More than a month after George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police officer in Minneapolis, these images of the May 31st San Diego protest still resonate with me. I am still blown away by the militaristic response of the San Diego Police, the diversity of the crowd and how there were many peaceful protesters. 

I don’t want to admit this, because it is pretty embarrassing, but in the middle of the protest at the courthouse, my Fujifilm x100t fell out of my pocket. Right before the 8 minutes of silence commemorating George Floyd’s death. 

After frantically looking for it, I went to the front of the crowd and started blindly asking if anyone had found it. Luckily enough, two people in, the group of men in the impromptu marching band said someone was asking if anyone had lost a camera. The pointed me in her general direction and every 10 feet I would ask who ever made eye contact with me. Reached the back of the crowd, no luck. 

Then I hear “Is anyone looking for a camera??” far behind at the front of the crowd. I jostled through the crowd and found her, a sweet angel holding my camera! I gave her a big sticky hug and thanked her with tears in my eyes. 

In that same crowd of people, several hours later, the protest had moved to the streets. We were walking down from Little Italy, down toward Horton plaza. Police in riot gear herded the crowd down one street, while forces slowly closed in from side streets, surrounding us. Chaos reigned as people realized the police were closing in, advancing slowly, deliberately. Their menacing presence was amplified by the armored vehicle, a dark void of violence surrounded by the never ending scattering of blue and red lights. Notice how they call themselves peace officers now?  

A Starbucks window was already shattered as the group advanced. A young man in a hoodie sprayed “fuck 12” on the remaining windows while another protester shouted at him to stop. “Yo! Stop! We’re not about that shit!” He ignored her, finished his tag and moved on to the next wall. After the police had taken over side streets, someone in the crowd began directing traffic. Residents in BMW, Maserati’s and Audi’s were trying to get into their penthouses. The police activity prevented them, yelling between protesters on the street and the driver of the BMW began. He was only trying to tell them they won’t be able to get to their house. A minute later the beemer zoomed off, gunning the accelerator to signify his anger, scaring some people on the street. 

Not long after, the protest fizzled out. The crowd had lost its fervor. As I walked back to the trolley, an astonishing amount of police cruisers, SUV’s, unmarked SWAT vehicles, armored transports, trucks were swarming the Old Town station. No one knew what was happened. Later, I heard rumors of people getting swooped up into vehicles.