KRACHER
A smaller group within the Women’s Caucus, we’d wanted to drop a banner from the roof of the County Building at the end of the route. We’d gone earlier to do reconnaissance, had climbed up on the roof. We’d stayed up the whole night before making this massive banner. It was in two pieces, and I had half of it in a Marshall Field’s bag; my friend had the other half. We go to the law library across the street in the morning to see the roof, check that it’s clear. We’re wearing downtown work clothes to be incognito. We go upstairs, I look out the window, and I go, “Come over here.” The entire roof was filled with cops, readying for the protest. I just left the banner in an alley somewhere, because it was so heavy, and I joined the protest on the bridge. You came up with a lot of ideas, and some of them worked and some did not.
KEEHNEN
I remember walking, hearing honks, mostly supportive. Everybody in these office windows was watching.
CANNON
You’re hearing the voices, the drums, the chanting. There were tambourines, there were woodblocks.
MIGALSKI
I remember a small crowd standing with placards and screaming about God and punishment.
PATTEN
During the march, there were constant negotiations with the police. I don’t think we had permits. But we were careful — this was about nonviolence, civil disobedience. We had intermediaries, people acting as marshals.
MIGALSKI
I wore, like, a polo, and I remember somebody saying, “OK, what are you wearing?” Some protester had a bag of shirts and said, “Here, put this on.” It was that classic black shirt, “Silence = Death,” with The Pink Triangle. I didn’t even know at the time the significance of The Pink Triangle. I asked someone under my breath.
CANNON
I had my banner safety-pinned on my back, with a bloody handprint, red paint dripping down: “The government has blood on its hands.”
KEEHNEN
People were leading chants with the megaphone. There was “Women with AIDS under attack! What do we do? Act up, fight back!”
KRACHER
Every ACT UP protest, there was anger and rage, but there was also humor. It was educational, fun, campy, angry.
KEEHNEN
Marching down Michigan Avenue, it was “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going shopping!”
HAYFORD
When the cops pulled out the rubber gloves, people would chant, “Your gloves don’t match your shoes, you’ll see it on the news!”
MIGALSKI
I’m thinking, Are we just gonna walk and chant things? I asked someone near me, and they said, “No, we’re gonna try to get inside a building, we’re gonna lie down in the street.” And I thought, Ohhh my God, what have we signed up for?