I attended the Global Citizen festival this past weekend in Central Park and it changed my life. For those who don’t know, Global Citizen is an organization that focuses on and strives to raise awareness to end global poverty. The first Global Citizen festival took place in September of 2012, and has continuously grown in popularity ever since. An estimated 60,000 people attended the festival this year. To name a few, artists such as Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys have all played at this festival over the years. This past weekend John Legend, Shawn Mendes, Cardi B, Janet Jackson and The Weeknd all gave phenomenal performances. This is a very political event, though political views aside the show itself was incredible. It was an experience I will never forget to say the least, but not for the reasons you may think.
It had been a long and tiring day, so my friends and I luckily decided to head out early. We had just stepped away from the crowd to check the train schedule when it happened. A loud crash, followed by a chorus of blood-curdling screams. A tsunami of people began to pour towards us and I instinctively took off running, holding onto my roommate’s hand the entire time. None of us knew exactly what had happened, but I assumed the worst. Many of the events after that are a blur, but I distinctly remember running through Central Park and coming upon an NYPD officer who ripped down a metal barricade for my friends and I all while telling us to run because of an active shooter.
My adrenaline kicked in and I focused on getting myself as far away from the supposed shooting as possible. The metal barricades surrounding the perimeter made it extremely difficult to escape; and at one point we were completely blocked by a building.
The image of other concert goers trying to rip open the building’s locked doors and even break down it’s windows will forever be engraved in my memory.
We did eventually get out of the park; though, my group of eleven was not all together. Several girls ended up alone on the streets of New York City and it took us an hour to all reunite.
I am relieved to report that there was no actual shooter; the chaos that unfolded was the result of a metal barricade collapsing. While there was no shooter, the fear I felt in the moment was very real and is something I will remember for years to come. Despite there being no shooter, there were several injuries reported due to trampling. Global Citizen has since sent out an apology via Instagram. Public response to this apology was pretty negative; many attendees of the festival responded by commenting how they were either traumatized, injured, or had lost personal belongings. Many people also appeared to be angered by how downplayed the situation was. What happened was an accident and no one person is to blame; However, it is also not something that should be downplayed.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where a crowd’s first thought when they hear a loud noise is that there must be a shooter.
What happened at this year’s Global Citizen festival only further supports that something needs to change. No one should have to live their lives in fear.