While the glitz and glamour of the 2021 Met Gala is taking place, a group of protestors surrounded the entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, waiting for their voices to be heard. But why would this group of civilians protest right outside of fashion’s most exciting night of the year? Well, these are one of the many groups who are fighting for “Black Lives Matter” (BLM), but also racial and social justice for other minorities who are underprivileged. 

This protest was organized by “#FireThemAll” on Twitter, an autonomous abolitionist group who believes that policing does not serve and protect communities of black and brown ethnicities. The group’s objective was to interrogate the New York Police Department (NYPD) on why they are being allotted $11 billion dollars in resources, rather than allocating those funds to black and brown communities in need.

According to a video posted on Twitter, protestors were chanting “Black and brown people are on the brink of houselessness. We can not go back to normal. Where was your rage last year?”  The NYPD, the Strategic Response Group (SRG), and protestors also clashed into verbal and 

This protest comes after the shooting of a Bronx native, Mike Rosano, who was shot by an off-duty police officer earlier this month. Police were able to leave the scene of the protest before any more altercations.

Met Gala attendee and Pose star Indya Moore took to Instagram to express her regret of attending the gala but to also state points about fighting for social justice, “Being at the Met this year was cognitive dissonance. I entered and left feeling confused. But before that I felt clear. Grounded. People were protesting and arrested in the name of what so many of us who attended, care deeply about”. 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Met Gala which raises money for the institute’s costume design exhibit. To honor the historic anniversary, the theme for this year’s gala was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion”. But from this theme, two different sides of America are highlighted; one for the glitz and glamour of wealth and fame, and one for citizens who are constantly fighting for the justice of minority races, but are knocked down from escalated police response. Answer this question for yourself —what is more American than that?