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\nGunshot wounds are becoming more common at demonstrations. This is not to say you should panic—millions of people have participated in demonstrations over the past four months, while only dozens have been shot. Still, as political conflict escalates in the United States, it is important to think about how we can care for and protect each other. The good news is that even if you have no medical training, there are things you can do to maximize the likelihood that a person who is shot in your vicinity will survive—simple things like learning the location of the nearest trauma center. Though this subject can be stressful to contemplate, the following guide may equip you to help save lives.
\n\nWhile many demonstrators have learned how to prepare for tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, LRADs, baton blows, and arrests, few are currently prepared to respond to gunshot wounds. This guide is drawn from the experiences of several people who have witnessed or treated gunshot wounds in the course of political and social conflict. In order to demystify the subject and help readers imagine how they might employ this information, we’ve included two personal narratives describing experiences with gunshot wounds at demonstrations.
\n\nAlthough this text draws on the practical knowledge of a number of people with both institutional training and street experience, it does not represent professional medical advice. It includes some information that will chiefly be useful to experienced street medics, but most of it is relevant to any reader. It is not intended to stand in for actual training in gunshot wound response or other medical interventions. We encourage readers to seek out additional training, skills, and life-saving critical response tools.
\n\nGunshot wounds involve traumatic injuries and serious puncture wounds. Their impact on the body varies according to the type of weapon, the distance of the shooter, and the location of the entry wound. Depending on the size and speed of the bullet, gunshots can inflict different types of harm—including severe bleeding, muscle and bone damage, and destruction of organs. They can damage bodies in unpredictable ways.
\n\nWhile some calibers of ammunition may pass directly through a person leaving easily identifiable entry and exit wounds, other calibers are more prone to “tumbling,” or ricocheting, inside the body. This can cause more internal damage and less predictable exits. Worse still, some types of “self-defense” ammunition for handguns are designed to “mushroom” out on impact, causing severe harm.
\n\nTreat any gunshot wound as a potentially life-threatening injury, regardless of the details. If an artery is compromised, a person can bleed out in as few as three minutes. Once a person loses half their blood, their chances of survival decrease dramatically. It is up to you to act quickly.
\n\n\nFirst and foremost, pay attention to what is going on around you. Street demonstrations can be chaotic and loud. Police may employ tear gas, flash-bang grenades, LRADs, and other noisy weaponry, while protestors sometimes set off fireworks—which can sound an awful lot like gunfire. When you are surprised by loud bangs in the streets, try to identify the source and what kind of risk it represents.
\n\nStay aware of the location of anyone who is openly carrying a firearm, as well as anyone you have reason to believe may be carrying a concealed weapon. People have been hit by friendly fire at demonstrations as well as hostile fire. If you are working with an affinity group, you could designate one person to keep an eye out for potential threats. Take turns occupying this role, so one person doesn’t become exhausted from being constantly vigilant. In any case, all parties should stay aware, as things can shift rapidly.
\n\nCommunicate clearly and concisely, especially when you are describing individuals with firearms. This can help others to make wise decisions rapidly in an emergency, without contributing to undue panic. Here are two communication models you can employ to convey what you see.
\n\nUse the mnemonic device “S.A.L.U.T.E.” (Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment) to identify potential threats. For example, rather than shouting “They’ve got a gun!” you might report, “I saw three men (S) guarding the convenience store (A) at the intersection of Main Street and City Avenue (L). Possibly militia (U). This was at 11:15 pm (T). Two had long guns, I don’t know about the third (E).”
\n\nIn emergencies, or when time is of the essence, you can use another tool called the “three Ds”: Direction, Distance, Disposition. For example, “Four unknown white men with rifles at my 1 o’clock, one block up, scanning the crowd with binoculars.”
\n\nMuch of what you can do to treat a gunshot wound takes place long before the shot is fired.
\n\nDepending on the type of event and where it is taking place, there may be medics around. You could investigate in advance whether there are street medics in your area, whether they will be attending, and where they will be positioned. During demonstrations, one often sees medics milling around in the crowd or stationed at the margins, carrying gear and wearing a red cross or a similar insignia identifying them as medics. If you believe it could become relevant, you can ask them whether they are prepared to deal with gunshot wounds and other severe injuries. Many medics have experience responding to tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets, as well as exhaustion, dehydration, and panic. Currently, it is less likely that a medic who responds to a gunshot wound will possess the relevant skills and experience.
\n\nIf you are assessing the extent to which local medics are trained to deal with gunshot wounds and you learn that they are prepared to offer “first response” care, you can also inquire as to whether they have the capacity to offer prolonged care in the event that EMS services cannot reach an area. This can give you vital information about the potential risks you may be taking on if you remain in an escalating situation.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/2.jpg\")
Street medics in the Bush era.
\nBefore going to a demonstration, assess the security and health needs of your comrades—including ability and willingness to call for emergency services, which are usually accompanied by police. Are there any needs that should be addressed before someone reaches the emergency room? Who would you like your friends to contact first in the event of an emergency or injury?
\n\nIn addition to learning whether trained medics will be around, make sure you know the location of the nearest emergency room—preferably one with a trauma center. Not all hospitals are equipped to deal with life-threatening wounds. If you will not be near a hospital with a trauma center, at least learn the location of the nearest hospital. With any luck, they should be able to stabilize a victim before transferring them to a hospital that is prepared to deal with mass physical trauma.
\n\nThere are several items you can carry with you that can be useful in the event of a shooting. Consider procuring or building an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) to carry with you. An IFAK is a trauma kit containing essential life-saving materials to help you control bleeding and treat major wounds. It is usually a small pouch containing items such as a gauze (regular or hemostatic), pressure dressing, personal protective equipment (gloves, face shield), and a tourniquet. An experienced medic has compiled a thorough list of what to put in an IFAK and where to obtain it, which is included in an appendix below. With the exception of PPE, which protects you and the person you are assisting from blood-borne pathogens or other communicable diseases, all of these intervention tools share the same purpose: to stop bleeding as quickly as possible.
\n\nGauze is a basic part of an IFAK, but a crucial one. It is used to absorb blood as you apply direct pressure to a wound. It can also be used to “pack” inside of a larger wound.1 Hemostatic gauze (often known by brand names such as QuickClot, Celox, and Hemcon) is gauze impregnated with a mineral agent that helps blood clot more quickly, which is critical in the case of a major bleed.
\n\nA pressure dressing (also referred to as an Israeli bandage, emergency bandage, or emergency trauma dressing) is an elastic wrap, similar to an ace bandage, with an attached non-adherent absorption pad and a Velcro or clip closure system. When holding pressure on the wound with your hands is not enough stop the bleed, a pressure bandage is used to apply stronger, constant pressure to a wound. There are many different models of pressure dressings; if you carry one, make sure you know exactly how it works. Online training or gear review videos are great for this.
\n\nA tourniquet is the cornerstone of an IFAK. If you carry only one intervention tool, invest in a quality tourniquet. When purchasing a tourniquet, it is ideal to acquire one approved by the Committee of Tactical Combat Casualty Care. These tourniquets have undergone rigorous pre-manufacturing testing and have been thoroughly vetted through field use. We recommend a CAT-7 Tourniquet. One can cost around $35; you and your comrades may be able to buy them in bulk to save money. Beware of fakes! Many cheaper versions are in circulation; these can fail under pressure. You can usually recognize a fake by the absence of a factory stamp by the red pull tab; a skinny windlass (i.e., the rotating rod) can also be a giveaway, instead of a beefier one with extrusions. Finally, and most obviously, no black CATs produced before 2009 have white “time” straps. Fakes notoriously have these white straps.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/6.jpg\")
The one on the top is a cheap knockoff that could fail under pressure.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/9.jpg\")
The one on the right is a cheap knockoff that could fail under pressure.
\nIt is good practice to keep your tourniquet with the band already threaded through the buckle, creating a large loop you will then pass over the foot or hand, rather than attempting to thread the buckle in the heat of the moment if you need to use it.
\n\nFinally, carry sharpies to mark the time that a tourniquet was applied or any additional information that first responders—street medics or otherwise—may need to know. Black sharpies work for white people or lighter-skinned people of color, while silver sharpies work better for Black comrades.
\n\nEven if there is a trained and experienced medic collective local to you, carrying an IFAK, or even just a tourniquet, is a great idea. In the scope of emergency casualty care, many properly trained medics will seek to use the injured comrade’s equipment on them first, in order to save their specialized equipment for those who did not carry anything. Because of this, be sure to mark your IFAK or blowout kit clearly and carry it somewhere that is easily accessible. Failing this, make sure to have your tourniquet easily accessible, in a marked, visible location that is known to everyone in your affinity group. Normalize the practice of letting your trusted comrades know where your medical equipment is located.
\n\nSeveral things can happen in the immediate aftermath of a shooting. If police are nearby and intervene, it is possible that you will rapidly lose control of the situation. Despite their general lack of medical training, they will typically form a cordon around the victim and prevent a medic or anyone else from treating them. This does not necessarily mean they will act quickly in response to the injury. Put pressure on the police if they aren’t doing enough, or doing it fast enough. Demand they seek proper medical care for the injured.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/crimethinc/status/1300285181530640391\n\n\n
The flip side of the scenario is just as possible—you and your comrades may have to make do without state intervention. If the situation is chaotic or deemed dangerous, even if you are willing to call emergency services, an ambulance may not enter an area. Police may spend an inordinate amount of time trying to clear the area with tear gas or other means before they bring in an ambulance—they might even simply prevent an ambulance from reaching you. In such a situation, depending on the severity of the wound, survival may depend on quick thinking and action. In that case, you will have no one to depend on except yourselves to care for the wounded and organize your evacuation.
\n\nContinually assess what’s going on around you. Are there still gunshots being fired? Is there traffic in the area? Are people running past you fleeing from a shooter, police, or fascists? Don’t let panic, haste, or inattentiveness cause additional misfortunes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/5.jpg\")
A small Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) containing a tourniquet and trauma dressings.
\nNothing you could read here can substitute for proper medical training. However, if you own an IFAK or tourniquet and possess a basic understanding of how to stop a bleed on an arm or leg, some action may be better than nothing.
\n\nIf gunshots ring out, try not to panic. First, get to a safer place. In the system of Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, the first step is to maintain scene safety, so you do not become a casualty as well. Find cover from which to assess the situation. “Cover” designates anything that can stop the rounds you are facing, which depends on the situation and the caliber of weapon. Consider a brick wall or the engine block of a car.
\n\nIf you determine that someone has been shot and you are equipped to provide aid, make sure the scene is relatively secure. If you can determine this, communicate to your friends that you intend to move to the person who has been hit. While moving, ask the person questions to determine how to care for them: “Where were you shot?” or simply, “What is your name?” If they answer these questions before you reach them, this will indicate that their airway is open and they are conscious, and you may obtain enough information to start preparing your equipment and mindset.
\n\nYour first thought will likely be, “That’s a lot of blood!” Initially, you may have a difficult time identifying exactly where the wound is, especially if the individual is wearing long-sleeved dark clothing. Quickly expose the injury, using trauma shears (special scissors designed to cut quickly through clothing) if you have them. In general, it is important to expose an injury at skin layer to understand the exact scope and extent of the wound.
\n\nImmediately apply direct pressure to the wound. Ideally, you would use a gloved hand and a gauze pad (preferably hemostatic gauze), but in an emergency, you can use a t-shirt, scarf, or extra mask. If blood soaks through the gauze, add more gauze or another cloth layer and apply more pressure. If holding direct pressure with your hands does not stop the bleeding, apply a pressure dressing. Place the sterile absorption pad over the wound, and over any gauze that has already been applied (never remove gauze—this could disrupt any clotting that may have started). Wrap the elastic bandage firmly around the injured part of the body. It should apply a lot of pressure, but not enough to cut off circulation.
\n\nWith a life-threatening bleed, time is of the essence. If the wound is clearly on an arm or a leg and you can see a lot of blood, you may choose to apply a tourniquet immediately. Unlike holding direct pressure with gauze or using a pressure dressing, which stops bleeding from a specific wound, a tourniquet cuts off all distal circulation to the limb, meaning that it should stop all bleeding that is further away from center body than where the tourniquet has been applied. If applying a tourniquet over clothes, quickly check to ensure that you are not fitting it over items in a pocket or anything else that could obstruct the pressure.
