At a recent climate-action protest, in Toronto, I was most struck by the loudest refrain: Why aren’t you / Out here too? My instinct was to counter: Because protesting is a privilege! Not everyone can afford to leave work and take to the streets! I’ve been a part of protests with dubious communications strategies before, and my go‑to tactic has been to walk without speaking, assenting to the goal if not the method. But the more I thought about this particular call to action, the more its gravity began to pull me in: Yes. Where are you? Why isn’t everyone protesting? Especially those who work at Queen’s Park or in the Financial District, places of privilege and influence?
Then a navy-suited man around my age, mid-thirties, came into view. Protected by his burnished brown suitcase and matching oxfords, he walked against the resolute current of children, parents, grandparents, against individuals young, old, and in...
Marlo Alexandra Burks is the author of Aesthetic Dilemmas and a former editor with the magazine.
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