Sidewalk Sales Are Saving New York
Yet the urge to do more in the heat of the moment struck them—a community-driven sidewalk sale. “We unintentionally started something," Sachiko explains. "Me, Wiggs, and Perry had this idea and we were like, ‘Oh, maybe we'll do it once and we’ll raise a thousand dollars. We weren't like, ‘Oh, we're going to start a movement,' you know? But it just like, because of everyone else involved in it, it turned into this huge thing that we couldn't even imagine.”
The physical and mental exhaustion behind protesting turned the wheels for this group as they searched for other facets of justice reform. “We literally just had the idea of just doing it once to try to make a difference, especially because Sachiko and I were pretty active in going to protests and stuff, and the exhaustion behind that. Like me, personally, I was handing out supplies, like face masks and snacks and all that to the protestors. I was working with Procell doing that. And the exhaustion behind that, it was insane. And we were like, what can we do? And we had the idea, we thought about it. It was only something that was talked about. But Sachiko kind of like put the coal into the fire because she texted me to follow up and was like, are we on this Sunday? And then I was like ‘Okay, we got to really do it then.'"
Each part of this working motor turned when they realized they had all the pieces in means of community and a knack for selling. They realized that connections and a group of friends surpassed the sole luxury of friendship and could also serve as a helping hand. Whether that was someone who made videos, sold vintage clothing, or could make juice cleanses—they had a friend for it. But, the act of utilizing these friends in the means of reformative justice and community building was unintentional. There was always someone who could just accidentally further this initiative and just wanted to out of the kindness of their heart.
The mention of sidewalk sales first gained attraction due to a viral Instagram video where Aaron posed a 90's car salesman, Uncle LeRoy. An idea then snowballed into an actual legacy that would happen consistently on Sundays in the summer of New York. "I was with Max, my really good friend Max, who helps make these videos with my old roommate, Andrew. So there used to be these car ads where it was like 'Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!' I was like, 'We got to make something like that to where it comes off so low budget-looking to where it's like, oh my God, this is stupid. So like the jacket that I had, the Viking horns, and the glasses, like, those are the things we found in the apartment." The engagement from that video along with genuine connections sparked the first sidewalk sale in Mcgolrick park in honor and donation towards @emergency_release_fund & @eji_org. Raising $14,976.11 in 5 hours sparked an outreach from companies and friends pleading to get involved.
"I think we all worked really hard, but all of those people like came to us, which I think is so insane. We didn't reach out to people, like PR people and companies being like, 'Can you guys donate?' They would come to us and be like, 'Can we donate?' Like that's so crazy," Sachiko tells us. "And the first one was so special because it was so many familiar faces that showed up to support. And that's New York city, like New York City is just like, it's community. It's your friends. Like if it's something, people are going to have your back and show up. And everyone bought something. There were people that were like, 'I don't even see anything I want, here's a hundred dollars.' And I'm like, 'Are you sure?'"
Selling commodities like designer and vintage wear, celebrity pre-loved clothes, and items ranging from custom tie-dyed Supreme boxers to Sachiko's floral arrangements, each grand total grew. Each Sunday, donations increased by the thousands with 100% of the proceeds filling funds like the Elijah McClain foundation, hand donating to small businesses, filling up community fridges, and registering voters.
With the accumulative grand total of $266,546.67, it's no question that community comes in clutch. Wiggs goes off to explain "For me, you know, living in New York everyone has their own bullshit. Everyone has their own like 'I heard this, I heard that' about someone. But everyone's still kind of connected from like, what is it? what do we say? Like two degrees of separation, you know? And when you see these people show up and support, that's something that's impressive to me."
Behind the three faces of the project is a group of friends and friends of friends that they call the "ready-set crew."—a crew that helps set up and clean up each Sunday, along with many other vendors that are truly imperative to the process. This includes people like Paul, Leah, Lylynn, Tom, Andrew, Ian, Brianna, and more who are just as necessary to this operation. Banding together in weak moments throughout history is thick in tradition, sometimes all it takes banter over Modelo, a road blocked street, an assemblage, and free pizza to truly make a change and save what is to be considered the heart of New York.