\n\nMany people have been taught that using a tourniquet is likely to result in the loss of the patient’s limb, due to complications from cutting off circulation; in fact, this is still commonly taught within many wilderness/remote medicine and street medic frameworks. Data garnered from combat zones across the globe, however, has shifted the understanding of tourniquet safety. Certified tourniquets such as the CAT-7 are now understood to be highly effective and safe live-saving devices, rarely resulting in long-term damage or side effects. Used correctly, they are considered an appropriate first line of intervention, rather than solely as a “last resort.” As the everyday demonstrator’s threat model changes—especially if the streets increasingly take on the contours of a combat zone—models of intervention based on armed conflict scenarios, such as the Tactical Combat Casualty Care framework, will gain increasing relevance.
\n\nFor a succinct step-by-step guide to using a tourniquet, see Appendix III.
\n\nTo apply a tourniquet, open your CAT-7 and make sure that the band is passed through the single routing buckle and the red tip is pointed towards the heart. Then slide the tourniquet up the extremity as high as you can possibly go, while taking the individual’s genitals into consideration if applicable. If the wound is clearly below the knee or elbow, and you can easily see there are no wounds higher on that limb, you can place the tourniquet just above those joints. Once you have it in position, make sure the strap is as tight as you can make it—think “ratchet strap.” If you can stick even one of your fingers beneath the strap, it is not tight enough. Turn the windlass until the flow of blood stops. Pull the “strap” closed through the windlass clip and mark the time applied on the time strap. This process will hurt your comrade immensely, though likely less than the initial wound, depending on its location. Talk to them while you are applying the tourniquet and afterwards as you are able.
\n\nPrior to ever using a tourniquet, you should get a sense of how tight it has to be to be effective. Try placing it on yourself briefly just above the elbow before the demonstration and tightening it until you no longer feel the pulse at your wrist. This is a good exercise in empathy, to know what kind of experience a person you treat will endure. Never leave a tourniquet in place for more than a few seconds except when treating an actual wound.
\n\nAs soon as you have stopped the bleeding—by using direct pressure, a pressure dressing, or a tourniquet—immediately being to look for other wounds. Sweep underneath all parts of the body with gloved hands. Check your hands for blood regularly during the sweep so you can immediately identify which part of the body is injured. If the injured person is wearing waterproof clothing, make sure to remove or sweep inside of those layers, as a rain jacket or rain pants can keep blood next to the body, concealing a major bleed. Do not wait to apply a tourniquet if you find a major bleed on an arm or leg. Pause the sweep, apply direct pressure, a pressure dressing, or a tourniquet, and resume sweeping once that bleed is controlled.
\n\nBleeds that are in junctional areas (i.e., the groin proximal to the inguinal ligament, the buttocks, the gluteal and pelvic areas, the area under where the arm connects to the shoulder, the shoulder girdle, and the base of the neck) can be controlled by “packing” the wound, which applies direct pressure to the severed artery or vein. If you are in an unsafe area, or if you are not equipped with wound packing material, direct pressure on the wound, ideally with a gauze pad, can do for the time being.
\n\nIf you are not equipped with an IFAK or tourniquet, call loudly for a medic. Call out landmarks to guide them quickly to you, as well as crucial information such as whether the casualty is bleeding considerably: for example, “I need a medic! I’m behind the red sedan—someone has been shot in the leg!”
\n\nWhile you wait for them to arrive, use direct pressure to slow the bleeding. If the bleed is capillary (slow and even flow, bright red in color) or venous (steady flow, dark red in color), you may be able to control the bleed with direct pressure. If the bleed is arterial (spurting or pulsing flow, bright red in color), direct pressure won’t be enough—you will have to apply pressure at an arterial pressure point. If the wound is in the leg, consider applying pressure in the upper thigh, near the pelvic region—but be careful. If there is a wound in this area, try applying pressure in the lower right abdomen. If the wound is in the arm, try applying pressure underneath the armpit. If the bleeding is on the neck, try applying pressure on the side of the neck generally underneath the point of the jawline, keeping in mind to apply pressure only on one side. Only do this in an extreme emergency, as it is of limited value for bleed control.
\n\nRegardless of where the wound is, once you apply pressure, do not remove pressure to check if the wound is still bleeding. Continue to apply pressure until a medic can place a pressure dressing or other hemostatic intervention.
\n\nIf the wound is in the chest, it is acceptable to cover the wound with your gloved hand, but applying too much pressure can potentially inhibit their respiratory system. Chest wounds generally present with less bleeding, but run a high risk of air entering the chest cavity, leading to a buildup of pressure that can cause a lung to collapse. Some medics carry vented chest seals in their kits, which serve the same general purpose as a gloved hand over the wound: preventing air from entering the chest cavity. If the wound is in the trunk—i.e., between the chest and the navel—there is probably little you can do to help besides notifying a medic or other higher care immediately.
\n\nIf you can control the bleed, you or a friend should prepare the victim for a possible ER visit or another situation in which they may have their possessions confiscated. Remove any potentially incriminating items from their backpack, pockets, and person. Dispose of these or give them to a trusted friend who can remove them from the scene.
\n\nWhen higher care arrives, whether that is EMS or street medics, give them a report to the best of your ability, using the MIST acronym: the Mechanism of injury (M), the Injuries sustained (I), the Symptoms (S), and any Treatments (T) given. For example, “They were shot with a rifle from about two blocks away, they received two bullet wounds in their left leg. Their skin is cool to the touch, and their breathing seems slower than normal. I applied a tourniquet high and tight and the bleeding seems to have stopped.”
\n\nIf it takes a while for medical care to arrive, consider writing symptoms or other things you notice on the patient’s arm with your marker.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/4.jpg\")
A small IFAK that can be worn on a belt, marked with a cross for easy identification.
\nKnow your options for evacuation. Are you behind a police line that an ambulance cannot pass through? Does the local medic collective offer transport to hospitals? You can try calling for an ambulance if you think you are in an area they can enter. When you place a 911 call for an ambulance, you can request that they do not send police in tandem, but they may well ignore your request. If you do decide to call EMS while you are in a group actively trying to assist someone who has been wounded, designate one person to make the 911 call and report the wound and location while the rest of you stay focused on assisting the victim. It is possible—but not guaranteed—that a 911 dispatcher can walk you through basic trauma response until you receive help or can transport the wounded.
\n\nIf you or your comrades have driven to the demonstration, it can help if a car is parked nearby with immediate access to the road. Make sure the location of the keys is known and accessible to more than one person. Other people will likely wish to assist in the event of a shooting. If you cannot transport the patient yourself, seek aid from those around you.
\n\nIn some cities, hospitals place shooting victims in protective custody to eliminate the threat of violence against them.2 If that occurs, you will not be able to locate your friend inside the hospital system. If the person is unconscious and unable to tell healthcare workers who to contact, the workers will try to contact a family member. If you are entering a situation in which it is possible that you will be severely injured, you could write an emergency number in sharpie on your skin with the instruction “call in case of emergency.”
\n\nWhile this may not be uppermost in your thoughts in the event of a shooting, it is important to know that most large hospital systems offer programs via which you can apply for aid to reduce or forgive your bills. If someone’s life is on the line, you can work out the financial details later.
\n\nWhen bringing someone home from the hospital, evaluate their home situation. Do they live alone? With friends or family? Is their bedroom up a flight of stairs? Depending on the severity of the injury and the forecasted length of their recovery, they may need to change their living situation.
\n\nBecause there is very little semblance of a public health system in this country, people are often released from the hospital very rapidly—sometimes before they are ready to go home. This can be intimidating, but the good news is that home is usually a better recovery environment than an institution. You can rent a hospital bed from a hospital or home-care equipment rental company—they are surprisingly inexpensive and can be enormously helpful in the case of a long-term recovery.
\n\nIf necessary, organize community care so people are present or available around the clock. Even if that is not necessary, try to organize a caregiver schedule involving a rotating cast of friends and loved ones to ensure that care does not fall solely or mostly on a partner. In addition, you can create a meal schedule for people to drop off food and groceries or cook for the wounded and the caregivers.
\n\nWhile it should go without being said, being shot—or responding to someone getting shot, or witnessing someone getting shot, or having someone you love get shot even if you weren’t there—is a traumatic event. You may experience a range of responses including nightmares, anxiety, flight/freeze/fight responses, self doubt, jumpiness, fear, and depression. Seek help! Form a community care circle and meet weekly to process the pain, confusion, and trauma.
\n\nIf many people in your community were affected by the event, you can seek out a friend or loved one from outside your circle to help you process what happened. Find a therapist in your town to help you work through your feelings. While therapy can often seem cost prohibitive, there may be a non-profit, a clinic system, or a university where counselors in training can offer services for free or a reduced price. If there are ongoing protests in your city, local non-profits may offer counseling specifically for those affected. This guide written in response to the COVID-19 pandemic offers some tools you can apply to coping with trauma.
\n\nThere has been a longstanding tendency in anarchist milieus to emulate tough attitudes and bravado. Analyzing and overcoming these cultural norms and eschewing a dichotomy between “passivity” and “militancy” can help us to build sustainable long-term movements. Remember, we want a thoroughgoing social revolution, not just periodic street violence.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/3.jpg\")
\nThere is a long history of state-sanctioned violence in the United States, against both ordinary people and movements for social change. Alongside this extends an equally long history of extra-state violence, from the lynchings of the not-so-distant past to contemporary equivalents like the murders of Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery. Since before the American Revolution, extra-state forces have worked in tandem with the state to uphold patriarchal white supremacy. It is well documented that police continue to cooperate with white supremacists. They are two sides of the same coin.
\n\nThe current clashes between white supremacists and anti-fascists are reminiscent of the rise of Nazism in Germany. In the early 1930s, when the Reichstag election campaigns were in full swing, fascists repeatedly baited their adversaries into street fights, injuring many while framing themselves as “victims in a lawless country.” They used this violence to bolster their campaign for “law and order,” a pretext to impose a dictatorship. Sound familiar?
\n\nThere have now been many instances of lethal violence during demonstrations, including the murders of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, David McAtee in Louisville, Garrett Foster in Austin, and Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum in Kenosha. It is vital that we learn how to navigate these increasingly violent and contested spaces. If we are to sustain a culture of resistance, we’ll have to be prepared to respond to a wide array of scenarios. We can learn to deal with violence and mitigate its effects while refusing to glorify or romanticize it.
\n\nAs social conflict deepens, more and more people are becoming familiar with the violence that the state has long meted out overseas and against Black and Indigenous communities inside the United States. This must not deter us from action—it is better for us to confront these threats together, head on, than to try to hide from them until they reach each of us in isolation. Generalizing care and aid is an essential part of staying safer in the streets, which, in turn, is part of creating safer communities and, ultimately, a safer world for all of us.
\n\nAs frightening as this situation is, you are not alone. The same dynamics that are destabilizing our lives and our society offer us the opportunity to connect with each other and reinvent our lives on a new basis. Thank you for everything you have done to become part of the momentum towards a better world.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/1.jpg\")
On May 15, 1970, policemen in riot gear fired more than a hundred and fifty rounds in twenty-eight seconds, murdering two young Black men at Jackson State campus in Mississippi and injuring a dozen more. While the murders at Kent State a few days earlier remain widely known, the subsequent murders of young Black demonstrators in Jackson and Augusta, Georgia are often forgotten.
\nThe following accounts may help you to visualize how you would conduct yourself in similar circumstances.
\n\nIt is a dark and stormy night, the first night it has rained all week. People are milling around under the awning of a barbecue joint, hanging back from the police line, waiting to see what will happen. More than a few folks have guns tucked in their waistbands. Some people scuffle with the police, some break up chunks of concrete to throw at the tanks; others listen to heated arguments about whether we should go home, stop violating the curfew, and leave the fight for another day. Then, out of the blue, a lone cop car comes squealing in from behind, sirens blaring.
\n\nThe crowd scatters, people panic, running in all directions, as tear gas canisters skitter across the street and flash-bang grenades explode from the police lines. Choking smoke and chaos and fear everywhere. Gunshots ring out as people fire through the crowd at the lone cruiser, which has turned around to retreat. I dive to the ground by a blue mailbox, confused and separated from my friends. A tide of people flows down the street away from the police lines, as the cops start to push the crowd forward, hoping to clear it. Swept up in the sea of people, I take perhaps twenty steps down the sidewalk before I come upon a knot of people gathered around a figure on the ground.
