Fifty years ago today the New York City Police clashed with a bunch of kids singing folks songs in Washington Square Park. I don't remember knowing about this before, but NPR had a segment on it this morning. At the time a permit was required to sing or play music in the park, and the Park Commission—after previously granting a permit—decided to deny the permit to the singers. The resulting scuffle was captured in a short documentary by filmmaker Dan Drasin. Titled Sunday, you can watch the film at the link below.
What strikes me, watching this film 50 years later, is how unthreatening these protesters look. Whereas today everyone has a look that they are defined by, back then everyone does seem to have looked about the same. I cannot even image what would have happened if these police officers had been confronted by punk rockers from the 80's. They might have thought they were aliens from another planet.
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