LOS ANGELES _ It was the kind of scene that, it seems, only this tumultuous year of 2020 could produce.
With the National Guard patrolling the streets of Los Angeles after several nights of looting, violence and fires, hundreds of people gathered downtown to protest the death of George Floyd and police brutality against so many other black people. After weeks of calls for strict social distancing amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Eric Garcetti pulled down his blue Los Angeles Dodgers face mask, joined the crowd and took a knee.
As he spoke, chants rang out: "Defund the police!"
Los Angeles County was, yet again, under a sweeping overnight curfew, and the nation was on edge after seven nights of chaotic protests and threats by President Donald Trump to deploy "thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officials" to American cities.
At the protests downtown, many of those gathered Tuesday decried comments made by Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore, who said looters across Southern California over the weekend were "capitalizing" on Floyd's death.
"We didn't have protests last night _ we had criminal acts," Moore said during a news conference with Garcetti on Monday night. "We didn't have people mourning the death of this man, George Floyd _ we had people capitalizing. His death is on their hands as much as it is those officers."
Moore apologized minutes later, saying he "misspoke when I said his blood is on their hands" and that he regretted "that characterization."
"But I don't regret, nor will I apologize, to those who are out there today committing violence, destroying lives and livelihoods and creating this destruction," Moore said. "His memory deserves reform. His memory deserves a better Los Angeles, a better United States and a better world."
On Tuesday, the chants rang out outside the LAPD's glass headquarters: "Fire Michel Moore! Fire Michel Moore!"
And: "Hey, hey, ho, ho! Michel Moore has got to go!"
Demonstrators were intent on keeping it peaceful. As one group of people marching approached a line of police officers near Eighth and Figueroa streets, a man asked them to step back, shouting, "Everyone go home safe tonight!"
The young man, who declined to give his name but said he was from Glendale, said this is the first march he has attended.
"I just couldn't sit there and not do anything anymore," he said.
"All four of those cops should have been arrested," he said of the Minneapolis police officers present for Floyd's death.
Floyd last week died after police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Chauvin was fired and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in George's death. He is now out of jail on $500,000 bail. The other officers at the scene when Floyd died _ Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng _ are being investigated for their roles.
On Tuesday morning, Boby Rudd, 34, was waiting at Pershing Square Station to catch the bus for his ride to work at a downtown warehouse as protesters passed. He thanked them repeatedly.
"I believe all lives matter, but my people keep getting hurt the most," said Rudd, who is black. "I just want to thank the people who aren't black, thank them for their love and support."
Lauren Skillen, 26, of Los Angeles, and her sister Taylor, 28, woke up Tuesday and wanted to do something to help the protest efforts.
Lauren's office, a production company, had let everyone off work for Blackout Tuesday, in which people posted black boxes to their social media feeds to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
The sisters asked for donations on social media and got $160 in two hours. They went to two stores and bought Gatorade, water, bandages, alcohol wipes and tissues. After assembling 60 care packages in Ziploc bags, they headed downtown to distribute to protesters.
"Sometimes it feels hollow to be another body _ I know that's not right thinking _ but I wanted to be able to do something," Lauren Skillen said.
Many parents brought their children to experience this moment in history. Khalil Bass, 30, who is black, brought his 6-month-old son.
"I don't want him, when he gets his driver's license, to be pulled over for no reason and have guns drawn on him," Bass said.
When Bass was a football player in high school and college, he was repeatedly pulled over as he drove his teammates around and officers saw a car full of men of color, he said. Bass also played football in Canada and said the police are remarkably different.
"When you come home, it's that feeling like you did something wrong when you know you didn't," he said.
Bass was laid off from his job as a trainer at a gym in Beverly Hills in mid-March. He said it seems like people have more time to pay attention and read the news because so many millions are not working amid the pandemic.
"There's a feeling of being a part of history," he said. "Everyone feels like we can make a change, and more people are jumping on the bandwagon. This is the first time it is not all black people at a protest."