\n\nTime slows down. Two of my close friends are clustered around a body on the sidewalk. That body is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Someone is screaming, “He’s been shot, he’s been shot!” One of my friends is shouting for people to back up, pushing people back, when he looks up and sees me. I look from him to my friend on the ground, who has been shot in the leg. But the light is fading in his eyes as he clutches his torso and moans. Getting shot in the leg isn’t enough of an explanation as to why my friend is crashing. We’re so confused—there’s no blood, there’s no blood. What the fuck happened? Where else is he hurt? There’s no blood, just a stumbling, haunting groan from his mouth. I am a mother, I have birthed a small person into this world. I know what it sounds like at the line between life and death, and all I know in this moment of despair and confusion is that this person I love so much is straddling that line before my eyes.
\n\nI still don’t know what the fuck is happening, but I do know that we have to get him out of there ASAP. No one is coming to help us and no one is coming to save him. I run to my car—thank goodness I parked only a few blocks away. I speed around screeching cars that are doing donuts in the street. When I get back, I find people lifting my friend’s body into an already packed car. I scream and scream that he is coming with me as my friends wrest his body away from the well-intentioned strangers. We race down the street into a rabbit warren of loopy suburban streets. I know what hospital I want to go to, but it’s dark and I’m confused. Riot angels pull up next to us and ask if we need to be led to the hospital.
\n\nWhen we arrive at the hospital and pull my friend from the car, his shirt slides up and there it is: an entry wound with no exit wound. He is immediately transferred to a trauma hospital. Over the following days, we hear over and over the words “should have died.”
\n\nBefore this, I didn’t know that I didn’t know what it meant to get shot. What getting shot means is that a bullet rips through muscle, maybe through bone, maybe destroys some organs—quite possibly some that are essential. It could destroy the left kidney or the spleen; it could collapse both lungs, clip the esophagus, fill up the inner cavities with blood as the body bleeds out internally. A bullet could end up in the heart. You could find yourself in a hospital in the middle of the night, being coaxed through a series of legal documents by a very patient and very kind cardiologist who is preparing to do a second open heart surgery on someone you love to fish out the bullet that is lodged in his heart.
\n\nLuck was on our side that night, absolutely. But we responded to the situation quickly. I found out later that many different friends had passed by, that I wasn’t the only one running for a car—I just got there first. And well-intentioned strangers were trying to evacuate my friend on their own—so many people get shot in this city that people recognized what they were looking at and how important it was to respond.
\n\nWhat happened to my friend hasn’t stopped me from returning to the streets, and it hasn’t stopped him or other people in my community. Because the hospital placed my friend in protective custody, only one other friend and I could be there with him. Many of my friends sought comfort in the street battles that continued to rage, glad to have an opportunity to turn their grief, fear, despair, and anger into action.
\n\nI’m thankful that I happened to be parked close that night. I’m thankful that so many people around us wanted to help. I’m so thankful that people realized we needed them to lead us to the hospital. I’m thankful that the transfer to the trauma center happened quickly enough and I’m thankful for adept and willing surgeons. I’m thankful that my friend’s inner will was strong enough that he survived. I’m so thankful he lived. I’m thankful that there are things you can all do, too, to make it likely that things will turn out as well as possible if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
\n\nAnd I am thankful for riot angels. May they be by your side if you ever need them.
\n\nWe all heard it. A single pop. It rang through the night, oddly out of place after hours and hours of hushed scuffles and the rustling of an agitated crowd. Hundreds of people were in the square—many lined up to get inside the event, and possibly an equal number trying to stop them. Red hats sailed above the crowd like short-range fireworks as people snatched and threw them. It was a mess, the conflicts impossible to follow; eggs, paint bombs, pepper spray, and punches coming at odd angles and from all directions. The few police that were on hand didn’t intervene. Stepping back from the square into the dark campus streets, the entire situation looked like a poorly directed fight scene in a low budget play.
\n\nBut we all heard the pop. Just the one. Instinctively, the black-clad crowd dispersed throughout, the red hats all looked up. Given our knowledge up to that point of what happens at demonstrations, we assumed it was a flash-bang grenade. That was the only thing we thought could make that noise. But there was no second bang. Everyone’s eyes refocused on the stalemate around them. Pushing and shoving, some reinforced banners and phones being snatched, but a relative calm.
\n\nLooking up across the square, I caught a glimpse of something out of place. It was someone I recognized, someone I knew was in trouble. He had been trying to ensure that no one would get hurt, mixing distraction and de-escalation. Now something was wrong, but it was impossible to tell what it was.
\n\nA comrade and I pushed our way through the crowd to where he was. To get there, I walked through something hanging in the air—my brain wouldn’t put it all together for a while. It wasn’t a smell, it was more of a taste, a cloud in the air that had a tang of metal. Once we reached him, the look on his face told me that I was in over my head. That, and the sound. He was making a sound that you just don’t make. A scream and a gurgle mixed into one. I don’t know how he was still standing. I got to him first and he leaned into me, all dead weight. The smell of his leather jacket and the press of him onto my smaller frame in that moment of desperation is one of the things that would enter my dreams and wake me for years after. It was as if I was carrying a dead but still living body.
\n\nHe stared right at me, but looking past me. I realized he was dying. But I had no idea why. Reasons flashed through my head; there was almost no blood and I couldn’t find anything. We didn’t walk that far—twenty feet at very most—and the best I could come up with was that he must have hit his head, only a head injury would make him incoherent like that.
\n\nAnd then as quickly as I had taken his weight, the medics took him. His weight left mine and we were uncoupled from that moment. I stared at the medic, who I thankfully trusted, and all I could get out was “He’s hurt, I don’t know,” or something like that. Besides walking him out of the danger of the immediate moment, I felt totally useless. The medics began doing their part, on the ground where there was a fair amount of blood now, trying to run through what their training had taught them. I heard the crowd as a low din—that thing that happens when you’re about to pass out and the audio goes to the end of a tunnel. But that was when I finally put it together: pop, metal, gurgle.
\n\nSomeone had shot him.
\n\nThe police swooped in and took him, pulling the trained trauma medics away by force as we all screamed from the other side of a police line. Now everyone knew he was dying, that something had gone wrong. I wanted to scream that he had been shot; I started to, but then I realized that it might cause people to panic. I was just barely aware that I was already panicking. I found one of the medics; they confirmed that someone had shot him.
\n\nThe police loaded him into the back of some kind of open-air vehicle—campus cops with a golf cart. And the demonstration continued. I panicked openly at that point, finding my crew and demanding that we leave, that “they” were shooting at us and we had to go. But at that point, I didn’t even know where the threat was coming from or if leaving was safer. So we pushed back along the line of people trying to see Milo talk, well after the event had been closed off. The police never moved in, the “active shooter on campus” alert was never activated, and we stayed in that crime scene—for hours.
\n\nLive Like the World is Dying podcast recently aired an interview with an experienced street medic who gives detailed instructions about responding to gunshot wounds at demonstrations.
\nIn this podcast, Hex, who survived a shooting attack by a fascist at a demonstration on January 20, 2017, discusses justice, violence, patriarchy, and compassion, the critical importance of healing, and how to redefine resistance.
\nProtocols for Common Injuries from Police Weapons—A guide for street medics responding to non-lethal police munitions and chemical weapons
\nKeep talking to the person you are treating.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/24/7.jpg\")
\n IFAK Build—Current lowest price per kit: $95.25, not including tax, shipping, or a bag or pouch for the kit. Here are the recommended contents, with links to sources:
\n\n“Packing” means applying internal direct pressure to a severed vessel by creating pressure on that vessel with gauze, filling the wound with more gauze, holding direct pressure when the wound is filled, and finishing it with a pressure dressing. ↩
\nIn this case, if someone has been shot, the hospital assumes that they may still be a target and aims to reduce the possibility of continued harm. ↩
\nThe following guidelines are intended to equip street medics and health professionals to respond to some of the common injuries inflicted by police violence. They are drawn from experience in the struggle against an airport that the French government tried—and failed—to build in Notre-Dame-des-Landes. It can be difficult to find solid information about how to treat such injuries based on real-life experience. Most mainstream health professionals have little experience treating injuries caused by police weapons; this guide shares the knowledge that medics gained in repeatedly responding to these injuries, in hopes of saving others the trouble of having to learn by trial and error. Being medically trained does not qualify you to be a street medic, as the Do No Harm Coalition elegantly states. Street medics gain from sharing information about what works and what doesn’t in a constantly evolving discussion. The red flags listed here can also help injured people identify when their symptoms are serious and when they should seek professional medical attention.
\n\nThese guidelines are non-exhaustive; there are many things that are not included here. For instance, the police deployed thousands of tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades on the ZAD during April and May 2018, but relatively little pepper spray. The focus here is on the protocols have been tested extensively. We prepared this translation in solidarity with the current uprising, sharing this information in hopes that it will be useful to street medics in the US.
\n\nWhat follows is not a do-it-yourself guide. Your local area or nearby large city likely has a street medic collective—find them! Medic collectives sometimes do trainings for new medics. Many of the practices detailed here require extensive knowledge and experience—and can really hurt someone if done wrong. Please don’t jeopardize the health of others by claiming experience you don’t have or trying to practice outside of your scope.
\n\nThe title photograph is from Ujimaa Medics. Founded by Black women in Chicago, they train communities for urban emergency first response.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/08/9.jpg\")
\nWhile the best way to learn how to be a street medic is from street medics themselves, here are some sources for more information about the history and practice of street medicine—from its inception as a self-defense tool during the Civil Rights Movement to its use in the recent uprising in response to the deaths of Black people at the hands of a system of brutal, racist policing.
\n\nAlways prioritize sources that are up to date and use evidence-based practice.
\n\nA recent video training by a coalition of medics about how to stay safe and healthy in the streets.
\nThe following protocols were written by the ZAD healers group, an interdisciplinary team of nurses, doctors, street medics, herbalists, psychologists, naturopaths, and energy workers who were part of a larger network of healthcare workers involved in the struggle to defend the ZAD (Zone à Défendre, “Zone to Defend”) at Notre-Dame-des-Landes.
\n\nIn their words:
\n\n\n\n\nDuring the evictions of autumn 2012, a number of healthcare professionals came to support the medics on the ground. Over the years, we have worked together to prepare logistical and communications strategies, and to have the materials necessary in the case of eviction attempts or other police intervention. We also have regular discussions, and regular reciprocal trainings.
\n
\n\n\nAs soon as we turn our dissent into concrete action, or block the smooth functioning of the corporate economy, repression quickly follows. Whether for the duration of a protest or because we live in the wrong neighborhood or because of the color of our skin, when we are labeled “undesirable” or “radicals,” the State hurts and kills us via its law enforcement.
\n\nConscious of these risks, in many countries revolutionary groups and activist movements have developed their own medical support networks for demonstrations or direct actions. This practice differs from humanitarian groups like the Red Cross, because we don’t pretend to be neutral. We take a clear political stance and an active role in the conflict and in the support that we bring to our comrades in struggle.
\n\nIn a demonstration, street medic teams try to be present on the scene as early as possible to be able to provide emergency care to people who ask for it, and to evaluate the needs of the situation before an ambulance arrives, which is sometimes blocked or delayed by the police. There is also an assessment of the legal risks involved in resorting to official emergency care: for example, the risk of identity checks and arrests inside hospitals targeting those who are undocumented, who have outstanding warrants, or simply because the fact of being wounded makes someone a suspect.
\n\nThe police regularly update their equipment dedicated to repression with new chemical, electrical and physical weapons. As street medics, we try to respond by spreading defense techniques developed on the ground and shared across the world for prevention, protection, and healing.
\n\nFor us, medical knowledge comes with a political reflection on how we put it into practice, to avoid reproducing the relationships of domination, management, and dispossession that characterize the medical institution. As street medics, we want to make the consent of injured people a priority and give them the information they need to make clear and informed choices for themselves.
\n
-Excerpt from a declaration of the ZAD street medics, 2015. (Published in print; not available online.)
