Sasha Sumner

War In The Neighborhood by Seth Tobocman, video edit by Sasha Sumner

This video includes excerpts from WAR IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, a graphic novel by Seth Tobocman.  One of the main characters featured here, a friend and colleague of mine, passed away in 2011.

Seth’s introduction:

Rock was very active in political struggles around Tompkins Square Park (NYC) in the 80s and 90s.

Homeless people were occupying that park and squatters were occupying many of the abandoned buildings that surrounded it.

She led us in an attempt to reoccupy the ABC Community center, a squat, which had already been evicted.

We wound up staying in that building for a month in the freezing cold while cops looked for a way to throw us out.

Those events are detailed in my graphic novel WAR IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

Parts of that story featuring Rock are excerpted here, along with the sketches I used as reference.

Because much of the activity described is illegal I changed her name to Rock.