Michael Simon Johnson

Take a deep breath.

Drive slow.

Approach the space with reverence.

Notify neighborhood leaders of suspicious activity.

There's a lot of flowers, a lot of flags, a lot of teddy bears.

There's a bunch of people that have made a fire.

A car just pulled up, like driving down the block, stopped, asked if these people need more firewood for this fire.

And dropped it off.

There were about a dozen people there.

Some people were staying for just a few minutes.

Others were lingering.

Why did you choose to come here today?

I asked the woman who'd brought flowers what she was feeling.

As I was talking to people there, I got the sense that residents were actively looking for ways to show up for each other.

I saw strangers bringing each other coffee, giving each other nods, exchanging information.

There was one guy there named Nero, who seemed like he was sort of the unofficial shepherd of the group.

He was tending to the fire and he was curating the space, is what he said.

I've been hearing different anecdotes of people.

I mean, I know, you know, people have the whistles, but also people dropping off mutual aid related packages at like local stores or specific places.

People, you know, it seems like people are protecting.