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/08/13.jpg\")
A tear gas canister.
\nThe following protocols were written after the most recent eviction of the ZAD in 2018, during which medics set up a parallel system of emergency care as police blocked ambulances with tanks. These protocols were based in access to specific resources and skills and knowledge; they have been edited for clarity and context. Many of these protocols presume the ability to access medical care and transfer to a hospital as a backup option. The US does not have universal healthcare (yet). If you lack health insurance but have relationships with healthcare workers in your community, please reach out to them for resources or work with the people around you to find other ways to get the care you need.
\n\nThese guidelines are written for trained street medics and healthcare workers to respond to police violence. They are not a substitute for medical treatment or diagnosis. Please do not practice outside your scope!
\n\nAlso called CS, CN, or CR gas, tear gas is an aerosol that acts as a respiratory system irritant. Pepper spray is a red oil-based substance containing capsacin, derived from peppers, that is sprayed directly onto the skin and eyes.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/08/10.jpg\")
\n—Symptoms: skin and eye irritations and burns
\n—Treatment: Rinse as much as possible, with water pressure or gentle friction.
—Tear gas can cause trouble breathing or provoke asthma attacks. For people with asthma, employ Albuterol, or even oral prednisone (by an experienced medic) if they are out of breath. Avoid tear gas for several days afterwards.
\n\n—Can result in disability or other neurological symptoms: nausea, vomiting, intense headache, confusion. In these presentations:
\n\n—For pain: Ibuprofen
\n—For moderate nausea and vomiting: oral or suppository anti-nausea medications such as Metoclopromide (Ondansetron and Promethazine are more widely available in the US). Ginger chews and peppermint or chamomile tea also help.
\n—For severe vomiting and inability to keep liquids or medicines down (risk of dehydration): refer to hospital for IV fluids and observation.
\n—For intense confusion: Nothing by mouth. Place injured person in the recovery position and call for an ambulance.
Make sure people know to wear thick leather or specifically heat resistant gloves (such as barbecue gloves) before picking up or touching tear gas canisters to avoid burns.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/08/12.jpg\")
Concussion grenade exploding.
\nBlast wounds mainly damage the ears.
\n\n—Occurs infrequently in our experience. Not an emergency.
\n—Symptoms : pain, bleeding from the ear, temporary reduction in hearing.
\n—Treatment: Examine the ear with an otoscope, ideally within 24 hours. A torn eardrum heals itself in 2 weeks.
\n—If a medical exam is possible, an eight-day course of antibiotic drops (ofloxacine otic) can be offered preventatively to avoid infection of the middle ear and adjacent area (behind the eardrum). In any case, follow-up with Primary Care in 10 to 15 days is ideal for otoscopy and referral to ENT specialist if there is persistent anomaly.
—Occurs frequently in our experience.
\n—Symptoms: pain, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), loss of hearing, vertigo, or dizziness.
\n—Ringing in the ears does not come from the eardrum, but from the inner ear! Hearing loss is the guiding factor for treatment (not tinnitus).
\n—Simple hearing test: rub your thumb against your other fingers next to the person’s ear. Ask them if they can hear, and do the same thing on the other side.
\n—Treatment: If hearing loss persists for 24 hours after the blast, make an appointment with an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist as soon as possible. To avoid or at least limit permanent hearing damage (resulting from the death of cells in the inner ear), a steroid may be indicated: prednisolone in the ear (0.5mg at 1mg/kg/day for 2-3 days) is the most common prescription.
—Occurs rarely in our experience
\n—Symptoms: Difficulty breathing in the days following impact.
\n—Treatment: Emergency. Pulmonary edema requires hospitalization. Air embolisms caused by blast injury to the lungs can cause seizures, strokes, and/or permanent brain damage when air bubbles pass from the lungs to the blood and enter the brain.
—Occurs rarely in our experience.
\n—Symptoms: Abdominal pain, blood in stool (hematochezia) in the days following impact can indicate bowel perforation. Fever and abdominal distention (hard stomach) can indicate peritonitis.
\n—Treatment: Both of these are medical emergencies and require hospitalization!
—Shelter the person from additional noise.
\n—Do not hesitate to contact emergency medical providers if there is any impact on cognitive function or damage to organs.
\n—ENT specialist consultation for blast injuries to ear is suggested within 24 to 48 hours.
\n—Observe people with blast injuries for several days. Symptoms indicating complications may be delayed, such as changes in hearing, breathing, and abdominal functions.
Shrapnel wounds occur frequently in our experience. Shrapnel is often plastic; sometimes it is metal. On impact with pavement, concussion grenades can propel dirt and asphalt alongside shrapnel; this increases the risk of infection. Sometimes entrance wounds are small, even tiny. Sometimes they are large and obvious. Shrapnel injuries are serious even if they don’t look like a big deal. Examination, observation, and follow-up are vital.
\n\nNEVER approach or pick up a canister that is not yet smoking. It may be a concussion grenade with the capacity to blow your hand off. (This has happened both on the ZAD and in the Gilets Jaunes protests).
\n\nExamine and evaluate the breadth and depth of the wound before rushing to bandage it!
\n\nTreatment by area of injury:
\n\nEmergency: potential risk to life. See an experienced medic. Evacuate and evaluate respiratory/neurological/cardiovascular system distress and the extent of bleeding.
\n\nCheck for:
\n\n—Damaged joints.
\n—Nerve damage. Nerve damage requires immediate hospitalization! Check pulse, movement, and sensation above and below the wound; compare the limbs next to each other for reference. Look for paralysis, weakness, or range-of-motion difficulties. Numbness, tingling, or pins and needles indicate nerve injury.
\n—Damaged tendons:
Remove shrapnel based on size. All large pieces must be removed.
\n\n—Occurs infrequently
\n—Treatment: See an experienced medic who can refer patient to a hospital or remove the foreign body and close the skin, employing excellent knowledge of anatomy and controlling the risk of infection with follow-up care and prophylactic antibiotics.
—Occurs frequently.
\n—Treatment: Clean, bandage, and follow up. If there are many obviously shallow pieces of foreign object (like road rash), honey dressing can draw them out without physical removal. Monitor closely for infection.
Localized treatment:
\n\nCleaning and drying:
\n\n—Wash wound with soap and water before you do anything (or with sterile saline solution if soap and water are not available).
\n—Follow with hydrogen peroxide, which has the advantage of foaming and can sometimes draw out little pieces of shrapnel.
\n—If the foreign body is small or difficult to see, use sterile forceps but don’t tear at it or make it worse! It’s not a big deal if it stays in, but it’s usually worth trying to remove it. The body will either reject small pieces naturally, like a splinter, or create a buffer around them. The damage is done when shrapnel enters the body; the additional risk is infection.
Disinfect with antiseptics:
\n\n—Remember: if an antiseptic bottle is open for over a month, dispose of the bottle. Mark the date on the bottle upon opening. Prioritize smaller bottles to avoid expiration.
\n—Yellow Betadine, povidone iodine. (Use red Betadine first if washing with soap and water is impossible.) It exists in individual doses too. Iodine allergies don’t apply to Betadine.
\n—Chlorhexidine is good, such as one-time-use Dosiseptine, but not Biseptine (alcohol-based) because it stings.
\n—Diluted sodium hypochlorite (Dakin’s solution) works well but has to be diluted at 50% in sterile water, so it is impractical. Alcohol is efficient but burns a lot.
\n—For puncture wounds: Disinfect surface and interior. Use an antiseptic syringe without a needle. Put the end of the syringe inside the wound before injecting. Don’t use hydrogen peroxide for this.
Bandaging:
\n\n—Approximated wound with controlled bleeding: dry bandage, gauze compress, elastic bandage.
\n—Wounds oozing blood or pus: Consider an absorptive cushion like hemostatic packing, followed by a compress and bandage on top.
\n—If moderate bleeding or unapproximated wound: use clean raw honey (not the corn syrup kind), Neosporin, or tulle gras, then compress and bandage.
Dressing changes:
\n\n—Every 24 hours at the beginning (depending on severity), then every 48 hours.
\n—Rinse with saline solution. Don’t reapply antiseptics, as this can delay healing.
\n—Prevent secondary infections. These occur frequently with shrapnel wounds! Signs of infection include redness, inflammation, pus and weeping, or fever. Get an experienced medic’s advice and local or oral antibiotics for 48 hours after injury.
\n—Abscesses may necessitate x-ray, ultrasound, or surgical consultation depending on the wound.
To pass on to injured people: If you experience fever, chills, stiffness, redness, wetness around the wound, red plaques or streaks on the skin, or a neurological or motor deficiency, consult a doctor, medic, or go to an emergency department immediately.
\n\nTakeaways for shrapnel wounds:
\nDon’t dig too hard to get out small pieces.
\nAssess immediately for nerve or tendon injury.
\nMonitor for signs of secondary infection for several days.
Rubber bullet injuries often leave a big bruise. Check for other lesions! If you suspect trauma that will necessitate surgery, do not give them anything by mouth. No drinking, no eating, no smoking.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/08/11.jpg\")
Rubber bullet.
\n—Assess neurovascular status: Pulse, movement, sensation, and color. If there’s an anomaly, hospitalization is urgent.
\n—Palpate the bones for pinpoint pain and crepitus. Test each joint for range of motion. If you can’t rule out a fracture, get an x-ray within 24 hours. Suspected displaced fracture (shortening, etc.) requires an x-ray immediately.
\n—Rubber bullet impacts on muscles and tendons are not an emergency.
\n—Treat all bruises or hematomas with Arnica (Arnica montana) tincture or gel or Ground Daisy (Bellis perennis) tincture. Apply topically as soon as possible (actual tincture, not homeopathic).
\n—If plan is to hospitalize, wait before applying topical treatment: it may mask the seriousness of the condition.
\n—The most important thing is to immobilize the injury.
—See an experienced medic.
\n—Palpate facial bones looking for pinpoint pain and crepitus indicating a fracture: orbitals, nose, zygomatic processes, mandible, chin, dental articulation (closure and alignment). Examine each tooth.
\n—For teeth that are broken, moving, unseated, or painful—see a dentist immediately. Conserve the tooth in milk, saline solution, or saliva. Ideally, the injured person would carry it in their mouth, taking care not to swallow.
Simple Neurological Face Assessment:
\n\n—Immediate hospitalization.
\n—Nothing by mouth: no food, no drink, no smoking.
\n—Rinse area with sterile saline solution.
\n—Have the person lie down and cover both eyes with sterile compresses.
—Probable fracture.
\n—Get an x-ray.
\n—Epistaxis is bleeding from the nose; it can become a large hemorrhage.
—Pain may indicate a broken rib or lung damage. See an experienced medic.
\n—Rib fracture: pinpoint pain when palpated along the sternal line.
—Pneumothorax: pain and cough, sometimes spitting blood.
\n\n—See an experienced medic.
\n—Check for:
—Check for signs of internal hemorrhage (shock) such as pallor, weakness, diaphoresis (sweating), tachycardia with normal blood pressure. \n—Late signs include low blood pressure, altered mental status, loss of consciousness. \n—Watch them for several hours!
\n\n—Look for blood in the urine. Ideally get a urinalysis done to check for kidney damage.
\n\n—If bruising or excessive pain, get an emergency ultrasound.
\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2019/01/20/i-was-a-j20-street-medic-and-defendant-how-we-survived-the-first-j20-trial-block-and-what-we-learned-along-the-way", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2019/01/20/i-was-a-j20-street-medic-and-defendant-how-we-survived-the-first-j20-trial-block-and-what-we-learned-along-the-way", "title": "I Was a J20 Street Medic and Defendant : How We Survived the First J20 Trial and What We Learned along the Way", "summary": "A defendant in the first J20 trial block recounts the strategy they used to defeat the state and passes on lessons to anyone facing a similar ordeal.", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/header.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/header.jpg", "date_published": "2019-01-20T15:44:00Z", "date_modified": "2024-09-10T03:55:38Z", "tags": [ "J20", "DC", "Inauguration", "street medic", "legal support", "strategy", "black bloc", "how to" ], "content_html": "During the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, DC police arrested over 200 people and indiscriminately charged all of them with eight or more felonies apiece, hoping to set a precedent that would suppress street protest once and for all. Two years later, we are publishing a series of reflections on the events of that day and the court cases that followed it. In this narrative, a defendant who participated in the first J20 trial block recounts the legal strategy by which they defeated the state and passes on lessons to anyone facing a similar ordeal. The author, Miel, is a street medic who was arrested in the kettle on January 20, participated in the legal support organizing throughout the J20 cases, and continues to fight for a better world, undaunted by the intimidation of the police and courts.
