affirms violence. To prove that this is not a violent protest,” he said.
He returned undeterred to cover the civil unrest in the US as anti-racism activists and anarchists unite to create a police-free utopia, in which at least one person has been shot dead and several injured.
The plucky documentarian’s voyage into the heart of America’s civil unrest has generated a few chuckles online, with some sharing visual representations of Taro’s expectations versus reality.
Obviously it’s not funny that he got hurt, but his tweets about it are hilarious. It’s like he’s that person from tiger king who got their arm ripped off, but is determined to prove it’s okay to have captive tigers. He’s like...the lawless rioters were just reacting to the camera
— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) June 23, 2020
現実は厳しいぃぃぃのぉぉぉぉ pic.twitter.com/tNE7gAS9Z6
— ざちょう@JPN (@zenizeni0521) June 22, 2020
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