BP Flash Mob to Take Place at Millennium Park Friday

By: Lorraine Swanson, Lake Effect News

Did you get the message?

There is going to be a “flash mob” against BP Oil on Friday, June 11, at Millennium Park. The silent protest is one of many vigils taking place across the country this week marking the 50^th day of the BP oil spill in the Louisiana Gulf. As is typical of a flash mob, no one in particular is organizing the event. The Yes Men were forwarding an email around about the event, and perhaps MoveOn.org folks are involved.

Participants are being asked to bring black umbrellas, or wear all black and “casually converge” on the BP pedestrian bridge starting at 12:11 p.m.

When the whistle blows at 12:30 p.m., participants will generate a visual representation of the oil slick seen from above by filling the entire walkway of the BP bridge.

Starting from the middle of the bridge over Columbus Drive, mob participants will open their umbrellas and squat or sit down, covering as much space of the bridge with umbrellas or bodies as possible.

MoveOn.org asks that participants not carry signs or confront patrons of Millennium Park, damage property or otherwise break any laws.

The flash mob is a “silent protest intended to bring together a community of concerned citizens in creating a living illustration of the damage that threatens the collective health of our planet,” according to MoveOn.org.

At 12:35 p.m. when the whistle blows a second time, participants will quickly and calmly collect themselves and disperse.

The vigil will happen rain or shine.

For more info, check out MoveOn.org.

And if you haven’t done so already, Bark Bark Club at 5943 N. Broadway, is collecting nylons and tights send to Matter of Trust. The San Francisco-based environmental group is stuffing the donated nylons with pet and human hair to make homemade hair-booms that will be used to line the beaches to hold back the oil spill along the Gulf Coast.