\n\nTwo year ago today was one of the most significant days of my life.
\nIt was the first day of a long and trying battle for my freedom,
\nand the freedom of over 200 comrades
\nwhose futures became intricately tied with mine
\nthe moment we stepped into the streets of Washington DC
\non that cold January morning.
Street medics provide first aid and emergency care at sites of resistance and struggle. Strong networks of mutual support and care are essential to building a sustainable, long-term movement for collective liberation. Being a medic is about being careful with each other so we can be dangerous together. Providing this type of wellness support can be as much about long-term care as it is about being there in the moment. It is an ongoing process of assessing needs, offering resources, and uplifting those with whom we engaged in struggle.
\n\nHealth care is political. Medics are activists who seek to democratize health care knowledge and skills, subvert our communities’ dependence on corporate medicine, and help create the infrastructure we see as necessary to build another world. Street medics are EMTs, nurses, therapists, herbalists, teachers, comrades, and friends.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/0116191922a.jpg\")
\nGive Care, Take Care.
\nSpread Calm and Do No Harm.
I became a street medic in December 2016, not long after Trump was elected President. I was motivated to do this as a way of bridging my political convictions and my personal calling to help people recover from trauma. Earlier in 2016, I had attended massage therapy school in Florida and studied herbal medicine online. Practicing healing arts as a trade is incomplete without an analysis of the privileges and oppressions that intimately impact a person’s wellness and experiences of trauma. I left Florida seeking opportunities to plug into communities of resistance and offer what I had learned in accessible ways, while continuing to learn different approaches to providing care.
\n\nI was working as a Lyft driver in Colorado during the election in November. I remember vividly the interactions I had with people I gave rides to that day and the progression of sentiments expressed to me from hopeful to concerned to shocked and terrified. Everyone I picked up was upset, angry, scared, furious, confused, disappointed, and desperate for a way out of this nightmare. Unfortunately, we weren’t dreaming—this was real and this was our life now. The question was—what would we do about it?
\n\nHundreds of us took the streets of Denver that night, as occurred in cities all around the country; we came together for support and to collectively express our rage and grief as we confronted the reality that this was the world we were living in. The election was a spark, a call to action, an opportunity to connect with others who were already fed up with the oppressive conditions imposed by capitalism and who now had one more reason to stand up and resist. It was really the only thing we could do.
\n\nLarge-scale planning for the inauguration was already underway. A website went up and a call went out inviting people to Washington DC to disrupt the inauguration on January 20, 2017—J20 for short. Comrades across the country were holding autonomous assemblies, organizing locally, and preparing for a day of action to oppose and disrupt the symbolic transfer of power in the White House and the unapologetic emboldenment of white nationalist identity.
\n\nI knew in my heart that I needed to go. There was nothing holding me back. I was at a point in my life where I didn’t have any long-term commitments, I wasn’t tied down, nobody was depending on me, and I found myself not feeling concerned about what the consequences could be. I just knew it was where I wanted to be. I decided I would travel to DC not only to participate in demonstrations, but to provide care for my comrades in the streets as a medic.
\n\nPrior to my departure from Colorado, a friend and I flew to Portland, Oregon to attend a 20-hour street medic training with the Rosehip Medic Collective. I want to express deep gratitude to the Rosehips for putting together several medic trainings that winter in preparation for the inauguration. This training provided me with the skills I needed to feel confident about providing medical care at a mass mobilization bigger than anything I had ever been to before.
\n\nAt the beginning of January 2017, I drove out to the East Coast to meet up with friends who were also planning to go to DC. I assembled a medic kit and attended direct action trainings and planning meetings in the days leading up to January 20. When I arrived in DC, I attended a “medic mixer” where I found someone to work alongside as my medic buddy and a group of three other medics interested in attending the same protest. We formed a team and discussed how best we would track and tend to the needs of several hundred people.
\n\nWe had a practice run the night before the inauguration during the protests outside the Deploraball, at which we had our first opportunity to perform eye flushes with LAW (liquid antacid and water) to treat the effects of pepper spray. We discussed ways to keep each other safe in the streets and familiarized ourselves with the layout of the city and the metro system. We planned to meet up the following morning near the protest route.
\n\nI hardly slept that night. My adrenaline was pumping as I imagined what the following day might hold. I knew this day was going to be big. But as I would soon find out, I truly had no idea what was to come.
\n\nOn January 20, I met up with my medic team and we made our way to Logan Circle, the starting point of the Anti-Capitalist Anti-Fascist march. The energy was powerful as we amassed as a group of around 500 and took the streets of downtown DC.
\n\nWe have been told we are powerless.
\nBut we had power in numbers.
\nAnd despite those who seek to silence us,
\nOur voices would be heard.
We were being followed by riot cops from the onset. We would later learn that planning meetings for this protest had been infiltrated by right-wing groups working hand-in-hand with DC police.
\n\nBut we wouldn’t be silenced. While we were in the streets, we were a force to be reckoned with. It is exactly because we were powerful that we met with such strong opposition. There are not many opportunities in day-to-day life to express the deep-seated discontent we feel about the conditions under which we are forced to live. It is important to take advantage of such opportunities as outlets for our emotional experiences—which are often widely shared, even if they feel unique to us in the isolating world we live in.
\n\nTaking the streets with our comrades reminds us that we are not alone. That we are not crazy for feeling this way. That we are not the ones who are sick, it is the system that is broken beyond repair. Without these moments to provide a release, to uplift and inspire us and remind us why we continue to get up every morning and keep struggling to survive, we are left with not much more than a bleak and depressing reality day after day after day.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/2018-11-02-21-32-30.jpg\")
\nWe were constantly on the move; there wasn’t much time to provide medical care before the cops surrounded and contained us in the kettle. I do remember stopping to flush pepper spray from many eyes during the half hour between the time we stepped off the curb at Logan Circle and our eventual capture at the corner of 12th & L, but it was in the kettle that most of the medicking happened. Over 200 of us spent upwards of eight hours trapped on a street corner with no access to water, food, bathrooms, or anything else beyond what we collectively had on our persons.
\n\nBeing a street medic that day taught me how to show up for others. I learned how to manage my own emotional state in a way that enabled me to hold space for and tend to the needs of those around me. While we were in the kettle, the riot cops attacked onlookers who had been standing across the street from us. They chased people down the street and deployed pepper spray and sting-ball grenades that made loud explosions—we could hear them but could not see the effects. With the sound of a loud “bang,” a person standing beside me shrieked and began hyperventilating. They were having a panic attack. I consciously held my own emotional response to what was going on at a distance as I offered them support and care. It was empowering to find myself feeling capable of staying present and helping spread calm despite the scene that was unfolding around us.
\n\nAs the cops began arresting people, I noticed that they were grabbing people closest to the perimeter, zip-tying their hands behind their backs, and putting them into police vans. I stayed toward the center of the group to avoid being taken in so I could continue to care for people on the outside, knowing that once I was cuffed and thrown in the police van there wouldn’t be much more I could do. At this point, we had no idea what was going to happen to us or where they were going to take us once we were taken in.
\n\nMost of my time in the kettle was spent circulating through the group, checking in with people about how they were doing, connecting with people I already knew and making new friends, offering snacks and water, flushing eyes, treating shrapnel wounds, and advocating for people who needed further medical care. We even made soft blockades for people to go to the bathroom and resorted to using bottles and plastic bags to contain our waste. We kept morale up by singing well-known songs like Baby I’m an Anarchist and Bohemian Rhapsody (though admittedly, y’all, we could really use some new songs) and using the human microphone to share communiques “from the ungovernables at 12th and L”:
\n\nFuck Trump
\nFuck all politicians
\nWith a country built on white supremacy and patriarchy
\nNo politician can serve anything else
\nThat goes for his police pawns, too
\nWe may be arrested here today
\nBut we will not be silenced
\nWe call on communities threatened by Trump to defend themselves against fascists and racists
\nWe won’t back down and we will only grow stronger
\nIf you’re hearing this, we call on you to become ungovernable
\nAnd build a new world in the ashes of the old
Well, we’re going to jail
\nBut we aren’t going silently
\nAs we’re seeing today, Trump indicates a new level of repression
\nBut the tide of repression has been rising for some time
\n2 million in prison, a new Jim Crow
\nSurveillance on your email, surveillance on your phone, surveillance in your home
\nAll governments imprison and police
\nCops love Trump, but to get rid of both, we have to get rid of the government
\nFrom the threat of white supremacists to the threat of police
\nOur safety lies in building bonds with each other, outside of state control
\nFor freedom, for anarchy!
The action continued around DC while we were in the kettle. We watched as smoke rose above buildings in the distance and learned that a limo had been set on fire a few blocks away. Checkpoints around the city were being blockaded and shut down, the Festival of Resistance was in full swing, and more and more people were assembling across the street from the kettle offering solidarity and encouragement as we awaited our arrest. The fierce resistance that continued elsewhere on the streets was a sweet reminder that while some of us had been stopped, the collective “we” would not been defeated.
\n\nWhen I was finally taken in around 6 pm, the cops zip-tied my wrists together behind my back, removed my shoelaces, and took all of my belongings from me. I spent four hours in a police van packed with seven others. We sang songs and played games to pass the time. Every one of us was severely dehydrated at this point; after much pleading, we were finally given some water to drink. The cops told us to tilt our heads as they poured small quantities of water into our mouths using tiny paper cups as you might find at a dentist’s office. They became visibly irritated when we asked for more than a few cups-full. We were transported to a precinct where our fingerprints were taken and we were finally allowed to use a toilet, our hands no longer bound.
\n\nThey put us on a short bus to await yet another relocation to an overnight holding cell. I continued to play the medic role, advocating for someone on the bus who needed medication that the police were withholding. I reminded everyone not to talk to the cops unless absolutely necessary and gave hand and wrist massages to help ease the pain caused by zip-ties, some of which were so tight that they caused long-term nerve damage. After we continued to demand water, they gave us a red sugary drink, definitely not water, and told us we should be grateful for it. We spent what was left of the night cuddled together for warmth and comfort on a cold hard floor under bright fluorescent lights with only our pepper-spray-coated clothing to sleep on.
\n\nWe spent most of the following day in an even smaller cell at the courthouse. There was a sink in our cell; it was above a toilet and the stream slowly dribbled out. We would have had to put our mouths on the metal sink in order to drink from it. We passed. A few hours before we were released, we were finally given some food, if you could call it that. Bologna and pepper spray sandwiches, washed down with absolutely nothing. Yum. I gave my rations to my cellmates and ate two mustard packets before passing out from exhaustion.
\n\nWhen we were called to appear in front of the judge, they put real handcuffs on us and attached them to ankle cuffs with a chain. We were referred to as “bodies” and assigned numbers which then became what we were called by. The dehumanizing element was hard to ignore. We stood in front of Judge Leibovitz as she charged each of us with one count of felony rioting. We were assigned counsel and released on our own recognisance: we didn’t have to post bail but were required to return for court.
\n\nWe were welcomed back into the world by a huge crowd of people cheering for us. A friend ran up to me exclaiming, “You have to see this!” and showed me the viral video of someone in black bloc punching white nationalist Richard Spencer in the face. That was exactly what I needed in that moment. There were food and drinks waiting for us and so many hugs. We were given rides to the precinct where our property was being held. We spent the next several hours trying to get our property back and documenting what had been taken as evidence. Some medics who had not been arrested were there to help; they assisted me in documenting all the items that the police had stolen. We soon learned that anyone who was arrested with a phone that day did not receive it back.
\n\nI was eventually given a ride to my housing and spent the rest of the night watching videos from that day and catching up on everything that had happened in DC while I was detained. I drove down to North Carolina the following day. Some friends, who were now also co-defendants, were holding a debrief dinner and invited me to attend. I would spend the next several months living there, in a house with three co-defendants and some very supportive friends, working around the clock on the J20 case.
