But others, at least for that day, kept aggressive people like that man in check. Some joined the protest with signs identifying themselves as medics to help the hurt, and many volunteers showed up in cars to pass out cold water bottles, snacks, and hot pizza.
Others designated themselves peacekeepers for the day, such as Santana Lopez, 25, who urged people to “keep the peace” and “resist the urge.” The weekend’s looters angered her: “From what I’ve seen, it was usually Caucasians starting the breaking, and I think they’re trying to influence us into violence. They’re causing damage, and then people are blaming us.”
The aggression provoked police, and many protesters got hurt in the crossfire. Lopez had been in Fairfax District in Los Angeles Saturday protesting when police officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. She lifted her shirt to show me a big bruise on her lower back: “I got shot yesterday for saving someone who got shot in the head.”
Others tried to be peacemakers too. When one man whipped a spray paint can out of his duffle bag and vandalized a public bench, Ricky Woznichak and his friend John Snyder, both 38, admonished him: “Hey! Stop vandalizing!” They made up later with an elbow bump.
“This is not a good look,” Woznichak told me, regarding the vandalism. “I don’t want the wrong people getting blamed.” He and Snyder were both at the protest the day before too, and they left as soon as the police began firing tear gas, which burned their eyes and throats. Snyder showed me the mark on his jeans where a rubber bullet struck his shin. But they were back on the streets again on Sunday with their signs. “We gotta stand up for what we believe in,” Snyder said.
But they too are wary of people they call “plants” and “instigators.” Most protesters Saturday, they said, were peaceful and approached the police with their hands up. But a few had jumped out, thrown something at the police, and ran back to hide behind the peaceful protesters. “We’re not those people so we don’t know [who they are],” Woznichak said. When I asked if they knew who the organizers of these protests are, they both shrugged. “The internet?” Woznichak said. “Who knows?”
By the time the protesters walked a roundabout route and crossed Grand Park to reach city hall, a few black men designated themselves as the leaders by standing between the officers guarding the building and the protesters across the street. One older man lifted a loudspeaker and reminded the group, “We do not want anyone rioting or looting!” Another younger man took the loudspeaker and declared, “We cannot escalate the violence! We cannot give them any more reason to shoot and kill us!”
Then the leaders asked people to kneel and observe a moment of silence for black people who have died from injustice and police brutality. Hundreds dropped to their knees like a rippling wave. For a few minutes, the entire area went silent except for the whirling, choppy swooshes of police helicopters circling above.
It was almost 5:30 p.m. At once, phones in people’s pockets began buzzing, and emergency alert tones sounded: A countywide curfew was going into effect at 6 p.m. Then the separation started. Some would go back home to observe the curfew, and others would stay against orders.
One of the leaders lifted the loudspeaker again and begged the protesters: “Do not burn our city down. Do not harm one another. This is not black or white. This is the people against injustice and violence!” The crowd cheered in agreement, and most of them trudged back to their cars.
Comments
Deb O
Posted: Wed, 06/03/2020 11:24 amThank you for getting these interviews and your observations about the true protesters in print. The anarchists and white supremacists are in the midst, inciting violence, and they need to be called out.
Cyborg3
Posted: Thu, 06/04/2020 09:48 amI don't buy it that white supremists are involved in these riots. Has there been one arrested? This is the leftist media passing out propaganda to deflect from the fact that the rioting is done by far left radicals such as AntiFa and BLM. The truth is that the numbers of white supremists is so small that they don't have the manpower to really do anything.
Steve SoCal
Posted: Wed, 06/03/2020 01:20 pmDeb O, Sophia's observations reference a woman, Santana Lopez, whose own opinion was that "caucasians" were "usually" the ones starting the looting and trying to incite violence. Sophia also talked in person to a black man who brought a gun to the protest and who stated that if violence erupts, "I'm all in."
If you watch videos and photos of the violence and looting across the country they show a wide mixture of races breaking in and stealing and ransacking everything in sight. There are a variety of agendas behind these criminal activities, both large and small, political and criminal, and certainly not just white supremacists and anarchists behind it, although no doubt they are enjoying the evil, too.
No matter how people see things from their own limited perspective, or choose to spin things, evil is present and active in every ethnicity while, thankfully at the same time, God is active in every nation, tribe, and tongue to bring reconciliation between sinful people and Himself.
Steve SoCal
Posted: Wed, 06/03/2020 01:38 pmI absolutely believe law enforcement personnel sometimes act unjustly, sometimes criminally, including in the George Floyd case, and sometimes with racial motives. Peaceful protests, with specific good goals, are a valid and worthwhile response to injustice. While I have personally faced unjust and incompetent law enforcement personnel, it is certainly not the case that they are bad as a whole group. They are human beings.
In the heat of people's anger, let's not forget that in America we do enjoy the real freedoms of speech and to protest peaceably. Large parts of the world (that so many people on one end of the political spectrum idealize with their socialist or communist systems, that supposedly benefit and care for the common people) cannot say that they have those freedoms!
In that context, I want to say that I disagree with Sophia's description of the incident that she videotaped with the police car. It looks like her video has been watched over 2 million times! I watched three videos of that incident with closeup and wider perspectives, and here is my take:
This lone police vehicle, with large crowds of protesters on both sides, had a few protesters blocking it and a few more were making their way around behind it while people from the crowds were beginning to move towards the police car. The vehicle soon would become trapped and unable to move, thereby putting them at the whims of the protesters… whether peaceful or violent. Remember this is in the larger context of police having already been attacked and injured and even killed and with signs and graffiti painted all over that say things like "Kill cops", etc.
The police officer clearly saw a space to his front left where he could drive through and he skillfully and quickly steered through that space attempting to leave the potentially dangerous situation. The couple of protesters that fell in front of him were running quickly towards the font of his car at that time, not just standing there. To me, it appears clear that the car stopped just in time and either didn’t touch them at all, or they touched the car as much as it touched them. They got up immediately to chase the police car, obviously with no particular injury (although Sophia mentions a scraped ankle). The officer then, again quite skillfully, managed to back away and swing around before likely being attacked by the crowd.
In my opinion, while I admire and respect Sophia's work as a whole, the description in this article is not very accurate, and it inadvertently plays into the idea that police just randomly do violent things. I believe this is throwing fuel onto a fire.
Cyborg3
Posted: Thu, 06/04/2020 10:08 amI find the riots disgusting and based on lies. We are led to believe there is systemic racism rampant in the police departments across America. BLM talk as if blacks are being slaughtered by the police which is totally false. A police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black man than a black man is to be killed by cops. Last year only ten blacks were killed by cops in the whole United States, yet we are led to believe there is a slaughter going on. Who is the father of lies?
JACKIE PARFET
Posted: Thu, 06/04/2020 11:04 amSpeaking of police action, there are several reports out there about journalists being physically and indiscrimantly targeted by police. Wondering if this might be addressed in the near future?