Wednesday, June 3, 2020

'You are here profiting off of our fucking pain'



On Saturday night, while a group of looters were smashing windows and damaging property along Second Avenue, Desiree Barnes made an impassioned plea to the group.

Barnes, reportedly a former aide in the Obama White House, approached the group between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place around 9 p.m. ... where Dan LaDue began capturing her video ...

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The last 24 hours have been a journey. After talking with people I respect and some sleep, the right thing to do is for this to stay up. I have to stand by what I know I felt from her in that moment of wanting to get her message out. The resonance from people from all walks of life, all across the board, both sides of the aisle, is something I haven't seen from people in a long time. She's a New Yorker, she knew what she was doing. She's frustrated and wanted to be heard. Some people don't want that opinion heard. And based off the overwhelming amount of messages people sent yesterday, she isn't alone. I stand by what I did. I'm out here now looking for her, hope to have an update soon. Please share, thank you. Edit: the legend @dnbarnes

A post shared by Dan LaDue (@danladue) on

15 comments:

TheOtherSarahT said...

ALL. OF. THIS.

------m said...

THANK YOU DESIREE !! you gave powerful voice to what so many of us are thinking & feeling.....

Anonymous said...

Hero!

marjorie said...

Wow, that was an amazing off-the-cuff speech. What a goddess she is. But I hope she's not getting doxxed or threatened because of this video. When sharing images that might put someone's life at risk, the right thing to do is ask permission first. If this woman reaches out to Dan and asks for the video to be taken down, I hope he consents to do so...even though yeah, that ship has sailed. If she tells him that him sharing this had negative consequences for her, I hope he'll share that fact too, to educate other people in our iphone culture.

Bless you, lady, whoever you are.

Anonymous said...

So glad to see this. Desiree worked for Obama for years! She is the voice reason and so proud to have her in the neighborhood!

Jean Standish said...

Thank you, Desiree, for standing up for our community and the demonstrators' rights to march peacefully. These vandals deserve our anger and revulsion,and, Desiree you so eloquently expressed this.

noble neolani said...

She cut through all the noise, brava!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for standing up proudly for the neighborhood

Anonymous said...

Amen Ms. Barnes Thank You!

Anonymous said...

This is my New York.

Anonymous said...

If only everyone were like her.

Anonymous said...

True leadership is coming from individuals like Ms. Barnes at this time. Leaders are literally emerging from the streets. As President Obama once said, it is time to put away childish things. It is time to listen to these brave new voices.

creature said...

Holy cow. Thank you, Ms. Barnes.

Anonymous said...

I love her. She's beautiful, powerful, and hopefully will go back to serving 'Merica because WE NEED HER.

Shawn said...

Obama aide. You can tell why he hired her. Brilliant gal.