\n\nIn April, a superseding indictment increased our charges to a total of eight felony charges each, including conspiracy to riot, engaging in and inciting a riot, and five counts of property damage. Some people were given additional charges such as assault on an officer and individualized counts of property damage. And just like that, we were each looking at up to seventy-five years in prison if convicted on all charges. This was a blatant attempt to criminalize dissent using prosecutorial overreach. Obviously, 200 people did not break the same five windows. The idea was to use an “aiding and abetting” theory of liability to prosecute everyone who was present in the streets that day for a few instances of damaged property. They hoped to scare us into taking pleas, intimidate us and others into inaction, and use us as an example of what could happen if you stand up to those in power.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/support-our-friends.jpg\")
\nOrganizing a collective defense for J20 took a lot of hard work from a lot of dedicated people, defendants and supporters alike. For many of us, it became a full-time job. It was no small undertaking to coordinate over 200 people across the country. A listserv and weekly conference calls were our best means of keeping everyone in the loop: sharing updates and motions, communicating about legal matters, making sure everyone had housing and transportation to and from DC for court appearances, coordinating in-person defendant meetings after hearings, asking questions, offering resources, and checking in with people about whether their lawyers were being responsive. It was up to each defendant whether to engage with the infrastructure we established, and we did our best to reach out to those we hadn’t heard from.
\n\nEarly on in the organizing process, we established regional networks to help defendants find each other and build support locally. There were regional J20 groups in most major cities along the East Coast including DC, Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York City, and then there was a group for North Carolina at large. Having had no home base prior to J20, I was fortunate to land in a place with many other defendants nearby. We got together to participate in the spokes calls, traveled across the state to visit each other, held in-person support group meetings, coordinated rides to and from DC, shared dinners, threw benefit shows, made fundraiser T-shirts, tabled at events, and even organized a black masquerade party (“Black Masker Aid”) to raise money for our regional fund and spend quality time together. The North Carolina J20 defendants became family to me. They were my core support system during that time. We continue to stay in touch to this day. I hold each of them dear to my heart.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2017/04/04/09.jpg\")
\nSpokes calls were hard. They were tedious. I don’t think anyone liked them. But they were important. Every Sunday at 7 pm, I would log into join.me to participate in hours-long conference calls with defendants and supporters from each region, discussing everything from legal strategy to finances to the most recent media articles that had come out about the case. Since every defendant couldn’t possibly be on each call, we would compile the most important notes and give report-backs to our respective regions in an attempt to keep everyone up to date. The creation of weekly news bulletins summarizing notable developments in the case helped streamline our communication, and the development of working groups helped to shorten the weekly spokes calls by adding several more meetings to the schedule—for better or for worse. We established several groups: the “PR” media team, the legal strategy working group, the political campaign committee, finances and fundraising, a medic working group, and wellness support.
\n\nOnce the court system announced the groups that would face trial together, there were calls to discuss trial strategy and logistics specific to each group and calls to coordinate between trial groups. Not everyone was inclined to participate in conference calls, so we created countless signal threads and riseup pads to provide even more avenues for staying connected. Nobody was obligated to participate, but those of us most inclined to engage with organizing efforts sometimes found ourselves on three or more calls each week in addition to the calls all of us were making to our lawyers on a regular basis.
\n\nLike I said, J20 was my full-time job.
\n\nFace-to-face meetings after each hearing in DC were crucial for connecting with co-defendants who were more or less absent from the larger organizing efforts and for deepening our connections with those we had been working with online. We held meetings at a co-working space near the courthouse to decompress and discuss the case in person. For many defendants, this was the only opportunity to discuss what was going on.
\n\nSome of our most memorable meetings took place around the hearings for trial date selection in June. Nearly every defendant had appearances scheduled that week, and we took advantage of this to facilitate several huge collective defense meetings—followed by kickball games and support groups in Malcolm X Park, outings to Nu Vegan, and adventures in Rock Creek Park. Spending so much time in DC was emotionally draining, so we did whatever we could to boost morale and help each other take much-needed space from the tense environment of Superior Court.
\n\nThere were at least six medics arrested in the kettle on J20. We came together to strategize about using the medic role as part of our legal defense in months that followed our arrest. We formed a working group that included medics from across the country wanting to help support us in the case. We came up with agreements about how we would present our legal defenses in solidarity with all of our co-defendants and in line with overarching street medic principles. We represented an ongoing struggle for street medics to be recognized—and not targeted—for providing care where care is needed. Motivated to use the strength of our medic defense to help in the larger collective defense, a few of of us decided to go to trial in November as part of the first trial block.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/2019-01-16-17-51-24.jpg\")
The defendants in the first J20 trial block, including the author.
\nPrior to trial date selections, the government had come out with a proposed set of groupings, placing each defendant in one of four categories based on alleged conduct and supposed affinity group affiliations. The government was intent on taking those designated as Group 1 to trial first, those in Group 2 next, and so on. The majority of defendants were lumped into groups 3 and 4, seemingly without rhyme or reason. Regardless of their motives for choosing these groupings and this order of operations, we were aware that the ones that the government was seeking to prosecute first were some of our most vulnerable comrades.
\n\nIn order to undermine their plan, we devised an early trial strategy. This strategy involved defendants in Groups 1 and 2 asking their lawyers to push for their trials to occur later than the government wanted, thereby enabling individuals from Groups 3 and 4 who felt they had strong cases and good lawyers to elect to go first. No one was pressured to make this choice. We held numerous conference calls discussing this strategy and considering the implications. This seemed like one of the best ways we could help protect each other while also turning up the heat on the prosecution. If the government aimed to strengthen its case against everyone by taking certain people to trial first in hopes of scoring easy convictions, our strategy was intended to disrupt their agenda.
\n\nWe were successful in securing the first part of the strategy: in the first round of trial selection, Groups 1 and 2 were granted trials in March and April 2018 despite the government’s wish to try them at the end of 2017. Next came the hard part: figuring out who would take one for the team and go to bat first. The seed had been planted, everyone knew about the early trial strategy, and all we could do was wait to see who would step up to the plate for collective defense.
\n\nI have vivid memories of the day I chose my trial date. I was sitting in the courtroom filled with dozens of co-defendants and their counsel, my lawyers on either side of me, contemplating what to do. We had several options of trial blocks to choose from, including the very first trial set for November, the second one in December, and several others that were almost a year away. Judge Leibovitz was going around the room asking counsel to choose what trial dates their clients wanted. I quietly raised the possibility with my lawyers that I could be part of the first trial. My lawyers were apprehensive. They were there to defend me, not to look out for my co-defendants; they would have preferred to watch the first trial proceedings, allowing others to take that risk so I didn’t have to. But they were working for me, and it was ultimately up to me to decide what I wanted to do.
\n\nMy decision to be on the first trial felt instinctual. I was there as a medic. I wasn’t being accused of any particular acts beyond what everyone else was facing—and the court had randomly appointed a very solid legal team to represent me. This was a high-profile case and one of the biggest law firms in the country chose to take on a client pro-bono. It was by pure chance that I ended up with them. Some defendants had been assigned run-of-the-mill CJA (Criminal Justice Act) lawyers, who often represented dozens of other clients simultaneously; some of them were largely unresponsive to calls and emails. Here I was with a full team of not just one but four lawyers and at least three paralegals working around the clock on my case. It almost felt irresponsible not to go first.
\n\nPlus, some of my closest friends were in Groups 1 and 2. If there was anything in my power I could do to help them, I was going to do it.
\n\nThere wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I was making the right decision. I knew that if I had made any other decision, I would have walked out of that courtroom regretting it. My lawyers were not excited about this, but they respected my wishes. We selected the November 20 trial date, which was later moved to November 15, or N15. Seven other defendants made the same choice. After court, we all met to start discussing how to prepare for the trial. These seven people became my second J20 family. Ultimately, only six of us would go to trial due to last-minute legal complications down the road, but for all intents and purposes, this core group stuck together from that moment on—through weekly conference calls, frequent court appearances and defendant-led meetings with all our lawyers, and living together during the six weeks of trial, all the way through to the long-awaited day of our verdict.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/2019-01-16-17-51-39.jpg\")
\nGoing to trial was its own chapter in the J20 saga. Time stood still for six weeks as Oliver, Jen, Christina, Brit, Alexei, and I sat at a table in our finest court fashion with our team of lawyers in Courtroom 203 in the Superior Court of DC. To our left sat two Federal Prosecutors: Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff, one of the vilest human beings I have ever had the displeasure of sharing space with, and the slightly more palatable yet equally reprehensible Rizwan Qureshi. In the jury box sat sixteen people from across the city who had been chosen to decide our fate via a several-day jury selection process at the onset of trial; and at the bench was Judge Lynn Leibovitz, known by many as “the toughest judge in DC.” Behind us, the gallery was full to the brim with co-defendants and supporters. They literally had our backs. They assured us that we wouldn’t be going through this process on our own.
\n\nTrial was an emotional rollercoaster. All of us had to put our lives on an indefinite hold, tying up loose ends and making arrangements in case we were sent to prison. We were uprooted from our homes, many of us still paying rent on houses with no certainty whether or when we would return to them. In DC, we lived in Airbnbs together with our closest support people. We had no idea how long trial would take. It wouldn’t be clear until the moment it was all finally over.
\n\nDay after long and grueling day was spent waking up early, putting on the nicest outfits we could assemble, grabbing something to eat, and taking the metro, riding bikes, or walking down to the courthouse from our Airbnbs in Columbia Heights. We would meet with our lawyers and hold little conferences in the hallway while waiting for the other cases to be called. Then we would spend the rest of the day wearing our best poker faces as we sat in that grim, windowless courtroom witnessing the proceedings of our trial unfold.
\n\nWe sat there and watched as Kerkhoff and Qureshi presented their case, stating from the beginning that none of us was being accused of actually breaking anything. They called numerous officers and witnesses to the stand and showed video after triggering video of police body cams and aerial surveillance footage from that day. They put our hacked phone data contents on the big screen, pulled our belongings out of cardboard boxes wearing plastic gloves and held them up as though they were contaminated, and presented big foam display boards with screenshots of our alleged persons at various points during the march—a series of pixelated black clad blobs that appeared just to be walking. We worked closely with our lawyers, taking extensive notes, brainstorming counter-arguments, and digging up dirt on the bombastic lead detective, Gregg Pemberton.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/2017-12-21-header1.jpg\")
\nJudge Leibovitz made it clear whose side she was on. After the jury had been dismissed one day, she made a ruling on probable cause in which she adamantly described us as a “swarm of bees, insects, or some kind of animal that coalesced and moved together as though pulled by a gravitational force.” She also compared the case to examples of “wilding” in which a few people beat someone up and all present parties are held responsible for it regardless of who threw the punches. This follows the distorted belief that violence against a person can be equated with property damage. She ruled that there was individualized probable cause to arrest each of us based on the movement of the “group” across sixteen blocks in thirty-three minutes, and the behavior of the “group” during that time. Although none of us were alleged to have personally caused any of the damage, nor was there evidence of our pre-existing knowledge that it would happen, she ruled that we were complicit in enabling the “riot” by not immediately leaving the protest as soon as the first windows were broken. For the six of us and many others, we were being charged on account of our presence alone.
\n\nAll I can say is, it was a good thing this was a jury trial.
\n\nOur only opportunity to see daylight in those winter months was an hour-long lunch break that we sometimes spent decompressing and socializing with comrades on the lawn across the street, but more often in the courthouse cafeteria discussing the morning’s proceedings with our lawyers.
\n\nAfter a full day in court, I would head directly to my lawyers’ office in Chinatown, where we would spend countless hours looking through discovery footage, documenting notable scenes in highly-organized spreadsheets, talking strategy, researching the government’s witnesses, and planning lines of questioning for cross-examinations the following day. Sometimes we would be there until eleven o’clock at night, doing everything we could possibly think of and then some to aid in our defense. I always looked forward to the shot of whiskey my lawyer would share with me to take the edge off after a long day’s work.
