Shortly after noon on a recent Sunday, about seventy volunteers stood together in Love Park, hands raised, representing surrender, holding it for exactly 26 seconds.
The park grew silent. Pedestrians stopped mid-stroll to watch, while a few volunteers dropped to the ground and partners outlined their prone, motionless bodies in chalk.
This was a "flash mob" organized by a group called Artists Against Gun Violence, a movement under the ART=Ammo project.
The project was started by Broadway dancer and choreographer Lorin Latarro, 35, in response to the December massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, and its 26 victims.
"We have a voice as loud as the NRA's," Latarro said of the motivation behind the event. "We need to tell our Congresspeople they work for us, and we need to let them know what we want."
After a successful flash mob in New York City's Times Square caught the attention of Ashley Albert, 29, a behavioral therapist from Philadelphia, she contacted Latarro about bringing the movement here. "I really wanted to bring it to Philly," Albert said. "I thought it was a really creative way of trying to get a message out."
Latarro now plans to expand the movement to a national campaign. "Now is the time to educate Americans about what's really in the books and what we'd really like to change. No one's Second Amendment is going to be eviscerated," said Latarro. "This is false information and fear-based. It's led by a company who is not interested in American lives, but interested in selling guns."
As someone who has witnessed many shootings, Michael Howard, 51, is excited by the movement. "It's just sad. I believe the NRA has a lot to do with it; they're more in control of this gun issue than anybody," Howard said. "The criminals are the ones controlling the streets. It has to stop. It's not about rich, poor, black or white; this is everybody's issue."
Once the chalk outlines are drawn, names and ages are written into the sketched bodies: the names of Newtown victims and the victims of gun violence in Philadelphia since Newtown. "There is a two-year-old from Philly who just died," said Latarro, pointing to one of the figures.
Rico says oh, the symbolism...
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