andrew yang rally nyc
5.14.19
A thin seasonal rain permeated the air as Andrew Yang, then running for president, stepped on to the stage to meet a solid minute of electrifying cheers from the Yang Gang. We were in the middle of Washington Square Park, sandwiched between NYU and a massive throng of flag-waving trump supporters whose “fuck you”’s were clearly audible throughout the entire rally. Though we had gotten there early and were relatively close to the front, there was still enough distance between me and the candidate to put my new 85 mm prime lens to the test.
It was a time when his momentum was growing, fueled by both meme energy and genuine vision, and it was starting to seem like a Yang victory might not even be completely out of the realm of possibility. He represented the voter who had grown tired of years of partisanship and was searching for human-centered solutions that would fundamentally address the issues plaguing our decaying society. He was a son of immigrants who had gone through the broken meritocratic pipeline of America’s elite class, but remained human nevertheless and was instead ready to take a stand against it instead of being swallowed up by the void.
All I gotta say is, America wasn’t ready for him.