\n\nMy lawyers had me practice being questioned by them and cross-examined by a strong prosecutor in their law firm to prepare me for the possibility of testifying. This was a very helpful opportunity to understand just how nerve-wracking and difficult testifying can be. From this practice session, I concluded that unless it seemed absolutely necessary, testifying would not be in my best interest. They also prepared one of my best friends to testify as a character witness on my behalf. When the prosecution rested its case, we felt strongly that the government hadn’t met its burden of proof and decided not to have anyone testify in my defense. Putting anyone on the stand gives the prosecution an extra opportunity to ask presumptuous and leading questions in their cross-examination that could be detrimental to the overall case no matter how you answer. It is a strategic decision that really depends on the individual case at hand. It is a decision that should not be taken lightly.
\n\nWhile some of my trial co-defendants chose to bring in character witnesses to testify, none of us on trial took the stand. This was a collective decision that involved many conversations about the implications and risks that testifying posed for the group; it was also a personal decision on each of our parts to hear and respect the concerns of our co-defendants. I am proud to say that in the face of so much stress during that time, we each did our best to communicate compassionately with one another, to consider each others’ concerns, and to make choices that reflected a commitment to each other above everything else.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/1122171413e.jpg\")
\nOnce the closing arguments concluded and the judge gave the jury instructions, the jurors spent several days in deliberation. Although we did not have to be present in the courtroom during this time, we were required to be within fifteen minutes of the courthouse so we could get there quickly once a verdict was reached.
\n\nAll we could do was wait. We went for walks, checked out the nearby museums, read books, and took naps in the family court lounge. We had no idea how long it could be before we heard something. It was mid-December and we just about lost hope that we would receive a verdict before the court went on break for the holidays, which would mean returning in January to continue deliberations.
\n\nAnd then, exactly eleven months after our initial release from jail, on the Winter Solstice, December 21, 2017, when the earth reached its furthest point from the sun and began to move closer again, we received notice that the jury had come to a unanimous decision for every charge against each of the defendants on trial. We rushed to the courtroom and waited in anticipation as the jurors filed in one by one.
\n\nAll six of us were facing seven charges—six felonies and one misdemeanor each. The inciting charge had been deemed multiplicitous and thrown out by the judge during the Motion for Judgment of Acquittal prior to deliberations.
\n\nThe transcript reads:
\n\n\n\n\nTHE COURT: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen — or good afternoon, I guess.
\n\nI received a note from you at 11:20. It’s signed by Juror No. 11. And it says,
\n\n“We have reached a verdict on all counts.”
\n\nI’ll ask you, Juror 11, to please stand.
\n\nSir, are you the foreperson?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Yes.
\n\nTHE COURT: Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict on each and every count as to each and every Defendant?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Yes.
\n
I was up first.
\n\n\n\n\nTHE COURT: On Count 1, how do you find [Miel] on the charge of engaging in a riot?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.
\n\nTHE COURT: On Count 2, on the charge of conspiracy to engage in a riot?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.
\n\nTHE COURT: On Count 3, destruction of property?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.
\n\nTHE COURT: On Count 4, destruction of property?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.
\n\nTHE COURT: On Count 5, destruction of property?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.
\n\nTHE COURT: On Count 6, destruction of property?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.
\n\nTHE COURT: And Count 7, destruction of property?
\n\nTHE JURY FOREPERSON: Not guilty.
\n
Tears came to my eyes. I could barely contain myself as I waited to hear the verdicts for my co-defendants. I listened intently as one by one, Jen, Christina, Alexei, Oliver, and Brit were all found not guilty on each and every one of their charges too. The jury returned not guilty verdicts on all 42 counts. We had successfully secured six complete and resounding acquittals. What a victory!
\n\nThe energy of the courtroom lifted us up and carried us all the way out of the building. Everyone hugged and congratulated us. Reporters swarmed us for statements and photographs; our phones were ringing off the hook. We had won! The battle of J20 was far from over, but this triumph was something to celebrate. And celebrate we did.
\n\nFor a detailed account of our trial proceedings, check out the #DropJ20 Podcast Update on itsgoingdown.org. They produced seven episodes altogether, four during this trial and three more over the following six months. You can also listen to an interview I did after my trial ended on the Ex-Worker podcast, #62: Support, Healing, and Redefining Resistance—2017 in Review, Part II (timestamp 1:10:16).
\n\nOne month after our trial returned full acquittals, 129 cases were dismissed without explanation, leaving 59 defendants still facing charges. A few of those cases went to trial in the spring of 2018, resulting in acquittals and two mistrials. There was not a single jury conviction during the entire J20 prosecution. On July 6, 2018, every remaining case was finally dismissed.
\n\nIt was all over. We had won.
\n\nOur efforts for collective defense and the early trial strategy were a success. 234 people arrested, 217 indicted on a minimum of 8 felonies each, and ZERO convictions at trial. Only 21 plea deals were taken, and only one of those was for a felony. While there were other aspects of the case that contributed to the inevitable downfall of the prosecution, it feels safe to say that the early trial strategy played a big role in destabilizing the government’s case and acted as a catalyst for that sequence of events to unfold. This victory illustrates the power of collective defense and the potential that we have together. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of hard work from a lot of people to make this all possible. In the end, it was all worth it.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/may-14-pack.jpg\")
\nFirst, check out this article that came out soon after our arrest, Making the Best of Mass Arrests: 12 Lessons from the Kettle During the J20 Protests. I would especially highlight #5, “Don’t bring your real phone”—even if you bring a burner phone, wipe the data and destroy the sim card rather than handing it over to the cops)— #6, “Seize the chance to pass on skills”; and #7, “Care for each other.” I cannot emphasize that last point enough.
\n\nAlso, as a general rule of thumb, don’t make things easy for the cops, don’t talk to them or believe anything they say. Ever.
\n\nHere are some other suggestions.
\n\nThe narratives presented in the media do a lot to shape public opinion; they can make a big difference in influencing the outcome of a case. Working with sympathetic journalists can be a great way to avoid some of the risks of speaking in the media while facing charges. Especially when you are dealing with a political case, you have to consider the risk of being doxxed or harmed by those on the other side of the political spectrum as well as the legal risk that something you say could be used against you in court. Working with journalists who are willing to speak off the record or conduct interview anonymously or with pseudonyms can be a great way to keep yourself safe while getting the information out there in the ways that you want it to be understood.
\n\nI met some of my best friends through the J20 ordeal; they gave me the strength to keep fighting and inspired me to give it my all. Not only was I fighting for myself, I was fighting for all the comrades who were in this battle with me; and together with our communities, we were fighting for the future of dissent and resistance in the United States. Working in solidarity with comrades toward a common goal can evoke a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose; it makes the whole experience feel much more meaningful.
\n\nHow traumatic an experience is has a lot to do with the support we receive during it and in the aftermath. One thing that really helped me get through this was the relationships I built with the people who were in it with me and those doing support who had been through something similar themselves. Times were heavy for all of us, and knowing there were other people going through it assured me I was never alone. Holding space with these people to talk about how it has affected our lives and process our feelings about it enabled me to feel seen and validated my experience of being in a low-level crisis for months on end.
\n\nSo many people have to face the legal injustice system on their own. My heart truly goes out to them. I was fortunate to have co-defendants to share the experience with and seasoned comrades to\nprovide insight into the legal system, suggest how to engage with the process, and offer tools for confronting the many challenges of being a defendant. For example, I recommend A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant by the Tilted Scales Collective.
\n\nWorking together can also do a lot to dissipate the anxiety and paranoia that someone might snitch or cooperate with the state. It was reported by the court that there were no snitches and no cooperation with the government on the J20 case.
\n\nThe period of time between being arrested and the end of trial involves constant stress. During this time, it is especially important to prioritize self-care and reach out for help. Regulating the nervous system is key to staying well. Take baths, go for walks, ride a bike, drink tea and read a book in a warm cozy place that feels safe. Remember to breathe. Get out in nature! Find a therapist or a support\ngroup or both. Start your own support group. Eat your favorite foods. Move your body! Hike up a mountain. Call an old friend. Let people know what you’re going through. Ask for support. Do something fun to reward yourself for dealing with all the bullshit. Do yoga. Find any activity that puts you more in your body than in your head and allows you to discharge some of the activation energy that builds up from continual stress. Without a release, this energy can become stored in the body, causing discomfort, tension, and even chronic pain.
\n\nWhether it was cracking jokes in the kettle to ease some of the tension we were all feeling that day, creating the spectacular musical parody “Now That’s What I Call Kerkhophony Volume 1,” or performing a ventriloquist act with a black-clad ventriloquist’s dummy called Bloc-o, defendants found ways to lighten each others’ hearts and evoke moments of joy in the face of unrelenting state repression. We tend to take ourselves quite seriously and it can be hard to look on the bright side sometimes, but finding ways to break from the unending stress of a legal process to have a good laugh can offer a much-needed release to soothe our tender hearts.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/b.jpg\")
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/0722172333a.jpg\")
Bloc-o, ventriloquist’s dummy and all around sketchy character.
\nThe stress and grief experienced in the aftermath of a traumatic event or period of time can leave a person feeling out of control and having a foreshortened sense of future. The state was attempting to take away our ability to choose how the rest of our lives would unfold. They were threatening to take away our entire lives, to murder us slowly. At twenty-seven, facing seventy-five years in a cage meant I might not see life on the other side. And though there is life behind bars, and there does exist a chance of making it to sixty or seventy years old and getting out whole and having joyous, beautiful years on the outside, this was not their intention. They were trying to stifle and kill us. We had to come to terms with this anticipatory grief while fighting like hell to keep it from happening. Our lives depended on it.
\n\nIn a lot of ways, the year after my trial was more difficult for me than the year I spent facing life in prison. When trial ended, I didn‘t know what to do with myself. I had spent so much time solely focused on my defense and preparing for an endpoint to life as I knew it. Regardless of how implausible the charges seemed, that very real threat had been hanging over my head, preventing me from making any long-term plans or imagining what the rest of my life might look like if I didn’t spend it behind bars.
\n\nOnce I had my life back in my own hands, I found myself scrambling for something to do to fill the empty space that had been occupied for so long with organizing J20 defense. I went through intense periods of depression and anxiety. I wanted to do nothing and everything all at once. I experienced oversleeping and sleeplessness, and I wavered from being highly sensitive to dissociated and numb as the feelings and emotions of the past year finally had space to surface.
\n\n2018 arrived with a strange sense of loss, a lack of direction, a lot of contemplation, and a great deal of confusion. I was not facing decades in prison anymore, but I was facing the reality that life was rough before J20 and it would continue to be rough after J20.
\n\nI had spent the four years prior to my arrest traveling, untethered to any one physical location, unattached to where my journey would lead me, searching for a way to find meaning in this life. I rejected societal norms that encourage us to stay in one place, work a full-time job, get married, start a family, grow old and eventually die. I longed for something more meaningful than this generic cookie-cutter existence that accepts and upholds the conditions of a capitalist society. I sought to find a better place for myself in a world designed to isolate and alienate every single one of us.
\n\nYet I lacked a sense of what “home” meant or what it might look like for me. I had both found and lost “community” numerous times, and had experienced trauma and grief in a variety of forms. At the end of the day, I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere. I hadn’t lived in any single place for more than six months; I felt inhibited in my attempts at fostering meaningful connections in anarchist communities due to the fact that I was seen as a transient newcomer, and people tend to be skeptical of folks who come around seemingly out of nowhere. There were people I cared deeply for, scattered in various cities across the country and around the world—and while opportunities to connect with them motivated me to keep traveling, I continually struggled to carve out space to settle and establish myself as a part of a radical community. This was one of the primary reasons that I felt compelled to go to DC in the first place. I knew where my heart was, I was certain of my politics and the struggles I wished to engage with, but I didn’t have an apparent way to translate my yearnings into action. J20 was a way in.
\n\nIt was also a way out. I had been worn down, repeatedly fighting an uphill battle for belonging with opposition coming from the very side I wished to fighting be on. I continually felt like an outcast with nowhere to go. I was tired of leaving one place just to land somewhere else and have the same story repeat itself over and over again; but I also found no good reason compelling me to stay anywhere. It was time to break this cycle.
\n\nI had no idea what to expect with my decision to go to DC, but at least I knew it would be something different. It took me out of the normalcy of struggling for a meager day-to-day existence and into an environment of direct confrontation and resistance. It was a chance to feel alive. It was an opportunity to engage with people from across the country and from all walks of life who shared my discontent and my yearnings for something more, something better. Even if this experience didn’t help me achieve my larger goal of finding a place to call home, it would at least provide me with a momentary glimpse of what it feels like to truly exist in solidarity with comrades and allow me to recharge my drained and depleted life-force energy.
