Love, Light and Noise for those Locked Up in Durham on NYE

Submitted to It’s Going Down

A small but spirited contingent of 30 or so people assembled in downtown Durham on New Year’s Eve and marched to the county jail for the sixth straight New Year’s Eve with a noise demonstration. Before starting out, the group briefly reflected on the struggles waged within the jail in 2016, as well as in prisons and detention centers throughout the land, and we looked forward to supporting and growing resistance inside in the new year.

Marchers stalked through the downtown night with various homemade noisemakers and banners with such messages as: 2017-Shut down the jail; Solidarity with Prisoners Everywhere; Support Prisoner Resistance; Smash the Durham Jail and Prisons Everywhere; and 2017: Let’s Get Free.  A couple of people carried homemade lanterns to light up the night, and a number of others wore fluorescent glow sticks. At the jail, folks broke out sparklers and shot off some fireworks, all while making a lovely cacophony that was music to those inside. At each window, demonstrators shouted “Happy New Year” to comrades inside, and folks inside responded in turn.

“To see them waving and hear them banging on their windows makes this worth it, every time,” said one reveler.