[Xmca-l] Word, deed, so-called, indeed! A small bit of field-note data

[Peg Griffin]

Recently in urban US settings, "die-in" arose as a common word (clear
lineage from sit-in of the civil rights lunch counters and teach-in of the
anti-war movement universities) during spontaneous discussions and
collaborative planning for mass activities responding to fatal police acts
resulting in deaths of young unarmed men in communities of color.  The word
became routine as "a die-in," "the die-in," and "our first die-in," and
"each die-in" and so on, used not only in talk but also in written agendas
and time-tables (called "tick-tocks" by some).  People were advised to carry
large trash bags to spread over wet and oil-slick ground used for the
die-in.  At certain times in the protest marches, street organizers using
bullhorns called for people to split into two groups: one to act as the dead
in the die-in and one to enact observers of the fatal acts.

A national TV newscaster soon used "so-called die-in" when describing one of
the massive actions.

The next day, a local and witty young street organizer directed activists at
an intersection to form into three groups: those enacting observers in the
middle, those in the die-in on the left and those in the so-called-die-in on
the right.