Dear Editor:
It is with great disappointment and a certain amount of anger that I am writing this letter. After attending the 42nd Annual Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26th, I have decided that I will not be attending the 43rd march, and I wanted to explain my reasons why.
In terms of what happened during the march at the location which I was watching the parade from, it is ultimately the responsibility of many that created what ended up being for me and the friends I was watching with an experience full of frustration, hostility, violence and downright danger. We were located in front of the Cellblock, a bar located at 3702 N. Halsted, just a few doors north of the intersection of Halsted and Waveland. For PrideFest the evening before, Cellblock had placed an ice machine on the sidewalk for their street booth. This ice machine was not removed for the parade the next day, making narrow passages even worse. As crowds surged into the passageway from both ends, a bottleneck ensued, creating a literal crush of humanity several times. Why wasn't the ice machine removed beforehand?
However, I cannot exempt the crowd from responsibility in this. Many people had arrived early with chairs that were placed towards the front, by the metal gates. These were chairs that these people ultimately did not sit in. It took up just that much more room on the sidewalk. I and my friends were in a line in back of the chairs, and had to lock arms and strain frantically several times to keep the crowd from pushing spectators, chairs and all into the gates themselves. I have several bruises today for my efforts. The passing crowd behind us behaved no better. As impatience grew to keep moving, much shoving began to happen, coming dangerously close on several occasions to leading to a stampede or trampling incident. Impatience gave way to anger, and three separate times physical altercations took place, the last ending with my friend being punched squarely in his face.
It is the police and parade marshals, however, that were truly negligent in all this. As it was becoming clearer that the situation was going to get much worse before it got better, those of us towards the back tried to get police officers to come into the mess and try to organize the traffic. Two officers did arrive, and disappeared just as quickly, having done nothing. Roughly 20 minutes later, we were able once again to get the attention of two officers, who then brought over two parade marshals. Gates were opened and parts of the crowd were allowed into the street, which was working towards relieving the crush of humans behind me. Sadly, they disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, and once again it became dangerous to remain on the street. My friends and I fought our way across the sea of people to get ourselves inside Cellblock, mostly at that point for our own safety.
Coupling my personal experience with the reports of what took place at the intersection of Belmont and Halsted, it is hard to come to any other conclusion than acknowledging that this event has become far too large for the neighborhood it is being held in.
I am sure the vendors along Halsted are in no hurry to see it move to a larger and more appropriate part of the city, and doubt much will be done to move in that direction until there is a major injury or fatality that forces them to deal with the issue. I hope this is not the case, and that the committee for the 43rd annual parade will grab the reins and make sure that the bottom line doesn't outweigh basic public safety. The best way to show the community how much you appreciate them is to give them a place to gather free from injury, danger and violence.
Until I see that change occur, I will be avoiding the parade, and urging those I care about to do the same.
Sincerely,
Chester Munro