\n\nThat solidarity provided me with a temporary home. It kindled a fire blazing with passion, a flaming limousine that warmed my heart and nourished the deepest part of my being. The fire burned fiercely as its flame provided light through the darkness, growing in size and intensity as one day of action became a year-and-a-half-long battle against state repression. We came together around that fire for a shared purpose: to hold each other up, to work together and fight against a common enemy, to foster relationships of support despite the government’s best efforts at tearing us apart. We kept that fire burning; we fed it with our commitment to one another and watched it grow within us and beyond as solidarity actions amplified the collective heat around the world.
\n\nThe thing about fire is that while it can be a source of power and strength, it also has the potential to burn us and everything else in its path. If we aren’t careful, it can destroy us, incinerating our spirit and consuming everything we have worked toward all the way down to the very foundations we stand upon. Internal conflicts, unequal power dynamics, the hoarding of information or access to resources, and ego-driven attempts at gaining social capital are among the factors that contributed to the gradual extinguishment of all that we had created and the quenching of any potential for continuing to carry the torch into the next field of battle.
\n\nThe flame has been smothered as this particular fight has come to an end, and with it, the dissipation of solidarity and support that up until this point had prevailed. It seems we have learned how to make fires—whether the fire of revolt or of immediate solidarity—but we haven’t yet made hearths, homes for the fires and for ourselves, where the heat can linger a while longer, offering us solace and space to heal; nor do we have circles of hearths, the basic shape of so many human communities.
\n\nThe immediate plummet of support in the aftermath was one of the hardest aspect of this whole experience. The community I had come to feel supported by dissipated as the time came to pick myself up and reconstruct a life for myself from the pile of ashes that remained. I knew that many of the people engaging with J20 organizing and support were doing so because we were directly in the line of fire, facing the barrel of the gun head-on; but part of me also believed we had cultivated something deeper than that. Once everything was over, the fallout hit hard and I found myself, yet again, feeling alone and like I didn’t belong anywhere. I spent more time in 2018 just trying to stabilize myself enough to get out of bed each day than actually recovering from the year prior.
\n\nI am still coming to terms with the loss of this collective cohesion that in many ways defined my identity for a period of time. The complexities of grief reflect disintegration on a community level, the erosion of a number of personal relationships formed through the experience, and the disappearance of some of my primary support from that time. This all added another dimension to the trauma I was recovering from and made it nearly impossible to have the capacity to take on even the most familiar stressors of day-to-day life, let alone develop healthy relationships or engage in any type of organizing or activism. The world quickly became a cold and lonely place as I came to feel more and more invisible in the absence of a conspicuous crisis to avert, and without a home community to sustain me.
\n\n\n\n\n“We grow powerful, we interrupt normality, we rise up, even sparking insurrections, and in most cases we also survive the subsequent repression, almost completely intact. But then after we’ve seemingly won, we grow increasingly upset with our weaknesses, with one another, with how ugly the world remains; we avoid staring into the abyss of how much is left to do and what we’re inflicting on the planet and ourselves, and we give up in a way. We lose one another, we move away from the fire and into the cold, alone, a million of us in nearly the exact same circumstance, yet each one alone.”
\n
This brings me to consider what “support” actually means and looks like in the aftermath of state repression and, for those convicted, post-incarceration. How can we carve out space for the grief and the emotional ebbs and flows necessary to integrate such lived experiences into our personal narratives and histories? How can we find ways to establish ongoing long-term support for ourselves and each other while we continue to come face-to-face with a never-ending influx of crises? How can we build our capacity and our resilience knowing there will never be an end to the struggle? What can we learn from this and how can we do things differently in the future to mitigate the fallout from circumstances such as these? How can we keep that fire burning from one battle to the next, allowing it to continue to nourish us, so we might cultivate the strength to stick together and build upon our greatest potential?
\n\nI hope to always carry with me the memory of warmth provided by the ephemeral flame of resistance sparked on that unforgettable day and the year that followed, so I might be fortunate enough to feel it again someday.
\n\nLet’s remember to be gentle with ourselves and with one another as we acknowledge that life under capitalism is an ongoing and inescapably traumatic experience; that we are all doing the best we can; that we all have a basic need for care and compassion on an ongoing basis; and that we really do need each other.
\n\nThe conditions in which we are forced to exist are hostile to our survival, adverse to our natural inclinations, and detrimental to our overall individual and collective well-being. This is exactly why\nmust we seek to disrupt and abolish the foundations and infrastructures that perpetuate these conditions and work to create a new world in the shell of the old.
\n\nIt is my wholehearted desire that we will find more ways to provide each other with long-term care and wellness support in the face of state repression and in the aftermath, when we attempt to put the pieces of our lives back together so we can get up to fight another day. Supporting and sustaining long-term movements of resistance takes an understanding of the diverse ways we are affected by the situations we find ourselves in and finding tools and approaches to care that help us maintain resilience in the face of perpetual class war and ongoing opposition.
\n\nThe totality of this experience motivated me to continue deepening my exploration of healing practices and expanding my knowledge of medicine. It inspired me to dedicate myself to studying the psychological impacts of trauma, stress, and grief on the nervous system and overall well-being that are so deeply tied to our identities and our experiences of privilege and oppression in this world. It is my goal to acquire the skills necessary to offer accessible health care to those who need it most while continuing to focus on building long-term resiliency in the communities I inhabit.
\n\nOn behalf of all the N15 trial defendants, I want to give a huge shout out to everyone who was there for us during trial. Our hearts are filled with love and appreciation for all our co-defendants and supporters, our friends, families, partners, housemates, and comrades who traveled to DC, who showed up day in and day out to sit in that courtroom in dashing court attire, who showed us unwavering support during those six long and challenging weeks of trial. Thank you for being there for us and for reminding us that we were not alone. We couldn’t have done it without all of you. Thanks to everyone who took or transcribed court notes, brought us snacks and gave us hugs during breaks, took us out for drinks, bought us massages, and made sure we had fun whenever possible. Thank you to the Brighter Days Collective for walking my dog for me every day while I was in court; to everyone who sent us letters of encouragement and care packages filled with sweet gifts, herbs, tinctures, zines, and more; to those who were willing to testify on our behalf as character witnesses; and to those who hosted us on breaks and helped us carve out time away from DC to take care of ourselves. A very special thanks to the amazing humans of the Pots and Pans Kitchen Collective for providing us with three meals per day, every day, giving us one less thing to worry about; and for bringing lunches to the courthouse and making it easier for supporters to continue to show up for us by feeding them as well. Thanks, too, to anyone who helped Pots and Pans by participating in meal trains, and to anyone else we may have forgotten. We also want to extend the utmost gratitude to our incredibly dedicated and hard-working team of lawyers; without them none of us would be here to tell the story of our success. We deeply appreciate each and every one of you!
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/2019-01-18-180912.jpg\")
\nIn closing, I want to share a poem I wrote on the one-year anniversary of J20. This poem was written to all of my co-defendants and specifically to the 59 defendants who were still facing charges after the majority of the cases were dismissed. At the two-year anniversary, I am so relieved to say we no longer have anyone facing charges from that day, none of us are in prison, and I still feel as deep a connection to these comrades as I did when I originally wrote this.
\n\na love poem to my co-defendants
\n\none year ago today,
\nall of us were in washington dc.
\nwe took to the streets to disrupt the inauguration of donald trump.
\nwe stood together in solidarity with each other and every person who is oppressed,
\nevery person who is faced with living in a world where profit and hate dominate.
\nwe came together,
\nfrom every corner of these so-called united states
\nto oppose this neo-fascist regime,
\nto oppose this president,
\nand all presidents,
\nto oppose all forms of hierarchy and manipulations of power.
\nto show our strength,
\nto stand up,
\nalongside one another,
\ntogether.
\nto show our resistance,
\nour commitment to the struggle for our lives,
\nfor all life.
\nto fight for a world worth living in.
one year ago today,
\nmany of us met each other for the first time.
\nwe didn’t know each other’s names,
\nyet we knew we were on the same team.
\nblack clad warriors
\nstanding together
\nengaged in a class war,
\nin a social war.
\na war on war.
\nwe swarmed the city with our hearts as our compass.
\nwe made our messages known.
\nwe embraced a diversity of tactics
\nguided by the same principles
\nof unity,
\nof solidarity,
\nof resistance.
one year ago today,
\nwe set the city ablaze.
\nwe disrupted the inauguration,
\nwe disrupted the flow of capital,
\nwe disrupted the illusion of normalcy.
\nwe fought back against corruption, greed, and violence.
\nwe fought back against the coercive power structures
\nthat attempt to dictate how we live our lives.
\nwe showed the world that we were a threat to the status quo.
\nwe showed the world that we would not back down.
\nwe showed the world that we are not afraid.
\nwe showed the world that we are ungovernable.
one year ago today,
\nwe were met with force.
\nthe powers that be attempted to stifle our dissent.
\nthey attempted to shut us down,
\nto silence us.
\nbecause they knew we were a threat.
\nthey knew we had the potential to make change.
\nso they attacked us with their weapons,
\nthey brutalized us,
\nthey surrounded us, and
\nthey trapped us.
\nthey arrested us,
\nand they threw us in cages,
\nbecause they didn’t know what else to do with us.
\nthey may have stopped us, slowed us down,
\nbut they did not break us.
\nthey did not defeat us.
one year ago today,
\nand in the days and months that followed,
\nwe were all charged with felonies.
\nfelonies that threatened us
\nwith more time behind bars
\nthan any of us has spent living.
\nfelonies that put our lives on hold,
\nthat were held over our heads,
\nand altered our ability to have control
\nover how we spend our time.
we spent the next 365 days
\nenduring the punishment,
\nthe punishment in the process
\nof the criminal injustice system.
we also spent those 365 days
\ninvesting our time and our energy
\nin each other.
\nwe committed ourselves to the ongoing battle
\nfor freedom,
\nfor everyone.
\nwe committed ourselves to supporting one another,
\nto sharing information and resources,
\nto building our networks,
\nto expanding our communities,
\nto strengthening our convictions,
\nto continuing to struggle
\nagainst the state,
\nagainst state repression,
\nagainst all forms of oppression;
\nagainst the silencing of our voices,
\nagainst the weakening of our movement.
\nwe committed ourselves
\nto continuing to struggle
\nagainst that which seeks to destroy all that is worth living for.
one year ago today,
\nand in the days and months that followed,
\nwe created something beautiful.
\nwe formed a collective of strong, resilient people
\ndedicated to resistance,
\ndedicated to fighting these charges tooth and nail.
\ndedicated to each other.
one year ago today,
\ni found some of the bravest people i know.
\none year ago today,
\ni found strength amongst people whom i truly admire.
\none year ago today,
\ni found over 200 of my new best friends.
\nmy greatest comrades.
\none year ago today,
\nwe found each other.
\nand one year later,
\nwe have not lost one another.
while many of us are no longer facing charges,
\nmany of us still are.
\nand as we go into the next year of this battle
\nwe remain standing, side-by-side.
we are all in this together.
\nand we are not going anywhere
\nuntil all of us are free.
to the remaining J20 defendants,
\ni want you all to know—
\nyou are not in this alone.
\nyou will not be forgotten.\nyou are seen.
\nand you are loved.
\nand you are important.
\nand we will get through this,
\ntogether,
\nno matter what happens next.
with endless love and rage,
\nXx
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/01/20/1.jpg\")
\nThis is part of a series looking back on the events of J20 and the legal struggle that followed it. Check out the rest of the series:
\n\nAnarchist Resistance to the Trump Inauguration
\n\nWe’ve Got Your Back: The Story of the J20 Defense
\n\nBetween the Sun and the Sea: Icarus at 12th and L—A Voice from the J20 Black Bloc and Kettle on the Practice of Anarchy
\n\nJ20 Protest Simulator—Choose Your Own Adventure in the Streets and Courts of Washington, DC
\n\nFor additional perspective on how to survive the turbulent aftermath of social movements, consult our four-part series from 2013, “After the Crest.”
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